Help Me Build the Best $1200 Ever

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

So now I can spend $1200 on my computer. That is including shipping, the os, and good productivity software. Help me out, this is my first build.If you have any thing you think is bad tell me another thing that is better in the same price range. Also feel free to change the whole system around as long as you keep it in the budget.

Specs

Revision 6

Case - 70.99
XION XION II
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PSU - 49.99
Fortron 450W
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Mobo - 129.99
DFI Lanparty UT nF4
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Hard Drive - 89.00
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb
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Video Card - 295.00
eVGA 7800GT
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RAM - 169.00
G.Skill 2Gb
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Processor - 301.00
AMD Opteron 165
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OS - 99.99
Windows XP
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Other Asorted Goodies - 35.47
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Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1319.85

You will notice there is no optical drive. That is because I am taking it from my old crappy HP.

 

[Maxiius]

I'd suggest Seagate or Western Digital

Agreed...

 

[Jagger]

Get a SATA drive from Seagate.

You can order MS Works 2005 for about $40 less RoyalDiscount

 

[p05esto]

I've always had great luck with Maxtor drives. In fact Seagate is buying Maxtor so they must have something good.

 

[maxxum]

No to Maxtor - yes to Seagate or WD ...

No to Works and just dl Open Office for free - much more powerful than Works and it opens and saves Word files.

Money you save from Works can be used for mid-level sound card (Audigy), better mouse/keyboard or nice wireing.

 

[FreshMeat]

That case is going to be loud 3x80mm fans and 1x120mm fan. Try something like the Antec Sonata II. Keeps things nice and cool/quite and has great build quality. Also has a better quality PSU. Nothing worse than trying to track down build problems caused by a crappy PSU.

Unless you really like the looks of the Aspire.

 

[purelithium]

No to Maxtor - yes to Seagate or WD ...

No to Works and just dl Open Office for free - much more powerful than Works and it opens and saves Word files.

Money you save from Works can be used for mid-level sound card (Audigy), better mouse/keyboard or nice wireing.

I was just about to say everything that you just said!

another vote for Seagate/WD and Open Office! use the cash for other stuff. OO is one of the best office suites around. Almost exactly the same as MS office(i'm not kidding).

 

[edbrooks]

Go with Seagate.

You can get Office Student edition for $87.99!!!

 

[FreshMeat]

I didn't say that it wasn't a good looking case. Just that it would be quite loud. Also, that case has a huge window, and it is awfully hard to make the inside of your case look nice when you have so many fan's (learned from personal experience). I have a buddy with this exact same case, and I think that it looks sloppy inside (he has 5 fans in his) and it is loud. But if you can manage to route all your cables then it may look much better. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - if he thinks that it is good looking, then that is all that really matters.

 

[Jagger]

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - if he thinks that it is good looking, then that is all that really matters.

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes streight to the bone...

If you decide to go windowless, I suggest CoolerMaster Centurian cases. I think they are nice looking and they don't have a door which, at least to me, drives me nuts (they break off, etc.)

 

[FreshMeat]

I have built a system using that case (shoe-horned 5 hd's into it) - it is a nice looking case as well.

I don't mind the door's myself (cleaner looking, keeps the kids from pressing to many buttons, etc...). I've never had one break on me either

 

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

Revision 1

Specs

Revision 1

Case - 99.99
Aspire X-Navigator
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Mobo - 129.99
DFI Lanparty UT nF4
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Hard Drive - 89.00
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb
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Video Card - 295.00
eVGA 7800GT
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RAM - 80.50
Patriot Signature Series 1gb
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Productivity - 81.95
Microsoft Office Standard
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Processor - 301.00
AMD X2 3800+
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OS - 88.95
Windows XP
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Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1253.91

Part of my extended buget was getting regular productivity software. I went smaller on the hard drive for better performance. I really like this case and I probably will spend a lot of time wiring it and it only has 4 fans so it should't be to bad. Like I said if you don't like something suggest another thing.

 

[Dybowski]

i would suggest getting the 6800gs if youre not a hardcore gamer i LAN alot and it has been fine for all games i throw at it at 1024x1280 2xaa and 8xaf.

 

[Mobius]

You can't speak H@x0r dude. "7" is a "T".

Your name is "suicidatmonkey".

Nice one.

 

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

//0w ur3 4 74rd. ||3v3r 5p33k 4641n.7 15 u53d 45 807h L 4nd t. See hereL00k 47 L. 4nd 17 15 (4||3d 1337 5p34k n07 h4x0r 5p34k u m0r0n. anyways............

 

[Maxiius]

PWNED!

 

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

The dual core AMD beats the AMD single cores in everything except gaming. How much better is the single core in gaming? A lot of places say that the games out right now don't take advantage of the dual cores but they will later. Does this mean the performance of the dual cores will beat the single cores in the future?

 

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

I am gonna download open office now and give it a test run on the computer I have now.

 

[SCPO]

Didn't see a power supply on your list...

 

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

That would be because it comes with the case.

Edit:Wow open Office is great from my first breif overview. So forget the productivity software.Woot, Woot. Down with microsoft.

 

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

Revision 2

Case - 99.99
Aspire X-Navigator
__________________________________________________________________________
Mobo - 129.99
DFI Lanparty UT nF4
__________________________________________________________________________

Hard Drive - 89.00
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb
__________________________________________________________________________

Video Card - 295.00
eVGA 7800GT
__________________________________________________________________________

RAM - 194.00
G.Skill Extreme
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Processor - 301.00
AMD X2 3800+
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OS - 88.95
Windows XP
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Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1235.45

No productivity software so I got some more RAM.

 

[Dybowski]

if your getting a dfi board i reccomend a better power supply, 1gb of ram will show you no difference than 2gb in most situations except bf2 and other memory hungry games whereit has to cache from drive but this will only help loading times. (correct me if im wrong) i would suggest getting a antec neohe 500w psu it powers my 6800gs sli on a lanparty UT Sli-Dr fine. and its modular

 

[edbrooks]

You'll be happy with that extra ram

 

[edbrooks]

if your getting a dfi board i reccomend a better power supply, 1gb of ram will show you no difference than 2gb in most situations except bf2 and other memory hungry games whereit has to cache from drive but this will only help loading times. (correct me if im wrong) i would suggest getting a antec neohe 500w psu it powers my 6800gs sli on a lanparty UT Sli-Dr fine. and its modular

The built in PSU is more than adequate. Don't believe the hype. If you like doing useful things with your computer you will find 2 GB useful.

 

[5u1c1d47m0nk3y]

Revision 3

Case - 99.99
Aspire X-plorer
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PSU - 69.99
Raidmax Aurora

Mobo - 129.99
DFI Lanparty UT nF4
__________________________________________________________________________

Hard Drive - 89.00
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb
__________________________________________________________________________

Video Card - 295.00
eVGA 7800GT
__________________________________________________________________________

RAM - 194.00
G.Skill
_________________________________________________________________________

Processor - 301.00
AMD X2 3800+
__________________________________________________________________________

OS - 88.95
Windows XP
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Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1235.45

Got some cheaper ram for a better power supply.