Possible to build a solid college desktop for $400?

Need a solid desktop for basic college use.... but that
has an upgrade path as far as motherboard etc if more
capability needed such as CAD work.

Right now Id rather buy a GOOD case and power supply
and motherboard and cheap out on the CPU, optical
drives, etc.

New Egg has some "kits" for around $400 but I sure am
not a hardware expert and don't know what to buy given
my needs

Can you help?

wrote:
Need a solid desktop for basic college use.... but that
has an upgrade path as far as motherboard etc if more
capability needed such as CAD work.

Right now Id rather buy a GOOD case and power supply
and motherboard and cheap out on the CPU, optical
drives, etc.

This isn't an answer to your question, but more of a philosophical
observation.

I read an article the other day that compared the evolution of the
computers of entering students - from the days when only a minority of
them had a computer which was a desktop to the days when 100% of them
have computers and some have more than one computer and almost all of
them have laptops so some of them also have DTs.

The other factor for the college person is (no) 'elbow room'. My
philsophy is that I hate LTs unless I have to have one for something.

That leads me to believe that for basic college use I am going to need a
LT (or netbook) as much as I hate it and if I am going to also have a
DT, it had better not take up too much space or cost very much.

So, I think my desktop would be like a nettop or other small form factor
- one or the other of the DT or the LT/portable needs to have an optical
in it for my taste.

The problem with getting/building a decent case and power supply like
you say in the case of a college student whose needs are evolving is
that you can evolve better using a throwaway mentality rather than a
quality mentality.

A student buys an expensive LT and it gets stolen. A student buys/builds
an expensive DT and it either gets stolen or someone knocks the tower
off the desk and spills beer into it all at the same time while it is
turned on playing music and then sparks. If you get my drift.

--
Mike Easter

On 8/22/2010 5:25 PM, wrote:
Need a solid desktop for basic college use.... but that
has an upgrade path as far as motherboard etc if more
capability needed such as CAD work.

Right now Id rather buy a GOOD case and power supply
and motherboard and cheap out on the CPU, optical
drives, etc.

New Egg has some "kits" for around $400 but I sure am
not a hardware expert and don't know what to buy given
my needs

Can you help?

From my observation, that's cutting it pretty close. In this price
range, you can't really afford a Core i5/i7 solution, so you'll have to
go with an LGA775 board, or a similarly positioned AMD board. There are
some good processors in this category, but I would not start with the
cheapest of the cheap, like the Celerons.

Also, if you have a mind to upgrade, I wouldn't buy the minimum power
supply you need, nor would I skimp on quality. That generally goes for
all components, but especially for power supplies.

This is about is low as I go for a system I'm hoping to upgrade later:

Motherboard $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128380

Processor $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116076

Memory $96
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820104098

Hard Drive $50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152244

DVD Burner $22
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827151188

Case + PSU $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129089

O/S $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116754

TOTAL $513

You can undoubtedly bring this down by watching for deals and picking
them off until you've got all the parts you need. Also, you could save
$45 bucks by getting only 2GB of memory, or $15 by getting an 80GB hard
drive.

You might also notice that I'm spending a chunk of change on the case
and power supply. You can get a "450W" supply and "a case" for $50, but
I wouldn't trust it even as a toilet. Build with quality parts so you
can cut the odds of having to sink more money into it immediately.

On Sun, 22 Aug 2010 17:25:19 -0500, wrote:

Need a solid desktop for basic college use.... but that
has an upgrade path as far as motherboard etc if more
capability needed such as CAD work.

Right now Id rather buy a GOOD case and power supply
and motherboard and cheap out on the CPU, optical
drives, etc.

New Egg has some "kits" for around $400 but I sure am
not a hardware expert and don't know what to buy given
my needs

Can you help?


Having put three (3) kids through college I can tell you that your
first desktop won't last you long enough to upgrade and keep most of
the components.

Also, most anyone I saw or knew who had a desktop for their college
computer didn't have it long. Nowadays most opt for a laptop as it
does more than the basics really well and is portable and can be used
in the student center, library, sports arena, field house, quad,
dining hall. In fact, most of the campuses these days are fully
wireless to support their students and staff.

Therefore, I'd recommend you seriously consider purchasing a laptop
for this purpose and worry about upgrading later when you become more
stable in your needs.

I have purchased a couple of pretty good laptops from Best Buy in the
past 6-9 months for $299 made by Toshiba and both had 15.6" LCD, 2GB
RAM, Sempron 900 CPU, 250GB disk, DVD burner and "G" Wifi and included
Windows 7 Home Premium OS.

For that number you really can't go wrong.

Just my $.02 and good luck.

In message bobmct
was claimed to have wrote:

Also, most anyone I saw or knew who had a desktop for their college
computer didn't have it long. Nowadays most opt for a laptop as it
does more than the basics really well and is portable and can be used
in the student center, library, sports arena, field house, quad,
dining hall. In fact, most of the campuses these days are fully
wireless to support their students and staff.

Therefore, I'd recommend you seriously consider purchasing a laptop
for this purpose and worry about upgrading later when you become more
stable in your needs.

I'd second this; if you're even considering a budget desktop you
probably don't need the expandability that a desktop offers over a
laptop and at some point you'll want the portability.

Mike Easter wrote:

That leads me to believe that for basic college use I am going to need a
LT (or netbook) as much as I hate it and if I am going to also have a
DT, it had better not take up too much space or cost very much.

Agree. I already have a netbook for portable use

So, I think my desktop would be like a nettop or other small form factor
- one or the other of the DT or the LT/portable needs to have an optical
in it for my taste.

The problem with getting/building a decent case and power supply like
you say in the case of a college student whose needs are evolving is
that you can evolve better using a throwaway mentality rather than a
quality mentality.

Good point. Yes computers technology is becoming "throw
away".... as it advances so FAST that NOTHING holds
VALUE any more.

hence the idea of a "cheap" desktop..... as I know I
will never get my money back from it

Grinder wrote:

Also, if you have a mind to upgrade, I wouldn't buy the minimum power
supply you need, nor would I skimp on quality.

yes agree I do want a GOOD case and power supply!

bobmct wrote:

Therefore, I'd recommend you seriously consider purchasing a laptop
for this purpose and worry about upgrading later when you become more
stable in your needs.

Naw... I want a "desktop" so as to watch videos and
"TV" on a good size display ..... as much for
entertainment as well as "work"

I am an older student and love to download TED talk
videos and old time radio pod casts for listening to
when at home and puttering around!

wrote:

bobmct wrote:

Therefore, I'd recommend you seriously consider purchasing a laptop
for this purpose and worry about upgrading later when you become more
stable in your needs.

Naw... I want a "desktop" so as to watch videos and
"TV" on a good size display ..... as much for
entertainment as well as "work"

I am an older student and love to download TED talk
videos and old time radio pod casts for listening to
when at home and puttering around!

I can understand that.
However, your "two computer" set-up for college does (to me) still seem a
little clumsy in concept.
Have you considered the option of a small(-ish) laptop, possibly with a big-
ish HD, the CD/DVD writer that you want, and then simply plugging into it a
larger display as and when you are at home? Wouldn't this solve all your
problems, and still ensure that you always had everything to hand?
(Option of USB K/B and mouse as well?)

On Aug 23, 3:22 pm, wrote:
bobmct wrote:
Therefore, I'd recommend you seriously consider purchasing a laptop
for this purpose and worry about upgrading later when you become more
stable in your needs.

Naw... I want a "desktop" so as to watch videos and
"TV" on a good size display ..... as much for
entertainment as well as "work"

I am an older student and love to download TED talk
videos and old time radio pod casts for listening to
when at home and puttering around!

I used a Celeron D for that. Figure $25ea for case/ps. $100 for mb,
mem, and stock CPU. Disabled onboard vid/audio for older cards I
already had - Turtle Beach Santa Cruz rear/front for splitting into
37" and Carver amp;- older ATI Radeon. (Hey, I like those cards).
Under $200 of that $400 discounting a HD ($ potential vidboard).

There's a couple of aspects that need clarification: First you learn
to build with what and, second, how to build on sales and rebates --
cheaply. Besides cheap-assed rights for bragging, it's fun. I was
looking at AMD's lowest priced CPU on Newegg.com;- has that "review
flavor" of the Celeron D at the time I was buying. Beaters for around
$30 with everybody grinning about what fun they're having
overclocking.

Places like fatwallet.com have the 1.5T green HDs for $60, (the cases
and power supplies, some video and mbs, etc.) but they don't last long
and are often outright ******* come-ons (get your info/cc# and then
tell you they're oh so sorry that it was out of stock even while
taking your order and showing it's in stock).

So now you've been apprised and are "in the know". Welcome the the
lowest rung you can sink to as a PC hobbiest -- the "bottom surfer".