Help me piece together a Computer system
 

Hi i have not built a computer in about 4 years so I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with trying to figure out how to best pair my processor/motherboard/and memory setup. I am aware that If I do not get the right componants, there may be bottlenecks and whatnot. My budget is around $450 after all componants including PCI 16x video card, SATA hardrive, memory, processor, and motherboard ... possibly a power supply too if needed.

Anyway here is the processor I want:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116249

I started building PCs starting with the 8088. Now though, it seems to be just as inexpensive to buy a pre-built PC.

barebones setups are always a good place to start

were it me I'd go with a shuttle XPC case and a core2duo, there goes your budget though.

www.pricewatch.com Handy site to get an idea of what things are going for.

Mark

if you use pricewatch, make sure you use resellerratings.com with it...

I'd just get one of the decent MSI mobos, a 400W psu, and the case you can find cheap. and you can't go wrong with onboard raid.

damn, I have been doing a lot of reading and there are sooo many options, especially since I like to play high end games sometimes. still looking for some opinions on buildup strategies.

Heres the best solution (and trust me I have a bit of experience):

Watch slickdeals.net or fatwallet.com. Pick up a dell system with a good base processor and a 19-20" LCD (300ish). Add memory and graphics card as your budget allows. You simply cannot compete with the pre-configured systems in terms of price these days.

Edit: Forgot to mention, if you know your shit and you really wanna push it... build something based on the dual core E6300 and overclock the hell out of it. Best budget processor and it accepts boost (clocking) like crazy.

http://pcpartsohio.com/

those guys have 250 gig SATA hdd for like $60.

they also have ram pretty cheap. I've bought from them a couple of time and never had a problem.

Already have a nice LCD monitor, case, keyboard, mouse, Just need the internals and yes I Had my last system overclocked a bit sort of know how it all works. Anyway after doing a bit more research, I think ive decided to go with a Core2dual, but cant decide if it is worth it to pay the extra $50 for the faster FSB between the E4300 and E6300. I would likely be satisfied with some 1066 ram and raising the FSB on the 4300 to match.

hell, some of the mobos come with dynamic overclocking and you can have it dial in a highest stable speed for you...

most asus boards have that feature... mine does.

Whats a kick-ass graphics card for gaming these days ?

Well i was going to post up the parts list I have put together in a while here and I am leaning toward the ATI Radeon x1950 as it gets good reviews in my price range for a video card

I went computer shopping w/ my dad. Got him a bad ass emachine from Best Buy: AMD X2 64 dual-core, vista premium, 1 gb 5300 ddr2 ram, dvd+-r, 250gb ataII hd, 6 channel audio, tv tuner, integrated video but has a pci-e x16 slot, etc etc
$285 :eek5:

I'm not running vista, and won't be for a long time (too many incompatibilites with software and hardware I need for work). However, for someone who just surfs the web, reads email, n stuff like that, that was an awesome deal imo.

Ben

Found The Glasses :d

In all honesty. For $450 you won't get much and your not playing any high-end games. I paid $800 for my graphics system alone and $3000 in the complete tower. Your best bet is to catch a deal at Walmart. They have some pretty good deals considering what you get. As far as processors, the 6600 core2duo is a 2.4ghz processor and if your not scared to overclock it it'll clock much higher. Mine is running at 3.6ghz with air cooling. I haven't checked prices on thet chip lately. If you need build advice let me know. I've been building my own for years now.

I almost forgot. Try www.directron.com and www.tigerdirect.com they have some prebuilt systems and barebones at decent prices but remember (especially in the computer industry) you get what you pay for.

Don't ship outside USA...bummer !