Low-End DIY Computer Buyer's Guide

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Max Slowik
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Nov. 22, 2006

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Introduction

Black Friday is almost here. The big corporations of this world are starting to foam at the mouth at the thought of astronomical holiday sales. Let's be honest, we're going a little rabid ourselves.

I mean, computers are cheap now. Major manufacturers and OEMs are clamoring to deliver a sub-$500 laptop, Intel and AMD are throwing heavy punches at each other, and prices are going straight down as new territory is being explored in all areas of performance. With that said the time has come for us to give you the straight dope on what's ripe for picking.

Before I really get to it though, I have to be upfront about something! HP and Dell make great cheap complete computers. (If that's the way you're going, do yourself a favor and buy the $10 reinstall disk and start off with a clean install of your operating system; it's faster than removing all the crap that gets preinstalled which you do not want hosing your new computer's potential performance.) Of course, inexpensive OEM computers generally don't have anything like a gaming video card, so keep that in mind if you're a gamer. Also, upgrading OEM computers is a moderately mysterious process, as often the specifications of the computer go unlisted. Will it be able to hold an extra hard drive? Can the power supply handle a high-end video card?

Right here's the stuff that will get you started on an enviable computer with huge amounts of expansion, and with Vista looming, you'll be glad you made room for it. This price guide is aimed squarely at the price-conscious DIY system builder, with a budget set at $800. With so many products fighting for your wallet, every little bit helps when covering the market for your new computer. The prices are approximated, as is the shipping, which I've included in the price.

What this guide will not do is pull the trigger. It would be an overstatement to say that one guide could make the right computer for everyone, and as a system builder, you probably have opinions that should be weighed against my own. As such, this guide is here to outline not just products, but their features; and based on these it will be up to you to make the call on what's going to end up in your personal computer.

If you'd like to just buy the items I recommend, links will be provided to purchase each product for your convenience.

Processor

Recommend: Any Intel LGA775 processor, starting at $50
Recommended Manufacturers: Intel
Highly Recommend: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, $180

A Core 2 Duo will outperform a similarly-priced Athlon X2, and a good entry-level AM2 motherboard will cost exactly the same. It is for these reasons I cannot, without reservation, recommend AMD. Sorry Team Green, show us what you've got next round.

An entry-level E6300 runs $180, and this is a significant percentage of the $800 limit for this price guide.

However, it's an incredible component for the money, which means that even if you'd rather have a cheaper processor and use the money somewhere else, like for better video or more RAM, you should still want to be able to upgrade to a Core 2 Duo.

For about $60, you can get the budget Celeron D 352. It's probably about, well, a third as powerful as an E6600. That's not terrible given how good the Core 2 Duo is, and it will put the remaining hardware to use before you get around to installing a Conroe.

Motherboard

Recommend: Any Intel 945GZ or Intel 946GZ motherboard, $70 and $90
Recommended Manufacturers: Intel, Foxconn, Gigabyte
Highly Recommend: Intel BLKD946GZISSL, $90

These are not motherboards, they are chipsets. They can both run Core 2 Duo, are exceptionally stable, and have great driver support. Motherboards that have these chipsets all tend to be Micro-ATX, which limits the number of expansion cards to four; usually one PCIe x16 and three PCI 2.0. This means that they can be put into friendly little micro-ATX cases.

These are also good boards for tighter budgets, as they have onboard video. And even though onboard is really only adequate for playing Star Craft and Curse of Monkey Island, if you'd rather buy a heftier video card another day, for instance, when DirectX 10 is firmly established, it will get you by in the mean time.

In the end, I like the slightly more expensive 946GZ if only for its better memory bandwidth. Motherboards with the 945GZ chipset are limited to 533MHz DDR2 RAM, while the 946 supports 667MHz DDR2 memory. With prices the same for RAM of either speed, the faster stuff is more appealing.

One memory limit to keep in mind is the number of DDR2 slots available; both chipsets are limited to two sticks of RAM with a maximum total of 4GB.

Of course, there are many other motherboards out there in the budget world. If you decide you'd be better off saving a little on a VIA or SiS chipset, or just want something with more expansion or memory slots, be sure that the board is Core 2 Duo compatible. If you have a little more money to spend, check out the upcoming Mid-Range Buyer's Guide for other recommendations.

Memory

Recommend: 1x1024 PC2-4200 (533MHz) with 4-4-4 timings at 1.8V or 1x1024 PC2-5300 (667MHz) with 5-5-5 timings at 1.8V, $110
Recommended Manufacturers: Buffalo, Corsair, G.Skill, Mushkin, OCZ, Patriot, PQi
Highly Recommend: Corsair, Mushkin, OCZ

For budget boards, compatibility is usually a bigger concern than performance, but with Intel's 900-series chipsets, that's mostly dropped off the periphery.

Combined with the ubiquity of affordable, equally matched DDR2 modules on the market, there's very little reason to choose one manufacturer over another for performance reasons. But there is always a matter of trust. Often the most expensive component in a computer, or close to it, it's a good idea to go with a company of repute.

So if you've got a favorite company, go with them, there will be little or no noticeable difference between the many brands. Personally, I like Corsair, Mushkin, and OCZ (in alphabetical order).

That aside, make sure that the RAM is rated with the motherboard, that is to say, 533MHz RAM for 533MHz motherboards, 667MHz RAM for 667MHz motherboards.

Beyond that--lower latencies (4-4-4 is better than 4-5-5) as well as lower voltages. Weigh that against what's cheaper, and you've got your RAM.

Now, because my recommended motherboards all have only two RAM slots, I recommend purchasing a single gigabyte stick of memory. Not only is it cheaper than two sticks of 512mb RAM, it leaves open the option for a quick upgrade.

On the other hand, if you don't think you'll want two gigs of RAM soon, I have to suggest two sticks of RAM so that you have the performance benefits of dual-channel operation.

Hard Drive

Recommend: 80GB SATA hard drive, $50
Recommended Manufacturers: Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, Hitachi
Highly Recommend: SATA Seagate or Samsung, $50

If you need a hard drive at the bottom dollar, most any will do. 80GB drives can be found at or less than $50, and are about the cheapest SATA drives on the market. It's possible to find 40GB drives, but when the price difference is literally one all-beef Polish from the hot dog stand, why bother? There's no such thing as too much drive space.

Like RAM, hard drive selection should be a matter of preference. Some people are dedicated to their manufacturer. Go with what you trust; Seagate is the largest hard drive manufacturer with one of the best warranties, so I prefer them.

What's important is Serial-ATA. IDE drives are outdated, and more importantly, IDE connectors are becoming scarce. Better to get one small SATA drive than one identically-priced IDE drive. If you're interested in silence, Samsung Spinpoint hard drives are good in the noise department.

Optical Drive

Recommend: Any within price range $20-$40
Recommended Manufacturers: Samsung, NEC, LiteON
Highly Recommend: Samsung 18x DVD +/-R, $35

There are dozens of optical drives and hundreds and possibly thousands of models in manufacture. What differentiates them? Not much. Not even price or compatibility. For a couple of extra bucks (literally), you can find LightScribe-capable drives, which allow you to burn pretty labels on the (compatible) media, if Sharpies don't do it for you. [Editor: And if you don't mind waiting forever for it to burn those labels...]

If there's one feature to get in an optical drive, it's DVD +/-R (sometimes written DVD +R 16x, DVD -R 16x, among many other specifications). DVDs are cheaper than four or five CDs, and games and operating systems are making the switch. It's time for everyone to have DVD-ROMs in their computers.

I recommend NEC for custom BIOS support. If you're at all interested in flashing the firmware of your drive to make it faster or slower (slower is important for quiet home theater PCs) there is a huge internet community customizing and tweaking their NEC drives, and sharing what they know.

LiteON has a reputation for making workhorse drives with a rock-bottom failure rate. They also tend to have shiny stripes across the front for a little factory-modded styling.

Samsung has something else with their 18x speed drives. Aside from plain good looks, they're astonishingly quiet. While media manufacturers aren't making 18x blank DVDs, the drives are fully capable of burning at full speed while making less noise than many hard drives.

Monitor

Recommend: 17" or 19" SXGA LCD, 300 nit brightness minimum, 700:1 contrast ratio minimum, 8ms response time maximum, with DVI connection, $200
Recommended Manufacturers: Dell, Samsung, NEC
Highly Recommend: Samsung 740BX (17") or Dell E197FP, (19") $200

Budget monitors are everywhere. But good ones are less common. Great deals aside, finding a crisp, snappy monitor with a DVI interface means two bills.

The SXGA resolution (1280x1024) is very common and most, if not all, 17" and 19" monitors share it. This means that there will be exactly the same virtual desktop space with both, but 19" monitors are larger. One difference is that 17" monitors generally have higher contrast ratios and faster response times. While anything at or under 12ms for response time's probably not noticeable to the eye, contrast ratios are very prominent and easy to perceive.

Most importantly, don't sell yourself short on the recommended specifications. Analog (VGA) connections add noticeable noise and cheaper monitors don't usually support DVI. If you don't think you can afford an LCD monitor with those specs, stick with a flat-screen CRT monitor. They're $50 and will cream any LCD that's not up to par with what I've got listed.

Case and Power Supply

Recommend: Micro-ATX case with a minimum of 350 watt PSU, $40-$100
Recommended Manufacturers: Antec, Cooler Master
Highly Recommend: Antec Solution SLK1650B, $65

Until recently, the power supplies included in cheap cases were, well, really cheap. But changes for ATX2.0 and greater power supply specifications, as well as consumer demand, have proven to case manufacturers that including good power supplies sells better than, er, crap power supplies.

Among these manufacturers Antec and Cooler Master stand out. Not only are the PSUs more than adequate, the cases themselves are sturdy, well-designed, and good-looking.

STOP. Now Consider Some Options...

So at this point, you're wondering "What's the deal? That's not a complete computer."

It's missing a floppy drive, a keyboard and mouse, some speakers, and a video card. But, it's also $700 to get the above listed, with shipping. And you don't need a floppy drive, and if you're bound to have one, just scoop it out of a computer made after 1990.

You might find that you have some of this stuff already. Don't spend $50 on a new hard drive if you can scrounge one out of your old computer; the truth is you can find 250GB drives for $80, and if it makes sense for your budget, get one, now or later. Keep your keyboard and mouse until you decide you absolutely need an $80 wireless desk set. $200 is a lot of money for a monitor, and if you have one that works and looks good and you're comfortable with it, hang on to it. If you have a PCIe video card, stick with it until DirectX 10 makes a large showing (January 30th).

Some of these components may seem over the top, especially the Core 2 Duo, but if you want a computer to last you more than a year, start with the gold standard. You can upgrade the rest later to suit your needs.

With the remaining hundred bucks, you can get a video card to tide you over if you need to get your WarCraft on for next to nothing.

Video Card

Recommend: Radeon X1300 Hyper Memory 128MB or GeForce 7300LE TurboCache, $50-$60
Recommended Manufacturers: Any
Highly Recommend: Any

For $50, you're not going to get to play FEAR and Oblivion. If gaming is an absolute requirement, you have two options: go with cheaper basic components, like a Celeron 352 and spend the $270 on an X1900- or 7900-series video card. Or hang on for a while before buying a new monitor, and re-use other computer parts to make up the difference.

Keyboard and Mouse

Recommend: Any within budget, $20
Recommended Manufacturers: Microsoft, Logitech, Kensington
Highly Recommend: Microsoft CA9-00001, $20

Black keyboard and optical mouse built by Microsoft. Cheap. What else is there to say?

Speakers

Recommend: Any within budget, $30
Recommended Manufacturers: Any within budget
Highly recommend: Any within budget

At the basic level, all speakers will have similar limitations. With low wattage sets, you're going to have a minimal, um! maximum volume. With high wattage sets, you're going to run into cheaper construction and distortion.

There's something to be said about headphones here. For good sound and low price, headphone drivers can deliver great overall quality and a better music and gaming experience, without the benefit (or necessity) of sharing the sound.

Conclusion

Remember to shop around; there are great sites like Pricegrabber.com that will make it simple. And reusing components isn't cutting corners, it is cutting costs.

This hardware may only be a start, but it's a great one and you can't match it with an OEM rig. And for $800, while this computer may not have great fit and finish, it'll clobber anything in its price range, you will not be disappointed with the core components, and you'll be ready to upgrade, rather than replace, when the time comes.

The table below shows all of the products I've recommended in this guide. I'm a little over budget, but keep in mind that the motherboard I recommended has onboard video, so the video card was an optional component. Several other components (such as the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers) are also somewhat optional for those of you who will be upgrading from an older computer, as you can simply re-use those components if you wish.

If this system isn't beefy enough for you (read: if you like to play games), keep an eye out for our Mid-Range and High-End Buyer's Guides which will be posted soon.

Component	Product	Avg. Price
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo E6300	$180.00
Motherboard	Intel BLKD946GZISSL	$90.00
Memory	Corsair Value Select 1GB PC2-5300	$110.00
Hard Drive	Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 80GB SATA II	$50.00
Optical Drive	Samsung 18X DVD±R Burner w/ Lightscribe	$35.00
Monitor	Dell E197FP 19" LCD	$200.00
Case & PSU	Antec Solution SLK1650B w/ 350W PSU	$65.00
Video Card	BFG Technologies GeForce 7300LE	$55.00
Keyboard & Mouse	Microsoft Keyboard / Optical Mouse Value Pack	$20.00
Speakers	Altec Lansing VS2220 Computer Speakers	$25.00
Total:		$830.00

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Add Comment

3 User Comments

1 - Posted by wolfiee on November 23, 2006 - 4:11 am

great article mate you have really done your homework on this one.
I know because I've been researching a new computer since my P4 died (motherboard failure) a couple of weeks ago.

Like you I concluded it was best to go Core2 now even if I had to skimp a little on other components.

I was on a fairly tight budget so my final choice of componentsn was

Core 2 Duo E6300
Asrock 775Dual VSTA motherboard
2 x 512 mb DDR 667

and using hard drive, video card, monitor etc. from my old system. The Asrock motherboard has dual graphic slots (AGP and PCI Express).

2 - Posted by WildFrisco on November 23, 2006 - 3:28 pm

"There are dozens of optical drives and hundreds and possibly thousands of models in manufacture. What differentiates them? Not much. Not even price or compatibility."

The first part about the many optical drive models is true. I would really have to disagree about the drives not differing from one another.

Some are much louder than others at all times. Some are much better at cd audio extraction. Others make good disc error scanners. Some generally burn CDs well but not DVDs, even though they have the capability to do both. Some can't even make images of copy protected media. Some drives have nonexistent firmware support, while others have decent manufacturer firmware support and superb 3rd party firmware support. The list goes on...

For more info on optical drive media, drives, and software go to the forums at http://www.cdfreaks.com.

3 - Posted by Max Slowik on November 24, 2006 - 1:19 pm

Hey, thanks for that resource, I'll be sure to incorporate some of that down the road.

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