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

[B.E.E.F.]

That's a very good point... with 10.5.7 I'm sure they would have to support it.

YEsterday I got an idea.... what if I were to do a small, quiet computer with my friend's E4600 to replace my dead laptop for under $300... and then do my Q9550 build to keep at my dad's house, where all my tech stuff is?

EDIT: Specs for the wee build:

-- Antec Three Hundred
-- Gigabyte G31 mATX motherboard
-- E4600 CPU
-- Rosewill Stallion 450W PSU
-- G.Skill 2GB stick
-- WD Caviar 250GB HDD
-- G31 integrated gfx

Specs for the large build:

-- Antec Twelve Hundred
-- Corsair 650W PSU
-- GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P motherboard
-- Q9550 CPU
-- Xigmatec S1263 cooler
-- OCZ Reaper HPC Edition 4GB memory
-- WD Caviar 500GB HDD
-- Sapphire Radeon 4870 1GB

Thoughts?

Ewww the G31.

A better choice is like:

1. E6600 (you said your friend has one)
2. P43 chipset or P35 or P33, best to worst in that order.
3. 4GB DDR2-800. Cheap kit.
4. 300W 80plus PSU. FSP (fortron based) brand at least.
5. WD3200AAKS. Very fast drive. Cheap too!
6. Cheap videocard. HD43xx or HD34xx series. Even an 8600GT is ok.


Second PC choice:
Looks good. Good choice on the CPU. This is what I'm buying for my rig. Replace the hard drive though. You want the WD6400AAKS. Fast, cheap, fantastic value.

The ximatek cooler is good. Do you want the quietest cooler or do you want bang for buck?

I would also go with the Antec 900. Less fans, quieter PC.