Entry Level Buyer’s Guide, July 2005
by Jarred Walton on July 20, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Memory Recommendations
RAM prices have mostly stabilized after some major price cuts over the past few months. We're going to go with 2x512MB for all of the configurations, though you could disperse the cost over a few months if you want to start with a single DIMM and add a second DIMM later. We wouldn't recommend getting anything smaller than a 512MB DIMM as RAM requirements are only going to increase in the future.
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Price: $83 shipped (Retail)
You can check out our prices for 2x512MB of PC3200 DDR at our Pricing Engine. Any of the brands listed there are safe bets - Corsair, Mushkin, Kingston, Patriot, Crucial, OCZ, GEIL, G.Skill, etc. - and we've gone with the lowest price on CL2.5 RAM for our recommendation.
If you're going with the socket 754 system, you could even go with a single 1024MB DIMM instead of two DIMMs - there is no dual-channel support on socket 754, you may recall. Prices for 1GB DIMMs are slightly higher than 2x512MB, and timings are generally slower with 3-3-3-8 being typical of GB DIMMs compared to 2.5-3-3-8 for the RAM we chose. Most people wouldn't notice the difference, however.
Click image to enlarge.
Price: $143 shipped (Retail)
For our upgraded DDR configuration, we're assuming that you're buying the Athlon 64 system. The reason why that's important is that Athlon 64 allows for a wider selection of CPU :RAM ratios, and 1:1 overclocking is not as important. Generally speaking, you want 2-2-2-7 1T timings at the fastest speed that your memory can handle. You can grab the OCZ VX or Mushkin Redline for 2-2-2 1T at higher speeds provided that your motherboard can supply the required voltage, but DDR400 with 2-2-2 1T is generally sufficient - maybe a few percent lower than higher clocked 2-2-2 RAM, but it's nothing to lose sleep over. This OCZ Gold uses Winbond BH5 chips, so you'll need to provide 2.8V to get 2-2-2-5 1T timings at DDR400. Intel users are better served by 1:1 ratio overclocking, but since both Intel setups are using 533FSB, any PC3200 RAM is going to be sufficient for reaching up to 4.0 GHz (assuming that the CPU can go that high).
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Price: $131 shipped (Retail)
While you can find faster DDR2 RAM - there are even PC-8000 DIMMs available - they are priced too high for a Budget Guide. We've gone with some reasonable RAM rated at DDR2-533 with 3-3-3-8 timings. You could go for RAM rated at DDR2-667, but with the processor that we've chosen, it won't matter much. Integrated graphics also stand to benefit from the faster DDR2 memory, but the difference is a case of slow graphics vs. not quite as slow graphics, so it's a minor point. By default, the RAM should run at DDR400 with the bus set to 133 MHz (533FSB), a ratio of 2:3. Raising the bus speed above 175 MHz (700FSB) might require you to adjust the memory ratio down to 3:4 in order to keep the RAM at or below the specified PC-4200 rating. Worth noting is that good quality DDR2 is now slightly cheaper than good quality DDR, so that's one less barrier to choosing DDR2.
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RussellCollins - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - link
So let's just start with some basics. I have relied upon the reviews here for the last 6 or 7 years when it came to building computers. I have built several of my own based upon a mix of recommendations from this site and personal research. My background is in mechanical engineering and I am currently working as a software test engineer. I say that to suggest that even those who know better can pay for their mistakes they shouldn't have made...I built a system for my parents (*gasp, that's already asking for trouble) based almost exclusively off this entry-level model (AMD flavor). It worked perfectly for about a week and then the system simply refused to turn on. I tried checking as many things as I could to narrow down the problem based on the limited equipment I had on hand. I thought at first that a bad power-supply might have fried some of the silicon so I had them get a new mobo after all the components plugged into it (save for the CPU) were tested on other machines and appeared to be fine.
Needless to say, I'm STILL ironing out the kinks in my spare time because it refuses to breath again. The fans all turn on but nobody's home (won't even post to BIOS). I'll be installing a new CoolerMaster PSU and probably new CPU this week just to finally resolve the issue.
Final words: go with your instinct for self-preservation and get a trustworthy power supply. It isn't worth the risk and headache. This was a good review overall but I wish now that I had gone with my first hunch to swap out power supplies before the first boot.
DarkForceRising - Sunday, August 28, 2005 - link
Does the Foxconn AMD Mobo. have integrated graphics?Gioron - Sunday, July 24, 2005 - link
Ok, I hate to harp on it, but I'm going to anyways. The included power supply in the case is a bad idea. Although I can't be sure this is the exact power supply, I went and found a review of a 350W codegen from annother cheap case. Here's the picture of the spec sheet: http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/codegen350...">http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/codegen350...Things of note:
How the hell does that add up to 350W? I only get about 330W just by adding everything together. It sure as heck can't output all of that at once, and usually its a good idea to ignore the piddly little negatives and the VSB buss, which would drop it down to a heck of a lot lower than 300W. Honestly, I'd be suprised if this can handle 200W well. The only real hope is that they've improved their 350W power supplies in the couple years since the review, but I would doubt it.
And then there's the quote from the article: "Worst case scenario - pardon the pun - is that you'll have to purchase a new power supply down the road (and/or deal with RMA issues)."
No, thats _NOT_ the worst case scenario, although its a likely scenario. I had to completely replace every component in my parent's computer when their power supply died. I tested everything seperately and every single component in the system was toast. And the real worst case scenario involves an electical fire burning your house down (yah yah, not terribly likely, but a lot more likely with that power supply than with a quality one). Power supply death isn't something you want to deal with.
As far as dell systems go, it was interesting to note that 2 of them on the site ended up dying when we had a planned power outage, even though the computers were switched off at the time. The sun boxes we also use came through fine.
Side note: I was viewing the comments, then had to reload the dang thing because of an error. Then <poof>, the new comment system was in. Somewhat confusing to get used to, not sure I like the change yet, but just barely using it. Might be a good idea to add post numbers to things like this, just since everyone is so used to saying "#12, you're an idiot", etc. And add a preview button while you're at it.
Pythias - Monday, September 5, 2005 - link
Is this budget system going to pull 330 watts at peak?spartacvs - Monday, July 25, 2005 - link
I totally agree with you. It's funny because the computer case is propably the least important part of a computer. But the power supply is probably the most important. lolI don't think the problem is comming from Jarred. IMO, he do a hell of a good job in his systems guides. No, imo, the problem might coming from the price limit. Maybe 500$ is too low, maybe go with 550-600$. Sure you can buy a system for that price but is it really viable? Will you end up with a much better system that will last longer (eg. the messages about the monitor) for 50-100$ more?
JarredWalton - Tuesday, August 2, 2005 - link
Thanks, spartacvs...The budget price is killer. I deal with people asking about $500 PCs all the time, and I shudder at the compromises that often need to be made. You're right about the PSU, Gioron: the WORST that can happen is really bad. Very unlikely IMO, but I have had a cheap PSU fry everything in a system (other than the graphics, sound, HDD, and CD-ROM). That was an old socket 370 board, and the Celeron, motherboard, and RAM all got toasted along with the PSU.
For what it's worth, I really do encourage people to upgrade the PSU. Still, I *think* these chepaer cases will do okay with budget components. Don't upgrade the graphics or CPU and stick with a single HDD and you should do okay. I think I may actually go out and purchase one of these cases for an article. A sort of PSU expose to see if I can get better OC results and stability with a good PSU rather than the crappy "350W" included. Heheheh.... stay tuned! :D
spartacvs - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
And you can still buy a video board later. Also, a monitor last longer (like most of the peripherals).Zebo - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
True I hear ya. But the low end LCD's dont usually have DVI... All I'm saying is if I had $500 for a system I'd rather have integrated graphics and a 17" LCD than a 6200 TC with a 17" cheap CRT. As ones budget gets higher more and better options open up.. maybe I'm just low-balling to much.:)OldPueblo - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
The 6200TC allows you to play BF2, D3, HL2, and whatever else for an amazingly low price. The card is a gift in my eyes. I have friends that just absolutely cannot afford anything else, and to them its a godsend.JarredWalton - Thursday, July 21, 2005 - link
44 - Calin, I'm not a big fan of mail-in rebates, so you're looking at $280 for the cheapest 19" LCD that has DVI input. If you don't mind MIRs, you can get an Aopen F90JS for $242 from Newegg - $70 MIR. I still say the Acer AL1914SMD at $307 is a great LCD, though. Expensive for a "budget" system, but a good display can last through 3 computer upgrades or more.43 - Zebo, I'd like to recommend an LCD with integrated graphics, but the lack of DVI output from the IGP motherboards makes the add-in card almost a requirement in my book. (That's another one of the problems I have with the "free LCD upgrades" you get from OEMs; LCDs without DVI are simply not the same.) It's still an option, though, and I think the recommendations in this Guide give people enough information to put together such a setup if they want.