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Can anyone look at this "budget" C2D system and critique?

J

joshg

Golden Member
Hi all,

It's been a few years since I did any looking around with hardware, but a relative was asking me advice on a "very fast" system for ballpark figure of $1000. They want a system that they can game with that should last them for a few years even.

So with that I poked around here and read as much as I could for about a week, then started playing around at Newegg. Here's kind of what I threw together.

They don't want to overclock at all, won't really be adding any hard drives or optical drives, etc.. pretty much just use as is without adding stuff.

If anyone can please comb over this list and find any blaring risks, incompatibilities or just general recommendations, I would be most thankful! 🙂


$309.00 - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600

$128.99 - ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775)

$208.99 - CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200)

$259.99 (and $20 MIR to $239.99) - BFG GeForce 7950GT 512MB GDDR3 Video Card

$94.99 - Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

$32.99 - SAMSUNG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner w/ LightScribe - IDE

$39.99 - SPARKLE ATX-400PA ATX12V Ver2.01 400Watts Power Supply

$39.99 - COOLER MASTER RC-330-KKN1-GP Case

$5.99 - ARCTIC COOLING AF12025 120mm Case Fan

$26.99 - Microsoft Black USB + PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard+Mouse



Total is $1,147.91 + s/h
($1,127.91 if you include MIR)
 
well... looking at your budget may i suggest a silent aftermaket heatsink... like a ninja... stock ill make lot of noise at full load...

Rest looks perfect !!
 
i know this doesnt change much in your rig, but do you really need LightScribe?

i had LS burner and didnt even use it more than once
due to:
1)taking toooooooo long to draw the image
2)needing special LS cd's...which you need to buy at computer stores (no going to corner store to buy emergency CD's that you need to burn right away)
3)the image quality sucking badly. if you want pictures on cd, why not get some cheap $30-40 CD laber printer. It will be full color (vs 2 color LightScribe) and will do things much better.
 
I might drop a little more dime for a better power supply. Most of the premium brands (Seasonic, PCP&C etc) will probably be out of your price range, but you can pick up a decent Antec NeoHE/True Power 550w SLI for about $70.

And I would agree with goin with the Scythe Ninja... my stock intel fan was driving me nuts and with a Scyth, you can undervolt the 120mm fan to be pretty much dead silent and still provide ample cooling.

I also might pick up some Yate Loon fans from www.svc.com. They're noticeably more silent than others with good CFM.
 
I have the Samsung LS burner and if you think you might want to do a LS disc one day then you may as well get it. Yeah the quality is not amazing but it's better than a burner without LS.

JMO but if it's budget you might be better with a e6400. Probably save a few$ and you could always get a decent after market hs and overslock.
 
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