New PC <600 dollars

Ok this is the final, please link to cheaper things on newegg if its just as good or a cheaper place to buy it AFTER shipping/handling. Or if you know a place to get windows cheaper.

Disc Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16827151153
Case/PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16811129024
Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16822136098
MotherBoard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…82E16813138102R
Video Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16814130082
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16820146565
Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16819103211
Misc. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16899888207




How would that build compare to this one


Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6750 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16819115029

GIGABYTE GA-P31-S3G LGA 775 Intel P31 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16813128077

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-8500C5 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16820145033

XFX PVT84JUDD3 GeForce 8600GT XXX 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16814150229

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250310AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16822148261

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model DH-20A4P-04 - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16827106228

RAIDMAX Smilodon Extreme Black ATX-612WEB SECC STEEL ATX Mid Tower Computer CaseNo Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16811156078

Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx…N82E16817153052

Subtotal: $668
MIRs
Video: -$30
PSU: -$20
RAM: -$15

Total: $603

regarding the OS, I would not pay 65$ for a pirated copy of xp/64, much less 6$

see the comments

product worked fine no problems with reg
Software pirate, do not buy from.
The progam I bought was not validate able, but I emailed the seller and was provided with a new product key.Price Grabber as always come's threw.
Advertised OEM XP64 but sent volume license product. when notified of error refunded money right away. HAD NO OEM XP 64 PRODUCT

by all means use an oem but with a unique coa from a legal seller, no need for 64 bit OS

regarding the OS, I would not pay 65$ for a pirated copy of xp/64, much less 6$

see the comments

product worked fine no problems with reg
Software pirate, do not buy from.
The progam I bought was not validate able, but I emailed the seller and was provided with a new product key.Price Grabber as always come's threw.
Advertised OEM XP64 but sent volume license product. when notified of error refunded money right away. HAD NO OEM XP 64 PRODUCT

by all means use an oem but with a unique coa from a legal seller, no need for 64 bit OS

Okay, and about the other stuff?

about the other stuff? MB, only 2 ram slots probably poor pata support dvd burn is pata, go sata ram and cpu are mismatched, depending upon you use power supply might work and is a good deal I would wait on a 9600 video card tho

about the other stuff?

MB, only 2 ram slots

probably poor pata support

dvd burn is pata, go sata

ram and cpu are mismatched, depending upon you use

power supply might work and is a good deal

I would wait on a 9600 video card tho

this is for gaming…

Well, of course, using anything but a legitimate copy of Windows is stealing, not condoned here, nor is helping thieves tolerated. That's not just because folks here don't want to help thieves, but also because frequently, users of pirated software are lax at keeping systems patched and updated. Badguys seek out such computers, vulnerabilities are exploited, and those systems are then used as weapons against the rest of us. Not cool.

I see no reason to buy AMD right now - except for budget reasons - but even then, AMDs are not the bargain they used to be - fine processors, just not the bang for the buck they used to be.

Understand that for $600, this is still an "entry level" game machine and so you must keep expectations in line with that. Understand that the 3D animated gaming is just about the most taxing task asked of a computer. Mid and high-level gaming machines cost considerably more, into the many thousands of dollars. That said, with careful planning, a nice system can be put together for $600 - especially if you can bring stuff to the table, such as an existing monitor, keyboard, mouse, drives (optical and hard), etc. - stuff you don't need to buy now.

I don't understand what is meant by poor PATA support - I assume what is meant is there is only one connector for a maximum of 2 drives. This is generally fine as SATA can be used for the HDs. I would expect the PATA (also called IDE, EIDE, ATA, or UltraATA, et al) to perform up to specifications - which is fine for opticals.

Also, will this machine be used for productive work? That is, work, school, personal or family business/finances?

I too prefer a motherboard with more than 2 RAM slots. You limit future expansion. That said, for good gaming - budget motherboards do fine - the bulk of the horsepower coming from the graphics card, CPU, and RAM.

I have liked and used the Antec cases for more than 10 years. And the Sonata since the first version came out several used ago - the wife's PC is in a Sonata. The Sonata was the first case I bought that came with a washable air filter - I will never buy another case without one.

I like Antec cases and PSUs in general. Together, they make a great foundation for your PC and can carry you through several motherboard upgrades - a good case alone can carry you beyond that - through PSU upgrades too. You may never need to build yourself a new computer again - simply upgrade and allow it to evolve.

For beginners (and experienced too) I recommend you check out MWave's "Motherboard Bundles" Wizard. This is a great research tool as it allows you to pick a motherboard, then the Wizard will offer a big list of CPUs and RAM that MWave has already determined are compatible with that motherboard. Or, you can start with a CPU and the wizard will list a bunch of motherboards and RAM options that will support that CPU. This is a great research tool you can use even if you buy elsewhere (although their prices are fairly competitive once you factor in shipping - if you live in the US). However, for only $9 more, MWave will mount the CPU and RAM on the motherboard AND test them. So not only do you know from the Wizard that your components work together, you know your specific parts will not be DOA - a nice warm fuzzy for only $9.

I finally got thru to Gigabyte, the newegg link was broken, that model evidently does not use the jmicron chipset for pata? Intel is phasing out pata so it's basically a bad idea to use a pata atapi drive in their computers, other chipset makers are following suite.

Intel is phasing out pata so it's basically a bad idea to use a pata atapi drive in their computers, other chipset makers are following suite.

"Bad" idea? - not when building a computer on a tight budget. So we must be careful of blanket statements. If budget allows for all new hard and optical drives, then I agree, go SATA all the way. But if you can save money on drives - especially opticals, by using PATA drives from an older computer, then I say do that now, and put your money towards better graphics, more RAM, bigger CPU, or bigger PSU. You can upgrade your opticals later, when budget permits.

I do think, however, that every effort should be made to use a nice SATA hard drive as the boot drive - rather than bringing an old EIDE drive forward. But using an EIDE drive as a second drive to store tunes or other data files makes sense, if you need space and money can be better spend elsewhere.

PATA/EIDE is not dead - yet.

PATA/EIDE is not dead - yet.

one upgrader with a new entry level dell opened it to find no ide at all, after adding a pci card then he found no ide power

I have been waiting for 2 years for the industry to get the bugs out of sata dvd burners, intel was the only one to properly implement the new technology, it's still hit or miss with different burning software, drives and their firmware and the chipset and it's bios implementation/mode.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic129846.html

after a score or so of these threads in 3 well known forums, I have found it easier to just reccomend people stay away from pata dvd burners on the newest motherboards

jmicron has not helped the issue, gigabyte has been one of the worst at not linking to the newer drivers

There always is transition period problems when trying to maintain backward compatibility with older technologies. But lets be fair to the topic of this thread here - of course big PC makers are going to chop costs on the extreme budget end of the spectrum first - no surprise that Dell would lead the way in eliminating user options to save a few pennies. And that's fine as those machines are well suited for Office documents, email, and surfing the Internet - no more horsepower is needed. They are generally used and replaced every 3 to 5 years. Pre-built machines are not built for upgrading. They want you to buy everything all new again.

But this thread is not about pre-made entry level computers. It's about a self-builds and upgrading. There are still dozens of LGA 775 motherboards with PATA support listed on Newegg, from $35 to $230. So all I am saying is if some one has a tight budget and still has perfectly good PATA devices, AND if they need a new motherboard, then get a budget board that meets your needs, and put your money on the horsepower that yields the highest gains (graphics, RAM, and CPU).

I'm happy with SATA now, and certainly installing SATA with Vista is much easier than it is with XP. I've been waiting a lot longer for a robust USB standard to appear. Hopefully, USB 3.0, due soon, will be what USB 1.0 promised to be.

BTW - If your upgrader found no power on the PCI bus, then that's a HW failure - not a design issue - PCI is not going away any time soon.

this poster asked about a pata/ide dvd burner the dell power supply lacked this