New Mid-range Gaming System & Price!

[Aepheme]

I've listed the prices, parts, and vendors below. If you see anything completely out of line (or anywhere I got ripped off or am missing a major concept), speak up! I'm not a poor college student, but I'm not a wasteful enthusiast, either. My goal was to go for the optimum value solution (while still being able to drive my new monitor). I tried to find the cheapest vendor on-line.

I have a Dell 2405PW from a recent deal (and a 1yr old 700m laptop with mouse).

$351: eVGA Geforce 7800 GT 256mb (XtremeGear)
$234: OCZ 2x(1GB) DDR400 Platinum (NewEgg - AR$27)
$139: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice (eWiz)
$135: WD 320GB SATA 7200rpm & Cable (Monarch)
$110: Sonata II Case w/ 450W PS (Amazon)
$ 98: Epox 9NPA+ Ultra (NewEgg)
$ 77: Audigy2 ZS Gaming Edition (NewEgg - AR$50)
$ 69: SI-120 / Nexus 120mm / AS5 (Jab-tech)
$ 47: NEC 16x DVD+/-RW (NewEgg)
$ 47: MS Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 (Buy.com)
$ 38: Logitech X-530 5.1 Speakers (Buy.com)
===============
$1,344 Total Cost After Shipping & Tax

I'm reasonably satisfied with this. I think I may have overpaid for the RAM, The Sound Card, and the CPU Cooling. The non-Gaming Audigy2 was $20 less, but I probably could've stuck with the on-board sound and been fine. I'm not an audiophile. The CPU Cooler was ridiculous -- I've never spent that much before. It was too confusing, though... too many options, no agreement! I finally threw up my hands and just bought it to be done with it.

Let me know your comments!!!

-edit-
Added Keyboard (see comment below)

 

[KayKay]

Well Done, Couldnt have done i better myself

 

[suicidalpigeon]

dont be suprised if a few people here copies your scheme.

 

[Lyfer]

What heatsink? SP90?

 

[Aepheme]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
What heatsink? SP90?

It's ambiguously labeled:

$ 69: SI-120 / Nexus 120mm / AS5 (Jab-tech)

The ThermalRight SI-120. It's the updated version of the XP-120. Reviews say that you might lose 1 degree Celsius, but it doesn't have any issues with blocking slots on motherboards, either. Safe choice (I hope).

 

[harobikes333]

have you thought of dual core? I'm just wondering^^ 🙂

 

[Corporate Thug]

nice setup

 

[Aepheme]

Originally posted by: harobikes333
have you thought of dual core? I'm just wondering^^ 🙂

I seriously considered it. Even though this is a gaming system, I tend to do a lot of other tasks and the speed-up was attractive.

In the end, though, I found that an overclocked 3200+ was $200 less than the entry level 3800+. And it will probably give me similar single threaded gaming performance (not exactly the same, but similar enough).

I went with a socket939 board with the idea of future upgrades to a dual core if the prices come down significantly. That's the nice thing about spending only $140 on the CPU -- it doesn't hurt as much to upgrade in 6 months if you feel the extra speed is needed.

 

[Aepheme]

I need to add something. I decided to get rid of the old keyboard I had and get a new one. Much better looking than my old Natural Elite. Recent release and comes highly recommended!

$ 47: MS Natural Ergo Keyboard 4000 (Buy.com)