My $500 Ubuntu/XP build

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So i currently have a 5 year old Sony Viao, lets just say there's much to be desired, and its definitely time for an upgrade. I won't be shooting for top of the line products by any means, but i will look for a mix of price, performance and upgrade-ability. For this build i will target a few points;

1. Needs to be at lease a quad core
2. At least 4gb of RAM
3. NO ONBOARD VIDEO!!! (been plagued by this for the last 5 years)
4. Ready for overclocking (good cooler and a massive fan
and finally...
5. It has to look nice, im not dropping five stacks on something that looks like garbage

So, parts. We'll start with the mobo and cpu. Intel has never been my drug of choice so this will be an AMD build. Sticking to my build criteria, i will follow numbers 1 and 4 as they correspond to each other. After a fair amount of research, i have chosen an AMD Athlon X4 630. It was a toss-up between that and the 620. Why the 630? Multiplier, nothing more. The 630 has a 14x and the 620 a 13x. Modern arithmetic tells us that 14 > 13, so obvious choice there. To cool this puppy, a trusty Ultra Hyper 212, with a 3,000 rpm fan to replace the stocker. 133CFM at 100% was too enticing to pass up. To go along with this, an MSI 870-G45 was chosen for its AM3 socket and its support of DDR3 2000mhz.

After being somewhat limited with a 250gb HDD, i've learned to ration my HDD space. Consequently, i will be sticking with a standard WD Caviar 500gb sata drive. I do also have the old 250gb from the Viao that will go in a JBOD RAID. This way i should be able to boot from my old HDD, and still have the ability to boot from the new one and run Ubuntu. RAM will be dealt with by 4gb (2 x 2gb) G.Skill Ripjaws 1600mhz. Why G.Skill? A couple of reasons, cheap and 1600mhz. As for graphics, an ASUS geforce 210 512mb will have to do for now. Remember this is a budget build. To power all this, a Raidmax Hybrid 2 will be employed. Its semi-modular design and 85%+ efficiency were its major selling points. Plus 730 watts will cover my power demands with some to spare. And finally to house all of this and make the final product aesthetically pleasing, a Thermltake V6 case was chosen. The sata dock on top was very attractive, along with tool-less drive bays and pci slots, seven 5.25" bays is also very nice. A couple of extra case fans will also be added to boost the ventilation factor.

FULL PARTS LIST
MOBO: MSI 870-G45 $69.99
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 630 $88.99
HDD: Western Digital Caviar 500gb $49.99
CASE: Thermltake V6 $59.99
PSU: Raidmax Hybrid 2 59.99
GPU: Asus EN210 $39.99 $10 MIR
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600mhz $59.99
CPUC: Ultra Hyper 212 $29.99 $15 MIR
MISC: Scythe Ultra Kaze 120mm fan $9.99 (133cfm at 3000rpm)
Cooler Master 120mm LED fan $9.99
Thermal Paste $9.99
DVI Cable $9.99
Wrist strap $6.99

Now, the price. Did i stay under my $500 budget? Short answer, yes with an "almost", long answer, no with a "but". Total price, shipped to my door was $540.23, so yes, i almost met my budget. And no, but with $35 worth of mail-in rebates, i was close. I don't really expect to get that $35, but its worth the effort for me.

As far as overclocking goes, i plan to run 229mhz of FSB to achieve a respectable 3.2ghz. I will lower the RAM speed from 1600 to 1333 to make room for the up in FSB.

And there it is, a fast, reliable $500 Linux/XP box. This should last me at least the 5 years that my Viao did, and for half the price. I encourage questions and comments. Oh, and i hope my first post wasn't too intensive. I have a feeling it was.

tl;dr AMD based linux pc for $500
 
You already bought it? You could have done SO much better for the price...



Also, that PSU is awful. I don't mean to insult your rig, but it probably won't even make 500W, and will have awful stability. Raidmax units are generally like that. High wattage and low price is usually a very bad thing in a psu.

edit: That one even admits to running out of spec! Look on the side, and you'll see that it claims 70mv ripple on the 3.3v and 5v rails. The VERY MOST you should ever see is 50mv, the maximum allowed by the ATX standard. A good PSU will do much better. That thing will kill your components over time.


Welcome to the forums, btw.
 
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thanks guys, thats good info. i might end up sending it back, eating the $10 for shipping and get a better one. any other psu that would be good...besides the antec? not hating, just wondering what other options i might have. under $80 with at least 600 watts
 
Ah, I misunderstood what you meant. Here's a couple of good Antec units in that price range:
Neo ECO 620W-
---http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031
Earthwatts 650w- Not much for looks, but it's cheaper than the others...still performs well.
---http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Seasonic actually builds a lot of the more well-known manufacturer's units, including that Neo ECO. Some of the best ones on the market are based off of their M12D platform. The Earthwatts is built by Delta, who's primary focus is servers...it's also a solid unit. The Seasonic S12II I posted above is better than both of them, though.
 
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I will be swapping the optical drives from the vaio into the new box. Samsung DVDRW and a toshiba cd rom. Also, has anyone had any experience with the Thermaltake V6 case? I read some review that said the top 200mm fan contacts the mobo or cpu cooler. This doesn't sound good at all, but it's replaceable with a 120mm, so thats probably what i will do.
 
The thermaltake v-series kind of sucks, tbh. They have poor cable management and virtually no airflow to the power supply. Some of them are a little flimsy as well.
 
this particular case has a hole for the PSU fan on the bottom...and it's apparently raised up enough to provide ample air flow. is the fan the bottom of a psu intake or exhaust. If its intake, that shouldn't be too bad, right?
 
Alright, so power supply...which one to get. Antec's PSU calc gave me a total wattage of 346. Don't know how accurate it is. Suggestions please, i would prefer modular, but anything would be better than the one i have picked out now. The lower the price, the better. If you've been following this thread, you know i've already gone over my budget. Thanks.

edit: was looking at this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341022
or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016
 
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Trust me, dude, there are far better cases than the V6 for $80. It has very poor cable management, and a frustrating way of mounting the hard drives.and even worse, And you're right, likely won't be able to fit your motherboard in without removing the top fan because they didn't leave enough room up there. Have a look at these...all are better and about the same price:

Lian Li Lancool K58
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112238

Cooler Master 690 II basic
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119215

Cooler Master HAF 912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

NZXT Guardian 921
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146070

XCLIO Nighthawk
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103030

You could also get a better case in the NZXT Beta EVO and Gamma, and the Rosewill challenger, all of which can be had for $50 or less. I recommend the Beta EVO.


As for the PSU, I'd look at this if you have to have modular...only $4 more than the OCZ and miles ahead of either of them in quality:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093
 
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"It has to look nice, im not dropping five stacks on something that looks like garbage"

thats funny, its like your sayin im not dropping 2k. its only 500, your not getting alot with that budget.if anything you will be getting a low-end gaimg build that will play modern games at mid to low settings.why dont you just save that 500 and get another 200-400 more dollars for a decent build?
 
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