Tom's Hardware: Topic Best possible 600 dollar system?
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AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ BE Brisbane 2.8GHz $66.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819103289
BIOSTAR GF8100 $59.99 (can switch to onboard video with a 9800GT to save power)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813138119
EVGA 9800GT $114.99 (94.99 after $20 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130397
mushkin 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 5-4-4-12 $45.99 ($25.99 after $20.00 Mail-In Rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820146731
Lite-On iHAS120-08 - Retail DVD burner SATA $25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106264
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD501LJ 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822152052
FSP Group Blue Storm II 500W $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817104034
Antec Three Hundred Black $59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129042
Acer X173WB Black 17" 8ms Widescreen LCD $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009128
Which comes out to $618.91 before any rebates or shipping and with the $40 of mail in rebates it's $578.91. This is assuming you have a copy of windows you can use. If you need a new copy of windows the only way to stay under budget would be to get a good case with a modest PSU such as the Aspier X-Dreamer, but then I would recommend you don't use a video card that uses more power than a Radeon 4670. I suppose you could also cut $13 by going with an ASRock N61P-S based on the 6150
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157147
which would cause the loss of the hybrid SLI power saving feature of course, and another $34.99 by going with a Raidmax Similidon with the 500W PSU.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811156098
Giving you an extra $47.99 which would allow you to buy Vista Home basic and only go $20.91 over your $600 budget, with those mail in rebates of course, while still letting you keep that 9800GT. The 500W PSU should be more than enough for one 9800GT, but I wouldn't recommend using it for a more powerful card, or for trying to SLi them 
.
Message edited by megamanx00 on 12-21-2008 at 03:11:54 AM
A good quality PSU is of the utmost importance. When you're dealing with video cards that draw a significant amount of power, like an nVidia 9800 series or Radeon 4800 series, putting in a cheap PSU can cause all sorts of problems. The worst that can happen is that your cheap PSU blows and takes your motherboard and other components with it. You may want to take a look at this
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forum [...] p?t=108088
The list isn't completely accurate or too informative but it's a good starting point. Basically don't get something below tier 3 
. The PSUs that come with the Aspier X-Dreamers (and are also included with many of their other cases) are only 420W and don't have any PCI-E connectors. That PSU is my Athlon 3000 with it's 1950GT and while not excellent (it of course has slightly higher voltage fluxuations than my Blue Storm) it does a pretty good job and is pretty stable. I wouldn't trust my current build to it though .
Most of the PSUs included with Raidmax cases are junk. Interestingly the Amps on the 12v rail are different on different colors of the same scorpion case 
. The PSU on the SIMILIDON is decent, but the new version and the old version come with different PSUs (note that is a version without a PSU). I recommend the older model as the PSU on the newer model is the one with LED lights in it and more people seem to have problems with it as it seems to be made rather cheap, compared to semi-decent on the previous SKU .
Here is a video review on the Raidmax
http://video.google.com/videoplay? [...] 254804698H
If you have a local CompUSA or Tiger Direct store you may want to consider one of their Ultra Cases with a PSU since they are usually priced decent and you won't have to pay for the shipping on them . Just do your homework on the different models before you buy one so that you don't get a case you are unhappy with or a PSU that doesn't have enough AMPs on the 12v rail.
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