Topic: My potential new PC

[idolminds]

I know I did one of these a while back, but I'm a terrible procrastinator so I haven't bought the thing yet. On the plus side, its now cheaper than before. Hooray.

Wishlist

COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKN2-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard
EVGA GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Thermaltake W0093RU ATX 12V 2.0 Version 500W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
ENCORE ENF656-ESW-NDPR 56Kbps Fax Modem
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner

Grand total of $828.91. I'll be using the mouse, keyboard, and monitor from this system. Technically I could cut out the DVD burner, HDD, and modem and save a little money, but I kinda want to keep this system up and running. Family PC gets an upgrade, and I take back my old 600Mhz P3 system for some linux fun.

So, anything to be aware of? Some awesome new tech coming out next week that will make me wish I waited? Or something where I should spend just a little more to get the next step up? As I see this a lot with motherboard reviews...I don't care about overclocking.

[scottws]

Looks pretty good to me.  I chuckled a bit on the modem part, but yeah, good stuff.

[idolminds]

Supposedly new Core 2 Duos and nvidia 9800 GPUs are coming in early March? I might hold on just a bit longer and see how those price out or how they affect the prices of the stuff in my list.

[Pugnate]

yea good call on getting 4GB of RAM. That looks pretty good to me. Does your mobo support Intel quadcore chips? In case you want to upgrade later? There is no reason it shouldn't, but am just wondering.

I suppose you could get a 2nd DVD drive in there from another brand. It would help copying DVDs on the fly, and on rare occasions DVDs just don't like particular brands. I've got a Sony DVD writer and a Samsung DVD drive. There have been a couple of times where DVDs have failed to work in one, but ended up working fine with the other on my comp. This is mostly office data related stuff though, but it has happened with Bioshock to a lot of people.

What OS are you going to be using? If you can, go ahead and dual boot.

[idolminds]

I'm just going to reuse the copy of XP I have.

[ScaryTooth]

Hehe. I chuckled a bit on the modem thing too.

Looks like a nice setup. The case is sweet too. I have the same one. Moves lots of air, and it looks nice. Easy to get in and out of too.

[poomcgoo]

Buy that shit.  I just bought almost the exact same computer about a month ago and it's fucking awesome.

[HxCeddie]

I'm actually looking to buy a decent laptop that can run games and have hdmi inputs so I can hook up my xbox 360 into since I might be moving overseas soon. Anyone have any suggestions about that? I'm stuck using a 5 year old desktop that needs to be put out of its misery fast.

[Antares]

Laptops are surprisingly hard to shop for, especially on a budget.  My experience asking around (even here) was that you'll find as many different opinions as there are people on what brand to choose.

[PyroMenace]

Oh man... I have the money to buy something like that too... but I want a TV instead... brain... impasse.

[MysterD]

yea good call on getting 4GB of RAM. That looks pretty good to me. Does your mobo support Intel quadcore chips? In case you want to upgrade later? There is no reason it shouldn't, but am just wondering.

When are those Quad-Cores coming out???

What OS are you going to be using? If you can, go ahead and dual boot.

Was it a pain in the ass to Dual Boot XP and Vista???

[scottws]

They did awhile ago.  I've been running an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 for months.

[gpw11]

Laptops are surprisingly hard to shop for, especially on a budget.  My experience asking around (even here) was that you'll find as many different opinions as there are people on what brand to choose.

I can agree with that.  I was essentially going to do the same thing when I was going to move to a super-expensive super small apartment and wouldn't have all that much room.  I asked on anandtech or somewhere and couldn't really get a straight answer except for "expect to spend a lot of money".

What I eventually ended up doing was getting another desktop to play games and stuff on and do school when I'm at home and I'm currently looking at laptops for the library/school.  Realistically, this is probably the most cost-effective issue if space isn't a problem, especially with EEE PCs out there.

[scottws]

I got a used laptop for $290 on eBay.  It's obviously older tech, but it's not like I plan to play new games on it.  I just needed it for e-mail, the Internet, and documents.

[idolminds]

Uh...old bump. Going to place the order on Monday if all goes well. System is still pretty much the same. Upgraded the CPU to  an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz since it was only $20 more.

Grand total with shipping: $873.15

*EDIT*

I was looking at this CPU cooler. Not sure if I should get it or not.

[gpw11]

Nice.  I personally wouldn't go for the CPU cooler for a few reasons.  The most important of which being that you don't need it..at all.  Nothing is tapping that CPU power right now and you're not going to be overclocking to keep up for a long time.  Secondly, I've heard it's kind of a shitty cooler made of cheap parts, low grade (rough) copper, and with a horrible soddening job on the heat pipes.  Personally I'd leave it to stock cooling and then if you really want to get into overclocking in the future picking up something from Scythe.  They're much better after market coolers and you can find them on sale for close to that price.

[scottws]

...or Thermalright.

[idolminds]

ok, forgetting cooling. Hooray for less spending!

[idolminds]

ORDERED!

Only changes is a got a slightly smaller HDD (250GB instead of 320GB) to save a little money. I'm currently using a 120GB drive and havent had any troubles with it filling so I figured I could save a little.

Especially since I ended up ordering a PSP, 4GB memory stick, and Metal Gear Acid 2. Nothing like saving a little money and then blowing even more in the same order. Still, even with the PSP the order was just over $1000. I did have to get the CPU from another site since newegg had it in stock for roughly an hour and I missed it.

[scottws]

Congrats man. Getting a new PC is always exciting.

[Antares]

Nice, We expect pics when its up and running.

[Quemaqua]

Did you get the cheapo case?

[idolminds]

No, I took the non cheapo case.

[Quemaqua]

Extra awesome.  Your neck just grew another vein.