View Single Post - Looking for a budget/HTPC system?

BeerCheeze · Rated XXX

I just put together a budget system for my kids (would make a pretty good HTPC too). If you're looking to make a good budget system and won't be playing a lot of games on it right now, but have the upgrade ability to do so.... here's what I just put together:

MotherBoard: MSI RS480M2-IL Radeon Xpress 200 - Socket 939, ATA/SATA RAID, PCI-E (16x) and PCI slots, Built in 10/100, Sound, and Video (Basically an ATi X300).
Reason: Cheap way to get into PCI-E video with out having to buy a card right now. All my video cards are AGP, so it was an added expense. And since little to no gaming will happen on this system right now. Offers me a great upgrade path too considering it's Socket 939.

CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939
Reason: Newest core (non X2) from AMD. Socket 939, cheapest, and still should be fast enough for a long time.

HDD:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer
Reason: Best bang for buck... Seagate, 5 yr warranty, NCQ, SATA.

CD/DVD Burner:
NEC ND-3520A 16X Double Layer DVDÂ±RW
Reason: Cheap, and I've had good luck with the NEC drives.

Now I have some RAM, a case, PSU and Keyboard/Mouse so I didn't have to buy those, and I have legit copies of Windows 64 to put on it. I will probably pick up a LCD monitor for it though. But the grand price for all that was only $368.97 all with free shipping (and no taxes for me). For less than $50 you can add 512MB DDR, and you can pick up a case & PSU for less than $50 as well.