Help Me Build the Best $1200 Ever

Agreed...

Get a SATA drive from Seagate.

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

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

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.

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.

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).

Go with Seagate.

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

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.

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.)

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  

Revision 1

Specs

Revision 1

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 - 80.50
Patriot Signature Series 1gb
__________________________________________________________________________

Productivity - 81.95
Microsoft Office Standard
__________________________________________________________________________

Processor - 301.00
AMD X2 3800+
__________________________________________________________________________

OS - 88.95
Windows XP
___________________________________________________________________________________

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.

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.

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

Your name is "suicidatmonkey".

Nice one.

//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............

PWNED!

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?

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

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

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.

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
__________________________________________________________________________

Processor - 301.00
AMD X2 3800+
__________________________________________________________________________

OS - 88.95
Windows XP
___________________________________________________________________________________

Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1235.45

No productivity software so I got some more RAM.

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  

You'll be happy with that extra ram

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.

Revision 3

Case - 99.99
Aspire X-plorer
__________________________________________________________________________

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
___________________________________________________________________________________

Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1235.45

Got some cheaper ram for a better power supply.

Revision 2 was fine. You dont need a super high giga watt power supply, unless you are running 2gfx cards, overclocking, and have 4 hard drives. The 500watt that comes with the case is fine for your setup.

I know the 3200+ overclocked is as good as a 3500+. Does this apply to the Manchester X2 cores. If I were do overclock my X2 3800+ Manchester to 2.4 (which I hear is fairly easy) would it be the same as the X2 4600+ Manchester?

It would have the same clock speed anyway. The performace should be about the same, a little different though. A 400Mhz clock increase with stock heat sink probably not.

Alright wats a good cheap cooler.

If I were you I would save the $50 from buying a new Heatsink and buy the next step up processor. Use the stock heat sink with the 4200 x2

Screw that I am good with the 3800+ speed when overclocked a tiny bit. ANthing I need such as cables or any changes you think should be done?

Has anyone heard of this case and power supply do think it is good

I dont know much about cases.
Maybee some round cables for floppy drives and cd/dvd.
Other than that it looks good.
Again i would go with revision 2 and ditch the raidmax power supply.
Here is a power supply calculator.

After reading an article I learned some stuff. I think this PSU will suit my needs. So what is a good case at Newegg for the 50-70 doallar range.

Revision 4

Case - 50-70
Undecided
_________________________________________________

PSU - 43.99
XClio 450W
_________________________________________________

Mobo - 129.99
DFI Lanparty UT nF4
_________________________________________________

Hard Drive - 89.00
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb
_________________________________________________

Video Card - 295.00
eVGA 7800GT
_________________________________________________

RAM - 169.00
G.Skill 2Gb
_________________________________________________

Processor - 301.00
AMD X2 3800+
_________________________________________________

OS - 88.95
Windows XP
_________________________________________________
Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1225.42

I think I might get this case and swap out the power supplies. Could you guys show me some good cables.

I dont know what kind of cables. Like I here the OEM hard drive doesnt come with the cables. Plus I want my cables to glow.

round ide cable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010010...

and sata cables come with youre mobo but if you want uv ones
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=EN...

heres a great psu the 400w one powers my 6800 sli setup
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=BR...

I think I might get a single core 3700+ because it has better performance in gaming are which is pretty muchall I will be doing. Then I can get a sick keyboard, mouse, and speaker. What do you think.

G15 Keyboard roxors my socks right off my feet!  

i would just get a 3700+ i mean your rig is going to be tight with good ram and a 7800gt youre set but all is to waste if you dont feel comfertable (shutup) playing games, i would suggest getting a mx100 if you like wireless mouses or a g5 if you like wired ones, also you can get labtop like keyboards on newegg for cheap or one of those backlit ones.

if youre thinking that a 3700 is better than another processor because of the 1mb cache youre wrong it will perform just the same as a proc with 512kb cache at the same clock speed, also if you want to overclock you dont need such expensive ram grab youreself a set of OCZ 1gb for around 110$

I think I will stick with the 3800+ X2 and get some nice acessories later. I think I am gonna do one more revision and it should be good.The only thing is that power supply. I read that stick on PSUs but I am still not sure.. I need one for less than 50.And it is accualy 2gb, gotta fix that.

I think I will get this PSU.

Revision 5

Case - 50-70
XION XION II
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PSU - 43.99
Fortron 450W
_________________________________________________

Mobo - 129.99
DFI Lanparty UT nF4
_________________________________________________

Hard Drive - 89.00
Seagate Barracuda 160Gb
_________________________________________________

Video Card - 295.00
eVGA 7800GT
_________________________________________________

RAM - 169.00
G.Skill 2Gb
_________________________________________________

Processor - 301.00
AMD X2 3800+
_________________________________________________

OS - 88.95
Windows XP
_________________________________________________

Other Asorted Goodies - 16.23
_________________________________________________

Total Price (Inclu. ship.) - 1273.66

So everyone thinks it is perfect and if they were gonna spend $1200 this is the way they would spend it.

DONT USE NEWEGG!!! zipzoomfly free shipping

I want to buy from newegg, don't ask why.

i would have gotten a 6800gs instead of a 7800gt and a 3200+, and spend money on a new monitor.

dont get 7800 instead get a x850xt very comparable

I am so confused. My friend has a 1600gt, 3500+, and 1gb os shity ram and he plays BF2 graet. All highest settings, includng aa and af with zero lag. Plus his fps is usually around 60.Plus it looks better than my other friends alienware (i am not sure what he has in it though).