Budget = $1350

**Joe89** · 04-24-2005

Or so.

System for General Use including gaming. Design w/ future in mind
I prefer ordering from newegg but if there is a pricedifference of more than 20 dollars tell me the other place.
Already have an OS, hardware only please.

Oh, and I want to go w/ Antec Sonata, but will included 380w PS be suitable?

This is a COMPLETE SYSTEM.

Include: FLAT SCREEN monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers (decent 2.1's).

This is for my uncle that needs a nice introduction to computers, will play some games (madden etc) May even video edit.

Thanks a ton. I may do a slight overclock for him, so maybe an aftermarket Heatsink (as long as it isn't loud!!!)

**Yawgm0th** · 04-27-2005

The PSU will not be sufficient. Get a 480W+ from Thermaltake or Antec, and make sure it has a 24-pin power connector. Some of the Newegg ones have it in their name or specs and some show it in the pictures.

For the motherboard, get a DFI nF4 Ultra, hands down. The only alternative I'd consider is the DFI nF4 SLI, but whether or not the possiblity of SLI is worth it to you/your uncle is up to you.

Get a GeForce 6800 Ultra or GT for the video card. You may want an aftermarket cooler, particularly the Arctic Cooling NV Silencer (I think it's 5 for GTs and Ultras). That will ensure it's quiet, and you should be able to overclock it significantly more. If he won't be gaming that much, make it a 6600GT.

Get any cheap keyboard that doesn't look like it sucks. If he likes keyboards with a nice shape and all the special buttons, get a Logitech elite.

For a mouse, the MX10000 is really nice, but if it seems to expensive for a mouse, get a cheaper (corded) Logitech, a Razor Viper, or any decent corded, optical mouse.

For RAM, just get 1GB (512MB x 2) PC3200 RAM from a good company. It should be CAS 2.5 if you want to save money. I think Mushkin and Corsair both have some pretty good deals on Newegg right now in that respect.

For your processor, either get a 3500 or 3800, depending on how much money you have left (whether you get a 6600GT or 6800* is the main deciding factor here). You could also just wait for dual-core. Some of the lower-end (e.g. X2 4200 for around $500) one's may be affordable, depending on your choices in other areas. It would be perfect for this system (gaming while leaving normal stuff running as most people do, even if I don't), especially if he does encode videos or try to have anything intensive run while still using the machine.

Get something like a Thermaltake K8 SilentBoost along with some Arctic Silver 5 should be quiet, but powerful aftermarket cooling.

For CD drives, get a dual-layer DVD burner and DVD/CD-RW combo drive. Lite-on and NEC are your best bets in either case.

As for a monitor, this ought to be good.

For hard drive, get something between 80GB and 250G, depending on his projected storage use. A 160GB drive would likely be the most economical, if he'll ever use that much. Go with SATA and for the larger cache drives if you get a size in which 16MB caches are offered. Go Seagate where possible for the five-year warranty. Western Digital or Maxtor otherwise, with Samsung as a possiblity.

For speakers, just get whatever Logitech or Creative offers. If it's 2.1 using onboard sound it's not going to make a huge difference.

For a floppy drive... All the cheap ones are $8.50, but see if any of them have free shipping or cheaper shipping than others. I know you like phase change cooling for your floppy, but just stick with no cooling for this. I can't believe I just typed four sentences regarding floppy drives

**Synchro** · 05-04-2005

$1350.00, let's see what we got. I personally Like Intel and Nvidia. So that's what I'll use.

Case -- Lian-Li - one that fits your likings. Around - $100+

Mobo -- Asus P4P800 SE supporting Socket 478 - $97

CPU -- 3.0GHz Prescott Core, Supports HT Technology, 1mb Cache - $196

Memory -- 1gig Corsair Value Select 2x(512mb) DDR400 - PC-3200 - $86

Graphics Card -- XFX 6600GT 128mb DDR3 AGP 8x - $189

HD -- Western Digital 80 gig Special Edition, 2mb Buffer, IDE connection
& Western Digital 80gig Serial ATA 7200 RPM 8mb buffer OEM. (Install Windows on the SATA drive for better performance) - $113

Sound Card -- Sound Audigy 2 Value Series - $60

CD Writers -- Your choice, Get at least one DVD drive. Price- Unknown

Power Supply -- Antec 550watt - $105

Floppy -- Generic one. - $10

Heatsink -- One by Thermaltake. (make sure it's copper) - $20-50

Monitor -- Your Choice, 17 inch recommended at least. $120-xxx

Speakers, Kilpsch 5.1 set - $150

What I have calcutlated for you so far equals - $1006.00 w/o S&H cost.

(Remember I calculated only what I said, items of your personal choice, example monitor, case, heatsink, are not included in the total price I have given you.)

If I forgot something, sorry : P, it's 3:25am. here. : D

Hope this helps, and you can always sacrifice something like the good case for more money to a better graphics card and so on. Hope it works out.

Synchro

**Yawgm0th** · 05-10-2005

Intel is a waste of money for almost any system, especially a gaming system. The fact that a socket 478 system for over $1000 was just recommended is really suprising to me, though...