Experts here, i need a new PC, budget: 1300 $

[Ragnarok-X]

See topic. I need a new PC for my gaming needs and have a budget of about 1300 $ (1050 �).

What i want

CPU: Core2Duo, E6600
HD: 250 GB ?
Ram: 2 GB
Drives: 1x DVD-Burner from LG ? No lightscribe
Sound: want serious sound something like Audigy 2 ? NO onboard.
Graphics: 7900 GT or X1900 (?)

There you go !

thanks !

[NullAshton]

That E6600 processor seems a little expensive... 400 dollars on newegg. Plus it seems to be consistently out of stock.


Asus Geforce 7900GT for 306.99$.

250GB Harddrive for 72.99$.

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 for only 64.00$.

That's all I have so far, still needs the case, RAM, CD drives, motherboard, and processor. But we're only up to about 450$ so far.

[NullAshton]

Continued... I'm used to AMD so I'm using that.

Micro ATX AMD Motherboard for 84 dollars. It has onboard audio, but couldn't find a board that doesn't have onboard audio. But you can just disable that and the onboard video in the BIOS, having a backup in case your sound card or video card isn't working.
CORSAIR 2 x 1 GB memory for 219$. Fairly fast, and probally good for gaming since that seems like what you're going to use it for.(Also with 40 dollar mail-in rebate!)

About 600$ left to spend on stuff... let's go with the case, CD drives, and power supply next.

COOLER MASTER aluminum case for 46 dollars. Fans not included, though, so need to buy those seperatly. Nice and small, so should be easy to carry this to any LAN parties, and Fyron will like that it's not a very flashy case...

Evercool 120 mm fan for 10 dollars, which is for the front.

Evercool 80 mm fan for 20 dollars for both fans, still superquiet. Plus, non-flashy.

Continuing in another post....

[NullAshton]

Continuing...

450W MicroATX power supply for all your power needs. Definintly should power everything you got in that tiny box. People have given feedback with heat issues, but from reading the other descriptions of power supplies it seems like you just need good ventilation. Which you should have. 66 dollars.

AMD Athlon 64 4600+ Dual Core for 266$.Some newer games like Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion supposed threading, plus this processor is fast enough that you won't have to buy a new one for quite a while, I think.
LITE-ON 16x DVD burner, black. 33 dollars, but not a LG item. Still looks good, though.

Up to 1147.98 or so so far... now the monitor!

Widescreeen LCD with DVI connectors for 183 dollars. Along with a 5ms response time, and 1440x900 resolution.

Okay, we're about 30 dollars over... but it would be nice to have surround sound for your games, wouldn't it?

Creative 7.1 Speakers for 86 dollars. No wall mounts, though, so might have to buy those seperatly or place them on bookshelves. Or if you want you could just headphones or your old speakers.

And for tying up all the cables in your computer...

Generic cable ties for 9.49. The case reviews recommend tying down the cables, so you'd probally want this.

Without the speakers, this system costs 1340.47, which is around your budget. With the speakers, it's 1426.47 dollars, 126.47 over your budget, but you get 7.1 surround sound.

[Fyron]

Check out this article:

http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/...ide-200606.ars

Sound: want serious sound something like Audigy 2 ? NO onboard.

Serious sound is not anything from Creative. Something based on the Envy24 chipset, such as the M-Audio Revolution 5.1 (or 7.1) will get you much higher quality sound. There is also the Chaintech AV710 for the budget consumer.

Serious speakers are not computer speakers at all, much less Creative ones... For good speakers, you need to veer away from the stuff made for PCs and get actual stereo speakers (and an amplifier). But that can be pricey... At the least, try to stay away from Creative.

[Sivran]

Question is how long are you going to keep the system before upgrading any components. Using that, plus the knowledge that coming in right behind the technology curve will still produce good, lasting performance, will save you hundreds. Obviously the mobo/cpu are more labor-intensive to upgrade so you may want to go as high as reasonable with those, but dropping memory and video card down a notch or two will yield substantial savings.

Also, go with a CRT.

[NullAshton]

Nah, LCD has better picture quality, and blacks can really be black if you have the brightness and contrast at the right settings. Black for me is acutally pitch black.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Just make sure you always view it at the same angle.

[Renegade 13]

I'd stay away from LCD and go CRT. After all, you'll get something a 21" CRT for the price of a 17" LCD. To me, that matters more than some indistinguishable inprovement in color quality.

[Renegade 13]

A good site to look for computer components in addition to Newegg is www.tigerdirect.com