Looking to build a PC

[Doball{MEOW}]

I'm wanting to build a PC for my 10 1/2year old son. Right now he's got a bottom of the line Dell, but want's to be able to play BF2 and AA with me. We talked him into a better PC instead of yet another game system because you can do homework and research on a comp. He'll definately need that next year when he starts middle shcool.

So here's what I'm looking at on mwave.com   I've already got a monitor, and the rest of the vital stuff I can get at walmart or Best Buy. The total is $588.22 before shipping and tax. Not bad imo not quite $200 more than the Xbox 360 he wanted, but so many more uses. Let me know what you think, and different ideas are welcome since this will be my first attempt at building a PC.

Mobo / processor / memory

ASUS P5SD2-X BUNDLE W/ RETAILED                                           $367.92   
CELERON D 351 3.2G (533Mhz)
MWAVE 2GB DDR2 533 (1GB x 2)
ASSEMBLE/TEST BUNDLE
 
SKU: MB-BA22420 -BA21835 -BA20518 -BA20518 -TEST 


Video card - not the best, but workable

ASUS EAX1600PRO/TD/512M RADEON X1600 PRO PCI EXPRESS 512MB DDR2 VIDEO CARD w/DVI & TV OUT (RETAIL) $129.00
SKU: AA46810

Case - cheap!

GENERIC 762 (BEIGE) MIDDLE TOWER NO POWER SUPPLY 3x5.25" 2x3.5" 1x3.5"(hidden)           $32.90
EXTRA 80mm FAN(BLACK)
MWAVE 400W UL P/S
POWER SUPPLY INSTALLATION
SKU: BA23027 -BA01080 -BA12311 -TEST2

MAXTOR 80GB 6L080M0/6V080E0 SATA-150 7200RPM 8MB (Bare drive) *SATA power cord is required    $58.40
0.5m SATA CABLE
SATA POWER CORD
SKU: AA22300 -BA00305 -BA00307

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

ASUS P5SD2-X BUNDLE W/ RETAILED                                           $367.92   
CELERON D 351 3.2G (533Mhz) <-- This may be of concern
MWAVE 2GB DDR2 533 (1GB x 2)
ASSEMBLE/TEST BUNDLE

Celron is not a real good chip for any multitasking.  It is a good economy chip but is less desireable for intense gaming.  IMHO any P4 class chip willth at least 533 speed and probably at least a 5xx class or higher. 
Making sure you are prepared for the future, you might thnk about a 64 bit system.  AMD and Pentium 64 class systems down the road will be not just cutting edge but a necessity.  Graphics are the next thing to think about down the road.  The computer will be the main media for most every thing including communication and video.  APG is on it's last leg.  Support for APG will still be around but PCIe and newer inovative graphics controllers are on the way.  I know, $$ is the main thing here for many, but looking ahead, you might want to step up just a bit if not a lot. 

[Raidien{MEOW}]

go with AMD, you won't be disappointed

[Doball{MEOW}]

They offer a 3.2G P4 541 (800Mhz) that's only about $37 more, so I'll switch to that

Specs listed for the Mobo looked good to me. It does have PCIE and I thought it said 64 capability, but I might have not understood it right. I'm not real good at the technical aspects of a lot of this.

Technical Information:

CPU:
Socket 775 for Intel Pentium D / Pentium 4 / Celeron
Intel EM64T / EIST / Hyper-Threading Technology/ Dual-Core Smithfield

Chipset:
SiS 656
SiS 965L

Front Side Bus:
800/533 MHz
Memory:
4 x DIMM, max. 4GB, DDR2-667/533/400, non-ECC, un-buffered memory

Expansion Slots:
1 x PCI-E x16
2 x PCI-E x1
3 x PCI

Storage/RAID:
2 x UltraDMA 133/100/66
2 x Serial ATA, RAID 0, RAID 1, JBOD

Audio:
ADI AD1986A 6-channel CODEC
Jack Sensing and Enumeration
S/PDIF out interface

LAN:
Intel 82540EM PCI Gb LAN controller / Realtek RTL8201CL Phy(Optional)

USB:
8 USB2.0 ports

Back Panel I/O Ports:
1 x Parallel
1 x PS/2 Keyboard + Mouse
1 x COM1
1 x Audio I/O
1 x RJ45 +USB
1 x S/PDIF Out (Coaxial)
4 x USB

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

I missed that part about the PCIe sorry.  Good choice in my opinion.  LGA 775 is what I am running with a P4 630 3.0 CPU.  This has been outstanding.  One note here,  LGA class chip runs hot and is made to do so.  The case that you purchase really should be one that ventilates well.  Fans front and rear with top and side fans.  The case I am using has a cone on the side panel that allows direct air flow for the CPU, this makes the running temperature a more constant temp.  Mesh screen inside allows case to maintain air flow yet heat to dissipate.  codegen
Looks like you have it all figured out.  Look at newegg as well for comparison.

[CraZyKaT*{MEOW}*]

Well Do,

If you are looking for more bang for your buck. Then AMD is the way to go.
If you are looking for high prices but great performance then Intel is the way to go.
An intel system will cost about $250 more then AMD would.  Look into the socket 939 systems.
If you are looking for a high end system that will run any game you want. Then you will need
the socket 939 no doubt. But if its for your son, and i know you want it to be able to run bf2
and such. You might want to look into the 754 sockets as well.  AMD 3400+ 64bit with new motherboard will run you
around 106 bucks. Memory will run at least 120. Video card if you are looking for one for your son. The
6800oc will be pleanty and that is 140. Harddrive is no more then 80.  Good powersupply will be 75 or so.
Case will run you at least 70. dvd burners are 38 bucks. windows is 91 bucks.

Thats 731 bucks for a pretty nice machine. Its not the best for sure. But will run any game you put on it.

[Doball{MEOW}]

Well Crazy, I'm really looking for a pipe dream lol, cheap, awesome performance, and reliable. I know I can't get all three, but for now I'll settle for moderate price/performance and reliable. Case comes with a 400W ps and 2 fans, I'm stealing the cd drives, and random cables that will work from an old PC we have. I'll just reuse windows from his current PC and disable auto updates. I have no knowledge of AMD so I'll just stick with intel cause I've never had anything else and I've never had problems with it.

My main goal is something that is reliable. I don't think we'll ever notice the difference in the different mobos or types of precessors until it comes time to upgrade something. I just need something that will work well, after all it's for a 10 year old, he will be thrilled to be able to play games that require more that an intergrated 64meg graphics processor. That being said, what I DON'T want is to be in there every night trying to stop glitches or errors cause I bought him things that were incompatible or not capable. I know I'm not getting the best of anything right now, but I've sold my wife on the price and I can always upgrade in small steps later.

Right now his trend seems to be games like need for speed series, and he really wants to try BF2 and AA. I think those will keep him busy for a while because BF2 has an endless amount of awards to try to get, and he is pretty goal driven when it comes to games. He'll probably ive up on AA pretty quick because of the learning curve. I've got enough older games to keep him busy for a while until the GPU needs to be upgraded for new games. So If I can set him up with a machine that's good enough for games that are a year or two old he will be happy.

[Gilmo{MEOW}]

Doball, what price range are you looking in.  I started building one for my daughter and then found that laptops are extremely cheap now with pretty reliable performance.  You just need to shop some.  I also like that I can disable her online support from any computer I happen to be at.(even away from home).  She is 8 and not a big gamer.  The laptop is also useful when on the road and does not take up much space in her overcrowded room.  If you are determined to build I will start looking for some combos for you.  Also, Lowball on the APG site builds them all the time and can give you the entire set of what to buy for the best price and have the architecture worked out so it is a no fuss operation.  I picked up an AMD Turion with a NVidia card for 800 bucks new and have yet to find a game it will not run well if not topend. (having the warranty does not hurt either).  Not trying to rain on your parade, just offering up another avenue to consider.

[Doball{MEOW}]

Got Amy slod on the $550-low 600 range. A laptop is out of the question! He isn't responsible enough yet and I have a 3 1/2 year old who would probably end up getting a hold of it. mwave offers a RADEON X1600 PRO PCI EXPRESS 512MB DDR2 VIDEO CARD w/DVI & TV OUT for $129.00. Not the best but it should handle things for now.

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

That will work fine.  Memory is pretty low price right now, maybe at least another 256 if not another 512 stick.  If you do get memory, match them up such as DDR333 or DDR400 what ever is in the system you get.  It doesn't hurt to mis-match as the memory will be backward compatible to the lower speed but matching what is in the system will help in any memory conflicts.

I say this only because Windows will own 300mb of that memory in it self.  1gig is common today.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

MWAVE 2GB DDR2 533 (1GB x 2)

Good call on that Doball.  2gb is the new standard in gaming.  BF2 will definitely make use of that.

[Doball{MEOW}]

Old topic I know, but I have another question. My wife shut down the Pc idea saying it was too much $$$. She just spent $550 on an Xbox 360 and  things for it. I said she should've let me get the PC for another $150.

Question is, how much will it affect game play if we're both wireless playing BF or AA at the same time? Possibly add TS in there. in BF2 I was kind of laggy, but never in AA and not in 2142. Amy thinks it won't work. I do have issues when I'm playing and she's uploading pictures to snapfish, or loading large pages. Granted most of my playing comes after his bedtime, but on weekends in the winter we'll play together, and he gets to stay up late on weekends.

She said I could take it back and get  him the computer, but if we can't play at the same time I'll stick with the Xbox.

[Smooth*{MEOW}*]

I use a wired/wireless combo router Doball.  I have my PC wired, while 2 laptops are on the wireless.  I don't notice anything when those laptops are online.  Of course they don't game, but browse the internet and download music.

[THEKATZ*{MEOW}*]

Depending on your up speed, you can get a bit laggy if both are playing.  A 512 up should be fine with out much notice for both to be on line playing, downloading and such.  Less than that you will see lagginess.  DSL, well that will not work unless you have very good up speed.
Tammy does a lot of Youtube, trading music with friends and downloading, we have a 8mb down and 786 up speed here.  I do notice once in a while lag.  That is because she is downloading 10 different things at once!  So we compromised, I won't disconnect her wireless from the router if she does no more than 1 or 2 at a time.  Hasn't been an issue since.

[WildKatZ*{MEOW}*]

Ultra and pole, play online games together. and there wireless,ask him what connection he has. and what problem's if any.