GeekyGuy
12-26-2008, 01:47 AM
UPDATED FOR ANYONE IN MY SHOES:
I looked at BestBuy,CC, Staples, and Office Depot (B/M AND Online for all). I also went to ZipZoomfly, TigerDirect, and NewEgg.
I think the system I built was fairly strong, even for gaming.
components follow
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
TigerDirect: OZZ Gamestream 700 watt PSU (120 MM fan, SLI and SATA ready) (0261-2005)
ThermalTake WingRS Mid-ATX case (T925-4100)
Corsair Dominator dual channel 4096MB DD2 @ 1066 mHz (c13-8060)
they are incluing a 5-man licensed copy ofCA internetsecurity suit for '09 on a 1 gig thumbdrive
subtotal : $251.78 before $65 MIRs
NewEgg: ASUS M3N72-D AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD mobo (N82E16813131323)
(this puppy is a SLI hybrid, running an AMD chip with SLI and an Nvidia chipset, it also hosts
a 8 series Nvidia graphics card @ 512 MB)
AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3 gH socket AM2+ 95w quad core (N82E16819103244)
subtotal : $240.37
ZipZoomFly: Western Dig Caviar SE 16 - 500GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA 3.0 GB/s
subtotal: $56.99
total: 549.14 before MIR, 484.14 after
I can wait a payheck or two on a better vid card, and the CRt can be upgraded whenever. This stlil beats the pants off the barebones kits I was eyeballing and - I think - has the potential to last a while.
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
ORIGINAL POST
I am a gamer at heart, but I am looking for whatever works on my budget. My old gaming desktop was getting weak so I bought an xbox so I could get in some game time on a budget. However, a recent blown breaker at home killed my router, NIC, and either HDD or mainboard. (end result is my box won't boot beyond the BIOS splash screen and I needed to upgrade anyways)
My budget is 400-600, I do not need a monitor right away (will suffer on my old CRT for another check or two), and while I usually prefer a desktop I would not turn down the right laptop.
With the sexbox I do not require a gamig rig, although a machine that could game would be a big plus. I also have a functioning AGP graphics card that would work for another check or two IF the new mob will handle both AGP AND PCIx cards. If so, great, the card waits a few checks and I spend more of the budget on basics. If not, NBD, I buy a decent single PCI for now.
I don't know laptops so well, but I do know that I want a SLI enabled mobo and SATA or PATA HDDs. Speaking of HDDs, I am not too picky about size as I can expand later.
I prefer no off brand garbage, do not mind building the machine myself, and have been with AMD (happily) and ATI (slowly grown very unhappy) for years. Finally, I have used ASUS mobos and Corsair RAM in my last two builds and have been very content with them.
P.S.2 gigs of RAM minimum and no OS is great, XP is also fine
I looked at BestBuy,CC, Staples, and Office Depot (B/M AND Online for all). I also went to ZipZoomfly, TigerDirect, and NewEgg.
I think the system I built was fairly strong, even for gaming.
components follow
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
TigerDirect: OZZ Gamestream 700 watt PSU (120 MM fan, SLI and SATA ready) (0261-2005)
ThermalTake WingRS Mid-ATX case (T925-4100)
Corsair Dominator dual channel 4096MB DD2 @ 1066 mHz (c13-8060)
they are incluing a 5-man licensed copy ofCA internetsecurity suit for '09 on a 1 gig thumbdrive
subtotal : $251.78 before $65 MIRs
NewEgg: ASUS M3N72-D AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 750a SLI ATX AMD mobo (N82E16813131323)
(this puppy is a SLI hybrid, running an AMD chip with SLI and an Nvidia chipset, it also hosts
a 8 series Nvidia graphics card @ 512 MB)
AMD Phenom 9600 Agena 2.3 gH socket AM2+ 95w quad core (N82E16819103244)
subtotal : $240.37
ZipZoomFly: Western Dig Caviar SE 16 - 500GB, 7200 RPM, 16 MB cache, SATA 3.0 GB/s
subtotal: $56.99
total: 549.14 before MIR, 484.14 after
I can wait a payheck or two on a better vid card, and the CRt can be upgraded whenever. This stlil beats the pants off the barebones kits I was eyeballing and - I think - has the potential to last a while.
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________________
ORIGINAL POST
I am a gamer at heart, but I am looking for whatever works on my budget. My old gaming desktop was getting weak so I bought an xbox so I could get in some game time on a budget. However, a recent blown breaker at home killed my router, NIC, and either HDD or mainboard. (end result is my box won't boot beyond the BIOS splash screen and I needed to upgrade anyways)
My budget is 400-600, I do not need a monitor right away (will suffer on my old CRT for another check or two), and while I usually prefer a desktop I would not turn down the right laptop.
With the sexbox I do not require a gamig rig, although a machine that could game would be a big plus. I also have a functioning AGP graphics card that would work for another check or two IF the new mob will handle both AGP AND PCIx cards. If so, great, the card waits a few checks and I spend more of the budget on basics. If not, NBD, I buy a decent single PCI for now.
I don't know laptops so well, but I do know that I want a SLI enabled mobo and SATA or PATA HDDs. Speaking of HDDs, I am not too picky about size as I can expand later.
I prefer no off brand garbage, do not mind building the machine myself, and have been with AMD (happily) and ATI (slowly grown very unhappy) for years. Finally, I have used ASUS mobos and Corsair RAM in my last two builds and have been very content with them.
P.S.2 gigs of RAM minimum and no OS is great, XP is also fine