if you had a spare 2 grand...

[shandro]

if you had two grand lying around what kind of computer would you build?

 

[erik_tilton]

~ABS "Ultimate X8 III"~

GIGABYTE GZ-FA1CA-ASS Silver 1.0 mm Aluminum body ATX Full Tower Computer Case

GIGABYTE GH-WIU02 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling

Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition with Service Pack 2

PSU TT|W0131RU 850W RT

NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 1066MHz FSB 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)

VGA EVGA 256-P2-N636-AR 7950GT 256M

Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

SAMSUNG 18 X SuperMulti Dual Layer DVD Burner with LightScribe (Black Color)

~ABS "Ultimate X8 III"~

$2074.01

I think this leaves room for some upgrades, like a quad-core processor later on and SLI for next-gen video cards. The two hard drives would be good for dual booting with XP and Windows Vista. And liquid cooling makes me giggle.

 

[shandro]

nice build! where u get youre prices from?

 

[NamelessMC]

Core 2 Duo 4300
2x 1 GB DDR 800 XMS2
2x 160 GB WD Caviar Hard Drives in a raid set up
Asus P5B Deluxe
ATI X1950XT
Sound-blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum (front-bay included)
LG DVD+-RW Lightscribe
generic samsung DVD 18x drive (so you only use LG drive for burning)
Scythe Infinity with Arctic Silver thermal paste
For the case, something sexy like the Thermaltake Armor Jr.

I'd over-clock it to whatever the highest stable is with 1:1 ratio
Then I'd spend whatever I had left over on a laser mouse and a nice keyboard.

If I have still yet more left over, I'd spend the rest on custom decals to put on the PC and I'd paint it grey and purple. I'd call it the "Galvatron 2007"

 

[shandro]

i plan to biuld a system soon. just waiting for the R600 to come out. need to see how it compares to the 8800.

 

[erik_tilton]

Hey Shandro, that ABS computer I listed is probably what I personally plan on getting. It is a prebuilt by ABS Computers, www.abs.com, because I'd be too lazy to build on my own.

But I might be better off waiting for PCI-Express 2.0 or DDR3 RAM, but then again I can't just wait for new technology to appear because then I'd never get started. My birthday is in February so it'll be a good excuse to get a new computer.

 

[harty23690]

I'd have put in 1 HDD and put in an 8800GTS