Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Richeydog's Uber Cheap PC Build Thread

I've never built my own PC before so I thought it would be a fun and rewarding challenge to do it myself. I've been researching for a couple months trying to decide what I need and have finally starting buying components. Keep in mind this is for simple computing only, browsing the web, streaming audio and video, office, maybe a little bit of photoshop. No gaming or heavy/intensive cpu stuff. So, you won't see any high/mid range parts here.

Here is my old system: An HP864n Media Center, circa 2003. It was given to me a couple of years ago and have been using it since.

Processor - Intel Pentium 4 2.66 GHz
Motherboard - MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD MS-6577 (Socket 478)
RAM - Kingston PC3200 1GB, Smart Modular PC2100 512k
Graphics - 128MB NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440
PSU - Bestec 1956d b2 200 Watt Micro Atx
Hard Drive - 78GB Western Digital WDC WD800BB-00JHC0 (PATA) (This is a couple years old)
Optical Drives - HP DVD Writer 200j, MITSUMI CD-ROM FX48++W

As you can tell, this thing is a dinosaur and I felt a change was needed. I want a computer with low(er) energy consumption and something that can handle multiple tasks with relative ease.

So far I've bought (don't laugh/cringe too hard...remember this is a super budget build. I'm not looking for the latest and greatest as you'll see below)
- Processor - Intel Celeron G530 ($46)
- Motherboard - ECS H61H2-M2(1.0) LGA 1155 ($28)
- PSU - OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W Modular High Performance ($55 Bundled with DVD Burner)
- DVD Burner - Sony Optiarc 24X
- RAM - None yet
- Case - None yet
- Hard Drive - I'm going to use my existing hard drive for now. I can't or won't spend the dough for a new sata drive. Prices are too high right now. When they lower I will consider buying one. That or an SSD(when the price is right).

So I need an IDE/SATA Adapter to run with my new system. I've found one on Monoprice . I plan on ordering it when it's back in stock unless you know of something similar in functionality and price.

It's late so I'm off to bed. Must get sleep. I'll snap some pics in and show you some progress once I start my build. Later.

But will it make the pictures of Anna Faris look any different?

I don't know much about IDE to SATA converters but I can't imagine getting by with just 78GB. Depends what you are doing I guess.
You should be able to get a 500 Gb drive for $80 or so and not have to worry, but again it's whatever you need.

I would pay a little extra for a mobo that has an IDE port on it rather than using an adapter.

Or I would just pay a few bucks for a SATA drive.

Since parts have been purchased, and you are on a budget, try the adapter and existing hard drive or see if you can get a bigger hard drive. 78GB might last a while, but then again, who knows how long hard drive prices will be high and you could end up using that space and needing to buy a larger (SATA) drive anyway and have to rebuild the system.

Biggest advice I have after building dozens of machines over the years? Don't skimp on RAM. You don't need to have the fastest RAM, but lots of it never hurts. Since you are on a budget, I would shoot for 4 GB. Others will say 8GB, but I do some pretty extensive gaming, Photoshopping, and even video editing and do real well on 4GB in my 3 year old system. Granted, I went pretty high end on components back then, thus the reason I've gotten along well with it for so long.

Thanks Ken. A new mobo(1155 platform) with an IDE port(according to newegg) would cost $75 more than what I just paid. A 500GB 3.0 Sata Drive costs about the same. So, if my adapter doesn't work, I'll get a new SATA drive.

Another vote for ditching the old HD. Too small, already a few years old..why take a chance? A WD 500GB drive can be had for $50.

I am going to try the ide/sata adapter and hope it works. If not I'll be shopping around for a new SATA Drive. The prices are really high right now that's why I want to try an adapter. I still have quite a bit of storage space on my existing 78GB HD, so it's fine for now.

I plan on buying at least 4GB of RAM, but may go as high as 8GB. If I can get 8GB for about the same price as 4GB, why not?

Because I'm cheap.

The price for a SATA HDD has been steady around $80 for many years now, I don't think they will get any cheaper and if they do it will only be by $5-$10. Take the cost of the adapter away from that $80 and you will have only paid the difference and gained a TON of extra storage and a 5 year warranty(Westrn Digital).

If I am not mistaken you should be able to reuse your old case.

I would buy Corsair for your RAM.