Been out of the loop. Need help :).

[xSeongminx]

So I've purchased parts when good deals pop up and have been able to get in on the following.

C2D E6400
Zalman 9500 HSF
eVGA 680i LT SLI
eVGA 8800GTS 640MB S/C
Antec 900
Antec 550W PS
2 x 22" Acer WideScreen LCDs
4 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix PC-6400
DVD-RW Drive

I'm in the hole about $780 (stupid LCDs), which is over my $500 budget . The only thing that I'm missing at this point are the harddrives though. I'm also going to be to be selling my Opteron setup, which should help offset the price to around the $500 mark after everything is done.

So I know about the price drops coming during the summer, but don't want to throw down the $350 for a quad core CPU. Is it best to just sell the E6400 and go with the E6420 for the extra cache? Overclocking is going to be done first thing, so I basically, will an E6400 overclock more than the E6420? Also, will I even notice a performance increase going to the 6420? Thanks.

 

[Trevante]

The Q6600 should be $266 after the price drops, not $350.

How in the hell did you get all that for $780? Must have been some pretty good deals (like 5 finger good lol). If the LCD's are the ones from best buy, then those were about $400 of the cost; there's no way you got all that for $380.

You'll probably only see a small increase in performance going to the 6420, and I don't know that there's a difference in overclocking either one.

I personally would recommend waiting for the July price drops and getting the Q6600 (that'll be the best bang for the buck IMO), but if you dont' want to go for that, then I'd say get an E4300 and overclock it to 3ghz.

 

[jpeyton]

Even with rebates, there's no way you got all that for $780 new; did you pick up some parts used?

 

[tcsenter]

C2D E6400
eVGA 680i LT SLI
eVGA 8800GTS 640MB S/C
4 x 1GB Crucial Ballistix PC-6400

This is your idea of a "budget computer"?

You should change to "building a computer on a budget". Of course, a budget of $2000 is still a budget.

 

[xSeongminx]

Everything was purchased new and I just waited around for deals to popup. Purchased from different merchants as well as retailers. Patience pays off, and yes, I realize that it is utterly impossible to get the parts that I listed for $780 (I didn't do any five finger discount stuff).

Well, I'm going to be selling the E6400 and going with the Q6600 and another 8800GTS when price cuts occur for the CPU. Btw, will I be able to run a NON-S/C eVGA 8800GTS 640MB in SLI with the one that I have now?

 

[Ruger22C]

"I'm in the hole about $780 (stupid LCDs),"
"Everything was purchased new and I just waited around for deals to popup. Purchased from different merchants as well as retailers."

Teach me thy ways, master. I am a young grasshopper. Teach me!!!

 

[xSeongminx]

Slick_deals.net did wonders .

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: xSeongminx
Slick_deals.net did wonders .

What did you pay for each item?

 

[Zepper]

My idea of a budget computer is under $500. all-in...

.bh.

 

[xSeongminx]

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: xSeongminx
Slick_deals.net did wonders .

What did you pay for each item?

To start things off, I'll tell you how much I paid for the E6400 and eVGA 680i. I paid $260AR from Fry's, and 140$ for the memory. You can speculate on how much I paid for everything else .

 

[xSeongminx]

Originally posted by: xSeongminx
I'm in the hole about $780 (stupid LCDs), which is over my $500 budget . The only thing that I'm missing at this point are the harddrives though. I'm also going to be to be selling my Opteron setup, which should help offset the price to around the $500 mark after everything is done.

Originally posted by: jpeyton

Originally posted by: xSeongminx
Slick_deals.net did wonders .

What did you pay for each item?

To start things off, I'll tell you how much I paid for the E6400 and eVGA 680i. I paid $260AR from Fry's, and 140$ for the memory. You can speculate on how much I paid for everything else .

I'm going to be around the 500$ mark after everything is set and done. I realize the confusion, I forgot to state that this computer is going to be under the "budget" category after selling my older rig. I consider this computer to be in the midrange, at a budget price.

I'll spec out my Opteron rig to show you guys how a computer can be cheaply made.

Opteron 146 - $50 on sale
ECS RX480-A - Free
2 x 512 KVR PC3200 - $10AR
2 x 160GB WD HDs - $10AR
X1900GT @ XT Speeds - ???
Ultra Wizard Case - Free AR
Ultra 500W PS - Free AR

So I was in about ~$70 after everything was set and done (without the price of the VC, and the VC was CHEAP).

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: xSeongminx
I'm going to be around the 500$ mark after everything is set and done. I realize the confusion, I forgot to state that this computer is going to be under the "budget" category after selling my older rig.

That doesn't quite make sense. I could buy a $5000 Dell, sell my house for $300,000, but that doesn't mean I made $295,000 buying a Dell.

If you spent $780 on your computer so far, that is the cost. Selling your old computer doesn't subtract from the cost, it adds to your budget.

 

[xSeongminx]

Well, I like to think of it this way. My old rig could be rotting in my garage where it will eventually become obsolete and thrown out, or I could sell the system and help cover the costs of my new one. I understand that you're stating that I would be offsetting the price by being able to spend more on my new one, but since I built my older computer for $70 and will be looking to get alot more than that from reselling it, I am basically getting a profit in which I won't earn otherwise (if I was to keep it). Basically, selling my old rig, is going to put some money back into my pocket essentially reducing the debt that the new computer put me in, where as keeping it is going to be detracting from the profit that I could be making.

Btw, your analogy of purchasing a Dell for $5000 and selling your house to make a "profit" on your newly purchased computer is, not to be rude, outright stupid and doesn't make any sense. I'm talking about selling my OLD computer to offset the price of the NEW one, not selling my assets to make it seem as if I came out on top...

 

[jpeyton]

It's funny accounting, regardless.

My final take is that it's a $780 computer (so far). Selling your old one (even for a profit), is a separate transaction since it is not directly tied to your new components; you are not bartering your old computer parts towards new ones. Hypothetically, if you could sell your old computer for $2000, that doesn't mean your new one was free; it had a cost, which you paid to a seller, to purchase it.

 

[xSeongminx]

You bring up a very good point. I am aware that the computer cost me $780 regardless because well, that's how much it cost me to get to the point that I am at now. To make this less confusing, let's put it this way then. I'm selling my old computer to help pay off the debt that the new one put me in .

 

[Ruptga]

Originally posted by: xSeongminx
Slick_deals.net did wonders .

:shocked:

Just admit it, this is a brag thread about slickdeals

 

[xSeongminx]

Haha, slick_deals for the win. Btw, you guys might want to search for PQI 2GB DDR2 memory on outpost.com. You'll understand why .

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: xSeongminx
To start things off, I'll tell you how much I paid for the E6400 and eVGA 680i. I paid $260AR from Fry's, and 140$ for the memory. You can speculate on how much I paid for everything else .

E6400 + 680i $260
Memory $140
2x Acer 22" $300
eVGA 8800 GTS $295

So we're at $995, and that doesn't include the rest of your parts.

 

[xSeongminx]

Yup, if you are to look at Newegg, the system should come out above $1000. Btw, the LCD's were 320$ and the eVGA 8800GTS Superclocked on Newegg is 380$AR right now.

 

[jpeyton]

E6400 + 680i $260
Memory $140
2x Acer 22" $320
eVGA 8800 GTS $???

Still don't see how you got it to $780. Are you done making up stories yet?

 

[MageXX9]

No way you got that much stuff for that price. No way. I want to see some packing slips, rebates, etc.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: MageXX9
No way you got that much stuff for that price. No way. I want to see some packing slips, rebates, etc.

Well he even stated he paid:

E6400 + 680i $260
Memory $140
2x Acer 22" $320

So that leaves $60 for the rest (8800 GTS, Antec 900, Antec PSU, Zalman, DVDRW).

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: xSeongminx

Slick_deals.net did wonders .

What did you pay for each item?[/quote]

To start things off, I'll tell you how much I paid for the E6400 and eVGA 680i. I paid $260AR from Fry's, and 140$ for the memory. You can speculate on how much I paid for everything else .

[/quote]

Ultra shens!

So you paid $400 for CPU/mobo/ram (260+140)

And you expect us to believe you got

8800GTS 640mb
Zalman 9500
Antec 900
Antec 550w PS
and 2 x 22" LCD's

for $380 ????


Now if your saying you went over your budget by $780, ie... 780+500=$1280
I can believe that, that sounds about right for those parts

 

[xSeongminx]

This thread is getting out of hand. I have the receipts for the monitors, Antec 900, memory, LCD's, and the motherboard/cpu. I can snap some pics using my digital camera that I have. Let's see if you guys call shens when I tell you that I purchased a Nikon D50 brand new from BB for less than $400 awhile ago... I have the receipt for that too.

 

[jpeyton]

Sure, we'd love to see how you got

8800GTS 640MB
Zalman 9500
Antec 900
Antec 550W PSU
2x Acer 22" LCD's

for $380. Nobody believes you so you have nothing to lose.

On second thought, save yourself the trouble of taking pictures. It's a lot easier to just link the SlickDeals threads right? Just fire up their search engine and you can prove us all wrong in about 5 minutes.