I'm thinking of building a computer, but my dad dosen't see the fact that doing so is a huge investment, and sets me up for a few years to come. Anyways... I basicly need a new everything except for mouse/keyboard/monitor/speakers etc.

So yeah, I need a bit of price help, and these are the things a need...

Stick of 512 mb DDR RAM

80 GB Hard drive

A decent AMD whatever

New motherboard

Case (Dosen't matter. I really just need a new powersupply. I can always use a cardboard box)

OPTIONAL: New soundcard, and a water cooling system


Canadian prices if you can please.

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"Dalton, that pie just moved of it's own accord."

"You must be mistaken, Tess. A pie can't move."

I can't find my bills so I'll just give you approximates of what I bought a few months ago.


512mb of ram = ~100$

processor; AMD Athlon XP2500+ 1.8ghz = ~110$

ATI Radeon 9200 pro 128mb = ~100$

Motherboard; NVidia nForce 2 K7N2 Delta (for athlon XP processors) = ~120$

Power supply (unknown brand/model) = 60$


This was last January so prices should've dropped a tad. With taxes and everything it cost me around 600$c (but I also bought an extra fan)

Despite what everyone says about them, NVidia makes excellent motherboards.

[edit: radeon 9200 was 100, not 120.]

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WAITER: Here’s your green salad, sir.
ANAKIN: What? You fool, I told you NO CROUTONS! Aaaaaaargh!



[This message has been edited by Flexor (edited August 03, 2004).]

I would not invest in liquid cooling unless you are a complete hardware enthusiast and plan to do some heavy overclocking.

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ZGPC

Alright lets see... That Radeon is a video card right? I already use a nVidia GeForce 5200 128 MB.. This is it uses a PCI bus. Does that motherboard that you listed have one?


Also, I wasn't really planning on using a water cooling system. Just the normal fans.

What about sound cards?

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"Dalton, that pie just moved of it's own accord."

"You must be mistaken, Tess. A pie can't move."

[This message has been edited by Glyde Bane (edited August 03, 2004).]

512MB Corsair PC3200 - $99 ($130.526 CAD)
Athlon XP Barton 2500+ - $89 ($117.341 CAD)
Asus A7N8X-E nForce 2 - $109 ($143.715 CAD)
Antec Sonata w/ 380W PSU - $109 ($143.715 CAD)
Seagate 80GB Hard Drive - $89 ($117.341 CAD)
Built-In SoundStorm sound on Motherboard - $0 ($0 CAD)

Total w/o tax = $495 ($652.736 CAD)

All prices are from where I work, Fry's Electronics, so depending where you shop you might find lower you might find higher.

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The Matrix is not Linux compatible.

i donno much about building computers, but a cardboard box wont give you good air cirulation, and that could cause a fire.. witch will melt the circut boards... and your computer will be turned into a smoldering pile of plastic and metal.

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IMPORTANT NOTICE PLEASE READ

Employees dying on the job are faling to fall down. THIS PRACTICE MUST STOP as it becmes impossible to distinguish between death and the natural movement of he staf.

Any employee found dead in an upright position will be dropped from the payroll.

...Or if you have a lot of cash and want a silent PC.

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The Massassi-Map
There is no spoon.

My PC is silent. Air cooled. Water cooling isn't only unneccesarily pricey, it's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing.

My two bits--they gave you good processors blah blah etc, but you need at least a 9600 Pro, or better. 9600XT, 9700 Pro, 9800, 9800np, 6800GT, take your pick, depending on your price range.


EDIT: That is if you want to play games.
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[This message has been edited by Dj Yoshi (edited August 03, 2004).]

Well, apparently my budget is a whopping 400$.

Is there such thing as a stick of 384 RAM (min for DooM3, painkiller and such)?

Also, I need the cheapest processor I can get, but it has to be decent, like you said.

I don't really need a new sound card or case at the moment. I'm just hoping all this crap will fit into my old one.

What's a nice cheap motherboard that will work with all this? I mean, as cheap as possible. My dad still dosen't think the best stuff is a good investment Oh, and make sure that it supports upgrades, incase I somehow can get more RAM.



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"Dalton, that pie just moved of it's own accord."

"You must be mistaken, Tess. A pie can't move."

No, memory only comes in powers of 2. (That's not to say you still can'tget it, but it would take two sticks since 128+256 is 384.) You really don't want to go that low though...

And you can actually get 512 MB for less than $100. $80, sometimes less.

[This message has been edited by Darth (edited August 03, 2004).]

512MB PC2700 is like...80 bucks-ish? American. The most inexpensive motherboard you can get is like 50 bucks American, so like, 70 Canadian I guess. Best processor for your price is probably the 2500+ Barton. Check around your stores, online if possible. See what you can come up with.

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