ALL DOnE ! GoodToGo almost won!

[Ameesh]

Well i havent been following the trades all that closely so i don't know much about any of the hardware that has come out over the last couple of years.

I want to spend around $1K plus or minus a hundred or two dollars. Find me a computer system (from dell or whoever) to buy or build one yourself and ship it to me, person who comes up with the best system (in my opinion) wins a $10 paypal.

Note: I always get shafted on mail in rebates so i wont be excited if you find me a wicked system for $1600 buck and a $600 mail in rebate

what i use it for: Dev. Work, Web Browising, Office, Games (Unreal Tournament 2K4 is already preordered)

what i dont need:

i dont need a big harddrive , i have a file server at home so big enough to install apps and games on like 40 gbs or such is fine
i dont need a dvd writer or cd writer, i have one on my server, but i do need a 16X DVD Rom on the box.
monitors: i have them but i might be flipping to LCDs in a bit

what i need:

at least 512mb of ram preferabley 1gb
nice sound card but i have speakers
10/100 nic, prefarbley 10/100/1000
a good video card so i can get my ass handed to me in style by you guys when i play unreal on the atot server

i prefer intel over amd (just because i had a terrible time with an amd athlon system i bought a few years ago.) but i am willing to keep an open mind. if its that big of a price difference

let me know if i forgot to mention something.

-Ameesh


edit:

I have all the software i want so i dont need an OS on the machine. if it comes with one fine, i'll probably be formating it anyway
and if it wasnt obvious i will be running winxp so stuff that has current drivers is always good.


edit 2:

another good question:
yes i could build it myself and if its worth it cost wise i will, but as a rule of thumb i am lazy.

edit 3:

i will only consider overclocking if it is no change to my stablity .


edit 4:

bidding will close sunday or if a really awesome computer systems comes first.

and dont forget about tax or shipping. i live in wahsington state and you can use the zip 98105 if you need to find out about shipping costs or taxes.

 

[Rufio]

www.dell.com
www.gateway.com
www.mwave.com
www.alienware.com
www.google.com

i win!

 

[StageLeft]

Your post looks like mine from a month back. I don't follow hardware much now either, so I needed a crash course.

Anyway I went with AMD back in 98 and it was an awful, awful experience. It was a piece of garbage. I swore it off, but this last upgrade I decided to give it a shot again and it's been really good for me and a much better bang for buck than intel.

Oh, and AMD does have the fastest CPU now available.

 

[Nocturnal]

Ameesh can I see those pics of your room with your huge tv and what not?

 

[GoodToGo]

I went to dell and tried to customize it and came up with this. Personally I would buy it in a heartbeat. Also you can keep waiting for deals on monitors, the 20" monitor from dess is fvcking awesome.


Dell Dimension 8300 Series Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 3GHz w/800MHz FSB SP308B [221-2446] 1
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [420-1921][313-7222][412-0409] 11
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 400MHz (2x512M) 1GB4 [311-3002] 3
Keyboard Dell ® Quietkey ® Keyboard QK [310-1582] 4
Monitors Video Ready w/o Monitor N [320-3000] 5
Video Card New 128MB DDR ATI RADEON? 9800 Pro Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI 128PRO [320-2871] 6
Hard Drive FREE UPGRADE! 80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive 80P [462-3909] 8
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices No Floppy Drive Included NFD [340-8442] 10
Mouse Dell® 2-button scroll mouse SM [310-1871] 12
Network Interface Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet IN [430-0412] 13
Modem No Modem Requested N [313-3607] 14
CD or DVD Drive Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive 16DV995 [313-2559][430-0594][462-7805] 16
Sound Card Sound Blaster Audigy?2 (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, and IEEE 1394 capability SBA2 [313-6010][313-1933] 17
Speakers No Speaker Option N [313-4514] 18
Productivity Software Productivity Pack including WordPerfect® and Money® COREL [412-0395][412-0551][412-0555] 22
Security Software Norton Internet Security?, 90 day trial NIS90 [412-0626] 25
Digital Music Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH MMBASE [412-0516] 27
Digital Photography Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Trial, Photo Album Starter Edition DPS [412-0521] 28
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Basic Plan B111YOS [950-1230][950-9797][412-0360] 29
Installation Services No Installation NOINSTL [900-9987] 32
Dial-up Internet Access 6 Months of AOL 9.0 Optimized for Small Business AOLSMB [420-3223][412-0586][412-0625] 37
Multi-Media Players RealOne? Player, with 14 day SuperPass trial REALBAS [412-0380] 40
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience? DMX [412-0519] 115
Purchase Intent Purchase is not intended for resale. NOT4SEL [462-4506] 138
TOTAL: $1,109.00

Total Price
Sub-total $1,109.00

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Ameesh can I see those pics of your room with your huge tv and what not?

are you trying to stalk me?

 

[zimu]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Ameesh can I see those pics of your room with your huge tv and what not?

are you trying to stalk me?

holy crap; quite a set up you have there!!

 

[tennisflip]

http://www.buyabs.com

 

[bigalt]

sharkyextreme does monthly 'value gaming' rigs that are a good place to start, and their budget is $1k.

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Your post looks like mine from a month back. I don't follow hardware much now either, so I needed a crash course.

Anyway I went with AMD back in 98 and it was an awful, awful experience. It was a piece of garbage. I swore it off, but this last upgrade I decided to give it a shot again and it's been really good for me and a much better bang for buck than intel.

Oh, and AMD does have the fastest CPU now available.

What rig did you end up building?

CPU: XP 3200 AMD Barton
Fan: SLK-800 w/ variable speed fan
Mobo: MSI K7N2 Delta (Serial HDD controllers, Nforce 2 mobo) (other similarly priced options in mobos)
Ram: 2x512MB PC3200 ram (only worth getting the really highend stuff if you plan on oc'ing and tweaking timings)
HDD: 120 GB Serial ATA HDD (60 GB is $20 cheaper)
Optical: 16x DVD
KB/Mouse: Logitech Wireless keyboard and mouse optical (whatever flavor you like)
Case: Whatever you want. There are a lot out there
Floppy: floppy
Video: Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
NIC: Ethernet card that works!
Sound: Turtle Beach santa cruz, or similar higher end sound

~ price maybe 800 or 900. Could easily make it 100-200 cheaper by stable overclocking of an XP 2500 (they hit 3200+ speeds easily and cooly).

just my 2 cents on an AMD based system.

 

[silverpig]

Monkey + calculator + slate + chalk.

I dunno how much it'd cost, and it'd only do monochrome, but it'd be unique I can say that much.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Antec Sonata Case - Very quiet, elegant, nice black finish, positive reviews from almost every review for it

Pentium 4 3.0C - Has Hyperthreading, 800mhz FSB, retail warranty and retail fan so you get a 3 year warranty on this

1GB Corsair PC3200 RAM - Corsair quality, lifetime warranty, PC3200 speed, 1GB which is more than enough

Intel 865PE Motherboard - Onboard audio, 10/100/1000 networking, no overclocking features, expect stable operation

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - Very fast, should be able to handle Doom 3 and Half Life 2 nicely.

Either this 80GB 7200 RPM drive or this 36.7GB 10000 RPM drive. You pick, space or performance, although do note that some have disliked the 10k rpm drive because they claim it makes a loud noise, but both are plenty fast.

Floppy Drive - Nothing special except it's black to match with the case.

That brings the total to $916.48 before shipping and a keyboard/mouse set. I reccomend the Logitech MX Duo, but that's up to you, I reccomend trying out the keyboard and mouse in a store and picking.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Send GoodToGo $10 and head to Dell. You could safely drop to 2.8 GHz but it probably won't save much. 9800 Pro is the right card for gaming.

 

[dxkj]

Originally posted by: AgaBooga
Antec Sonata Case - Very quiet, elegant, nice black finish, positive reviews from almost every review for it

Pentium 4 3.0C - Has Hyperthreading, 800mhz FSB, retail warranty and retail fan so you get a 3 year warranty on this

1GB Corsair PC3200 RAM - Corsair quality, lifetime warranty, PC3200 speed, 1GB which is more than enough

Intel 865PE Motherboard - Onboard audio, 10/100/1000 networking, no overclocking features, expect stable operation

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro - Very fast, should be able to handle Doom 3 and Half Life 2 nicely.

Either this 80GB 7200 RPM drive or this 36.7GB 10000 RPM drive. You pick, space or performance, although do note that some have disliked the 10k rpm drive because they claim it makes a loud noise, but both are plenty fast.

Floppy Drive - Nothing special except it's black to match with the case.

That brings the total to $916.48 before shipping and a keyboard/mouse set. I reccomend the Logitech MX Duo, but that's up to you, I reccomend trying out the keyboard and mouse in a store and picking.

+ 16x optical drive

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: dxkj
+ 16x optical drive

also forgot a legal copy of Windows XP Pro, since we know Ameesh would never "infringe" it

 

[SunnyD]

$766 and change for:

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe - Dolby 5.1 sound, 1 Gigabit integrated NIC + additional onboard 10/100 NIC, onboard SATA raid
Retail Barton 2500+ 333MHz FSB
80gig WD SE PATA harddrive
16x Black Face DVD Rom
Antec Sonata Case /w 380watt PSU
Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128meg
1 gig of Corsair PC3200.

$879 and change for:
Swap out motherboard and CPU for Intel counterparts:
GIGABYTE i865PE Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "GA-8IPE1000-G" -RETAIL
--> 8 channel sound, 1 Gigabit integrated NIC, Onboard SATA.
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8E GHz 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - Retail

Keyboard + Mouse are seperate buys at wherever you like to shop. I know that certain people like certain keyboards and mice, so I never recommend them anything. Odds are add another $30 or so depending on what you want.

All parts are from Newegg - newegg says add $20 for shipping to you.

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: dxkj
+ 16x optical drive

also forgot a legal copy of Windows XP Pro, since we know Ameesh would never "infringe" it

He said he has all the software.

 

[neovan]

Cases (Computer Cases, ATX Form)
ANTEC Life Style Series Black Case With 380W Power Supply, Model "SONATA"
$99.99

CD/DVD ROM Drives
Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model XJ-HD166, OEM
$28.00

Hard Drives
Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB, OEM Drive Only
$69.00

Memory (System Memory)
Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM (2)
$250.00

Motherboards - Intel
ABIT 875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "IC7-G MAXII ADVANCE" -RETAIL
$149.00

Processors
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - OEM
$180.00

Video Cards
POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, $219.00



Subtotal » $ 994.99

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: DaveSimmons

Originally posted by: dxkj
+ 16x optical drive

also forgot a legal copy of Windows XP Pro, since we know Ameesh would never "infringe" it

i already have several legit copies of xp pro, i dont need any others and i can still buy copies from the microsoft store.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: neovan
Cases (Computer Cases, ATX Form)
ANTEC Life Style Series Black Case With 380W Power Supply, Model "SONATA"
$99.99

CD/DVD ROM Drives
Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model XJ-HD166, OEM
$28.00

Hard Drives
Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB, OEM Drive Only
$69.00

Memory (System Memory)
Corsair XMS Extreme Memory Speed Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM (2)
$250.00

Motherboards - Intel
ABIT 875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "IC7-G MAXII ADVANCE" -RETAIL
$149.00

Processors
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - OEM
$180.00

Video Cards
POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, $219.00



Subtotal » $ 994.99

Why XMS? He isn't overclocking. Powercolor? You do realize they use cheap parts, right? They are known for putting slower RAM on their video cards. A $150 motherboard for someone who won't overclock and see the results?

 

[BaboonGuy]

ABIT IC7-G MAX3 $184
Most stable and best Intel OCing board. Gigabit LAN, and feature-packed goodness.

Cheaper Alternative: ABIT IC7-G $149

P4 2.8C 800FSB HT $181
Uber-fast w/o overclocking, even faster with. With the board, this P4, and the RAM I chose a rock-solid stable overclock into the 3.2GHz+ range should be no problem at all.

ATI 9800 PRO 128MB $199
No explanation needed here, this is by far the best choice.

36.7GB 10K RPM Raptor $116
I love the speed of my Raptor, it's ridiculously fast. The HD is the biggest bottleneck in today's computer, so I say go for the speed! (That won't bust the bank like SCSI)

Cheaper Alternative: WD 80GB SE $69

Kingston HyperX PC3200 2x512MB 1GB Kit $285.50
Guarenteed fast fast fast RAM timings which helps performance GREATLY, especially for these bandwidth hungry P4s.

Audigy2 ZS $89.50
Great gaming soundcard.

Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM $28
Lite-On rocks.

Antec Sonata + 380W PSU $100
Awesome, awesome case. Looks pretty, especially with a blue cold cathode illuminating the ANTEC holes. The rubber grommets for the HD will eliminate any possible of Raptor whine.

fUnc 1030 Mousing Surface $24
Guarenteed this WILL help you play better in UT2k4. A good mousepad helps so much for a FPS, and this is the king of good mousepads.

Total: $1207

Cheaper Route Total: $1125
Fits all your wants, will be uber fast, and will be quiet (because of the sonata). I like the more expensive route personally because the IC7-G MaxIII is the best Intel OCing board with the most features, and will be a big benefit in the long run (if you ever want to OC in the future, it will be easy and with the 2.8C you will get 3.2GHz or more), and I like the Raptor because it is just plain FAST. Which is a huge bonus for me that comes in load times.

I'd build it myself too, all the important parts here are covered under warranties so there's no worry about getting shafted if something goes bad. Dell is okay, but a Dell with 1GB RAM and a 2.8C won't be anywhere near as fast as this setup due to memory timings, the lack of an awesome mobo, and not as sweet of a hard drive. Plus, once you finally get it all set-up, it just feels SO good.

 

[ngvepforever2]

Dell Dimension 4600 Series Pentium® 4 Processor with HT Technology 3.06GHz w/533MHz FSB W305B [221-3713] 1
Operating System Microsoft® Windows® XP Home Edition WHXP [313-7222][420-1921][412-0409] 11
Memory 1GB Dual Channel DDR SDRAM at 333MHz (2x512M) 1GB3 [311-9009] 3
Keyboard Dell® Quietkey® Keyboard QK [310-1582] 4
Monitor No Monitor N [320-3000] 5
Video Card 128MB DDR ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Graphics Card with TV-Out and DVI 128PRO [320-2871][320-2575] 6
Hard Drive FREE UPGRADE! 80GB Ultra ATA/100 7200RPM Hard Drive 80P [462-6550] 8
Floppy Drive and Additional Storage Devices No Floppy Drive Included NFD [340-8688] 10
Mouse Dell® 2-button scroll mouse SM [310-1871] 12
Network Card Integrated Intel® PRO 10/100 Ethernet IN [430-0412] 13
Modem No Modem Requested N [313-3607] 14
CD or DVD Drive Single Drive: 16X DVD-ROM Drive 16DVD [313-0917][430-0594][462-7805] 16
Sound Sound Blaster Audigy?2 (D) Card w/Dolby 5.1, and IEEE 1394 capability SBA2 [313-1933][313-6010] 17
Speakers No Speaker Option N [313-4514] 18
Productivity Software Productivity Pack including WordPerfect® and Money® COREL [412-0395][412-0551][412-0555] 22
Security Software Norton Internet Security?, 90 day trial NIS90 [412-0626] 25
Digital Music Dell Jukebox powered by MUSICMATCH MMBASE [412-0516] 27
Digital Photography Dell Picture Studio, Paint Shop Pro Trial, Photo Album Starter Edition DPS [412-0521] 28
Limited Warranty, Services and Support Options 1Yr Basic Plan B111YOS [950-1230][950-9797][412-0360] 29
Installation Services No Installation NOINSTL [900-9987] 32
Dial-up Internet Access No ISP requested NISP [412-0148][412-0625] 37
Multi-Media Players RealOne? Player, with 14 day SuperPass trial REALBAS [412-0380] 40
Dell Media Experience Dell Media Experience DMX [412-0519] 115
Purchase Intent Purchase is not intended for resale. NOT4SEL [462-4506] 138
TOTAL: $1,039.00

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Total Price
Sub-total $1,039.00


Give or take 50 bucks, it's a dell so you got the warranty. just my 2 cents

 

[SunnyD]

Originally posted by: ngvepforever2
Give or take 50 bucks, it's a dell so you got the warranty. just my 2 cents

Yeah... like that's worth it...

 

[Ameesh]

are the onboard sound crads on these new mother boards any good? are they directx compatible?

 

[neovan]

Cases (Computer Cases, ATX Form)
ANTEC Life Style Series Black Case With 380W Power Supply, Model "SONATA"
$99.99

CD/DVD ROM Drives
Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model XJ-HD166, OEM

$28.00

Hard Drives
Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB, OEM Drive Only
$69.00

Memory (System Memory)
Crucial 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 8T - OEM (2)
$168.00

Motherboards - Intel
ABIT 875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "IC7-G MAXII ADVANCE" -RETAIL
$149.00

Processors
Intel Pentium 4/ 2.8C GHz 800MHz FSB, 512K Cache, Hyper Threading Technology - OEM
$180.00

Video Cards
SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL
$219.50




Subtotal » $ 913.49

There...use the regular (non-XMS), changed POWERCOLOR to SAPPHIRE, but kept the Motherboard