Critique this budget build

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HOCP4ME

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Hey guys. I'm buliding two $400 computers to be used for programming and development work. The computers should also have the ability to run modeling and animation programs such as Inventor and 3Ds Max (not extremely well, just the ability to run them). We will be overclocking these as well. Here's what I'm looking at so far:

COOLER MASTER Elite 341 RC-341C-KKN1-GP Black Steel MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM

BIOSTAR G31D-M7 LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core2 Duo E7500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80571E7500 - Retail

OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2RPR800C44GK - Retail

MSI R4670-MD512 Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card - Retail

Please let me know what you think of these choices. Also, I need recommendations for a good PSU and CPU cooler to go with this build (those are separate from the $400 computer budget).

Thanks everyone.
 
Don't expect too much overclocking form that board unless you use videocards

I'd get the ram from the Forums. That is too high. I just picked up 8gb for $60, you could do the same.
 
$50 for 320GB is borderline absurd...other than that i think it looks good.

For power look at the Antec Earthwatts 380/430W, Corsair CX400 or PC Power and Cooling's Silencer 420W. All are $50 or under.
 
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gwarren007 said:
Don't expect too much overclocking form that board unless you use videocards

I'd get the ram from the Forums. That is too high. I just picked up 8gb for $60, you could do the same.
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I did put a video card in it. And yes, I'd love to get everything from the forums, but this stuff needs to get here by Friday, and we can't rely on forum users to ship that quickly (sorry, guys. :( )

As for the 320GB - well, it is a budget build, and we don't *need* anything more than that, so $10 is $10 in that case.
 
 
 
 
It's a great card on the budget - I haven't seen anything come near $40AR for the performance (got my friend's for ~$35 few weeks ago.. did a tooonnnn of price comparison between different cards)
 
jeremyshaw said:
The 9600GSO is a rebranded 8800GS, so it pushes over the 4670 by a fair amount.
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lowteckh said:
It's a great card on the budget - I haven't seen anything come near $40AR for the performance (got my friend's for ~$35 few weeks ago.. did a tooonnnn of price comparison between different cards)
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Okay, I've changed the video card. Still not convinced about changing to AMD, though.

Thanks for all the help guys. I'm sending out emails to four or five people right now as we tweak this list (to be ordered tomorrow), and this is almost as fast as an IM conversation. Very helpful! :)
 
$120 - E7500
$66 - X2 245

At twice the price and stock speeds, the E7500 is probably around 15% faster on avg. You can get a quadcore AMD for the price of the E7500, which would be much better for multi-threaded apps.

HOCP4ME said:
Can anyone recommend a decent CPU cooler for about $25?
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freezer 7 pro or hyper tx3 or hyper 212.
 
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enginurd said:
$120 - E7500
$66 - X2 245

At twice the price and stock speeds, the E7500 is probably around 15% faster on avg. You can get a quadcore AMD for the price of the E7500, which would be much better for multi-threaded apps.



freezer 7 pro or hyper tx3 or hyper 212.
Click to expand...

Okay, so how about the Gigabyte mobo mentioned above paired with an Athlon II X4 620?
 
Has any site benched the Phenom II 550 against the Athlon II 640?

Apparently a 785G can run Blu-Ray so that might suffice. Use 8GB and an overclocked 550?
 
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