building a computer for college... need suggestions

goosy22

goosy22

New Member
i'm a new user of these forums and this happens to be my first post so please don't flame...

anyways i'm considering building a comp for college next year and my budget will be between $1000-$1500... i would also expect to do a fair bit of gaming... and i'm not computer illiterate so please don't treat me like i am...

i need help with suggestions of any and all components... i've been looking around and i've come to like AMD X2 dual-core or opteron processors... so any suggestions based off of those platforms would be helpful...

in my opinion i would be happy with this set-up... (custom built off of adamant.com, AMD Graphics systems - 3560 Supreme Graphic Computer)

1-Inwin IW-X710, 430 W ATX 12V PS
1-Asus K8N-DL motherboard with PCI Express
1-Asus K8N-DL for Dual AMD Opteron, PCI Express
2-AMD Opteron 242 processors
2-512MB Ecc. Reg. Dual Channel PC3200 DDR RAM (Crucial)
1-200GB SATA I 150MB/S 7200RPM 8MB (Western Digital)
1-Quadro FX 330 64MB DDR DVI-I
1-Dual Layer 16X DVD+/-RW, CD-R/RW Burner (Sony)
1-Sound Blaster Live 24bit
1-LiteOn Keyboard PS/2
1-LiteOn Mouse PS/2
1-Windows XP Pro with SP2
 
goosy22 said:
i'm a new user of these forums and this happens to be my first post so please don't flame...

anyways i'm considering building a comp for college next year and my budget will be between $1000-$1500... i would also expect to do a fair bit of gaming... and i'm not computer illiterate so please don't treat me like i am...

i need help with suggestions of any and all components... i've been looking around and i've come to like AMD X2 dual-core or opteron processors... so any suggestions based off of those platforms would be helpful...

in my opinion i would be happy with this set-up... (custom built off of adamant.com, AMD Graphics systems - 3560 Supreme Graphic Computer)

1-Inwin IW-X710, 430 W ATX 12V PS
1-Asus K8N-DL motherboard with PCI Express
1-Asus K8N-DL for Dual AMD Opteron, PCI Express
2-AMD Opteron 242 processors
2-512MB Ecc. Reg. Dual Channel PC3200 DDR RAM (Crucial)
1-200GB SATA I 150MB/S 7200RPM 8MB (Western Digital)
1-Quadro FX 330 64MB DDR DVI-I
1-Dual Layer 16X DVD+/-RW, CD-R/RW Burner (Sony)
1-Sound Blaster Live 24bit
1-LiteOn Keyboard PS/2
1-LiteOn Mouse PS/2
1-Windows XP Pro with SP2
Click to expand...

how much is that pc? ^ (probably way too much)

if it's going to be used for college a year from now, i would honestly wait to see what new hardware comes out... even if you couldn't afford the new hardware, the hardware you'd be buying now would almost inevitably be cheaper......
 
when i configured it... it came out to $1450 i believe... and i plan on using it for college in august of this year... i know i should wait, but i want to figure out which manufacturer and model of some things i should pay attention to...
 
Thats a good deal, but dont expect to play games on that, its got a workstation graphic card. Also there is no need for skt 940 opterons for gaming, just get a regular X2 or a single skt 939 opteron.
 
ok... so get rid of the socket 940's huh?

i knew the gfx card had to go... i figured since i had to buy one to buy the comp i'd just sell it on ebay and get a different one...

so how's this? found on adamant.com as well...

Thermaltake Swing VB6000BNS case
480W Thermaltake W0014 P/S
Gigabyte GA-K8N Ultra-SLI
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+
Crucial 1024MB (512x2) PC3200 DDR
Western Digital 160GB SATA II 300MB/S 7200RPM
GeForce 6600 256MB PCI/X DVI-I S-Video
NEC Dual Layer 16X DVD+/-RW Burner
LiteOn PS/2 Keyboard and Mouse
MS Windows XP Pro with SP2
 
You might want to take a look at my computer. It comes out to about $1500 with rebates, but you can trade the X2 4200 for a 3800+ to get under $1500. It's in one of these topics.
 
i know i can do better by building... but i'm just looking for configurations to roll off of... all i need is an idea of a setup that will work good at college... as stated in my 1st post the budget is about $1000-$1500...

now that i'm thinking of it... i'm going to college for engineering so it should maybe be on the midline between gaming and workstation... i could be using intensive CAD programs in classes...
 
alrighty i think i got it... all prices are from adamant.com

Raidmax Sagitta case with 480W 12V P/S $68.99
Gigabyte GA-K8N mobo $99.99
2 or 4 - Crucial 512 MB PC3200 DDR $111.36 or $222.72
AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core 4200+ $378.63
2 Maxtor 80GB SATA I HDD 7200RPM 8 MB $120.06
2 Sony Dual Layer 16X DVD+/-RW and CD-R/RW $94.00
EVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB PCI/X $374.51
-------------------------------------------------------------
total: $1247.54


what do you guys think??? i know i still need a monitor but what else?
 
I would personally get one 250 or 300gb hdd over the two 80's, and I've been using my desktop for 3d CAD with an x800xl and it is more than what I need for school, so as long as you have a halfway decent one, you shouldn't have problems (like the 6600 would have been fine for CAD)
 
If you can build, I would still do that over a prebuilt, check out what you can get :)

ASUS A8R-MVP ATi Xpress 200 CrossFire -$95.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ -$358.00
G.Skill 2GBNS 1 Gb X 2 -$150.99
POWERCOLOR X1900XT -$479.00
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250 Gb -$96.00
Antec Truepower II TPII-550 -$89.99
NEC 3550A DVD-Burner -$39.75

Total: $1,309.72

Plenty of room for a case and expansion, I would also get a floppy drive.

If your not buying till march 1st, the new ASUS motherboard based on the RD580 chipset is coming out.
 
alrighty... how about this?
* denotes found on newegg.com

Raidmax Sagitta case with 480W 12V P/S $68.99
*ASUS A8R-MVP ATi Xpress 200 Crossfire $95.99
*Corsair ValueSelect 2GB (2x1GB) PC3200 DDR400 $145.99
*AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core 4200+ $358.00
*Maxtor DiamondMax 10 250 Gb $96.00
*2-NEC IDE/ATAPI ND-3550A 16X DVD+/-R/RW $79.50
*EVGA GeForce 7800 GT 256MB PCI/X $314.00
-------------------------------------------------------------
total: $1158.47+monitor
 
ok... i'm pretty set on the computer configuration i last posted, unless someone else has something else to add... but i still have 2 questions...

what kind of monitor would you guys suggest for this comp?
and will this generic 480W P/S be good enough if i would ever decide to overclock the system or should i get a brand name unit?
 
where did you go for those prices though? The processor and video card seem extremely high. You can buy an 8800gts for that price. Just checking b/c if you go to Newegg.com, you can build a decent gaming comp. for about 1200-1500 bucks. Check it out.
 
Look at my signature. That beast only costs about 1350, or possibly 1400, depending on any shifts in pricing. You should most definitely check it out.
 
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