If your on a budget - which order to buy in?

[Judg3]

Hey guys - hoping I have a new job soon, but even when I do, I won't be able to go out and drop all the money at once to build a new PC, I'll have to do it piece by piece, paycheck by paycheck.

I know about the right order to buy things in to save the most money except for the the 5 primary components: Motherboard, Processor, Ram, hard drives and video card.

Think about being able to buy those 5 core components over 2-3 months - would going in the order of
Hard drives, Ram, Motherboard, processor, video card save me the most money? Or is there a diffrent order I should go that would save even more?

I'm trying to go in the order of the parts with most stable pricing to the most dynamic - I know ram pricing really jumps up and down, but as far as I can tell, it goes in baby steps - it seems to be motherboards and processors that really jump up or (usually) down (With vid cards being the biggest ones), so I think this is a good order, but I'd like to get the opinions of some of you that actually had to build a top quality PC on a budget, since usually I lower the quality of parts to the money I have so I can get the PC together asap. I don't want to do that now - I want to go close to high end the whole time.

Thanks in advance all!

Jeremy

P.S. - If you think it helps, I can list what I think I'll be getting for my proposed system so you can look at all the parts and see which y'all think will vary in price more - let me know!

[VidmanII]

Probably help to know what you're using now in order to see what components could be used with your existing stuff.

[blade]

Planning to go AMD or intel?

AMD is changing now to k8 and that means all new mobo's and much more moola for it all. Unless you go barton 2500+ route which should o/c to 3200+ speed rather easily. If that's the case then I'd get a mobo/ram first, then cpu. Video card last becauase the longer you wait the better one you'll be able to get at a lower cost. If you have an acceptable one now anyway. Same with hard drives.

[Judg3]

This is a whole new PC, so I don't plan on re-using any components. All new stuff! Woohoo! hehe
I'm also planning on checking out Intel again - I go back and forth, and this time I think I'll go with em again - this is the tentative PC I've built in my head and the newegg prices for it right now:

MB: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP $204.99
CPU: P4C 3.0Ghz 800mhz fsb/HT $269
Ram: Corsair XMS Twin pack of 512MB PC-3200 $233.50
Antec Plusview 1000AMG $90
Antec 550W True Control $126
Coolermaster cpu cooler - $44.99
Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM SATA drive - $130
2 x Hitachi 80Gb 7200RPM SATA drives (RAID 1) - $87.50 each - $175 total
ATI Radeon AIW 9600 Pro - $220
TDK AID-440N DVD +/-R +/-RW drive - $170.99
Plextor Premium 52x32x52 CD-RW - $93

All together she'll run about $1770 with shipping, and I think it's a pretty well-rounded system. I'm not a hardcore gamer or anything, just looking for an all around nice system.

I figure the Case and PSU are pretty static, so I'll grab those first, but really, after that I'm not sure. It'd probably be "what's the next cheapest thing", but I'm not sure.

[blade]

MB: Gigabyte GA-8KNXP $204.99
CPU: P4C 3.0Ghz 800mhz fsb/HT $269
Ram: Corsair XMS Twin pack of 512MB PC-3200 $233.50
Antec Plusview 1000AMG $90
Antec 550W True Control $126
Coolermaster cpu cooler - $44.99
Maxtor 160GB 7200RPM SATA drive - $130
2 x Hitachi 80Gb 7200RPM SATA drives (RAID 1) - $87.50 each - $175 total
ATI Radeon AIW 9600 Pro - $220
TDK AID-440N DVD +/-R +/-RW drive - $170.99
Plextor Premium 52x32x52 CD-RW - $93

That's some spicy meataball stuff! ow

I reviewed that case and psu, they are top of the line. Which coolermaster cpu cooler? From what I know I'd get something like a thermalright sp-94/slk900 or a thermaltake venus 12/silent boost. They all cooled better than the newest from coolermaster, the aero7.

[eGoCeNTRoNiX]

Hey Judg3,

I'm going to be picking up an NEC1300A 4x-R 2.4x-RW, 4x+R 2.4x+RW NewEgg has them for like $104 shipped right now which I don't think is a bad deal at all.. I know you're not buying right now, but I thought I'd mention that.. eGo

[Judg3]

Yeah, I know there's cheaper stuff out there, but for once in my life I want to build a PC and not compromise with anything. I always end up changing to something I don't really want because of the price. I *want* a TDK DVD burner and I *want* a plextor burner and damn it I'll have them! lol

Oh, blade, the HSF I was thinking of a Coolermaster Jet4 - that turbine looking thing.

I don't know much about HSF's outside of Alphas (since I don't OC anymore), so I used that coolermaster as a placeholder, then I'd ask you guys what I should be getting for it.

Even though I didn't want to compromise, I tried to stay under $250 for each component. If I was living at home and had full use of all my money (Or worked my old job where I made real good dough) then fine, I can spend 320$ for a top of the line GB motherboard or a 3.2Ghz proc - but as it is I needed to stay within limits.

Only sad thing is the setup seems nice now, but when it's done being built it won't be much lol. But damn, it'll be exactly what I want.
I don't think I need much more power - hell the 2400XP I use now is more then fine for me, and I don't think I'd overdue it for a long time to come. The only thing I don't like is the 20+ hours it takes to convert MPEGs into VCDs, but I think I'll build a nice dual p2 or lowend dual athlon mp system to do it for me. A "set it and forget it" type thing.

[rogue]

Ditch that gigabyte mobo and get an Abit IS7 or IC7 Max3, it will save you some money. I'd go with either a zalman (CNPS700CU) or thermalright (SP-94) cooler, but if you're not going to overclock then the stock one should suit you fine. For your next purchase I'd get either one of the HD's or one of the optical drives.

[PreDatoR]

I would buy the HDD's and opticals now video card and then purchase the mobo and chip. They drop in price so buy that last and save some cash or get the next speed up for the same price it is now

[eGoCeNTRoNiX]

But being as these parts are coming on a paycheck per paycheck basis, if you're not going to use them until you have the whole system, I wouldn't buy things that only have a 1 yr warranty until later.. i.e. some of the new HDs and the optical drives.. Otherwise you're out 6 mos of the warranty by the time you build the system.. No?

[DoPeY5007]

since prices change so much ( usally down ) I would just put it into a Savings accoutn untill you have enough to get everything

[LTrain]

My current PC cost me about 1100-1300 or so, with shipping. My credit union has a pc loan, which was like 8% for 36 months, which turned out to be $46/month payments. I just paid like $100/month on it, and now its basically paid off. Easier than buying it peicemeal, because then you'll be all "oh, I can this processor now, since its cheaper, etc".

Larry

[Judg3]

Yes, thanks for all the replies guys... Ya know, I didn't even think about putting it into a savings account, and the credit is wayyyy to bad for a loan lol.
The only problem I have when saving money, is the more I put in the less I want to spend it lol. So I'd get about $2000 or so in the bank and start scrimping on PC parts, so I can continue to have some cash in the bank. I've sort of accepted the fact that while I'm not going to get screwed on things price wise, I'll still end up paying 10-15% more buy spreading the purchases out over several months then doing it all at once.

Pred, you really think I should get the drives and opticals first? While I know the CD-RW's won't drop much, the DVD-R probably will, right? And what about SATA drives? That's what I plan on getting, and I'd hate if a week after I picked em up the bottom fell out and they dropped down to IDE level. Though, on second thought, they are pretty close to it now (cheaper on some sizes, like the 80gb I believe)

[VidmanII]

I'd get an Opteron over any Intel chip.

There's a Opteron mobo shootout review over at THG. Might want to check that out.