Currently I have

HD 4890- Graphics Card
Keyboard
Mouse
Speakers
Hp 2009m Monitor
(corsair cmpsu 750 watt in transit)
-------------------------------------------

Thats what I currently own, and I was wondering if anyone had good reccomendations or woud build me one for a decent price.

My budget is about $400 USD, considering i have the graphics card and power supply out of the way already, i would say thats not bad?

I am not a tech geek, so go easy with specs and things that would confuse a 17 year old just graduating from high school.

Thanks
KB

Edit** i just know im asking for trouble...

eh what the hell.. ill go $500, just take another weeks worth of work.

Also would prefer HP.

Gateway scares me.

Gigabyte MB, ready for dual GPUs (you mentioned that in the previous thread)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128387
$109.99

Triple core CPU. The Athlon II range has no L3 cache, unlike the Phenom IIs, but the difference in performance is negligable, but the price difference is pretty large.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103724
$89.99

800Mhz DDR2 800 memory, overclockable and or timings can be tightened
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184
$89.99

Case will be almost entirely down to your tastes, I've speced an Antec 300 for reference.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
$51.95

Westy BLACK 500GB hard drive. The black range RULES, but is pricey, blue might be better.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320
$69.99

Total $411.91 + optical drive, but I'm sure you already have that covered.

and build it yourself, best way to learn stuff, get more of a connection with your equipment and some experience.
If the OLD Viking can do it, so can you our young padawan

id second an antec case. i use antec cases. good value, high quality. you cant go far wrong.

ddr2 ram badged at 1066 is about the same price as 800, here. (dont know how it compares in the US).

skip this if its too technical, but
try for cas 4 for 800 or cas 5 for 1066, but dont pay much extra. take note of voltage as well as cas latency. the timings they list arent worth much more than the label if you have to overvolt to reach them, but it cant hurt to buy the highest spec you can for the same money.

(the ram peanut linked to there is listed as cas 5 at 1.8v, which probably means its as good as any 800 rated for cas 4 at 2.2v)

That's why I loved that men lappy.
Initially id gone with corsair 800 cas 4, but it was 2.2v and $40 more than the 5 with 1.8.

For the uninformed: higher speed components are usually the product as mid range, just with the. wick turned up (but tested in-house for that speed). It's 'often' the case that the home user can get their components to run at the higher speed too, or very close to it, while saving a chunk of cash at the same time.

Very intruiging proposition, 400$ is a reasonable price, since most good gaming PC's start at $500, but those are mostly grapghic card expenses... hmm i just may try this

Thanks

KB

That's why I linked that mem lappy.
Initially id gone with corsair 800 cas 4, but it was 2.2v and $40 more than the 5 with 1.8.

For the uninformed: higher speed components are usually the product as mid range, just with the. wick turned up (but tested in-house for that speed). It's 'often' the case that the home user can get their components to run at the higher speed too, or very close to it, while saving a chunk of cash at the same time.

the first version was better : )

anything for a discount : )

you all forgot the operating system. if he is already running a 64 bit os and can use his old hard drive as the primary boot then 4gb is well and good but if he only has 32 bit operating system then you are just wasting gb as not all that ram will register.

for 2gb ram I would rec:
for ddr2 1066 cas 5 2V http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820231144
For dd2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820178221

Now that saves you a few bucks so you can get a either a new copy of windows or a better case. this is the case I am using http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811119152

btw optical device. you will not get blu ray way to expensive so go for this nice dvd burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827118032
NEVER EVER BUY A LITE ON OPTICAL DRIVE

ah sorry, new operating system, this will be a completely new system. I currently am renting my fathers pc, and bought accessories for it. Going to college soon, so i am going to bulild my own.

Thanks

KB

ok then you might as well get the 64 bit version http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6832116758

student!!! operating systems.

go here:

http://www.gnu.org/

Don't bother with the pro version ORCA linked.
Just go with home premium http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

Better yet, you should be able to pick up a student version, which is ALOT cheaper than standard!

Or even better still, go with Linux!
It's VERY cheap (that's if you wanna donate money, free otherwise) and you can learn ALOT about computers while you're at it!

Also, as much as I repect G-Skill memory, I much prefer Corsair memory, costs a little more sometimes, but always found them to be highly reliable. Crucial is my prefered mem manufactuer tho.

Optical drive wise.
Blu-Ray is priced pretty well now, £50 over here (doesn't burn BD tho only DVD) but you won't be able to afford BD media anyway.
Lite on drives are fine IMO, not really given two hoots about optical for a few years tho, use downloads and flash FAR more than a legacy technology such as optical disks (that includes crappy BD).

he won't have unlimited installations with the student version though. Linux? please not be serious. he is entering college which means he is going to need compatibility not a tinker toy. besides if he wants to tinker he can put the linux in another partition. True enough that premium would probably cover his needs very well though. At the mem yep all top quality brands.

From my experience penut lite on drives are of poor quality. High burn failure rate and mechanical problems.

Tinker you, compatability?

Linux is compatible with Windows, it's M$ who go out of their way to be incompatible with others.

Optical drive, drivers? PMSL!
Burn failure, yea, maybe at the highest speeds, but should never use high speed for important burning, I never use the high speeds anyway, as between media and drives, the failures are too common, regardless of manufacturer!