I am building to play mostly MMO's with. The cost factor was a big one in this system
* 1 x Thermaltake A2491 140mm Case Fan - Retail $15.99
(Going to place this in front bottom to pull air into the case and push it over the HDD.)
* 1 x Rosewill R218-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $21.99
(I really don't like most modern cases. The tool-less designs I don't want, the spaceship designs are useless and finding a good plain beige case is very hard these days within that criteria. I also don't like that many ATX mid towers have the USB and audio ports on the bottom. I find that completely backwards.)
* 1 x AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5000DOBOX - Retail $66.00
(Choosing retail gave me a backup cooler. I know that I could get more speed with an Intel product but at this cost point I feel that this is the better deal. AMD products have been very good to me and I'm continuing to be loyal to them for long as is reasonable.)
* 1 x BIOSTAR A770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $69.99
(Chose this because it was cheap, had a lot of reviews and had less fluff on it, too many modern boards are over loaded with features IMO. I did get a 1 year replacement plan on it as I don't yet have confidence in Biostar since I have not worked with their products before.)
* 1 x G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK - Retail $84.99
(Cheap, well reviewed. OC'able)
* 1 x EVGA 384-P3-N851-AR GeForce 8800 GS 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - 79.99 after rebates.
(Very cheap, many reviews, OC'able. Certainly not the best but at the price and for my use, I think it will do OK.)
* 1 x CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply - Retail $55 after rebate.
(Great features and should be adequate for this system.)
* 1 x Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM $109.99
Single most expensive part in the system... And I will hold off before installing it as I will install Linux first and see how well that does with what I want to play. Microsoft is charging too much IMO and I am also repulsed at the idea of DRM. I'm no pirate but I strongly dislike DRM on General Principle. I feel it usurps my administrator authority and control of my hardware.
* 1 x COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-P912-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail $22.99
(I got this particular CPU cooler because I believe it will help cool the nearby north bridge chipset.)
* 1 x EVERCOOL SB-F1 PCI Slot Case Cooler - Retail $6.99
(Got this as an extra measure for helping to keep the video card cool in case it is required.)
* 1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $59.99
(There are cheaper and possibly better drives for the dollar to GB ratio but I really had to keep the costs down and with other drives I already have, this should do just fine.)
* 1 x Sony NEC Optiarc Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s - OEM $17.99
(Cheap and of course the system needs a reader.)
$676.88 Sub total
$014.00 extra coverage on mobo
$088.04 tax and S&H
$764.92 Grand total
Should be here by Friday. Then I'll start a fairly careful parts check and assembly process before any OS installation.
* 1 x Thermaltake A2491 140mm Case Fan - Retail $15.99
(Going to place this in front bottom to pull air into the case and push it over the HDD.)
* 1 x Rosewill R218-P-BK Black 0.5mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $21.99
(I really don't like most modern cases. The tool-less designs I don't want, the spaceship designs are useless and finding a good plain beige case is very hard these days within that criteria. I also don't like that many ATX mid towers have the USB and audio ports on the bottom. I find that completely backwards.)
* 1 x AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5000DOBOX - Retail $66.00
(Choosing retail gave me a backup cooler. I know that I could get more speed with an Intel product but at this cost point I feel that this is the better deal. AMD products have been very good to me and I'm continuing to be loyal to them for long as is reasonable.)
* 1 x BIOSTAR A770 A2+ AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $69.99
(Chose this because it was cheap, had a lot of reviews and had less fluff on it, too many modern boards are over loaded with features IMO. I did get a 1 year replacement plan on it as I don't yet have confidence in Biostar since I have not worked with their products before.)
* 1 x G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL4D-4GBPK - Retail $84.99
(Cheap, well reviewed. OC'able)
* 1 x EVGA 384-P3-N851-AR GeForce 8800 GS 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - 79.99 after rebates.
(Very cheap, many reviews, OC'able. Certainly not the best but at the price and for my use, I think it will do OK.)
* 1 x CORSAIR CMPSU-450VX 450W ATX12V V2.2 Power Supply - Retail $55 after rebate.
(Great features and should be adequate for this system.)
* 1 x Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit English for System Builders 1pk DSP OEI DVD - OEM $109.99
Single most expensive part in the system... And I will hold off before installing it as I will install Linux first and see how well that does with what I want to play. Microsoft is charging too much IMO and I am also repulsed at the idea of DRM. I'm no pirate but I strongly dislike DRM on General Principle. I feel it usurps my administrator authority and control of my hardware.
* 1 x COOLER MASTER RR-CCH-P912-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail $22.99
(I got this particular CPU cooler because I believe it will help cool the nearby north bridge chipset.)
* 1 x EVERCOOL SB-F1 PCI Slot Case Cooler - Retail $6.99
(Got this as an extra measure for helping to keep the video card cool in case it is required.)
* 1 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM $59.99
(There are cheaper and possibly better drives for the dollar to GB ratio but I really had to keep the costs down and with other drives I already have, this should do just fine.)
* 1 x Sony NEC Optiarc Black IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1615/B2s - OEM $17.99
(Cheap and of course the system needs a reader.)
$676.88 Sub total
$014.00 extra coverage on mobo
$088.04 tax and S&H
$764.92 Grand total
Should be here by Friday. Then I'll start a fairly careful parts check and assembly process before any OS installation.