hokay. My borrowed netbook died on me. Some problems with HDD so I am in need of a computer.

The problem is tough I am on a very limited budget.

In a pic attached I created a basic machine. I already have a HDD (spinpoint F3 1T) and a GPU (my old 4850 which i hope it works). Will upgrade the card in July but for 650 or 7870 (or maybe 7850 if prices don't drop significantly)

I also gonna use XP for now till I get a new card.

any ideas? I might find 100 more dollars but it would be a bit painful. Or is it too crap and i should find more money (which is a possibility)

It would be a bit easier to look for alternatives if you told us what shop that is.

I have a similar system and I am happy. 95% of all things will run fine.

On the other hand gamers are often overweighing the remaining 5% a lot.

I would personally prefer to have more RAM, say 8 GB. Its cheap.

He'll be using XP for the time being at least. So more RAM isn't such a sound investment if money is tight. But yeah, maybe switching the 2x2 for a single 4gb stick would be the better option.

The system you put together looks fine. But I wouldn't call it extreme budget computing tho... if you want to go extreme budget you could cut costs on the case, psu, processor, and probably ram too.

Right

Alternative build:

COOLER MASTER Storm Scout

GIGABYTE GA-A75-UD4H FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard

OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano 3.0GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU (CPU + GPU)

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F60GB3A-BK 2.5" 60GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Grand Total: $645.75

*Prices reflect time of specing out the build*

I just did a check over. That's actually not a bad budget build. And you've left yourself room for the system to grow. If you feel confident I'd say go for it.

One can usually scrounge up a free case, it usually requires a modicum of begging, but if you really need to save the extra 25-50, yes, they can be free. Free PSUs usually don't have the right connectors for modern mobos, though. Free CD/DVD drives are also easy to come by.

No. Keep your memory in pairs. Otherwise you lose dual channel support and your memory speed is effectively halved.

(I've read that some systems can do dual channel with three sticks of ram [as compared to four] but check your documentation before trying this.)

I've taken a machine out of dual channel mode before (jarred a stick loose in transit), lag spikes, bad lag spikes.

What's the fun in that? Nice new case. If it's not impacting the price that much, is a nice plus.

It's a nice case. If those are AU$ prices, the OP's getting a good deal on it.

I don't favor the CPU and motherboard: AMD's new CPUs are substantially worse than the Phenom II's, which were already no longer competitive with Intel, and Gigabyte doesn't have its act together with UEFI.

You should be able to get a good motherboard from ASUS or MSI, and a Phenom II Zosma that would be faster, for the same price. Or an Intel setup with an H67, P67, or Z68 chipset motherboard and a Core i3 2120.

You're only talking about a very minor, very short term benefit. He can get 4GB now and another identical 4GB when he's ready to install Windows 7.

There's no point in building this rig as if it's the be all and end all.

I'm not talking about free parts, I'm talking about cheaper parts...

He's using a high end PSU where he could also use an FSP PSU for example, which could save him a few bucks and still is rock solid and has all the connectors the OCZ one has.
A single or dual core processor instead of a high end quad core could also save you a bit of money and a 17" TN monitor is also cheaper than a 23" IPS monitor. And for the case, any will do as long as it's full size ATX. Which means you could even use one from 10 years ago since ATX has been around for a long time.

Though I could be mistaken about the PSU and processor being high end, since I haven't built a new computer for quite some time now... So don't pin me down on that ;) .
True, but I'm just saying if you really want to go budget you can go a lot cheaper ;) .
But you would have to give up a lot of performance.

PC Case Gear.

I finally got an access to computer so I can reply. I can browse forums alright via my phone but I am unable to log in, therefore reply.
Thank you everyone for replying, I won't be buying until the end of next week so stil waiting for my suggestions.
The site is indeed pccasegear. They appear to have best customer, support and their prices are one of the lowest. After I finalize the build I might go to local MSY store which also are reliable company and cut some cost on delivery.

Anyhow:
Can't I just get another 2x2GB later on?