Parts for a Mid-Low End Build

[p4andafter]

Hi Everyone,

I'm upgrading my own system (new monitor, graphics card, psu) and selling some of my current hardware to a friend. I'm going to build him a new system using newegg + my old parts to raise the money for upgrades (T240HD, 4870X2, Corsair 750TX)

He is looking for desktop that will work well for word processing, internet browsing, and occasional gaming (something like HL2).

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Parts from my old system (no need to comment):

-Samsung 19" Syncmaster
-Radeon HD4850 512MB
-Seasonic S12 550

Parts from newegg (comments appreciated):

-COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel , SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $54.99

-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $54.99

-G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ - $43.99

-GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L LGA 775 Intel G31 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $52.99

-Intel Pentium E5200 Wolfdale 2.5GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
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What are your suggestions for the parts and overall build? Would upgrading, downgrading, or changing any parts help?

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $79.99
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

 

[p4andafter]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128380 $79.99
GIGABYTE GA-EP43-UD3L LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

What would be the advantages of that motherboard? I just noticed that the cheaper one was a smaller micro ATX board...is that the reason or are there others?

 

[xthekidx]

Overclocking. The E5200 is a great overclocker and that board will OC much better. you can push the FSB to 333 for a nice 3.6ghz OC. Read this, you can get an idea of how to OC that CPU:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-e5200-radeon,2144-6.html

 

[Onus]

The stock e5200 is a slug, so you will want to overclock it.
Until I got my Coolermaster RC-690, EVERY cheaper Coolermaster case I'd bought (Elites and Centurions) had build quality issues, most often untapped screw holes, but sometimes alignment problems. OTOH, I have been satisfied with every cheap Rosewill case I've ever bought. If you want a cheap case, any of them will do, but consider adding the optional 120mm front fan.

 

[p4andafter]

Thanks for the input...I'll take another look at cases.

Here is the likely motherboard:

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-ASUS P5QL PRO LGA 775 Intel P43 ATX Intel Motherboard - $86.99

I have an Asus P5Q Pro (P45) in my build and it works well, so I figured this would be a good board...not sure if Gigabyte is a better brand than Asus.
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How slow is a stock E5200 in daily operating (i.e. not gaming/encoding/rendering)? He might oc it, but I wasn't planning on doing it for him. There is also the 2.8GHz E7400 for ~$50 more, but I wasn't sure if it would make any practical difference in everyday performance.

 

[Onus]

I believe the difference would be very visible.

 

[p4andafter]

I believe the difference would be very visible.

Is it more about clock speed or Core 2 Duo vs Dual Core? A core 2 duo 8x00 might be better, but there is not enough $ for that. Even with this and the new motherboard, it's about $80 over the original budget.

The biggest question is probably are we at the lowest possible prices without sacrificing too much performance?

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Possible new hardware:

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor - $119.99
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[xthekidx]

If you are that far over budget and won't overclock there is not need to get the P5Q Pro. I would get the suggest mobo from why me. I would definitely overclock if you get the E5200, and still think about it hard if I got the E7400. You will see the difference of the two at stock speeds. If you overclock the E5200 though you will see large performance gains out of it.