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LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

Tax returns. Something I look forward to every year. Although this year I get a pretty good amount back. Rounded up I have $1300. Soooooo...I am left with some choices. I have a computer now that's not even upgradable so a new PC is pretty much ideal. Just I'm not keen about buying from stores or whatever. I wish we had some better "custom made" PC stores here but they have pre-made rigs that just flat out either suck, or way overpriced. I'm not sure where the best places to look online (Other than Newegg).

So my senses are telling me (After seeing that Super Smash Brother Brawl intro) that I should instead get a Wii and add that to my 360/PS3 combo. Which gives me enough money to invest on a new sound system on top of a little of my paycheck that I save.

So I'm having a "WTF" moment. New PC? Wii/Sound system? Meh. I'm not sure which way to sway. If I could find some good online sights that would sell me a damn fine PC (I'm looking at you Crytek for sporting that $900 rig) I'd be down for it. I also need a new monitor because VGA is so 2004. -sadface- Help please.

SleazyC · Jan 29, 2008

Are you interested in building it yourself or ordering it pre-built?

LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

SleazyC said:
Are you interested in building it yourself or ordering it pre-built?

I wish I knew the full extent of buidling it myself, so I'll probably lean more to pre-built.

evlcookie · Jan 29, 2008

CcrooK said:
I wish I knew the full extent of buidling it myself, so I'll probably lean more to pre-built.

It's easy. Part A goes into slot A only one way. Think of it as lego, or a really easy ikea package. There is a budget pc build thread somewhere in the gaming forum, a search should be able to bring it up. A good place to start for someone who wants a new PC.

LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

evlcookie said:
It's easy. Part A goes into slot A only one way. Think of it as lego, or a really easy ikea package. There is a budget pc build thread somewhere in the gaming forum, a search should be able to bring it up. A good place to start for someone who wants a new PC.

Yeah just found it. Sifting through it now.

bill0527 · Jan 29, 2008

I have a PS3/360/Wii combo and while it may sound awesome, there are just not enough hours in my day to do justice to all 3 of them. The Wii collects dust mostly. I play 80% of my games on the 360, and mostly use the PS3 to watch upscaled DVDs and Blu-Rays. For me personally, having all 3 is just overkill. If you have a job or any other responsibilities, you're not gonna have near enough time to play all 3 of them. It doesn't mean that all 3 aren't worthy of owning, but there's no reason to have all 3 unless you have absolutely no life.

I also built myself a mid-range gaming PC for $1000 last June. I would lean more toward the PC if I were you because you'll get more use out of it.

I'm not sure what you can get now for $1000, but this was the best $1000 could get you last summer:

Core 2 Duo e6420 2.13ghz
2GB Corsair RAM
Geforce 8600gt
Antec P90 case
Xclio 500w power supply
Gigabyte P965 motherboard
Seagate 250gb Sata 3.0 hard drive
Samsung Sata DVD Burner
Windows Vista 32-bit OEM Home premium

It wasn't hard at all to put together. It was my first time building my own PC and the reason I decided to do it is because a Dell PC with the same specs with an even shittier video card was going to cost around $1450 with no monitor. You can build yourself a nice computer for $1000 and add yourself a nice $300 monitor and you'll be right at your budget. There are plenty of tutorials out there on the web to help. Intel has a nice video you can get from their site to help you install a CPU if you've never done that before, and my motherboard had really awesome instructions for everything else.

Oldschoolgamer · Jan 29, 2008

I already have the specs on my system worked out, but, what is another alternative to Newegg? I might just buy most of the parts from them, but, its nice to have a cheaper and reliable alternative.

SleazyC · Jan 29, 2008

Oldschoolgamer said:
I already have the specs on my system worked out, but, what is another alternative to Newegg? I might just buy most of the parts from them, but, its nice to have a cheaper and reliable alternative.

You can usually save a couple dollars here and there, sometimes $10+ if a special deal is going on. If you don't want to deal with seperate shipping dates, rebates, etc. then just buy from newegg. I'm cheap as hell so I just look for the bottom dollar deal. Post your parts or a link to your wishlist and I can look around to see if anything is cheaper elsewhere.

LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

I was looking through this Cyberpowerpc.com site. I came acrossed a prebuilt machine here with free shipping. Here's what I came up with:

CAS: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) X-Cruiser Mid-Tower 420W Case W/ WINDOW, MultiMeter Display & Control (Silver Color)
CS_FAN: Default case fans
CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core 2 Duo E6750 CPU @ 2.66GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit [+20]
CD: (Special Price) 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
FAN: INTEL LGA775 CERTIFIED CPU FAN & HEATSINK
HDD: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard
MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)
NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista Home Basic [+89] (64-bit Edition [+19])
POWERSUPPLY: STANDARD CASE POWER SUPPLY
RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS 24/7 LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD
USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express [+165] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

Total: $952 (not figuring tax in)

SleazyC · Jan 29, 2008

CcrooK said:
I was looking through this Cyberpowerpc.com site. I came acrossed a prebuilt machine here with free shipping. Here's what I came up with:

Ok, going to do a quick run down with ballpark prices since I have helped a friend build something recently. This is if you are interested in building your own PC.

CAS: ($20 off Mail-in Rebate) X-Cruiser Mid-Tower 420W Case W/ WINDOW, MultiMeter Display & Control (Silver Color)

My recommendation: COOLER MASTER RC-631-KWN1 -- $54.99 Before Mail-in-rebate (MIR), $9.99 after

CPU: (Sckt775)Intel® Core 2 Duo E6750 CPU @ 2.66GHz 1333FSB 4MB L2 Cache 64-bit [+20]

My recommendation: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz 1333FSB 6MB L2 Cache 45nm -- $209.00

CD: (Special Price) 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)

Any cheapy will do here, so...

Samsung 20x DVDRW SATA Black OEM -- $27.99

HDD: Single Hard Drive (320GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)

Again, HD's are cheap as hell now and you can find multiple deals. Hell Circuit City was selling an external 750GB Seagate for $111 that you could rip out the innards and put into your computer.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s -- $85

MOTHERBOARD: Asus P5N-E nForce 650i SLI Chipset LGA775 FSB1333 DDR2 Mainboard

My recommendation: GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L Intel P35 Chipset -- $88

VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 16X PCI Express [+165] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

My recommendation: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E 2.0 Video Card -- $219.99

POWERSUPPLY: STANDARD CASE POWER SUPPLY

My recommendation: CORSAIR HX CMPSU-520HX 520W Modular SLI -- $98.49 - $20 MIR - 5% Off = $74.47 or $68.49 w/ GCO FS ** A lot of effort yes...

MEMORY: (Req.DDR2 MainBoard)2GB (2x1GB) PC6400 DDR2/800 Dual Channel Memory (Corsair Value Select or Major Brand)

My recommendation: OCZ Gold 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Memory -- $52.99 before MIR, $32.99 after

OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista Home Basic [+89] (64-bit Edition [+19])

You can find Vista all over the net, not so sure on the prices but looking around I did find the Vista Home Premium Academic Upgrade for $64 if you are a student. I know its the upgrade but you can actually do a full install with just the upgrade CD :lol

NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
SOUND: 3D WAVE ON-BOARD 5.1 SOUND CARD

Stick with onboard for these. If you really want a soundcard look at some of the Audigy's.

Total: $952 (not figuring tax in)

Total -- $900.45 w/o MIR, $804.46 after

I'd recommend buy an extra case fan or two (~$5) and you need some thermal paste (~$5). Other than that you need to deal with shipping fee's and tax. Still pretty cheap eh? This is only if you would be interested in building it yourself though, and if you don't know anyone that could aid you if you encounter a problem I would recommend just getting it pre-built to save yourself the hassle.

LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

^^^Nice. Writing those down and checking some other places out. That's defenitely a good start to roll on with parts and blah. Thanks for the tips.

Edit: I know some people who may be able to help build it. But they're the "know it all" type which could turn into some really scary shit moments with building something that's this great. Haha.

SleazyC · Jan 29, 2008

CcrooK said:
^^^Nice. Writing those down and checking some other places out. That's defenitely a good start to roll on with parts and blah. Thanks for the tips.

I can give you links to the sites where the prices are if you'd like.

LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

SleazyC said:
I can give you links to the sites where the prices are if you'd like.

Hook a brudda up! I'm looking at all angles on this and every option is a huge bonus.

SleazyC · Jan 29, 2008

E8400
EVGA 8800GT
Corsair Power Supply
OCZ RAM
DVD Burner
Vista Academic
Hard Drive
Motherboard

The case had a rebate which ran out 9 days ago unfortunately. I would look around for something cheaper and if you wanted to spend around $50 I would recommend its upgraded brother the Cooler Master RC-690 @ $62.99.

A lot of these parts have rebates and prices fluctuate on computer parts pretty wildly so you can either see them fall or rise. I am sure another case deal will spring up by the time you are ready to buy. If you can pull your system in under $900 it gives you a lot of breathing room to try to find a pretty nice monitor.

Sanjay · Jan 29, 2008

if you make it your self get a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3ghz instead of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 CPU @ 2.66GHz 1333FSB. there about the same price too.

SleazyC nailed it, great choices

LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

SleazyC said:
E8400
EVGA 8800GT
Corsair Power Supply
OCZ RAM
DVD Burner
Vista Academic
Hard Drive
Motherboard

The case had a rebate which ran out 9 days ago unfortunately. I would look around for something cheaper and if you wanted to spend around $50 I would recommend its upgraded brother the Cooler Master RC-690 @ $62.99.

A lot of these parts have rebates and prices fluctuate on computer parts pretty wildly so you can either see them fall or rise. I am sure another case deal will spring up by the time you are ready to buy. If you can pull your system in under $900 it gives you a lot of breathing room to try to find a pretty nice monitor.

Very nice. Yeah. Since my current monitor is VGA, gonna need the new type. Looking into widescreen types to. Thanks for the links!

LowParry · Jan 29, 2008

Sanjay said:
if you make it your self get a Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3ghz instead of the Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 CPU @ 2.66GHz 1333FSB. there about the same price too.

SleazyC nailed it, great choices

Yeah I saw that. The change out didn't cost anything.

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