Build a rig under 1000

[DW_Bomzin]

:idea:

[DW_Hornet]

Well this is what I purchased.

Intel Xeon X3210 Quad Core Processor 2.13GHZ LGA775 8MB 1066FSB
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R ATX LGA775 Conroe P35 DDR2 1PCI-E16 3PCI-E1
OCZ Stealthxstream 600W ATX12V 20/24PIN Active PFC ATX Power Supply
Arctic Silver 5
NCIXUS SUBTOTAL: $502.79

DDR2 800mhz 2gb ram from a clan mate 65$ (this isn't an uncommon price now)

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard
SAPPHIRE 100189 Radeon X1900GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express

Newegg 180$

Sub-Sub Total $750

Still need a good heat sink and thats going to run me about another 60-80$. But other then mouse, keyboard, and case this quad core system (for overclocking) is just a tad more then 800.

YMMV.

[zeus]

I just purchased the Arctic Cooler 7 pro. It is $20 on newegg. It is pretty close to the $40/$50 heatpipe coolers.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186134

[DW_ToxicWaste]

I love building rigs...AR=After Rebate. Prices do not include shipping

Processor - Intel E2160 - These things OC like a son of a bitch - 80

Motherboard - ABIT IP35-E - $69 AR

Memory - 2GB HP branded memory (people are saying these are micron chips, very oc'able.
$43 + Shippang (after rebate)

Starting On 9/23, BB has a sale on Seagate 500GB SATA II - $99

Seagate SATAII 500GB

Radeon X1900GT - twice the Performance of my lowly 6800Ultra. Should run UT3 fairly decently. - $109

Cooler Master eXtreme Power 600w - More than enough to power this rig. - $29.99 AR

Coolermaster RC-631 Black Mystique Mid Tower - 34.95 AR - Serviceable case, includes two 120mm fans

You can save yourself $30 here and go with something cheaper, but if you really want to max your CPU overclock, get a decent cooler. There are several high end air coolers available for around $45.

Thermalright Ultra-120 - $45

*OR*

Keep your eye on Ebay for the Coolermaster Aquagate (revision 1)
This is water cooling for the aquatically challenged. Very simple to use. It may not be the greatest water cooler in the world, but it keeps my Opty 165 @ 2.6 around 33 C load.

Ebay - Probably about $45-50

Get yourself a decent sound card.
Creative X-FI Xtreme Music OEM - Just the card, no cables, etc. - $48

O/S - *AHEM* I believe you have that already :)

Monitor - LCDs are all the rage, but I think they still suck ass.

Watch Ebay for the Sony FW900. This is the best CRT ever made. You can usually find it for $300 shipped. If you are lucky you can find someone selling it locally for pickup only to save on shipping.

If you must go LCD

LG L1970HR 19” Monitor - $240

All told, 810-900. Leaves you $100 for optical drives, headset, fan for the CPU cooler, etc.

If you want to spend more, just build on this (i.e. get yourself a better vid card + 200, quad core, +100, etc.)

GL with your build.

Rich (TW)

P.S. - Your friends are:

Google Products (formerly Froogle.com)

Anandtech Forums - Especially the Hot Deals Forum

Tom's Hardware VGA Charts

[Damnidge]

I just finished building my rig last night, and it was a piece of cake to get going. I am really excited to see what it can do game wise - I will install UT3 demo, etc. later today.

My total cost was under $1,000 so I figured I should post it here. All prices I list include shipping and tax to CA, although all my components had free shipping except for the cpu, video card, and case fans. If you do not live in CA, you can subtract the total tax of $31.21 to get what it would cost you.

CPU= Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail = $192.00
https://www.antaresdigital.com/customer ... ctid=17758

Mobo= GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L = $104.02

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... e=10006307

Memory= OCZ Platinum (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 rev.2 = $88.91 ($53.91 after rebate)

http://www.clubit.com/product_detail.cf ... =CA4308301

Video Card= EVGA E-GEFORCE 8800GT Superclocked 650MHZ 512MB DDR3 PCI-E = $251.31

http://www.ncixus.com/products/26778/51 ... 2-A1/eVGA/

Hard Drive= Seagate Barracuda 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM = $69.69

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822148261

Power Supply= CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX ATX12V V2.2 550W Power Supply = $96.42 ($76.42 after rebate)

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe ... e=10006757

Case= Rosewill R6A34-BK ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail = $53.61

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811147041

Case Fans= (2) Thermaltake A2029 120mm fan = $30.28

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811999145

Heatsink/Fan= Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro = $23.55

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=FAN-AC7PRO&c=pw&show=r

OS= XP Pro (have a copy already) = $0

DVD-ROM & DVD Burner Taken from old rig. = $0

Soundblaster Live! 24-bit taken from old rig = $0


Grand total for this is: $909.79, and $854.79 after rebates. Non CA resident would be 823.58 after rebates.

One thing to note is that the 8800gt is now going for around 289 give or take a few. Even with that this rig still stays under 1,000, so if that's your budget, it works.

As for the recycled parts, I am just going to keep my eye out for deals. None of the current SATA DVD burners looked good enough, and the sound card I am hoping I can pick up on Black Friday at Fry's, but we'll see.

I'm Done! :cheers:

[noxiousCaitSith]

interesting.
i want to try building one but i have very little experience...i'm thinking of just going to sams club and buying one of their packages for like $800 just cause this whole ut3 and graphics card fiasco is getting annoying.
i think all that time i would have to spend researching what is compatible with what and actually building it would pretty much lose whatever i might save by building one myself
also, damnidge, can you possibly post a screen shot of ut3 when you get it? just to compare...

[Damnidge]

1. Building a machine is really not too hard - it is more about patience and research. Now, for people who are total techaphobes, then yeah, avoid it, but I doubt you are.

As long as you take your time and read the instructions, as well as research the great how-to pages on the internet, you should be fine. The core 2 duo I put in last night was so simple. You just set it in the slot, put the cover down, throw the latch, and thats it! Basically, don't stray away because of fear of it's complexity. I almost did on my first machine, and I am glad I didn't - it is so fun to build!

As far as time researching, well I am guessing I spent about 10 hours or so, but once you learn it its there, so the next time you don't have to do it :cheers:

2. NP on the screen shots. I am just waiting to load it up. The problem is its my B-Day today, and I have a party tonight from friends, and tomorrow night by the father-in-law, so I may not be able to play hard on it until Thursday :tard: The good news is Tomorrow night I think I am getting a few new games :thumbright:

[d2frob]

Happy Birthday!! :bounce: Ps i'd also love to know how the 8800gt handles it, very promising reviews/comments on the web so far!

[DW_ACY]

This would be my build for under 1000.

1 Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail
Model #: VA8003BWS
Item #: N82E16811133021

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

In Stock
Mail-in Rebate $169.99 -$5.00 Instant $164.99

1 ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: M2N-SLI Deluxe
Item #: N82E16813131013

Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy

In Stock $134.99 -$5.00 Instant $129.99

1 EVGA 512-P3-N802-A1 GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #: 512-P3-N802-A1
Item #: N82E16814130303

Return Policy: Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy

In Stock $289.99 $289.99

1 Thermaltake W0106RU Complies with ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V version 700W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: W0106RU
Item #: N82E16817153039

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

In Stock
Mail-in Rebate $169.99 $169.99

1 AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Black Edition Processor Model ADO5000DSWOF - Retail
Model #: ADO5000DSWOF
Item #: N82E16819103194

Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy

In Stock $129.99 $129.99

1 ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E616A3T OEM - OEM
Model #: DVD-E616A3T OEM
Item #: N82E16827135151

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

In Stock $18.99 $18.99

1 Sony NEC Optiarc 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black SATA Model AD-7170S-0B - OEM
Model #: AD-7170S-0B
Item #: N82E16827152079

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

In Stock $29.99 $29.99

1 ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - Retail
Model #: CNPS9700 LED
Item #: N82E16835118019

Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

In Stock $79.99 -$15.00 Instant $64.99

Subtotal: $998.92

Include 38 dollars shipping $1036.92
Minus $80 dollars mail in rebate $956.92
I would use three of my 4 hard drives in the new system. Eventually moving to a secon 8800gt in the next couple of months.

[noxiousCaitSith]

i just looked at the link you posted to your 8800 gt and it's at about $315 now. does this crap change in price every other day or what? that's so retarded...bah, maybe tomorrow it'll be less. ha. anyway, i've been looking all over the web trying to figure this stuff out.

i read this on wikipedia.:
"In newer systems, it is possible to see memory ratios of "4:5" and the like. The memory will run 5/4 times as fast as the FSB in this situation, meaning a 133 MHz bus can run with the memory at 166 MHz. This is often referred to as an 'asynchronous' system. It is important to realize that, due to differences in CPU and system architecture, overall system performance can vary in unexpected ways with different FSB-to-memory ratios."

so apparently everyone here has an "asynchronus system". but i guess that doesn't matter so much or you wouldn't all be doing it.

and i'm kinda confused about how you figure out what kind of fans/heatsink you need and all that cooling stuff.

i'm also going to have to buy a monitor and everything else cause i've never had my own computer. so i'll probably be over the $1000 mark. and as for space, i'll probably get rid of my TV cause can't the newer computer act as one? i dunno if there's a program i'd need. also i'd be buying windows vista unless i can use my parents' XP:mce. but it came already installed so i dunno if i can

anyway, back to more reading.