It has been quite a while since I have built a computer and all the new stuff is overwhelming me. I don't have a desktop right now, just a laptop, and was looking at letting the g/f have the laptop and building a desktop. I would like for it to be capable of running Vista, so I don't have to upgrade it immediately. My previous computer was a AMD XP 1500 and had good luck with it. What mobo/proc would you recommend right now for a $150-250 range?

Thanks for any help guys.

12/18/2006 2:21:00 PM

why do you want a desktop? what do you want to do with it?

12/18/2006 2:22:34 PM

Internet, office stuff, handle mp3s, some gaming...

I am not looking to break the bank, but would like something that would last a while.

12/18/2006 2:26:02 PM

I had thought about going cheap and getting this:

http://www.buy.com/prod/SEMPRON_3000_PGA754_1_8GHZ_128KB_90NM_1_4V_62W_1_6GHZ_PIB/q/loc/101/201683101.html?adid=17662&adid=17662

Would that be a waste of money at this point?

12/18/2006 2:27:24 PM

I mean, if by 'some gaming' you mean playing games that are 5 years old then yeah go for it, but I upgraded my mobo/processor like 2.5 years ago and I had a better processor than that....

As for suggestions I am a few years out of the loop too, but surely you can do better than that....

[Edited on December 18, 2006 at 2:33 PM. Reason : ]

12/18/2006 2:32:35 PM

How about this....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?ATT=19103528&CMP=AFC-SlickDeals&Item=N82E16819103528

12/19/2006 7:03:55 PM

just make sure you get a good mobo, power supply and hard drive, those are things you dont want to upgrade any time soon, the rest can be upgraded as you go along

12/19/2006 11:40:25 PM

That processor should be fine. I have the san diego core 3700+ and it's still kicking through games just fine. I've got an EVGA nVidia Geforce 6800GS (256mb pci-x) in this system and a gig of ram and I've not had any games that won't play smoothly on this machine. If you go with that processor and a slightly better graphics card, you'll probably be just fine for about 1.5-2 years before stuff really starts to slow down.

12/20/2006 1:24:34 AM

you can buy a new mobo proc and wait to upgrade everything else or you can watch http://www.slickdeals.net for end of quarter deals from Dell.

To give you an example, my dad scored:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 3800+
Genuine Windows XP Home Edition
Upgrade to Windows Vista Home Basic from XP Home, $55 payable at redemption
1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz- 2DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
16X DVD ROM Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
1 Year On-site Economy Plan

That for $389 (notice that he gets Vista Home basic for $55. He actually got XP pro, which allows him to get the full version of Vista for $489. Systems like these you just can't beat the price. (For reference it's on page 2 of the deals since it was last week. Friday, December 08,2006).

Later on you can upgrade the only thing that needs it, the video card. But that card will let you play just about any game out there. Not on high settings or anything but you can.

[Edited on December 20, 2006 at 7:36 AM. Reason : !]

12/20/2006 7:36:11 AM

Quote :

"NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU"

ahahahahahhahahahahhahaha

definitely get a new vid card....

and perhaps another gig of ram for that and you would have a good machine...

12/20/2006 10:58:03 AM

Get a Core 2 Duo... Best bang for buck... get lower end one if ya like and overclock...


Asus MB

2GB Ram

150$ PCI Express x16 card from

newegg w/ best reviews....

12/20/2006 6:38:24 PM

apparently core2 duo prices are going to drop in the next month too. sadly Q3 2007 looks like another big leap

12/20/2006 7:10:40 PM