To build or to buy with a $600 budget?

[Fat.Clown]

fat clown once again comes in with crazy suggestions

The Dell Online Store: Build Your System
$329 + ~$30ish shipping =~ $360
Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2200 (2.20GHz,1MB L2Cache,800FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic, Service Pack 1
Dell 19 inch Widescreen E1909WFP Analog Flat Panel Display
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz - 2DIMMs
Single Drive: 16X (DVD+/-RW) Burner Drive
160GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cacheâ„¢
Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100

PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500D 500W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
$65
Recertified: EVGA 384-P3-N966-RX GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card *1
$60

total ~$485

optional
250gb hdd upgrade +$10
home premium upgrade +$29
DVI version of LCD +$30

*1 I cannot guaranteed the card fits in the Dell case as I don't have specific details
fits a HD 2400 XT for comparison

btw, this post number looks funny

 

[Ethan_Kaizer]

Eww.....

Go with the first build that was posted, but with G.Skill PI ram, an HD 4830 (The board is XFire), and an E7300 (Same price as 7200).

 

[QuaziBee]

Dude I'm the grand daddy of our techie bible

Like I said this isn't for me and I always had a little exception to "Thou shall always build thy's desktop" since if you want really cheap, legal windows, and monitor, its hard to build for less than you can buy from Dell.

Besides thats the "techies" bible. He is not a techie, if he was I wouldn't be handling this for him.

If he sticks with us through an entire building process he will become a techie. Its what doing this is all about, see Why I Overclock.

 

[philbar71]

the build i posted would tear that dell build up. and the mobo DOES NOT do xfire. as it has only 1 pci express x16 slot. and for some reason i can not find the pi black ram

 

[Fat.Clown]

the build i posted would tear that dell build up.

your build also doesn't have windows OS and a widescreen LCD monitor

 

[1337_JohnN]

Get the E5200, it's cheaper, and is almost as good. I also would recommend PI blacks, a 750TX (for upgrades), Sapphire 4850, and a gigabyte P45 UD3P.

 

[NosBoost300]

lol flock of sheep man! too many of the same builds around here!

 

[philbar71]

lol flock of sheep man! too many of the same builds around here!

what would you suggest?

your build also doesn't have windows OS and a widescreen LCD monitor

good point, but it's still faster.

 

[dario03]

Get the E5200, it's cheaper, and is almost as good. I also would recommend PI blacks, a 750TX (for upgrades), Sapphire 4850, and a gigabyte P45 UD3P.

Yeah I was thinking about the e5200 and ati 4850. I really don't think he will need a super awesome psu since he probably won't do a ton of upgrading. Right now he is running a hand me down Dell from 2003.

 

[philbar71]

but the board i linked has only 1 x16 slot. so there will be no cross fire.
this board does cross fire.

Newegg.com - BIOSTAR TForce TP45HP LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards