My dad finally gave in and decided to upgrade that dinosaur he's been using for the past 7 years. He gave me a $500 budget, and this is what I came up with:

AMD 64 Machine

Here's the specs:

1 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: CAC-T05-UW
In Stock
$49.99 -$5.00 Instant $44.99

1 ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: 939Dual-SATA2
In Stock
$69.00 $69.00

1 Rosewill RW5200-128D2 Geforce FX5200 128MB DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail
Model #: RW5200-128D2
In Stock
$36.99 $36.99

1 Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: W0070
In Stock
Mail-in Rebate
$36.50 $36.50

1 AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3200BPBOX
** This item is warranted through the product manufacturer only. what's this?
In Stock
$152.00 $152.00

1 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model VS1GBKIT400 - Retail
Model #: VS1GBKIT400
In Stock
$79.67 $79.67

1 SAMSUNG Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive Windows 98SE/ ME/ 2000/ XP - OEM
Model #: SFD321B/LBL1
In Stock
$7.99 $7.99

1 Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: WD800JD
In Stock
$53.50 $53.50

1 Logitech Office Internet Pro 967453-0403 Black PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard - OEM
Model #: 967453-0403
In Stock
$3.99 $3.99

1 Logitech MX310 930928-0403 2 tone 6 Buttons 1x Wheel USB + PS/2 Optical Mouse - Retail
Model #: 930928-0403
In Stock
$19.99 $19.99

1 NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3540A - OEM
Model #: ND-3540A Black
In Stock
$38.99 $38.99

Subtotal: $543.61


This is not intended to be a gaming PC, just a desktop replacement that'll last him another 7 years without getting too outdated.

Things I'm kinda iffy about:

• The PSU. I'm not 100% comfortable with it, mainly b/c I don't know much about it.
• The GPU. I know Rosewill makes some good stuff, but not sure about this one. Looks to be a good regular use card from what I can tell.

If I've overlooked anything, do tell. Any other opinions, feel free to share.

 

I think that it is very good for $500

 

mean's that its only warrented through amd there should be no worries amd makes a damn fine product

 

I would say the same thing..You'll be just fine with AMD..if not unless it LOOKS like you overclocked it then they'll replace it no questions asked.

 

the only thing on there i'd reconsider is that motherboard.. get a name brand.. stuff like foxconn, asrock, rosewill.. etc, all no name in my books..

asus, msi, dfi, abit, etc... (especially if you're expecting a 7 year lifespan )

also, since you said its not a gamer, save the few bucks and get the 3000+, if you do decide to turn it into a gamer, it's just as overclockable as the 3200+, only its shy by 1 multiplier. only, if you do decide to do this, then you will need better then 'valueselect' ram. i admit corsair makes a great product, but thats their higher end stuff.

other then that, it's a great replacement rig.

 

A power supply is not something you should skimp on. Check out www.pcpowercooling.com Read their 'Technology' information, read the reviews, search the brand on google for more reviews....and then buy their cheapest one. It will outlast and outperform that Thermaltake you listed.

 

for a computer under $500 PCPC is way too expensive for him and his paw.

I would agree with the motherboard statement. I would go namebrand with that. but I would stay away from ABIT, mine sucks and I hear they are going out of business.

 

I've heard nothing but good things about that ASRock board. Reason it's so cheap is because not many people know about it yet. That's why Asus is so expensive, because of their good reputation. They do make a good board, but I have the feeling you can get something similar for less.

Check out this thread:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

More good info on this board:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messagev...&enterthread=y

However, I'm going to play around with it a little more. I might want to switch over to a PCI-E GPU and go with the Chaintech VNF4 Ultra board.

More research for me!

 

I agree. The cheapest one I can find goes for $200! I'll keep it in mind when I get ready to build my dual Opteron system.

 

I wouldnt get a different mother board and PSU. The only reason I say that is because I have no experience with either product. But they are both 2 of the most important components.

 

i didn't read the 2 articles (shame on me) but I'm assuming they're saying that ASRock is a top performer, for speed, or options. When I was saying to go with a name brand it was more for longevity, ASRock has only been around since 2002... so, we still don't know how well constructed their boards are.

As for the PSU in question, I have installed about 100 Thermaltake power supplies in various systems, none were D.O.A, and in the time I worked there, none came back. So, I will say from my experience that they are a pretty reliable product. As for construction, they feel and look very well built, and have quite a bit of weight to them.

 

ASRock is more or less made by Asus, so I think I'm going with them. I've read nothing but good things about them, and it is supposed to be a very upgradeable board. I'm still tinkering around with the list, and probably will be for the next few days. I'll post back my final config.

 

Now I'm contemplating not going with a 64 bit proc. It's going to be running XP Pro 32 bit, so it probably won't ever see a 64 bit OS... at least not anytime soon. So right now I'm trying to decide between the AMD 64 Venice or AMD XP Barton proc. Which would yield greater performance on a 32 bit system?

I should have been more specific... This PC isn't going to be used for any gaming whatsoever, other that maybe solitaire or freecell occasionally. It's mainly going to be used for internet access, word processing, CD/DVD burning, possibly as a home media center later on. Just looking for the best bang for the buck processor wise when it comes to this stuff.

 

Just go with an xp cpu then even know that 64 bit cpu works very nicely under xp 32bit. same some money and go with a socket a mother board and a barton xp cpu. why not go with onboard video?

 

I want an ATX board, not micro, and I'd really want to get everything from one place. NewEgg doesn't have much of a selection for ATX boards with the A type socket.

I just can't bring myself to settle for a Barton XP when the Athlon 64 is only $2 more. Maybe I'm missing something? Check out the comparison: AMD XP vs. AMD 64

 

honestly i'd get the 64.. in 2 years time you can pick up an old 4200 or something for cheap and get a big performance boost, where as socket A is long dead. not to mention the performance gains in speed and lesser heat the new 64s have over the old socket A chips such as the barton.

 

not sure why you couldn't find any ATX socket A boards but i found 26 of them but yeah for the price of them compared go with the S939 set up . weird how high xp cpus are priced

 

It's on the way. The link in my first post shows the final config I settled on.

 

when i said they were 'long dead' i mean, they havent been devoping anything new for that socket in a long time. but yes, there are still MANY manufacturers that make boards for that socket, just nothin new.

 

I knew what you meant