Shopping for a PC in Taiwan must be so different than in the US. On the one hand, there's a bustling PC street market with dozens of tiny shops that will slap together a custom PC in an hour with the components of your choice. They hand you black and white checklist-style menus with a dozen choices for each component. Check off the ones you want, sign off on your cash-price quotation, and walk out the door an hour later with your PC.
On the other hand, I'm discovering they sell from a pretty limited pool of brands and models. Want one of the new quiet Samsung Spinpoint HDs? Sorry, only Seagate, WD, and Maxtor drives sold here.
I'm trying to figure out how to compromise between what I've seen reviewed and what's available. Below's what I've been able to find, with a few alternative models on components for which my first choices are unavailable.
I'm not very saavy, but have spent a few weeks reading recent reviews and articles on Tom's. Would appreciate any advice if any of these components are questionable, or if there are other commonly availble components I should be seeking out.
Budget: $1000-1500 (not including OS or monitor)
CPU
$270 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4G/8M (Conroe)
Mobo
$150 MSI P6N SLI Platinum
$170 MSI P35 Platinum
Cooling
$67 Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
$10-15 Scythe brand is available, but not model SFF21F
RAM
$115 2x 1Gb Transcend DDR 2 800+ (low latency)
$100 2x 1Gb Kingmax Mars DDR2 1066
$70 2x 1Gb Transcend DDR2 800
GPU
$300 8800 GTS 320 MB
HD
$85 Seagate 320 Gb SATA 2
$90 WD 320 Gb SATA 2
$85 Hitachi 320 Gb SATA 2
$125 Maxtor 500 Gb 16M SATA 2
PSU
$130 Seasonic 620W
$175 Emacs 600W
$90 AC Bel 500W
Optical
$40 Sony 840A 20xDVD
$35 Sony 190 20x DVD
Case
$55 Cooler Master 534 ATX
$45 Cooler Master 330 Mid-tower
Requirements:
■Handle 22" monitor
■Good FPS on most games at mid-to-high settings.
■WoW at max settings.
■Occastional video editing, Photoshop, etc.
■eSATA
■OC-able (maybe)
■Upgradable
I realize this GPU could be a bottleneck on some games (not for WoW, I hope) but figure I'm better off settling for a mid-priced one now until the next generation of GPU chips come out (and we find out if single, SLI, Crossfire or something else is the wave to ride). Radeon 2900 Pro doesn't exist here, and anything better than GTS8800 320MB is at least $125 more.
On the other hand, I'm discovering they sell from a pretty limited pool of brands and models. Want one of the new quiet Samsung Spinpoint HDs? Sorry, only Seagate, WD, and Maxtor drives sold here.
I'm trying to figure out how to compromise between what I've seen reviewed and what's available. Below's what I've been able to find, with a few alternative models on components for which my first choices are unavailable.
I'm not very saavy, but have spent a few weeks reading recent reviews and articles on Tom's. Would appreciate any advice if any of these components are questionable, or if there are other commonly availble components I should be seeking out.
Budget: $1000-1500 (not including OS or monitor)
CPU
$270 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4G/8M (Conroe)
Mobo
$150 MSI P6N SLI Platinum
$170 MSI P35 Platinum
Cooling
$67 Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme
$10-15 Scythe brand is available, but not model SFF21F
RAM
$115 2x 1Gb Transcend DDR 2 800+ (low latency)
$100 2x 1Gb Kingmax Mars DDR2 1066
$70 2x 1Gb Transcend DDR2 800
GPU
$300 8800 GTS 320 MB
HD
$85 Seagate 320 Gb SATA 2
$90 WD 320 Gb SATA 2
$85 Hitachi 320 Gb SATA 2
$125 Maxtor 500 Gb 16M SATA 2
PSU
$130 Seasonic 620W
$175 Emacs 600W
$90 AC Bel 500W
Optical
$40 Sony 840A 20xDVD
$35 Sony 190 20x DVD
Case
$55 Cooler Master 534 ATX
$45 Cooler Master 330 Mid-tower
Requirements:
■Handle 22" monitor
■Good FPS on most games at mid-to-high settings.
■WoW at max settings.
■Occastional video editing, Photoshop, etc.
■eSATA
■OC-able (maybe)
■Upgradable
I realize this GPU could be a bottleneck on some games (not for WoW, I hope) but figure I'm better off settling for a mid-priced one now until the next generation of GPU chips come out (and we find out if single, SLI, Crossfire or something else is the wave to ride). Radeon 2900 Pro doesn't exist here, and anything better than GTS8800 320MB is at least $125 more.
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