1. What YOUR PC will be used for - Some older games (I have Half Life, and have wanted to get Half Life 2 and Halo, yes, the original 🙂 ) and video editing / DVD burning.
2. What YOUR budget is - Flexible. I want to keep the cost down as much as possible, and am happy around the $700 I have now, but am always willing to spend a little more now to prevent having to spend a lot more later.
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from - US
4. IF YOU have a brand preference - No. I'm more concerned about performance and bang-for-the-buck. I've used AMD CPUs for years, and have been a fan of nVidia GPUs for years.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts - Surely you jest 😉
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads - Yes... reading through the past few days' worth for ideas.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds - I'm not habitually an OCer, but that's because "back in the day" OCing was a crapshoot. I understand that there are many configurations that are known to be rock-solid, and would happily consider OCing to save buck$.
ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $89.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E4500 - Retail - $126.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail - $89.99-$40 MIR
EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $89.99-$15 MIR
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $84.99
Antec Sonata III Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail - $119.95
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail - $36.99
Total is $638.89 before shipping and rebates. Not too shabby.
I'm wide open to suggestions that will decrease cost or increase performance with not to much additional cost. I know everyone loves the 8800GT cards, but that's just overkill for me... the extra $160 just isn't worth it right now.
2. What YOUR budget is - Flexible. I want to keep the cost down as much as possible, and am happy around the $700 I have now, but am always willing to spend a little more now to prevent having to spend a lot more later.
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from - US
4. IF YOU have a brand preference - No. I'm more concerned about performance and bang-for-the-buck. I've used AMD CPUs for years, and have been a fan of nVidia GPUs for years.
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts - Surely you jest 😉
6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads - Yes... reading through the past few days' worth for ideas.
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds - I'm not habitually an OCer, but that's because "back in the day" OCing was a crapshoot. I understand that there are many configurations that are known to be rock-solid, and would happily consider OCing to save buck$.
ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $89.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Allendale 2.2GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E4500 - Retail - $126.99
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804 - Retail - $89.99-$40 MIR
EVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $89.99-$15 MIR
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $84.99
Antec Sonata III Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500W Power Supply - Retail - $119.95
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail - $36.99
Total is $638.89 before shipping and rebates. Not too shabby.
I'm wide open to suggestions that will decrease cost or increase performance with not to much additional cost. I know everyone loves the 8800GT cards, but that's just overkill for me... the extra $160 just isn't worth it right now.
