Sub-$550 build.... advice greatly appreciated!!!

[B.E.E.F.]

I paid $40 for the HDD. It was OEM, I have some SATA cables laying around.

I will makes sure I do EVERYTHING right for the big build though.

Great price on the drive. Where did you buy it?

You shouldn't need SATA cables since they are to come with a motherboard.

[iMpathetic]

Great price on the drive. Where did you buy it?

You shouldn't need SATA cables since they are to come with a motherboard.

Newegg.

The mobo was open-box which is how I got it for $40.

Bargain hunter strikes again!

But in all the wrong places!

[B.E.E.F.]

LOL! Good bargains.

[iMpathetic]

Thanks. I can't wait to build it!

The question is.... do I go water or air for the next build?

[Odyssey96]

Thanks. I can't wait to build it!

The question is.... do I go water or air for the next build?

with a $1300 budget, definitely air. I'd probably aim for a low-end i7 build.

Something like this would be a great setup:
SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q - OEM

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

SAPPHIRE 100259-1GL Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ - Retail

ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
total:$1248

[iMpathetic]

Budget is about $1000 since I just spent $300 on the wee build.

[Odyssey96]

Budget is about $1000 since I just spent $300 on the wee build.

Save up $300, then go for the i7 build. In the long run, you'll save a lot of money from not having to upgrade from older architectures.

[iMpathetic]

I know you XSers will frown upon this... but it looks like Cyberpower has i7 rigs at around $1000. Will I be smote if I do that?

[Odyssey96]

I know you XSers will frown upon this... but it looks like Cyberpower has i7 rigs at around $1000. Will I be smote if I do that?

Their systems aren't terrible, just be sure to get a decent mobo, video card, and 6gb of ram.

[iMpathetic]

Can you OC one of them?

[Odyssey96]

Can you OC one of them?

The site says the build uses a P6T, so I see no reason why you wouldn't be able to. If they somehow disabled the settings, I bet a bios update would easily get around it. But you would need an after market fan, which is additional $.

[iMpathetic]

Eh, I also have this option for $900 shipped, does it look good?

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=661999

[Odyssey96]

Eh, I also have this option for $900 shipped, does it look good?

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=661999

I'm not a forum member. What are the specs?

[B.E.E.F.]

Thanks. I can't wait to build it!

The question is.... do I go water or air for the next build?

Either is good. If you want to really OC then go water, otherwise I say air.

Air cooling won't leak, easy to replace if something does break and its cheaper. Spend some money on good quality air coolers and fans.


I would stay away from i7 unless you have more money. You can get a very fast AMD build that is cheaper than Core i7. Check couple of pages back.

Either that or you can go for a cheaper LGA775 system if you REALLY want Intel. Myself, I could care less. I go for fast hardware at great prices.

The Cyberpower is a good system. Its got a powerful processor with little RAM connected to a teeny videocard and a cheap hard drive. Let's not forget cooling. I wouldn't touch it. Uses OEM fans and I like my peace and quiet.

[iMpathetic]

Cyberpower had looked a little sketchy but the prices seemed good.

Anyway, I don't really know what the hell to do. I may upgrade the build I just built and buy a new laptop, 'cause I need one.... or I'll just shove the laptop to the back of my mind and build ANOTHER rig, that would work too.

What sort of AMD system would be good?

[perkam]

Cyberpower had looked a little sketchy but the prices seemed good.

Anyway, I don't really know what the hell to do. I may upgrade the build I just built and buy a new laptop, 'cause I need one.... or I'll just shove the laptop to the back of my mind and build ANOTHER rig, that would work too.

What sort of AMD system would be good?

*cough* Link *cough*

Perkam

[B.E.E.F.]

What sort of AMD system would be good?

AM2/AM2+ motherboard
8GB DDR2-800
PhenomII X4
640GB WD SE16 (unless anyone knows something better)
300GB WD Raptor (optional)
HD4870 1GB card, or pretty much anything here

[iMpathetic]

@oddessy96: Specs:

• Antec P182 Gun Metal Black cold rolled steel ATX Mid Tower Case

• 2.67GHz Intel Core i7 920 LGA 1366 Processor

• Intel DX58SO LGA 1366 X58 Motherboard

• 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-pin DDR3 1600 SDRAM

• EVGA nVidia GeForce 9500GT PCIE 2.0 512MB DDR3 Graphics Card

• HT Omega Claro 7.1 Channel PCI Sound Card

• Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0 Gb/s Hard Drive

• LG 6X Blu-ray / HD DVD-ROM & 16X DVD Burner

• ASUS Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM with LightScribe

• CORSAIR 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

• Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit SP1 with genuine media

• Sony Vegas Pro 8.0 Editor Only (no DVD creation portion)

@B.E.E.F: Thank you, on Newegg now looking at all that.

Speaking of which, my order is in transit, but, for some reason, the email I was sent did not mention the open-box mobo at all, even when I ordered it, was paid for it, and it was on the little slip they make you print out.

[B.E.E.F.]

If you ordered off newegg they send shipments in separate packages sometimes.

Also, why the junky videocard? I see you're going to do some videowork, that's what the i7 is good for.

[iMpathetic]

It's not a new system, it's about a month old, for $900 shipped.

[[XC] Synthetickiller]

So did you end up doing a hackintosh?

I recently did one for fun w/a an msi k9a2 platinum and it works flawlessly. Building an intel one for cheap. i thought this was frowned upon by XS? I guess not since its mac?

[iMpathetic]

So did you end up doing a hackintosh?

I recently did one for fun w/a an msi k9a2 platinum and it works flawlessly. Building an intel one for cheap. i thought this was frowned upon by XS? I guess not since its mac?

Yup, it runs Leopard only, no Windoze crap.

Well, it's not crap, I guess, I just don't like it. Not very friendly IMHO

[B.E.E.F.]

Well, it's not crap, I guess, I just don't like it. Not very friendly IMHO

LOL. OSX is the least user friendly system I have ever used. It's worse than Ubuntu, which is garbage.

Whatever works for you.

[iMpathetic]

Well, don't wanna get into a flamewar here, but my position is that I love the OS, but HATE HATE HATE the elitist Mac culture. Who cares what OS other people use? I don't evangelize it or anything. Many of my machines run XP, two of them run OS X, and one runs Ubuntu.

B.E.E.F, I would like to know what you consider "user-friendly".

[B.E.E.F.]

User friendly to me is: Having all the relevant content in an application be in the same window and not in those confusing floating panels. Also having the option to customize and easily tweak the system should I choose to. And right click. I know you can sort of do it on a Mac, but its retarded.