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NuclearShadow   09-20-2007 at 08:44:27 AM

Hey guys... what can brown do for you? Well for me, UPS smashed up my PC real good for starters, and they can give me a check in return, that's what they can do for me! So... out of the replacement costs my wife is giving me around $700-$750 to replace our PC... :pfff: Here's where I NEED your help! How would you configure it and where would you go to buy it? :ouch: I'm fully capable of putting everything together myself, so that's not a concern. Thanks for any help or input given...

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StevieD   09-20-2007 at 09:18:29 AM
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Just a reminder: Brown's check will go the shipper of record.

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nickc07   09-20-2007 at 09:27:17 AM
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What type of PC do you want? Is this for gaming or just surfing/email?

Do you need a new monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc... or just a tower?

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NuclearShadow   09-20-2007 at 12:08:59 PM
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Nick07: All I need is a tower, and it would be for gaming... so as powerful as can be for the price.

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nickc07   09-20-2007 at 01:03:17 PM
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MOBO: Gigabyte P35 DS3L $95
CPU: E2140 $75
RAM: Ballstix $110
GPU: EVGA 8800GTS 320mb $290
Hard Drive: Seagate 7200.10 320GB $80
DVD: LiteON 20x DVD+RW LightScribe SATA (Retail) $38
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5 $50
PSU: FSP Group 400W $42

Sub Total: $780
MIR: $77
Final Total: $703

One thing to note. Forst $47 more you could get the E4300 which is a true C2D with 2m cache.

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jtt283   09-20-2007 at 01:28:22 PM
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One thing about FSP PSUs...They're good enough (tier-3), but rated funny in listings. That 400W is the peak load. It will only be 350W continuous. The one you want is listed at 450W, is actually 400W, and costs $58.

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
 Reply to jtt283
zenmaster   09-20-2007 at 03:06:45 PM
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NewEgg tends to be the retailer of choice on these boards.
Not always the absolute cheapest, but close and they have good customer service and reliability.

They tend to be pricey on certain PSUs, so you may want to shop around. On the FSP PSUs listed, they have competitive prices.

I think you can find 2gb of decent DDR2-800 for much less considering rebate. For the cheaper C2D CPUs we will be looking at, there will be no need to really OC the DDR2-800 like may be required with the faster 1333FSB chips. This may give some extra money for the E4300 you mentioned or perhaps the OS which may still be required.

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nickc07   09-20-2007 at 08:25:45 PM
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@ zenmaster That ram does have a $47 MIR getting it down to $63, but I NEVER include the MIR in my first price. Sometimes you never get them. I would hate for someone to run $100-200 short of cash because I told them a price and it was after MIR.

@jtt283 Thanks man! I didnt know those power supplies had that issue. I will keep this in mind next time.

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mad-dog   09-20-2007 at 09:20:58 PM
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Who you kidding, FSP makes top-shelf PSU's.
I don't know how they got a Tier3 rating but IMHO they deserve better.
Several hardware manufacturers recommend FSP, i believe Koolance is one of them.

Reply to mad-dog
jtt283   09-20-2007 at 09:27:27 PM
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Yes yes, FSP PSUs are excellent. I will continue to recommend and buy them. What I'm saying is the rating at which they are listed (e.g. on Newegg) is a PEAK wattage. If you look at their labels, you'll see that they are 50W lower for CONTINUOUS wattage.

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
 Reply to jtt283
NuclearShadow   09-21-2007 at 06:04:47 AM
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My wife and I discussed the cost issue and she decided that since we found loads of things with mail in rebates that I can intentionally spend $900 on the computer but it will ultimately cost like $25 more then budget, however that's including shipping costs, so it actually will only cost around $675.... here's what we came up with today, any input would be appreciated, thanks...


Thermaltake Damier V5000C
Case: $90, $16 shipping = $106, after $70 mail in rebate, $36 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811133030

ABIT AB9 Pro LGA 775
Motherboard: $130 + $8 shipping = $138, $80 after $50 mail in rebate, $88 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813127004

EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
Video Card: $289 + $7 shipping = $296, $269 after $25 mail in rebate, $276 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130082

COOLER MASTER AQUAGATE Liquid Cooling System
Liquid Cooling Heatsink: $50 + $7 shipping = $57, $30 after $20 mail in rebate, $37 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835103017

And with the liquid cooling heatsink, I should have no problems overclocking this processor...
Intel Core 2 Duo E4300
Processor: $122, Free Shipping ATM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115013

Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supply
Power Supply: $60, Free Shipping ATM, $35 after $25 mail in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817153052

LITE-ON 20X DVD+R
DVD/ CD Drives: $29 + $7 shipping = $36
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106079

OCZ SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Ram: $93 + $5 shipping = $98, $53 after $40 mail in rebate, $58 with shipping
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227198


We currently have a 160gb hard drive and will be getting this one after we recieve mail in rebates from the other parts...

Hard Drive: $65, Free Shipping ATM
http://www.eaglebit.com/ProductDet [...] 8&Click=14

Reply to NuclearShadow
jtt283   09-21-2007 at 02:39:50 PM
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I see a couple of potential issues. The RAM you've chosen wants 2.1v, but the P965 mobo spec requires 1.8v RAM. Sure, people have gotten it to work, but at the very least you'll likely have to jump through hoops to do it.
The P965 is an older chipset, possibly why that mobo has the big rebate. Both of the Abit boards I owned were a little flaky, but I know other people like them. If it were me, I'd choose Gigabyte.
Otoh, I've had better luck with Maxtor hard drives, but I've read many negative comments about them as well. My current rig has a Seagate boot and a 1.5+ yr. old Maxtor backup drive in it.
I've heard and read too many comments from people whose water coolers decided to take leaks in their cases to trust w/c myself. I've installed 4 Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pros recently, and been happy with them. They're only $20 now too: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 835186134. The only con I've found to them is they can be hard to re-install if you have to remove one, as the ends of the pushpin assemblies can bend once they've been used. Otherwise, I've had no trouble getting them mounted securely.

------------------------------ There is ALWAYS a drone. Exactly where, or how many drones you will encounter may vary, but that there will be at least one will not.
 Reply to jtt283
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