Mid range PC

[taper]

A friend of mine is looking at getting a new computer, but I'm not too familiar with mid range stuff. He's not a gamer, it'll be mostly used for internet, homework, probably some video watching, but no editing.

I was looking at a 3200 Venice chip, and the ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 Socket 939 ULi M1695 MB. The main reason for this board is that is has both AGP and PCI-Express slots. He already has an older video card that he plans on reusing, but wants to be able to move up in a year or so. I don't know what card it is though.

1 GB Kingston, 40-80 gig HD, CD-RW/DVD-ROM, basic sound card, etc. He also has a quality 300 watt PSU from his old computer, but will that be enough for this one?

He wouldn't mind an Intel setup either, but I don't know anything about those. Price and ease of use is more important than raw power. I'll be putting it together, it just needs to run without issue from then on.

Any suggestions?

 

[logical_psycho]

Looks good to me now, but when upgrading the video card he might have to upgrade the PSU as well. Of course he can try it with his old PSU before deciding to replace it.

 

[vyapti]

I used to use cheap/recycled Power Supplies and ended up replacing them every time. On the up side, I've never lost a component when the PSU died and if it's underpowered, the MB probably won't even kick on.

 

[dragokatzov]

psu might need to be upgraded. pretty much all socket 939 motherboards require a 24 pin psu

 

[Speedo]

The Asrock board seems to be a good choice, especially considering the price. I know several people that are using them. Another advantage to it is that it will support AMD's new M2 socket when it is released. It has a slot for a "daughter card" that will hold the 940 pin M2 CPUs, and the DDR2 memory.

The 300W PSU should be adequate if it can support connection requirements of the Asrock board. IIRC it needs a 24 pin main and the supplemental 12V 4 pin. Odds are (if that PSU's more than a year or so old) it won't support that. If it doesn't, you may as well shoot for a quality PSU in the 450W range, which should go ahead and cover just about any gfx card upgrade he'd decide to make.

If he's not on an extremely tight budget I would consider getting the San Diego core 3700. It's only about $50 more than the Venice 3200, and it seems to be the current "sweet spot" to get the best bang-for-buck.

 

[FriendlyFire]

Or you can also buy a PSU cable convertor (I brought mine for $9au - $6us)
No problems with it.

Get a 160gig HDD the price difference will only be around $15 dollars more for a much larger harddrive.

I would also recommend strongly that you look at adding additional fans on your case. perferabaly a 12cm ball bearing fan to improveairflow. Unless you already have a quality case.

 

[FriendlyFire]

If he's not on an extremely tight budget I would consider getting the San Diego core 3700. It's only about $50 more than the Venice 3200, and it seems to be the current "sweet spot" to get the best bang-for-buck.

O_O OMG
/ checks latest prices

227 vs 348 = 121 dollars differance about 50% more

 

[dragokatzov]

Another advantage to it is that it will support AMD's new M2 socket when it is released. It has a slot for a "daughter card" that will hold the 940 pin M2 CPUs, and the DDR2 memory.

not on the Asrock s939 dual-sata. There is another asrock board that does have the slot for the daughter card, but not this one

 

[taper]

Thanks for all the replies. The MB is a 20 pin, and while the 3700 is a great chip(that's the one I have), it's more than he needs, and the extra money is important. Probably order the parts tomorrow.

 

[Speedo]

O_O OMG
/ checks latest prices

227 vs 348 = 121 dollars differance about 50% more

US ~$170 vs $220

not on the Asrock s939 dual-sata. There is another asrock board that does have the slot for the daughter card, but not this one

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2524&p=2

 

[dragokatzov]

Thanks for all the replies. The MB is a 20 pin, and while the 3700 is a great chip(that's the one I have), it's more than he needs, and the extra money is important. Probably order the parts tomorrow.

its 20 pin? hmmm, i thought all s939 were 24....

 

[Speedo]

Not this particular Asrock. Read about halfway down the page of the Anandtech review I linked to.

 

[dragokatzov]

so it does need a 20 pin psu. well, its a lot better than paying like 200$ for a half decent 24 pin psu