When I get stuck I come to you guys....

[Okele]

Ok so Santa told me in a dream that because of the economy he will only be able to get one decent present for my daughter. He gave me a choice of an Xbox 360 and a PC, which when I woke up and explained to my wife she laughed at me. The story worked great with my daughter, she ate it all up(shes 9).

After a couple of weeks of asking her friends and family what she should do, she has made her decision. And honestly part of me was hoping she would choose the 360, cause then I could get the MW2 edition and repackage one of the other ones I have into my Arcade case and wrap it up. The other half of me was hoping she'd choose a PC, as yet again it was my window of opportunity for some upgrades and hand-me downs.

Now before you decide to get the pitch forks and torches let me explain what I have in my current system:

Mobo: Gigabyte MS55-SLI-4
CPU: AMD 5000+ BE
Vid cards: 2x BFG 9800 GT's
RAM: 2x2GB Ram
HDD: 750GB of storage
in a rocketfish case.

It would be a pretty beefy system for any 9 year old. Im not planning to give her both video cards but am planning to use an 8800GTS that I have in my wifes computer and upgrading her card to one of my 9800's taking me back down to one card, which is fine for now.

My current budget is 350.00 but the longer I wait the higher it will be, and my father said he will try to help out with budget if necessary. We aren't rich so timing is everything really. Im probably also going to try and put a tuner card in there so she can watch TV on her monitor(which she will also get from my pc in february after taxes come back).

So here's where you my friends come in. I've been out of the loop for quite some time on upgrades and what not. I plan to keep 1 video card, and will probably get her a new HDD because my partitions are kind of complicated. I need help finding the right upgrades for my system and hers that are going to make sense.
Things we're looking for are MOBO, CPU, RAM, HDD, PSU(does not have to be rated for SLI but would prefer modular) all for under 500.00 over the course of the next few months.

Thanks in advance, I know its a bit long winded. REP for anyone who helps.

[Datech]

Just to clarify: you are looking for a new system under $500 for yourself, and will be handing down all the parts listed to your daughter with the exception of the hard drive (you want a new one for her), correct?

There is nothing wrong with this (thats what I did on Passion), I'm just clarifying. Also, any preferences on form factor? There are some good combo deals on MicroATX on Newegg right now, one of which I list below.

• Combo Mobo and CPU: $134
  GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
  and
  AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor
• Patriot Viper II 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066: $75
• Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive: $48
• Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power: $65

Total: $322

Out of all this, I would say the combo deal is the one thing you can think about upgrading. I don't know what your card situation is like, so moving up to a full atx with a quad core could be an option. I went with AMD because currently they are the best bang for the buck, especially with the combo deals.

For the RAM, idk if I'm out of the loop but it seems $75 is high for a 2x2 set, so someone may find something cheaper. The RAM can also be changed out, but that is simply if you don't want to take the time to tweak it for top performance. Out of the box it will still be fine.

The 320GB Caviar Blue is the best bang for your buck on the HDD, unless you really want a 16MB cache.

That PSU is my favorite out of them all. If you aren't running two cards, the 550W continuous will be plenty for you, and it is modular and currently at a great price.

As you said, timing is everything, and that combo deal and the discounts could be gone tomorrow. Let me know if you have any other requirements and I will gladly revise the list. $322 is a great price for that 3/4s of a system, and if I had it spare I'd probably snatch up that set right now. As you probably know, $322 will let you do a lot more this Christmas than the full $500, but I'm sure you will consider that for yourself as many of us will have to this year. This was also a first look through on Newegg, mainly with Low Price and Best Ratings searches, so I may come back and revise it on my own later.

[BuzzKillington]

Black Friday is just around the corner. If I were you I wouldn't worry about making any lists because the build may just come down to what is the best deal. I'm not sure if you're into waiting in lines but it may be worth sitting in line at Frys or Best Buy a few hours before opening on Black Friday.

[Okele]

Just to clarify: you are looking for a new system under $500 for yourself, and will be handing down all the parts listed to your daughter with the exception of the hard drive (you want a new one for her), correct?

There is nothing wrong with this (thats what I did on Passion), I'm just clarifying. Also, any preferences on form factor? There are some good combo deals on MicroATX on Newegg right now, one of which I list below.

• Combo Mobo and CPU: $134
  GIGABYTE GA-MA785GM-US2H AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 785G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
  and
  AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor
• Patriot Viper II 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066: $75
• Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAJS 320GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive: $48
• Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power: $65

Total: $322

Out of all this, I would say the combo deal is the one thing you can think about upgrading. I don't know what your card situation is like, so moving up to a full atx with a quad core could be an option. I went with AMD because currently they are the best bang for the buck, especially with the combo deals.

For the RAM, idk if I'm out of the loop but it seems $75 is high for a 2x2 set, so someone may find something cheaper. The RAM can also be changed out, but that is simply if you don't want to take the time to tweak it for top performance. Out of the box it will still be fine.

The 320GB Caviar Blue is the best bang for your buck on the HDD, unless you really want a 16MB cache.

That PSU is my favorite out of them all. If you aren't running two cards, the 550W continuous will be plenty for you, and it is modular and currently at a great price.

As you said, timing is everything, and that combo deal and the discounts could be gone tomorrow. Let me know if you have any other requirements and I will gladly revise the list. $322 is a great price for that 3/4s of a system, and if I had it spare I'd probably snatch up that set right now. As you probably know, $322 will let you do a lot more this Christmas than the full $500, but I'm sure you will consider that for yourself as many of us will have to this year. This was also a first look through on Newegg, mainly with Low Price and Best Ratings searches, so I may come back and revise it on my own later.

Form factor isnt such a big deal to me except that a micro atx will be super small in my rocket fish case. might be interesting though lol. She has picked out her case so I think Im using that as my starting point. Personally if I can find a full ATX with Quad core capability then Im all for it. I also have to take into consideration OS upgrades for her system and mine but thats something I can work on down the line, Best Buy looks like it will be selling a 3 pack upgrade for 149. Only issue is her PC wont have an OS on it, and my wifes comp has XP so I dont know what the upgrade issues will be with hers.

[Okele]

Black Friday is just around the corner. If I were you I wouldn't worry about making any lists because the build may just come down to what is the best deal. I'm not sure if you're into waiting in lines but it may be worth sitting in line at Frys or Best Buy a few hours before opening on Black Friday.

some day I will get to sit in one of those lines, but for now as I work in retail for the largest company in the world I will be one of the slaves stuck in the store not being able to buy anything until Im at lunch, and by then everythings pretty much dry.

[Datech]

In that case here you go.

That ups your cost to $400, but it will run for the next 5 years. In regards to the OS though, Windows 7 is your option. I've installed the RTM version (legally) on 6 different computers, and the only one it didn't work on was a 5 year old Toshiba laptop. The only reason it didn't work on that laptop was because Toshiba never made any Vista drivers for it. I couldn't find a fitting display driver and 7 looks like crap in 800x600 (network and touchpad drivers were fine though).

If you can afford it, get 7 for all the computers. It makes networking the computers a cinch, and it is in general M$'s best OS.

[crenn]

In that case here you go.

That ups your cost to $400, but it will run for the next 5 years. In regards to the OS though, Windows 7 is your option. I've installed the RTM version (legally) on 6 different computers, and the only one it didn't work on was a 5 year old Toshiba laptop. The only reason it didn't work on that laptop was because Toshiba never made any Vista drivers for it. I couldn't find a fitting display driver and 7 looks like crap in 800x600 (network and touchpad drivers were fine though).

If you can afford it, get 7 for all the computers. It makes networking the computers a cinch, and it is in general M$'s best OS.

What's the laptop? And what video card drivers?

[Datech]

What's the laptop? And what video card drivers?

A very old Toshiba Satellite something or other. It had a Centrino mobil proc and 512MB RAM originally, upgraded to 1GB. Like I said, the actual OS ran surprisingly well on it, it just didnt look pretty.

[DaveW]

Im probably also going to try and put a tuner card in there so she can watch TV on her monitor(which she will also get from my pc in february after taxes come back).

Don't waste your time on Tuners, Internet TV is where it's at these days. Don't know where you are in the world but in the UK most of the stuff that's on TV can be streamed directly from the channel's website. (Channel 4 On Demand, BBC iPlayer). As it's for your little girl you'll want to be careful with what she does online, but an internet lock would probably also protect you from streaming TV that you don't want her to see.

-Dave

[nevermind1534]

some day I will get to sit in one of those lines, but for now as I work in retail for the largest company in the world I will be one of the slaves stuck in the store not being able to buy anything until Im at lunch, and by then everythings pretty much dry.

Some online retailers (newegg is one) have black friday sales.