Hey forum! Long story short, I was poking around MicroCenter's website the other day and ended up putting together a system which I believe strikes an amazingly good balance between price and performance. Check it out!
All rebates AFAIK are good through Apr. 2012. Taxes are based on MC's Missouri location. The RAM MIR is 1 rebate per household, so you'll need to get creative if you want to double up. Mobo is from NewEgg, everything else is from MC.
Clearly this is just a base system. Here are a few thoughts on specific configurations:
SOHO/Light User:
This system can be trimmed down. Here, I'd look at the Core i3 2100, drop one of the RAM kits (or even look for a 4GB solution), and maybe drop the aftermarket cooler (though even here, I think it would be a good idea, esp. considering the price). I would throw in an optical drive, but I would not throw in an additional HDD, at least not until there was an established need for it.
Gaming rig:
Not much to say here. You guys know what you want. Still, for the sake of argument, I'd pop in a Core i5 2600K, pick up the video-card-d'jour, and probably upgrade the mobo. Then I'd grab a second storage HDD and an optical drive, and after double checking the PSU requirements, call it good to go. No, you won't need 16GB of RAM, but I won't be the one to try and talk you out of it. :biggrin:
Server:
This is how I plan on employing this build. I'm tempted to upgrade to the i7 2600, as I might actually use its 8 cores, but I suspect 4 will be sufficient for my needs. I don't plan on installing an optical drive, but I'd like to add four storage drives for RAID storage.
As I say, I started putting that together, and ended up with a darn good system. Thought I'd give you guys a heads-up in case you were looking into a new build, or needed something for someone else. Enjoy!
Code:
Component Item Retail Qty Subtotal Tax/Ship Total Rebate Net
CPU [URL="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354590"]Intel Core i5 2400 LGA 1155 Boxed Processor[/URL] $149.99 1 $149.99 $14.14 $164.13 $164.13
MOBO [URL="http://redirect.anandtech.com/r?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FProduct.aspx%3FItem%3DN82E16813135291&user=u00000687"]ECS H67H2-M2(1.0) LGA 1155 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard[/URL] $79.99 1 $79.99 $7.56 $87.55 $20.00 $67.55
SSD [URL="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364779"]OCZ Technology Agility 3 60GB SSD[/URL] $74.99 1 $74.99 $7.07 $82.06 $15.00 $67.06
RAM [URL="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347304"]Corsair XMS 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3-1333 Memory[/URL] $49.99 2 $99.98 $9.42 $109.40 $40.00 $69.40
PSU [URL="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0383681"]OCZ Technology PowerStream 520 Watt OEM PSU[/URL] $24.99 1 $24.99 $2.36 $27.35 $10.00 $17.35
CASE [URL="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0323929"]Thermaltake V3 Black Edition ATX Mid Tower Computer Case[/URL] $37.99 1 $37.99 $3.58 $41.57 $10.00 $31.57
Cooler [URL="http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0315397"]Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus Universal CPU Cooler[/URL] $29.99 1 $29.99 $2.83 $32.82 $10.00 $22.82
Total: $497.92 $46.96 $544.88 $105.00 $439.88Clearly this is just a base system. Here are a few thoughts on specific configurations:
SOHO/Light User:
This system can be trimmed down. Here, I'd look at the Core i3 2100, drop one of the RAM kits (or even look for a 4GB solution), and maybe drop the aftermarket cooler (though even here, I think it would be a good idea, esp. considering the price). I would throw in an optical drive, but I would not throw in an additional HDD, at least not until there was an established need for it.
Gaming rig:
Not much to say here. You guys know what you want. Still, for the sake of argument, I'd pop in a Core i5 2600K, pick up the video-card-d'jour, and probably upgrade the mobo. Then I'd grab a second storage HDD and an optical drive, and after double checking the PSU requirements, call it good to go. No, you won't need 16GB of RAM, but I won't be the one to try and talk you out of it. :biggrin:
Server:
This is how I plan on employing this build. I'm tempted to upgrade to the i7 2600, as I might actually use its 8 cores, but I suspect 4 will be sufficient for my needs. I don't plan on installing an optical drive, but I'd like to add four storage drives for RAID storage.
As I say, I started putting that together, and ended up with a darn good system. Thought I'd give you guys a heads-up in case you were looking into a new build, or needed something for someone else. Enjoy!
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