Hello All,

I'm looking into getting a new computer (giving my current one to my mom). I don't need the baddest rig around or anything, just something so I can play CoD4 above freezing up 800x600 heh. I've priced all the components listed below on newegg (except the sound card, from zzsounds) to meet my budget. Just looking for any comments, suggestions, criticisms. Thanks!

Budget: ~$1000
Experience: I've switched out components before, like Hard Drives, Optical Drives, Video Cards, etc but never dealt with PSU, mobo or CPU... so one of my friends is going to help me out for a 6pack or something...
Gaming: Medieval2 TW, CoD 4, BF2
Other uses: ArcGIS 9.2, Reason 3 & other amateur music creation/editing.


Case Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower

PSU OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W Power Supply

Mobo GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD

CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ Windsor 3.2GHz Socket AM2 125W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX6400CZWOF

Fan ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound

GPU ASUS EAX1950PRO/HTDP/256M Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card

HArdDrive Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

RAM CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C4

Sound Card M-Audio 2496 http://www.zzounds.com/item--MDOAP2496

Optical Drive Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model

OS Microsoft Windows XP Professional With SP2C

At your budget there is no reason to go with AMD. I don't know if you realise GHz don't matter that much these days since Intel's Core 2 chips perform better than AMD's at a lower GHz. Also, the x1950 is not worth buying. That motherboard has onboard video which is not needed with a video card. The power supply is also overkill. It's really a hodge-podge of parts picked out there.

Here is a far superior build:
$189 - Intel E6750 (overclocks to 3.2ghz+ easily)
$21 - Arctic Cooler Pro 775
$99 - Gigabyte P35

$250 - Nvidia 8800GT 512mb
Look at the blue lines:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=278

$66 - Corsair 450vx PSU
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx [...] 66485.html

$35-40 - 2gb DDR2-800 (Crucial Ballistix)
$80-85 - WD or Seagate 320gb 16mb cache 7200rpm Sata

$30 - Samsung DVD burner

Case of your choice, just make sure it has an intake and exhaust fan (120mm).

Lian Li (top quality all aluminum):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811112068
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811112099

Antec P182:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129025

Agree with the above some less expensive case, great price on the Sonata. Rosewell doesn't have a great PSU but will work and can easily be replaced
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811147055
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129024

I appreciate for the replies and suggestions. I had checked out the sonata and p182... anything specific you have against the nine hundred? Is there a benefit to an all aluminum case? Thanks.

Edit: "Another benefit is that aluminum is a better conductor of heat than steel. This supposedly allows the internal components to dissipate heat faster than a steel case."

My only problem is it's a bit glitzy for my taste but I'm an old guy, which is no reason to not buy it. The major advantage of aluminum cases is that they are lighter if you move it around a lot. You're not going to have heating problems with any of the above cases. If your were to run into a heating problem, unlikely unless you're significantly overclocking, the solution would be an after market HSF and maybe adding an additional fan, no case would really address the issue