$1k build....

[b1gapl]

My friend asked me to build him a gaming system, and his budget is $1k. I came up with a list and wanted to know what you guys think of it, before it's final.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2000MHz HT Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor Model ADA3800IAA5CU - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103735

Gigabyte GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128321

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 533 (PC2 4200) System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231018

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250620AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822148144

Antec TRUEPOWERII TPII-550 ATX12V 550W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, TUV, CB, FCC CLASS B, CUL - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817103931

Antec Performance I P180B Black 0.8mm cold rolled steel for durability through the majority of chassis 1.0mm cold rolled steel around the 4 x HDD area ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811129017

ZALMAN CNPS 9500 AM2 2 Ball Green LED Light CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16835118004

Logitech Internet Pro Desktop 967457-0403 Black 103 Normal Keys 8 Function Keys PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard Mouse Included - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16823126152

Comes out to $1091
OR the Conroe route (everything is the same except with these)

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 1066MHz FSB 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004

Intel BOXDP965LTCK Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813121035

Comes out to $1,161

I was also thinking of changing the RAM to this because the previous was kinda slow:
Patriot 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820220095
...with this RAM it comes out to $1,171 for the Conroe route and for the AM2 route $1,101.
...He already has the monitor and a DVD burner by the way. Any suggestions to make it better would be cool.

 

[Drizo]

Heres another alternative setup which I copy and pasted from two other threads. You can just OC the E6300. Alternatively, you could also choose the E6400 from zipzoomfly.

Intel Core 2 Duo Processor E6300 1.86GHz 1066MHz 2MB LGA775 CPU, Retail $198.79
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=E6300BOX

(Alternative) Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe Processor 2.13GHz, 1066FSB, LGA775, 2MB Cache Retail $247
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80859

Asus P5NSLI Core 2 Duo/ nForce 570 SLI/ DDR2/ SAT2/ RAID/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard $112.27
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P5NSLI

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - Retail $177.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231073

eVGA 256-P2-N584-AR Geforce 7900GT KO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $264.99 ($244.99 after $20.00 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130033

SAMSUNG SpinPoint P Series SP2504C 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152025

NEC 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE/ATAPI Model ND-3550A - OEM $28.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply - Retail $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937

COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 RC-532-SKN1 Black Computer Case - Retail $64.99 ($44.99 after $20.00 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119094

(E6300) Total $988.00 before rebates, $948.00 after rebates.
(E6400) Total $1036.21 before rebates, $996.21 after rebates.

Just get the E6400, forget the E6300.

Also the ram is out of stock, but if you're willing to wait you can stick with that choice or get the:

G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model F2-6400PHU2-2GBNR - Retail $174.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231084

 

[Ridlyn]

go with drizo's build it's very nice. I've never seen a conroe for under $200 nice find, and dont forget a something like the Thermaltake Big Typhoon or Tuniq Tower-120 to cool your cpu for ocing. Either one of those should get you to around 2.8-3.0ghz