The Hawt Damn $600 - Computer

You may know that I'm building myself a computer. Well this thing is, as some people may say, "uber l33t" for the amount of money I'm spending. I have:

- 1 GB DDR2-800 RAM [$90]
- GeForce 6200 (shitty, but only temporary until more reliable DX10 chipsets show up) [$41]
- 160GB 7200RPM 8MB cache hard drive [$22]
- SoundBlaster X-Fi 7.1 Sound Card [$26]
- CRT monitor from a friend [$10]
- Rosewill case [~$80]
- DVD +/- RW, CD +/- RW, CD-R [bundle, $38]
- Intel mobo (friend is an employee, so 50% off) [~$100]
- Core 2 Duo 2.0GHz [~$160]

So that comes up to $550. I feel like I forgot to list something, though....

Whaddaya think? I'm gonna get another gig of memory after I upgrade to Vista sometime in spring.

Where did you get a X-fi card for that price?

Personally, I think you can get a better case for the money. Ive seen alot of aluminum ultra cases for about $30 after rebates. You would need a power supply as well. Ive seen SLI certified (dual rail) ps for about the same price after rebates (back in august, you could have got one for free AR). Plus, I dont care if you are waiting for DX10 cards (they are out, BTW, and so far are reliable from what Ive read), but I'd invest a little more in the GPU, at least a 7600gs or X800( or x850) for around $90-100. Plus, you will want as much PS as you can afford with a DX10 card. Id say at least 500w for one card and 700 if you want to run sli.

All of the CPU power is wasted on a crappy GPU. But since you're gonna get a DX10, I guess it wouldn't matter if you kept it for a while.

[quote name='uli2000']Where did you get a X-fi card for that price?
[/quote]

Really, that is a godly price.

I know that the Diamond Xtreme 7.1 sound card is $16, but for the Sound Blaster one that is one helluva price. Black Friday price perhaps?

over on slickdeals the p180 is like 80 AR. I would recommend getting that case over the rosewill.

I got most of the things off of eBay. I was surprised that it actually worked. (EDIT: oh shit, I meant to say $26*, not 16. My error. Still as good of a price?)

I've heard that I need a full-tower ATX for the DX10 to really fit in. Are there any good full-towers for cheap that you know of?

[quote name='Full_Throttle']I got most of the things off of eBay. I was surprised that it actually worked. (EDIT: oh shit, I meant to say $26*, not 16. My error. Still as good of a price?)

I've heard that I need a full-tower ATX for the DX10 to really fit in. Are there any good full-towers for cheap that you know of?[/QUOTE]
This has been on Newegg's deals page for a day or two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811166004

Can't vouch for the brand as I've never used their products to my knowledge, but customer reviews are pretty high and that is relatively inexpensive for a full tower case like that, though shipping kinda kills it.

You do not need a full tower for a DX10 card to fit... they are longer, yes, so you will have to make sure that it'll work in your case. The bigger issue is that it might block some of you connectors (like SATA ones) on poorly designed mobos. And it might be a problem in some of the crappier mid tower cases.

You got a few good deals through your connections and that used X-Fi. But... if your friend works at Intel and gets a 50% discount, shouldn't you have been able to score that E6400 for a lot less? It's normally $220 so half of that is around $110.

You forgot to list the power supply. Make sure you pick a good one. Even though Nvidia says you need only need 450w (or is it 550w?) of their top model, it might be smart to get a better one. And I also support Casey's suggestion to get the P180. Same price but MUCH better cases than Rosewills.

I honestly have no idea about the processor. I'll have to look into the prices and if I really will get the 2.0 or a different one.

About the power supply, what happens if I get like 500W and I only need 350W right now? Will my computer fry?

[quote name='Full_Throttle']I honestly have no idea about the processor. I'll have to look into the prices and if I really will get the 2.0 or a different one.

About the power supply, what happens if I get like 500W and I only need 350W right now? Will my computer fry?[/QUOTE]

Well, $160 is still a great price for that processor if it is indeed a E6400.

Right now, you probably only need 250w I think thought I'm not sure. If you have more power, then there's no issue. You PS will only output the amount of power that your computer needs. So if you need 350w and you had a 500w PS, your PS would only output 350w because that's all your system requires.