Low-Cost Build
Here is a build I made, but the thing that is special about this one is that I actually made it so I can vouch for it’s strengths and weaknesses. The budget for this build was $400(or as low as possible with good performance), so here we go-
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103211
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138111
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136075
Case+PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147093
DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106228
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141300
So far the CPU has worked great, and it is a great value for a really cheap price. It works great at 2.6Ghz and Dual-Core performance. For the RAM, I just went with a cheap stick of DDR2 800 2GB model, and it has exceeded my expectations like the processor has. For this I got by with a $50 motherboard that has also worked well, although if I had my choice, I would have chosen better sound and more PCI/express slots. But it suits the job well. Right now I am just using the onboard video, which is fairly good- it can play Star Wars Battlefront II in 800×600 pretty fast, but in the scope of things it isn’t that great. The video will probably be one of the first thigns I upgrade. I also went with a pretty cheap case and PSU, but the quality is mostly good. It retains a nice basic look so it should look good just about anywhere and the PSU has worked suprisingly well so far. The two bad things I have found are that it is sort of flimsy, and you should take caution when you are punching out optical drive faceplates because the metal guards on then can cut you pretty good. Got a nice little gash on my thumb. The Hard Drive- a 160GB model is good since I will be the only one using it, and it isn’t like I can’t just add another one in the future. And the DVD Burner has worked great so far beside the fact that it is a little noisy, but I have it directly on top of my desk so of course the vibrations would go throughout the desk. For these parts, the price total comes to $246, but keep in mind that I bought a keyboard+mouse, speakers, and several other thigns with this so for me the total came to about $400.