looking good
A friend of mine wanted me to build him a good computer for a reasonable price to be used as a home desktop which he will use for video editing and general use. I really enjoy this type of challenge and I took to task right away. What I came away with is what I believe is one of the best value computers you can buy.
The primary goals (in order) that I kept in mind while spec'ing out this computer were as follows:
- Quality Components
- Upgradeability
- Sleek Look
- Price
My first few attempts at a parts list landed me somewhere in the range of $600 - $700, and when I told my friend this price, he was underwhelmed. I decided to regroup and come at the problem from a different angle. Instead of looking at top-notch components and building a system around that, I would look at his particular computing needs, and choose name brand components that had the best value that met those needs.
After about another hour of research online I was able to find parts to build a quality computer that can be bought online for about $375. I’ve created a shared list here on Newegg so that you can
see it for yourself and even make a purchase if you like. I should note, this computer does not include an operating system, monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Perhaps you have these already as was our case.
If you are looking for a simple desktop or media center PC made with quality, upgradeable components then look no further. On top of all this, it looks amazing!
A. The Parts
1. Motherboard
This board is what really makes this computer happen. It’s a microATX form factor board for Intel LG775 socket CPUs. It supports 64-bit, dual-core Intel processors. The P5LD2-VM is packed full of features (DDR2, PCI Express, 64-bit CPU, dual-core CPU, HD Audio, SATA II, and integrated video) and is very future friendly.
2. Enclosure
First off, this case is beautiful. It is a slim-line, piano-black, glossy-finished, quiet, microATX form factor enclosure. It will look just as great on your desktop or in the living room as part of the media center. It can be positioned either vertically or horizontally depending on your tastes. It is obviously well built and the internal layout made the build a breeze. Keep in mind, that it comes with only a 220 Watt power supply and is only 3.8” high so you’ll have to find slim PCI cards that will fit if need be. I can’t tell you how much I, and everyone else, love the look of this case and for a great price too!
3. CPU
This single-core CPU is clocked at 2.53GHz and supports 64 bit instructions. It is not as powerful as an equivalently Pentium 4 processor, but it holds it’s own for typical (non-gaming) computer applications and comes in at almost half the price. The Celeron has also proven to hold up to
extreme overclocking. If you are looking for more power, then you can look at Pentium 4 or even Pentium D processors for an upgrade at an upgraded price.
4. RAM
The motherboard uses DDR2 RAM clocked at 533MHz or 667MHz with the FSB. This RAM is clocked at 533MHz and was chosen to match the Celeron’s 533MHz FSB. If you want a simple upgrade, then purchase a second stick of this memory to make use of the motherboard’s dual channel memory architecture while bringing your system memory up to 1GB.
5. Hard Drive
This hard drive uses the next-generation SATA interface that supports speeds up to 300 MB/s. I found this drive to be very quiet and very fast. Using SiSoftware’s Sandra benchmarking software I was able to get 51 MB/s reported hard drive score for its litany of file system benchmarks. The speed of this drive combined with the motherboard’s southbridge chipset make disk I/O one of this computer’s strong points. Again, for a simple upgrade, go for a larger drive in the Western Digital series.
6. DVD-Writer
This is a silver, dual-layer, 16X, +/-, R/RW DVD writer that will handle any task you throw at it. It matches the Minuet’s silver finish perfectly.
B. The Build
look inside
Everything went smoothly while putting together the computer's hardware. The case has a removable drive bay that gives you a lot of room to install the motherboard and components. The layout of the motherboard worked well with the layout of the case, which made it easy to do a clean job of wiring.
The computer powered up on the first attempt and all hardware was recognized and running fine.
Installing Windows XP Media Center Edition gave us some slight pain having to do with XP's install CD not coming with the necessary drivers to access the SATA hard drive. The install CD that comes with the motherboard however has a utility that is able to create an install 3 1/2" floppy that you insert when Windows prompts you to press F6. The only problem is that you need to temporarily install a floppy drive to get the drivers into the system. This is a known Windows issue and is resolved in later versions of the O/S installation CD.
Once Windows was loaded, it was just a matter of installing all the drivers that came with the motherboard. This build had no other drivers that needed to be installed, mostly because of the integrated video and audio components that come with the motherboard.
We did a benchmark tests to see how the computer handled load, and the CPU ran at a cool 40C while the motherboard temperature was somewhere around 35C. The 80mm case fan has three speed settings, and we set ours to low as that is all we needed.
The computer runs very quiet, with the loudest component being the CPU fan running at about 2300rpm.
Conclusions
look, it's done!
My friend could not be happier with this computer. We threw in a sleek
LG L1780U LCD monitor, a keyboard, and wireless mouse that we already had. We picked up the parts, built-it, and installed the operating system on Saturday, and he was editing his ProductWiki documentary on it by Saturday night.
This computer has performed beautifully, and everyone who has seen it has been amazed. They can’t believe a computer that performs so well, and looks so good can be so cheap. What they don’t necessary realize, is that this computer is also very upgradeable and is made of high-quality components. Let’s just say that many of my friends and family are going to be buying, and I, subsequently, will be building many of these machines in the very near future.
