Update my eMachine!

[Eric_Cartman]

School is quickly approaching and I will be starting my hopefully final year at college.

My student loans will give me $460 to play around with to upgrade my emachine POS.

I'm not sure if I will have a job this semester, so I definitely can not go over the $460 extra from my student loan.

I know some will probably say stick with the emachine then, but I can not do that.

The caps on the emachine motherboard are starting to bulge, one is leaking.

I don't think this computer will make it much longer, and I need a computer at college.

Here is what I am thinking of getting.

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Com...
ASRock P43DE LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboa...
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bi...
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 ...
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certi...
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler I5 775 ...
LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-...

I'll be keeping the E3200 and the WD Green Hard Drive from my emachine and reusing it in the new computer.

I hope to get a very good clock speed on the E3200 to hold me over until I hopefully get a job and can upgrade it as well.

I need the blu-ray player because I had to sell my PS3 to come up with my part of the security deposit for the apartment I will be staying in.

Having a movie playing in the background helps me study.

That isn't so bad though, because the room I am staying in is so small, I could not fit a TV and PS3 in there along with my computer and desk.

My concern is the PSU being powerful enough for the graphics card.

But 30a on the 12v should be enough right?

[erocker]

Looks good for what you want to do and upgrade. If you can, stretch the video card out to a HD 5770. It consumes less power and is a better card. I think a HD 5750 even beats out the 4850 as well. PSU is plenty strong.

[Soylent Joe]

I'd recommend moving to a nice Caviar Blue or Black drive from your Green. Greens really shouldn't be used for anything besides storage. Though it might be hard to fit a new drive into your budget.

Also if you'd like to save a little bit, 4GB DDR2 kits have been popping up like crazy around here during the last couple months. I'm sure you could get one similar to the one you linked to for about $50 shipped.

Actually, I always encourage people on a strict budget to put up a WTB thread for what they need. Helps you get more bang for the buck

[Eric_Cartman]

Originally Posted by erocker

Looks good for what you want to do and upgrade. If you can, stretch the video card out to a HD 5770. It consumes less power and is a better card. I think a HD 5750 even beats out the 4850 as well. PSU is plenty strong.

I'd love to go with an HD5770 but it just isn't in the budget.

For $100 the 4850 was the best option I thought.

I can not stretch the budget any more.

It should still handle modern games without much problem on my 19" 1440x900 screen, right?

Originally Posted by Soylent Joe

I'd recommend moving to a nice Caviar Blue or Black drive from your Green. Greens really shouldn't be used for anything besides storage. Though it might be hard to fit a new drive into your budget.

Also if you'd like to save a little bit, 4GB DDR2 kits have been popping up like crazy around here during the last couple months. I'm sure you could get one similar to the one you linked to for about $50 shipped.

Actually, I always encourage people on a strict budget to put up a WTB thread for what they need. Helps you get more bang for the buck

Why can't the green drives be used for anything else?

It we a hell of a lot faster than that 80GB Caviar Blue that came in the emachines.

I'm not real comfortable buying used online.

Too much hassle if something breaks and I have to return it, or if something comes broken.

I prefer to buy new, that way I know I have a warranty, and newegg will back up anything they sell.

[AthlonX2]

you can grab a green drive just disable the constant spindown of the drives

[Eric_Cartman]

Thanks AthlonX2, I already have the green drive, I bought it to replace the slow and small piece of crap that came with the emachine.

He got me worried that the Green drive might fail or something because of installing an OS on it.

Anyway, I think I'm going to go with my original idea and order all the parts.

One last question though.

I am sure I will be upgrading to a more powerful card in the future as soon as I find a job down at college.

Will the Corsair power supply be good enough for something like a 460GTX or a 5850HD?

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

Will the Corsair power supply be good enough for something like a 460GTX or a 5850HD?

Yes the PSU its enough to power it, however unless the E3200 is overclocked its probably not the most suitable CPU for video cards like the 460GTX or 5850.

IMO I would leave out the E3200, Ebay it. Socket 775 has been gone unsupported for a while now and I would start the build again with a Athlon II X3, AM3 Motherboard and DDR3 memory the build will cost near enough the same whilst having a better performing rig with a upgrade path. $460 can get you alot performance wise with AMD, you might even be able to get a Athlon II X4 or Phenom II and still have money left over.

[brandonwh64]

For 460$, you could atleast get a Phenom II system with DDR3 that is used from the FS threads and still have money left over

[MohawkAngel]

In my opinion when you are low on cash and it is for soemthing important like studies just save it and forget about the bling bling. Putting too much upgrades on an e-machine makes as much sense as putting 15000$ on a civic 1992.
If the mobo begins to suck just run change it for acheap and new one on Newegg or Tigerdirect soemtime shippign is free.
Transfer all the components and before for the HDD run HD tuner health sstatus scan...it takes couples of hours but tell you exactly in deep if your HDD is correct or sick.
just upgrade the ram and maybe a video car the rest is far enough for what you will do with it.

[Eric_Cartman]

It isn't so much I'm upgrading an emachine as much as I'm just scavanging parts from it to using in a new build.

This is going to be a gaming rig so the Celeron needs to be overclocked.

The emachine's motherboard is not going to allow me to do that.

I'm hoping for at least 3.6GHz+ out of the Celeron to at least let me play some modern games on it.

I'm really hoping to pick up Mafia II.

I was going to get it for my PS3 but having sold that I have to play it on PC.

I'm also not worried about the hard drive being bad.

I just bought it a few months ago.

Anyway I already bought all the parts and they arrive yesterday.

I'm actually typing this message from my new rig.

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

I'm hoping for at least 3.6GHz+ out of the Celeron to at least let me play some modern games on it.

Even if you get a massive overclock like that its going to struggle on newer games still.

Like I said a few days ago $460 is plenty of money if you reach for a Athlon II X3 or a Athlon II X4 and you'd be better equipped for newer game titles due to the extra cores. Even at stock they'll outperform the E3200 @ 3.6GHz in the majority of tasks.

[Eric_Cartman]

I don't think it is possible to do an entire build with an X3 or an X4 on $460 with a graphics card as good as the HD 4850.

But you are more than welcome to put your money where your mouth is and prove me wrong.

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

I don't think it is possible to do an entire build with an X3 or an X4 on $460 with a graphics card as good as the HD 4850.

But you are more than welcome to put your money where your mouth is and prove me wrong.

Its definitely possible, remember that socket AM3 motherboards costs almost the same as socket 775.


Off topic, I have a question of my own, since lots of eyes are watching this thread I may as well ask now lol. If I have a two 4850s in CF running at different memory bus and GPU clock speeds will the faster card downclock to the speed of the slower one or will they run at their respected speeds?

Also, if one was to CF a 4890 with a 4850, will the 4890 downclock to the 4850s spec or will they run at their respected speeds? Thank you.

[Eric_Cartman]

If it is possible go ahead and prove it then.

And as for the comment that it won't run modern games I just picked up Mafia II got my CPU clocked to 3.7GHz and the game runs smooth as silk with a constant 60 FPS with a few dips to 45 FPS!

This is with vsync on of course on the recommended settings that the game defaults to.

How is that for struggling to playing modern games?

Saddly 3.7GHz seems to be the max I'm going to get out of this Celeron because any higher and the computer won't POST at all and I have to reset the BIOS settings to get it to boot.

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

If it is possible go ahead and prove it then.

The links are coming up soon

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

And as for the comment that it won't run modern games I just picked up Mafia II got my CPU clocked to 3.7GHz and the game runs smooth as silk with a constant 60 FPS with a few dips to 45 FPS!

Glad to hear it.

You've got a 4850 already, are you planning on keeping that for this new build? Its ashame to throw it away its still pretty decent.

[Reventon]

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

School is quickly approaching and I will be starting my hopefully final year at college.

My student loans will give me $460 to play around with to upgrade my emachine POS.

I'm not sure if I will have a job this semester, so I definitely can not go over the $460 extra from my student loan.

I know some will probably say stick with the emachine then, but I can not do that.

The caps on the emachine motherboard are starting to bulge, one is leaking.

I don't think this computer will make it much longer, and I need a computer at college.

Here is what I am thinking of getting.

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Com...
ASRock P43DE LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboa...
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bi...
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 ...
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certi...
XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler I5 775 ...
LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-...

I'll be keeping the E3200 and the WD Green Hard Drive from my emachine and reusing it in the new computer.

I hope to get a very good clock speed on the E3200 to hold me over until I hopefully get a job and can upgrade it as well.

I need the blu-ray player because I had to sell my PS3 to come up with my part of the security deposit for the apartment I will be staying in.

Having a movie playing in the background helps me study.

That isn't so bad though, because the room I am staying in is so small, I could not fit a TV and PS3 in there along with my computer and desk.

My concern is the PSU being powerful enough for the graphics card.

But 30a on the 12v should be enough right?

Don't worry about the PSU. Look at my specs. I have an Athlon X2 BE 6400+, 4850, 4 gigs of DDR2, an HDD, a CD drive, 6 case fans, and my mobo running on my Corsair 400W. I've had this PSU for like a year and it's never failed me, even under load from games like Dirt 2 and WoW.

Your rig will run fine a Corsair 400W.

[Eric_Cartman]

Originally Posted by Dent1

The links are coming up soon

Glad to hear it.

You've got a 4850 already, are you planning on keeping that for this new build? Its ashame to throw it away its still pretty decent.

I think you should go back and read my original post.

I've already updated my system specs with the new build everything is already ordered arrive and assembled.

The only things I'm keeping from the original computer was the E3200 and the 500GB hard drive.

I already had the E3200 that is why I used it.

I will be upgrading the E3200 when my financial situation is better.

Now I'm just waiting for the links to prove me wrong.

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

Now I'm just waiting for the links to prove me wrong.

Your wish is my command!



LG 22X DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model GH22LS50 LightScribe Support - OEM $17.99
Rosewill R2039-BK Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W Power Supply $29.99
ASRock M3A785GXH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard $84.99
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850 1GB $94.99
Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power $59.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 @ 1333 $83.99
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz $ 95.99

Tota: $467.99 - I took the liberty of putting in a CF board and another 4850 so you can enjoy some crossfire action, notice the quadcore processor in the basket too.

Also if you decide not to crossfire you can take off the PSU, video card and keep just your existing 4850. The Athlon II X4 can then be replaced with the Phenom II X6 and you'd be way under budget.

LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 1...
Rosewill R2039-BK Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Cas...
ASRock M3A785GXH/128M AM3 AMD 785G HDMI ATX AMD Mo...
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bi...
Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2...
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 ...
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Ca...

[Eric_Cartman]

Well that certainly is nice but

1 The budget is $460 after shipping.

2 You are already over budget even before shipping.

3 Where is the Blu-Ray player DVD-Burner drive that I said I need?

4 You aren't giving me a second HD 4850 in that build since I did not have one to begin with.

5 There is no way I'm trusting my rig's safety to a power supply that came with a $30 case and it only has 15A on the 12v rail.

6 That case is terrible. It has no fans so that is an extra expense also that you didn't consider or include in your build. Unless you expect the computer to run without any fans?

7 Where is the aftermarket heatsink? I think most will agree that an overclocked Intel dual will do better than a stock AMD quad in games since most games don't use more than a dual core. So an aftermarket cooler is a must even on the AMD side to allow overclocking.

Care to try again?

[Dent1]

^ you are being negative. on your budget you are not going to have the best case, the DVD Blu Ray burner is still within budget if you take off the DVDRW drive and scale back the motherboard to a non crossfire one. This build has lots of scope, but if you're negative your mind will be clouded.

The Athlon II X4 can reach 3.4GHz easy even on a stock heatsink + stock voltage, aftermarket cooler can be added within budget if you keep your existing PSU.

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

5 There is no way I'm trusting my rig's safety to a power supply that came with a $30 case and it only has 15A on the 12v rail.

Which is why you use the ANTEC PSU I put in the basket....

[Eric_Cartman]

I'm not being negative I'm pointing out why your comments are wrong.

Again I'm open to hear your build and why it would be better as long as you actually build me something plausable that fits my needs and not ignore what I need this computer to do.

And keep my existing PSU?

So you think it would be acceptable to power an HD 4850 on a 300w eMachine PSU?

Are you fucking high?

I'm not asking for the best case but one with fans so the components don't overheat isn't asking too much is it?

Oh and of course then you want me to overclock on the stock cooler with a case with no fans.

Yeah I definitely think you are high.

You are still more than welcome to prove that an X3 or X4 build is possible on $460.

Even if I use the Antec PSU remove the DVD burner and replace it with the cheapest Blu-Ray DVD Burner that leaves me a whole $12 for the processor.

Good luck getting an X3 or X4 with $12 last time I checked they were a little more than that.

Even if I then drop to the cheapest piece of shit $40 AM3 board it leave me less than $58 for an X3 or X4.

So it ain't happening.

[Dent1]

Originally Posted by Eric_Cartman

Good luck getting an X3 or X4 with $12 last time I checked they were a little more than that.

To yee negative one,

GIGABYTE gz-ph1a3 Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $19.99
BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard $54.99
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850 1GB £94.99
Antec Basiq BP500U 500W Continuous Power $54.99
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin $80.99 or OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) $75.99
AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana $74.99

Total £380.94 or $375.94

Additionals:

LITE-ON 4x Blu-ray Disc SATA Internal Optical Drive iHOS104 £64.82 or Samsung Blu-Ray Internal SATA Drive with Lightscribe SH-B083L $69.99

Subtotal: $445.76 / $440.76 or $450.93 / $445.93

GIGABYTE gz-ph1a3 Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Compute...
BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100273L Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bi...
Antec Basiq BP500U 500W Continuous Power ATX12V Ve...
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333...
AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz 3 x 512KB L2 Cach...
OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 106...
http://www.amazon.com/LITE--Blu-ray-...131737&sr=1-13
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Intern...131867&sr=1-14


Edit:

/thinks Eric_Cartman is rude both in cartoon and online. All this research, posting links whilst enduring rudeness and negativity and no "thank you". Well

[Eric_Cartman]

Oh sweet a case that is even worse than the one you originally suggested because it can't even use 120mm fan!

It does at least come with a shitty 80mm though!

Good job.

Oh and that is $395 shipped at newegg and another $70 at Amazon.

My math might not be perfect but I think that is still think that is over budget.

So you haven't proven your point so no "thank you".

You'll get a "thank you" when you actually manage to do it and do it with a non-shit case.

It doesn't have to be a great case but marginally good.

[Dent1]

My job wasn’t to please your case fetish it was to make a Athlon II X4 or Athlon II X3 build within budget of $460, which I did. I was well within budget and even took into consideration of delivery.

Even if you are not happy you could at least be sincere that I had devoted my time to help. But I guess when kids watch cartoons all day and idolise it to the point it becomes their avatar they never learn respect, class and dignity. Good night.

[Eric_Cartman]

Which you did?

No you didn't.

Even with that piece of shit Biostar board it is $395 at newegg and another $70 at Amazon so $465 shipped.

So even with a shit case and a shit motherboard your build is still over budget.

And I'm not asking for some $300 super case.

However I don't want the cheapest piece of shit you can find either.

I want something at least close to comparable with the one I picked out with close to the same capabilities.

A case that you would actually use with 120mm fans or at least the spots for 120mm fans with the fans included in the price of the build.

You aren't devoting any time to help me and you haven't helped me one bit with every build being over budget and with worse parts than the original build simply so it can get a marginally better CPU.

All the time you have devoted has been to defend your bullshit original comment not to help me.

And you haven't even managed to prove your original comment.