New Budget System Build - Feedback Wanted

[smartiepants]

Hey Everyone, I know there are a lot of these that come up, but I'm asking for a little advice on a computer build I'm having a look at.

So I'm trying to source most of the parts from the one place, which is nearby, and I know and trust em. canadacomputers.com is the website.

I know a little bit about computers, but I haven't really done anything hardware related in the past few years, so things are beginning to get outdated, and hence the new build. So onto the pieces. I am going for a budget of about 1000 CAD (which is about 1000 US nowadays), and I have a monitor already. This isn't meant to be the end all of systems. I play a fair bit of video games, and the current laptop just CANNOT keep up. Having some ability to upgrade down the line (when I graduate in 8 mos) would be nice, but only a bonus.

Pretty much anything below is flexible, so feel free to fire away. I also take to criticism in the form of you dumb#@$ what were you thinking.

Case
Antec Sonata III
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013961&cid=CS.664
Price $121.99

I love my old Sonata Case, and have had very good luck with the PSU which came with it, and am leaning towards sticking with em

PSU
Included with case

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013513&cid=CPU.907
Price: $195.99

This bit is definitely open to debate, I don't care about Athlon vs Intel, this just seemed to be decent bang for my buck, and sort of fit the price range well.

CPU Fan
Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013469&cid=FN.349
Price: $27.99

I've usually found some sort of cooling to be better, thus the choice here. Its whats available at the store I am planning on going to.

MOBO
Asus M2A-MVP Socket AM2 Crossfire Chipset
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013744&cid=MB.526
Price: $98.99

I've had good luck with Asus stuff, flexible here as well.

Memory
OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz (2 GB)
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=015371&cid=RAM.835
Price: $114.99

I would like to go with faster memory, but a MOBO which supports it, along with the added cost makes it add a lot to the sticker price.

Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB 16MB Cache
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=010282&cid=HD.443.877
Price: $114.99

Should work, like Seagate Stuff from past experience.

Video Card
BFG GeForce 8600GT
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=015493&cid=999.243.390
Price: $197.99

I tend to lean the nVidia way after dealing with the ATi driver hell on my current PC.

Misc
Wireless Card $80
Optical Drive $25
I should have the rest of the periferals I think.

Total Cost $944.91

So on budget. Any suggestions?

 

[Maziar]

get a x1950pro , it blows away a 8600GT

 

[Noya]

Why AMD? An overclocked e2160 ($85) will beat it in nearly every benchmark, while allowing drop in quads as their prices drop. AMD's future is not really known.

$197 for an 8600gt? That's crazy. You can get an 8600gts/x1950pro for $130 or an x1950xt for $170. I would spend no more than $90 on an 8600gt.

I would buy a case with no PSU and buy a Corsair 450vx for $65 from buy.com.

 

[Dior]

Infonec (located in Toronto, Mississauga and Markham) usually beats Canadacomputer's prices by $20 on almost every product, so when you buy a whole system, the difference is clear. With a budget like this there's no reason to go with AMD, when for $10 more you can get E6750 which will blow away X2 6000 completely. 8600 series perform like crap and should never be considered, the $279 Ati 2900 Pro however should, it outperforms the $300+ 8800 GTS 320mb in almost every test yet costs less. Here's what I recommend going with:

Case: Antec Sonata III $119
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013961

PSU: Included

Motherboard: Gigabyte P35 DS3L:$105
http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=350180

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 @ 2.66Ghz $203
http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=349885

Ram: Crucial Ballistix 2GB DDR2 800 @4-4-4-12 $113
http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=341401

Video: ATI 2900 Pro $279
http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=350554

HDD:Seagate 320GB $85
http://www.infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=17485

Fan: Freezer 7 Pro $27
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=013470


$931 total

Best of luck.

 

[smartiepants]

Thanks Alot for the feedback. I'll most likely get to buying.

just wanted to let you all know that I really appreciate the help.

Thanks.