Build for general usage computer

jak/mar

Hi guys,
I'm building a pc for my brother for his birthday as his current computer is terrible but it needs to be pretty cheap :P
He will be using it for general browsing and playing a few games that aren't demanding.
This is what ive come up with:

I wont be needing a graphics card as I'm reusing a HIS4850 from a previous build.
Any comments on what I've chosen would be appreciated.
Thanks

deconduo

I'd make a few small changes:

Total build cost: €246.24 + €30 shipping
4GB-Kit Kingston ValueRAM PC3-10667U CL9 €19.59
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, SATA II (HD502HJ) €32.95
Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower - black/black, ohne Netzteil €31.89
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €16.57
AMD Athlon II X3 450 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3 €60.89
ASUS M4A77T, Sockel AM3, ATX €43.43
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €40.92

-Added a DVD drive though you can drop it if you don't need it
-Cheaper RAM, no need to spend almost twice the price for essentially no extra performance
-Much better PSU
-Nicer case
-Upgraded the CPU, also theres a chance to unlock it into a full Phenom II X4

Tea_Bag

cheap is fine, but what's your actual budget? could you squeeze the athlon x3 in there? could get lucky and unlock it to a quad core for free. much better chip than the x2 either way and isn't much more.

Tea_Bag

ninja'd like a pro Dec.

stupid mobile typing takes long.

jak/mar

Budget would be of max €350.
Suppose I could throw a x3 in there or maybe better...

jak/mar

Ive changed the processor and motherboard and now I have this:

Total build cost: €301.38 + €30 shipping
Gigabyte GA-970-UD3, AMD 970, AM3+, ATX €77.06
4GB-Kit Kingston ValueRAM PC3-10667U CL9 €20.39
Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB, SATA II (HD502HJ) €33.59
Xigmatek Asgard II Midi Tower - black/black, ohne Netzteil €31.61
Samsung SH-222AB bare schwarz SATA €16.52
Super-Flower Amazon 80Plus 450W €41.02
AMD Athlon II X4 640 Box AM3 €81.19

I'm kind of trying to future-proof it somewhat but for cheap.
Any comments?
Thanks

Solitaire

Closing comment, but its a biggie:

jak/mar wrote: »

and playing a few games that aren't demanding.

What do you mean there? Are any of them 3D and newer than five years old?

hansov

Solitaire wrote: »

Closing comment, but its a biggie:
What do you mean there? Are any of them 3D and newer than five years old?

I'm watching this thread as planning on doing something similar. Would the OP's latest configuration not cope with newer games? Thanks

Tea_Bag

hansov wrote: »

I'm watching this thread as planning on doing something similar. Would the OP's latest configuration not cope with newer games? Thanks

Not at HD resolutions. 4850 is dated at this stage. You'd want to spend an extra say €170 and upgrade the CPU to a phenom x4 955 and a HD 6850 really. That would handle most games today quite well.

jak/mar

Alright the parts arrived and the ram looks different.
It is a lot thinner than any other ram that I've seen before.
Will it fit?

Fluffy88

If it's the 4GB-Kit Kingston ValueRAM PC3-10667U CL9 that you have posted above it's fine.

The RAM doesn't have heatspreaders which is probably what's confusing you.

It looks like normal desktop DIMMs to me.

ITDemo

EDIT: Fluffy is probably right, sorry :P

I can't say for sure, but the only problem I've ever had with RAM is the density. Perhaps that is HIGH or LOW density (forget which is the less common).
Hopefully someone else can confirm as I am not 100%, best of luck anyway

jak/mar

Fluffy88 wrote: »

If it's the 4GB-Kit Kingston ValueRAM PC3-10667U CL9 that you have posted above it's fine.

The RAM doesn't have heatspreaders which is probably what's confusing you.

It looks like normal desktop DIMMs to me.

The picture I took might be misleading but the size of the two sticks combined is about the size of one normal stick.

deconduo

jak/mar wrote: »

The picture I took might be misleading but the size of the two sticks combined is about the size of one normal stick.

You might have gotten Laptop RAM by accident maybe? Are you sure that this kingston RAM is the one you ordered:

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44138&agid=1192&lb

Fluffy88

I can't read anything in the picture.

But once the box or the RAM it's self has DIMM 240-PIN on it then it's regular desktop RAM.

It should have little dimples in it like these,
http://www.budgetmemory.co.uk/img/komputerbay-4gb-2x-2gb-ddr2-667mhz-pc2-5300-pc2-5400-cl-5-dimm-240-pin-4-gb-am2-only-works-on-amd-motherboards_3687_500.jpg

Just check to see if the teeth on the RAM chips fit into the slots on the motherboard.
If it does then you all set. I not try take a better picture :P

jak/mar

deconduo wrote: »

You might have gotten Laptop RAM by accident maybe? Are you sure that this kingston RAM is the one you ordered:

http://www3.hardwareversand.de/articledetail.jsp?aid=44138&agid=1192&lb

Yeah that is the ram I ordered. Laptop ram is usually shorter than desktop ram; this is thinner than even laptop ram.

deconduo

jak/mar wrote: »

Yeah that is the ram I ordered. Laptop ram is usually shorter than desktop ram; this is thinner than even laptop ram.

Then you're fine Its just doesn't have heatspreaders like fluffy said.

jak/mar

Just another image of the ram. Sorry about the quality.
Desktop DDR2 ram is on the left and this ram is on the right