I'll look a little later tonight. There's the thread for a ~$1200 USD machine, but that's a little steep for your bill.

Right off, the thing to do is get a single core Athlon 3700, and build around that.

Given your constraints, this is what I'd do. Its your lucky day, BTW, cost wise. Things just dropped.

$211: AMD64 3700 Retail (SD Core)
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80719-5

$78: Asus A8N-VM nForce 410/GeForce 6100 Athlon 64(FX)/64 X2 Dual-Core Skt939 DDR M-ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247027

$168: Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/2G 2GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Memory Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-50

--OR--

$85: Kingston KVR400X64C3AK2/1G 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Memory Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-22

$140: Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6V300F0 300GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=100719-8

$48: Liteon SHW-160P6SBLACK 16X Dual Layer DVD±RW Drive (Black) Retail
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=170675

$50 Case. EZ Media G7TDBLK EZM G7 Thermal Display Mid Tower Gaming Case (Black) Retail w/480W Power Supply
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=141505

$211 AMD64 3700
$78 MB + GF6IGP Video
$168 2GB RAM (or $85 for 1GB)
$140 300GB HD SATA II
$48 CD/DVD
$50 Case

$695

You can save $85 by getting 1GB RAM, but 2GB -- DUAL CHANNEL (e.g., matched pair) -- is important for the future (you can't upgrade it without replacing it), and RAM has a big impact on games like BF2.

Do not cut corners with the Hard Drive or the CPU or the case. Thermaltake is a good brand PS. You need a good PS, or expect a life of CTDs and problems.

If you can salvage a CD/DVD from somewhere, you save $48.

Lucky you. SHipping is free, except for case.
Lucky you. A HUGE price cut in AMD64 3700s.
Lucky you. A MB+GF6 (albiet integrated) for only $78.

Later, you can get a faster graphic card if you want. I use a mere GF4 IGP. GF6 IGP will do great, esp. for the "free" cost!

[This message has been edited by Wartrain (edited 01-10-2006 @ 11:10 PM).]

Another idea: If you can beg or borrow a junker Hard Drive, you can put off the $140 for now.

You can't cut the MB, the CPU, Case/PS, or the base RAM. But borrowing a HD & CDROM are OK to cut costs. And if you really really must, then save $84 and get only 1MB RAM.

I'll worry about 2gb of RAM later, right now I'll settle for 1gb.

I don't think I'll need a 300gb HDD either, I have a 40gb and a 10gb right now, but I do want something bigger to add on so I'm looking at this 80gb HDD ($60)-

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=101206-1-316603

I will need Windows XP ($90)-

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=604614

I'm going to go with Home Edition to save money.

Here's the speakers I'm looking at-

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=360420

Here's a video card (Radeon X600 Pro)-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125003

If the onboard is better let me know so I won't get this one.

And finally a keyboard-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823107119

$211- AMD64 3700 (from zipzoomfly)
$78- MB + GF6IGP Video (from zipzoomfly)
$85- Kingston 1gb (2x 512mb) RAM (from zipzoomfly)
$60- Western Digital HDD 80gb (from zipzoomfly)
$48- CD/DVD (from zipzoomfly)
$50- Case (from zipzoomfly)
$28 (plus shipping)- Speakers (from newegg)
$79 (plus shipping)- Radeon X600 Pro (from newegg)
$6 (plus shipping- Keyboard (from newegg.com)
$90- Windows XP Home Edition (from zipzoomfly)

Totals around $750 with shipping and the such.

What do you think?

EDIT-

Also I don't quite understand what you mean in this statement Wartrain-

Quote:

Quote:

I can just add another two 512mb sticks to upgrade to 2gb later on and it would still be in dual-channel right?

EDIT Again-

Here's a couple of department store prebuilt systems-

Gateway system with 17 inch LCD display:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=999948700050011&type=product&productCategoryId=cat 01173&id=pcmprd48900050011

Compaq system with 17 inch flatpanel CRT display:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=999948700050013&type=product&productCategoryId=cat 01173&id=pcmprd48900050013

Gateway system (no display included):

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7623761&type=product&productCategoryId=cat01172&id =1130986103319

HP system (no display included):

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/HP-Pavilion-Media-Center-Desktop-PC-A1310N-/sem/rpsm/oid/141808/catOid/-12962/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do

[This message has been edited by bstoned (edited 01-11-2006 @ 02:55 PM).]

Quote:

Actually, no. Dual channel needs one stick on each channel, and they must work together... you cannot determine that for sure until testing them together. You should buy the matched pair. To upgrade, you need to pitch out the 512MB pair and get a 1MB pair.

If you get a HD, then do not get a lesser drive than the 300 16MB native SATA, NCQ, prefer SATA II.

Either use a junk drive until you can afford a good HD, or get the one I said. This has a big impact on system performance. XP is still a disk-based OS, and this is the most performance-draining component.

1 GB RAM is plenty for most apps.

About the video card, if money is a problem, then skip it for now. You can add a new card anytime, and they are dropping in price fast, and improving in performance every month. Use the integrated video of the GF6IGP. It will work just fine, and you can't beat the price on a budget.

Basically, in your place, I'd skip the video card and get the hard drive. Later, maybe next summer, think about a video card. The hard drive is the 2nd best deal going, behind the CPU.

If you have a 40GB drive and money is real tight, then skip the HD altogether, and get it when you can afford it, then get the video card.

The OEM version of XP is a good move... it saves $$$ over retail, and is exactly the same.

Alright, so the new configuration is looking like this-

$211- AMD64 3700 (from zipzoomfly)
$78- MB + GF6IGP Video (from zipzoomfly)
$85- Kingston 1gb (2x 512mb) RAM (from zipzoomfly)
$140- Maxtor DiamondMax 10 6V300F0 300GB Serial ATA II 7200RPM Hard Drive w/16MB Buffer (from zipzoomfly)
$48- CD/DVD (from zipzoomfly)
$50- Case (from zipzoomfly)
$28 (plus shipping)- Speakers (from newegg)
$6 (plus shipping- Keyboard (from newegg.com)
$90- Windows XP Home Edition (from zipzoomfly)

Total: $736

Pretty good.

The games I'm planning in playing are World of Warcraft, RTW + BI, maybe Everquest 2, possibly Battlefield 2 if it will run ok, Battlefield Vietnam, and Age of Empires 3.

I will eventually invest in a good video card, probably a Geforce 6800 GS, and another gigabyte of RAM, and a better moniter, but for right now it should be great.

This isn't in set in stone though, my mom said she would try to spare money from her income tax return to pay for it, so I'm just hoping that she has enough.

Thank you Wartrain.

No problem. I'll index this thread, as it might help others who are thinking about a good computer on a budget.

Buying a good PC [budget, inexpensive, cheap, $700]: 1