I am building my BOSS, yes my BOSS, a PC. He knows a little, like the fact that you can get a cheap 500 dollar PC from Dell....so I told him that that POS wont game and mine will, and that was a key issue.

This PC has to game well, be stable, and be under 1,100 dollars.

Here is what my first thoughts are..

Intel 2.4 C at 3.2...

Abit Max 2 mobo, or ASUS

6800 reg...

Antec 430 watt true blue

1 gig PC-3200, Crucial Basitic X, will run 2,2,2,5 up to 460...will hit 546 at 3,3,3,8

120 gig times 1 WD IDE hardrives, or a 200, or a 250...whatever best bang for buck.

Cooling is also up to debate...Water Cooling if we can fit it would be kick a$$.

The case is up for a major debate too!

or I could go AMD here, so please hit me with all your suggestions, I am open to anything.

Remember, 1,100 or lower, game well, and be stable.

Please post your parts with links, thats would really help me out.

3 words:

AMD pwns games!

Does your boss want to play games at work?


Edit:

Don't forget about OS, keyboard, mouse, monitor, and speakers.

Go with an AMD based rig. It will game better.

If your boss isn't going to overclock, go with the Shuttle AN35/N Ultra which will save you cash coupled with an XP 2500 mobile chip.

Edit: Noticed your other components were already of decent quality but maybe get a case that handles multiple 120mm fans.

Quote: Originally Posted by SpikeShot Well I am gona overclock it for him, and AMD 64 is the road I want to go.

Why would you want to void his warranty?

I would highly suggest against overclocking a PC for a newbie. If they dont know how to do it themselves it doesnt need done - there are alot of issues that come with OCing and I wouldnt want my customers calling me complaining because there OS got corrupted. That being said the customer gets what the customer wants......

I have an P4 1.8, P4 3.06 HT, and a XP3000+. I like my XP3000+ cpu the best.

I have much experience with intel proc based systems, so i'm not just saying AMD is better just because. Out of all my computers, mostly intel, between my 386DX, my P133, my P250, our P4 1.5 and also the PIII 600s i used at school, my AMD 3200 is the best. Therefore AMD is better than intel.

Since your boss knows nothing about computers, I would really stay away from the water cooling since you won't be there all the time to service it, stop leaks, etc. plus you can divert that money into the hardware to make the machine run fast.

A good Thermalright XP-120 HS with 120mm fan will keep an overclocked P4 nice and cool (as long as we are talking 2.4 --> 3.2).

http://www.thermalright.com/

The AeroCool cases are pretty neat, especially with the LCD in the front. It has a 120mm intake and 120mm exhaust with side fan that keeps a good airflow.
It looks good and works good plus some models come with built in handle on top.

http://www.aerocool.us/case/jetmaster/jetmaster.htm

I'd get a 9800PRO and soft mod it to a 9800PRO XT then overclock it with proper cooling from Zalman GPU chipset cooler.

I too, have built a PC for my boss:

http://forums.pcapex.com/showthread....0&page=1&pp=20

My only suggestions are *BE DAMNED SURE YOU HAVE A DECENT SOUND SETUP FOR THE SPEAKERS* ... I ended up having to give him my audigy to fix the problem I BFO'd on.

It ended up being:
Ath2500+ Retail
Shuttle AN35N-Ultra
512MB Mushkin PC3200
Radeon 9600 *something or other* memory fails me at 1:30 am..
80GB Western Digital SE HDD
16x DVD
52x CD-RW
The obligatory floppy
Antec Sonata w/ 350W Antec PSU

All of that, including speakers, came to ~$900 about a month ago.

Hope this helps ya.

I don't give a damn how much experience you have with overclocking... the point is that he has NONE. Don't just O/C it. For all you know he's planning on sticking the rig in a closed cabinet... then watch those temps soar.

Also, just stating that you gonna buy a certain proc or ram and run it at a certain speed is foolhardy. Yes, that proc and/or ram may have a high margin of sucess for hitting those speeds but there is no garantee. Buy him a system which will perform stock... then if he asks in a year about upgrading perhaps you might introduce him to the wonderful world of overclocking... but let him take the risks.

Quote: Originally Posted by Crazy_J Why would you want to void his warranty?

D%D that kinda question should never be asked here!

im sure that over 50% of us have voided our warranty in some manner but if you feel so inclined to get an ASUS board just don't get the A7N8X-E as i guess they suxor Donkey Diack

If you are not going with the Amd64, the ABit NF7-S rev. 2.0( Soundstorm on this rocks! ) board coupled with the mobile 2500+ Is the best imho. Clock that sucker to 3200+ and up speeds. And for aircooling, Thermalright is the way to go. I'd get one that mounts directly to the 4 holes on the motherboard (if the motherboard you get has them).

Im not too sure on the 64 boards, but abit has a nice one with the via chipset in it. I'd go for any amd64 mobo with the nforce3 250 chipset. Asus or gigabyte or shutlle (Do they make a Amd64 board?)

And for graphics, I'd go for an ATI Radeon XT800 (is that the proper model?) nvidia pissed me off with their line of video cards and drivers for them.

AMD 2500+ desktop - don't overclock for a newbie. Like CRE said, what if he puts it in a closet? And don't watercool, who's going to maintain it?
Shuttle AN35N-Ultra - cheap, performance is good
Kingston/Crucial 512MB - no need for overclocking ram, just something reliable
9800Pro - good mid range card nowadays
80GB hard drive - or what ever he needs
CD/DVD
Floppy
Premod case so he thinks he's cool

Ok, so no overclocking, unless he wants me to...remmember, its what the customer wants. I like that 120MM cooler that you linked, my friend has one and it works great with a YS-tech fan that puts out 120 CFM.

That case is cool to, THE AREOCOOl, but it may be a little over the top, does anyone know the street price of it?

So it looks like we got an
AMD 3200+ Newcastle, stock...
Cruical Bastic X 3200 1 gig.
Nvidia 6800 reg
Mobo is still up for discussion...
430 watt ANtec Trueblue
Case up for debate
Cooling may be that 120 MM heatsink...

Got to go now, I would like to talk more but work calls.

Also, water cooling is out...