Sub-$550 build.... advice greatly appreciated!!!

[iMpathetic]

Hey everyone.

I haven't been online in nearly a year. I used to have a Q6600 rig that I sold for a mountain bike, and kind of got out of computers. However, I don't think hiding from my true passion because it's socially unacceptable is a good idea anymore.

I am mainly a Mac guy. I love the Mac OS but honestly, I can't afford any more Mac crap. My iBook just died on me and I need a new computer, so I am going to build a PC and stick OS X on it. My goals are for the computer to look trick, perform well under both OS X and Windows, and cost under $550.

I am about to order the parts, and came back to XS to see if any of you gurus had advice for me.

One thing I would like to point out before I give the specs is that I am buying a GTX 260 for a friend (NetBurstXE on here) and he is giving me an E4600, an 8600GTS, and some cash in return, so switching CPUs is pretty much not an option.

Anyway... specs as of now...

ABS Aplus Monolith case
Corsair 400W PSU
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L motherboard
4GB Corsair PC-6400 memory
WD 320GB HDD
EVGA 8600GTS
Sony DVD-RW

That's about it, what do you guys think?

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!

[EniGmA1987]

Did you look on the OSx86 wiki to make sure the motherboard is compatible with OSX? I would look on there and choose my motherboard based off of a known fully working board with the latest version of OSX (10.5.6?)

[Ket]

I would get at least a 600w PSU, and if you plan to be a REAL maan, get a P45 mobo not that crummy G31 rubbish You can also pick up 4GB PC8500 for not too much price difference to PC6400 too, which naturally, is better.

[iMpathetic]

Did you look on the OSx86 wiki to make sure the motherboard is compatible with OSX? I would look on there and choose my motherboard based off of a known fully working board with the latest version of OSX (10.5.6?)

It works, I checked.

I would get at least a 600w PSU, and if you plan to be a REAL maan, get a P45 mobo not that crummy G31 rubbish You can also pick up 4GB PC8500 for not too much price difference to PC6400 too, which naturally, is better.

Again, my budget is $550 and I'm about $530 shipped after rebates with this.

That said, any part swaps I could/should do?

[Tonucci]

Hey everyone.

I haven't been online in nearly a year. I used to have a Q6600 rig that I sold for a mountain bike, and kind of got out of computers. However, I don't think hiding from my true passion because it's socially unacceptable is a good idea anymore.

I am mainly a Mac guy. I love the Mac OS but honestly, I can't afford any more Mac crap. My iBook just died on me and I need a new computer, so I am going to build a PC and stick OS X on it. My goals are for the computer to look trick, perform well under both OS X and Windows, and cost under $550.

I am about to order the parts, and came back to XS to see if any of you gurus had advice for me.

One thing I would like to point out before I give the specs is that I am buying a GTX 260 for a friend (NetBurstXE on here) and he is giving me an E4600, an 8600GTS, and some cash in return, so switching CPUs is pretty much not an option.

Anyway... specs as of now...

ABS Aplus Monolith case
Corsair 400W PSU
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L motherboard
4GB Corsair PC-6400 memory
WD 320GB HDD
EVGA 8600GTS
Sony DVD-RW

That's about it, what do you guys think?

THANKS FOR ALL YOUR HELP!!!

Good value overall

Other than the CPU it ressembles my M-ATX rig. Same mobo, hd, 450w corsair, 8600gt.... Well balanced for its price

ps: My board does around 400Mhz FSB, very nice mobo choice for its price.

[iMpathetic]

Good value overall

Other than the CPU it ressembles my M-ATX rig. Same mobo, hd, 450w corsair, 8600gt.... Well balanced for its price

Glad to hear it....

Looks like Micro Center has the E7400 for $90, but I don't want to renege on anything....

[Tonucci]

Glad to hear it....

Looks like Micro Center has the E7400 for $90, but I don't want to renege on anything....

well, I almost got an lower end cpu like the e4600 but ended up getting an e7300. I dont regret one bit, coz it OC like crazy, 3.8Ghz w/ low vcore on this mobo. With an e4600 Id not expect more than ~3.3Ghz with volts (I'd surely hope tho ).

If you arent an OC'er I wouldnt pay 90$ for the e7400 and just stick with the e4600.

[Ket]

$530 shipped? DAmn.. Sorry man I just don't think thats good value for money there...

[iMpathetic]

Netburst (my friend) said that with a good cooler, I'd be able to hit 3.4 or so.

I would love to OC, because the E4600 is the same CPU that is in my mom's Vostro minitower, and, as you can probably imagine, that's a MASSIVE blow to my ego.

Who knows, maybe I will buy a better CPU, but I don't want to piss him off.

Argh.

Any opinions on the case, BTW? It looks friggin' awesome and gets good reviews but there are no "real world" shots or reviews to be found.

[iMpathetic]

$530 shipped? DAmn.. Sorry man I just don't think thats good value for money there...

What would you recommend I change?

See, I am trading a GTX 260 for the E4600, like $40, and the 8600GTS.

Good deal?

Netburst is my friend though and I want him to be happy too....

[Tonucci]

$530 shipped? DAmn.. Sorry man I just don't think thats good value for money there...

These parts have very good value for an budget rig where I live, maybe not so much in the states (or where he is buying) ?

[iMpathetic]

States, yeah. Where are you?

Fark, look at this case!!




I swear, I might have to buy that case even to stick a Pentium 4 rig in. DAYUM, that's fine.

[Odyssey96]

What would you recommend I change?

See, I am trading a GTX 260 for the E4600, like $40, and the 8600GTS.

Good deal?

Netburst is my friend though and I want him to be happy too....

Not a good deal. Sell the GTX260 for $$$. You don't want a 8600GTS OR an E4600.

This is what I'd do (all priced through newegg):
Antec 300 (best case sub $100) $60
Samsung 640gb HD $60
Sapphire 4850 (destroys an 8600GTS) $150
Corsair CX400 PSU $50
4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 $45
Asus P5QL PRO P43 MOBO (OPEN BOX, save mucho $$$) $60
Intel E7400 C2D $120
Samsung 22x SATA Disc Drive $20

Total: $565
If you add the GTX260 money, you could afford an after market cpu fan (Xigmatek S1283) a NIB mobo, etc.

[B.E.E.F.]

What would you recommend I change?

See, I am trading a GTX 260 for the E4600, like $40, and the 8600GTS.

Good deal?

Netburst is my friend though and I want him to be happy too....

That's not a good deal. Keep the GTX260 and put it in your system or eBay the thing for more money.

You can build a good system for $530 shipped since you already have a GPU. Newegg has great prices.

[B.E.E.F.]

Not a good deal. Sell the GTX260 for $$$. You don't want a 8600GTS OR an E4600.

This is what I'd do (all priced through newegg):
Antec 300 (best case sub $100) $60
Samsung 640gb HD $60
Sapphire 4850 (destroys an 8600GTS) $150
Corsair CX400 PSU $50
4GB G.Skill DDR2 800 $45
Asus P5QL PRO P43 MOBO (OPEN BOX, save mucho $$$) $60
Intel E7400 C2D $120
Samsung 22x SATA Disc Drive $20

Total: $565
If you add the GTX260 money, you could afford an after market cpu fan (Xigmatek S1283) a NIB mobo, etc.

You must mean Western Digital 640GB HD. Better performer. The P5QL is crap. At least P5Q-E for a system like that.


My build:

1. PhenomII X4 810 $175
2. GTX260 $0
3. WD6400AAKS $70
4. Antec 300 Case $60
5. Seasonic 400W 80plus PSU $54 (you need a bigger one if you OC or crossfire)
6. Jetway 790GX JHA07 $110
7. 4GB DDR2-800 Geil Black Dragon $39
8. DVD Burner $20

Total: $528

I would go PhenomII over Core2Duo. The Duo is a dead platform. Its being replaced now by i7. No more CPUs coming down the pipe! The PhenomII system is also faster than a Intel E7xxx build for most applications.

[vengance_01]

I agree with the above poster. Just get a board that supports CF. 790GX is a great chipset.

[iMpathetic]

Everyone, I don't want to make a super-long multi-quote post, so here's what I basically have to do.

I have to go with the E4600. I know the trade with my friend may not seem like a good deal, but it's kind of a mutually beneficial thing. His parents will NEVER let him spend more money on a graphics card, and my parents don't give a sh*t, but I do need parts.

I kind of wish there was a way to make my build better and keep him happy. He did say he has an E6550 I could use instead, would that be any better?

P.S. I don't actually HAVE the GTZ260, I have to buy it and then he will trade me.

P.P.S. I don't really want to go AMD..... will be running OS X on this system quite a bit and it will be easier than Intel.

Thanks for all your help, everybody! (Assuming I get the E4600 or E6550, what can I change on my build? I am gonna order parts this afternoon. Some of them, anyway.)

[Tonucci]

IIRC the e6550 has only 7x multi, with an low end board it wont OC much ok. You would need way above 400FSB (would yield only 2.8Ghz....) to get decent clocks out of it.

[B.E.E.F.]

P.P.S. I don't really want to go AMD..... will be running OS X on this system quite a bit and it will be easier than Intel.

Thanks for all your help, everybody! (Assuming I get the E4600 or E6550, what can I change on my build? I am gonna order parts this afternoon. Some of them, anyway.)

Wow. These are all terrible decisions. Whatever works for you. Good luck.

Just out of curiosity, did you go to the OSX86 forums and see what hardware is most compatible? Or do you plan on luck that everything works with OSX.

[iMpathetic]

You know, I don't really know if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed or something, but I still don't see why you have to berate me for being a noob at all this.

Yes, I checked if stuff will be compatible. I know that it's easier to run OS X on Intel procs than AMD. While I am new to this, I'm not collossaly retarded.

Honestly, just because you're very knowledgeable at this does not mean you're any better than me, not even on these boards.

Treat me like a person, not a misbehaving puppy, OK?

[EniGmA1987]

If you can wait a little while before building (and if a 4850 is OSX compatible) you can get an ATI 4850 for around $120 or so. There are price cuts coming soon for the 4870 and 4850 cards. Save some money and get a much better card that way...

[iMpathetic]

All right, I will look into that for sure. I don't really do the whole gaming thing.... but a better card is always nice to have.

Looks like I may be selling my bike in addition to the money I have now, in which case I'd end up with about $1300. Configured a very nice system for that price... anyone have any input for that end of the price spectrum?

@B.E.E.F: I'm sorry for ripping into you in that post. I know you were just trying to help. I thought I was being talked down to, and being a kid, I really hate that.

No hard feelings?

[B.E.E.F.]

@B.E.E.F: I'm sorry for ripping into you in that post. I know you were just trying to help. I thought I was being talked down to, and being a kid, I really hate that.

No hard feelings?

No, not really. I'm trying to help you out not talking down to you. Before you make your decision check out the OSX86 forum.

Check each and every component for 100% compatibility otherwise you are going to spend SO much time troubleshooting. Being a hacked OSX, there's little hope for you to fix the problems.


So now you have $1300. Are you still going for an OSX86 compatible machine?

[iMpathetic]

I still am, yes. I am not, however, prepared to compromise as far as hardware goes. If it looks like my ideal build is not going to work, I'll change stuff around, but if the build would be crappy, I'm not going to bother. I have some older laptops I can mess around on too...

I am going to look at that thread with all the different builds and see what there is to see. I am not going to put huge emphasis on graphics, though, I don't really play games that much.

[B.E.E.F.]

I am going to look at that thread with all the different builds and see what there is to see. I am not going to put huge emphasis on graphics, though, I don't really play games that much.

So what is it you want for $1300?

Quiet, pretty, reliable, overclockable, performance (different kinds available)...