Help with Budget Build

Hey everyone so Its been awile since my last visit here on the forums but everything since then has been awsome, I love Windows 7 and did some cool little mods like changing the Start Orb and the Log on/ctrl+alt+delete screen

So I have a freind who is looking to get four computers set up to basically play counter-strike LAN that will be all he needs the PC's for. He basically wants to try and spend no more than $400 a PC I'm not sure if he thought about input/output devices though :/

So maybe you guys can help me find some hardware to help complete this task, Also wouldnt it be cheaper for me to just build the pc's seperatly or should I just buy already prebuilt systems?

Thanks in advance for anyone that helps

Good to see you back, Infernx! To build a computer for $400, you're really going to have to do some bargain hunting on parts. I can only hope that your friend already has his monitor(s)/keyboards & mice, as well as his own OS's to install on them. That budget range is going to make some eagles scream.

You may have to consider some refurbished parts, though I'd avoid eBay like a plague in that regard. Whatever I bought that was a refurb from them turned out to be junk.

Computer Geeks has some good deals, I just ordered a HDD enclosure from them Friday night for $10.99, w/shipping it came to $16.72. They have a wide variety of parts, many at lower prices than Newegg. And their prices (and selection) are attractive.

http://www.geeks.com/

I think you'll find the site a starting point in finding the deals that you'll need. You may want to give them a call, if you're buying multiples, you might get a small discount.

Best of Luck,
Cat

Since Dell, HP, and Acer can go to Western Digital and buy 1,000,000 hard drives, and go to Crucial and by 2,000,000 sticks of RAM, and 1,000,000 motherboards from ASUS, they can get parts at deep discounted wholesale prices. Buying 4 of each might get you a tiny discount but generally, there is no way self-builders can compete in price with the big boys.

But home builders can build a better computer because one size does not fit all. Home builders can pick the parts and customize the build for their specific needs.

And, as Cat suggests, what you bring to your build matters. If you already have 4 keyboards, 4 mice, 4 monitors and 4 sets of speakers, you can save some big money on the computer themselves, and building your own may be worth it. This is an option to extend the budget too. Perhaps in 6 - 12 months of savings, you can rebuild the budget enough to go buy 4 new matching monitors. And if having a LAN party, make it BYOKB&M (bring your own keyboard & mouse).

Don't forget Windows. You can get 3-pack OEM System Builder licenses, plus a single. This is another area where Dell and HP get HUGE discounts as they can buy (or promise to buy) 5 million or even 10 million licenses.

Understand, and make sure your friend understands that ONLY full "Retail" licenses of Windows are transferable to new computers, if uninstalled from all other machines. If your friend has 4 full "Retail" licenses, then no problem. But OEM licenses are tied to the "original" equipment and cannot be transfered to these new computers. Period. Doing so is stealing so step away if your friend's intentions don't include using retail or purchasing legitimate Windows licenses (and other software) for these new machines. You don't want "conspiracy" charges on top of fraud charges. Again, even if the original equipment is destroyed, any OEM Windows license that came with that old computer (or motherboard on custom builds) cannot legally be transfered to any new computer (or motherboard). This is easily verified by reading the EULA, end-user license agreement.

Alternatively, there are many free Linux options.

Digerati brings up a good point. If your friend can't afford everything (at the present time), then consider a Linux OS, at least for the present time. Choosing a Linux OS isn't that hard.

The Ubuntu based ones, Mint being one of them, and my favorite, are the easiest to install and learn. It configures the system for you, w/o the user needing to hunt down drivers, in most cases.

My only issue with any version of Linux is the lack of software support for printers & other accessories. This is not the fault of the OS, but of the hardware OEM for not producing Linux/Unix drivers. There are workarounds for some, but to a newbie, that can be a PITA, as I know this firsthand.

Other than that, Mint is a good "newbie" OS, with over 30,000 apps in their repositories to download & install at anytime. The updating is simple, and not intrusive at all. You apply them when you're ready to.

It may not be the ideal solution, but $400 each can only stretch so far.

Cat

I was thinking along the lines of buying new keyboards, mice, and monitors at a later date. In this way, he can legally buy new Windows OEM/System Builders licenses with the hardware it is being purchased for - which is how it is supposed to be.

check out www.newegg.com you can find some great deals Ive been giving a budget of 300 to 400 usd and come up with some great deals

Right on guys well I dont teally wanna mess with another Operating system other than windows I was planning on getting him 4 legal copies of W7 OEM the only thing with OEM is they are bound to that machine right?

Basically you can install it as many times as you need but just on that machine, correct?

So the 400 dollars is for just basic hardware after talking to my friend I explained how the monitors/keyboards/mice will all be a seperate cost I think I can get 4 decent machines going for $400

Here is what I got so far basically for the whole setup of LAN and all that. So what do you think? ill probably add some artic silver 5 and some CAT cable then we can just take a trip to Frys for the input/output

Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811154095

MB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157204

GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500137

PSU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139017

CPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103926

Ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178265

HDD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

DVD rom - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

Router - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16833127288

Heatsink W/ Fan - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186035

OS 3 pack - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116753

OS 1 pack - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116752

I see you are pricing 2x2GB memory.

Why are you pricing the 32-bit OS when a 64-bit OS is the only way to use all 4GB of memory?

With that collection of hardware, you should be able to run 64 bit Win 7 with no issues, once you have your drivers & all. I just looked on Newegg, the Win 7 64 bit OS's costs no more than the 32 bit ones do. Plus, most recent 32 bit programs work perfectly fine on 64 bit Win 7. Most of our browsers are still 32 bit.

As long as the hardware supports it, 64 bit is the way to go. You'll be able to take advantage of that 4GB of RAM. Plus, your video card is 512MB, installing a 32 bit OS will only leave 2.75 GB RAM for the OS to work with. That leaves .75GB as a total waste.

Step up to that 64 bit OS, then your OS will have a full 3.5GB of RAM to work with, in addition to be able to multitask much smoother. I had my doubts at first over the 64 bit deal, in fact, it was only after the purchase that I noticed that I had bought a 64 bit PC. I started to cancel my order (for other reasons, I wished that I had), but it turned out that I liked 64 bit better.

Too, I noticed that the heatsink & fan was included with the CPU. Is the optional ones necessary?

I believe that your friend will like 64 bit better, too.

Cat