Budget Gaming System Challenge

[BALISTX]

Everyone likes a challenge, so here is the challenge. Your mission if you choose to take it, is to build a budget AMD gaming system for no more than $900 CDN this does not include shipping, cables, or accessories. You must have the following:

• Processor
• Memory
• Motherboard
• Graphics Card
• Sound Card
• Case
• PSU (This could be included with the case such as an Antec)
• Hard Drive
• Optical Drive

If a part is on sale and the sale ends before March 1st you have to use the regular price.

[DerekOldschool]

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor S939 Venice 2.2GHZ 512K L2 Cache 90NM Retail Box $106.08

LG GSA-H22N DVD+RW 18X8X16 DVD-RW 18X6X16 Dual Layer 8X DVD-RAM 12X DVD Writer 2MB Black OEM W/ SW $37.26

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year Mfr Warranty $79.99

Antec Sonata Ii Black Atx 16IN Mid Tower Quiet Case 3X5.25 2X3.5 4X3.5IN 450W Air Duct 120MM Fan $112.75

Bfg Geforce 7600 Gt Oc PCI-E 256MB 128BIT GDDR3 Dual Dvi Hdtv Out Sli Ready Video Card $147.01

Samsung PC3200 1GB DDR400 184PIN DIMM Memory OEM $93.50ea x2=$187.00

ASUS A8N5X ATX S939 NFORCE4 DDR PCI-E16 SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard $90.72

Sub Total: $760.81 @ Direct Canada

No soundcard, but there's onboard sound on the mobo and thats all I'm using right now - works flawlessly - but if you really want one, there's still almost $140 to play with. If it is a gaming computer I suggest foregoing the sound card and getting a better video card with that extra $140

[Babrbarossa]

Nicely done!

[DerekOldschool]

This "el-cheapo" system has alot of potential for upgrade too:

theres no sli capability, but upgrade the cpu to an opty 165 or 170, then better vid card, ram and PSU - An opty165 is less than $200 - and look what sswilson is doing with his rig; 3Ghz is awesome.

For someone with a limited budget, there are alot of possibilities if you factor in upgradeability. I was considering an AM2 rig so that he could use ddr2 ram, but then I figured it would be harder to keep it under the $900 limit - so I went with what I did

[Babrbarossa]

I know this isn't the challenge, but 900 would get you a C2D system

[DerekOldschool]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

I know this isn't the challenge, but 900 would get you a C2D system

lets see YOUR shopping cart...

[BALISTX]

AMD Athlon64 4000+ 2.40GHz SanDiego 1MB L2 Cache 1000MHz FSB - $113.99

Asus A8N-SLI-SE s939 nForce4 SLI SATA/Audio/Lan - $98.00

Crucial BallistiX 1GB Dual Channel PC3200 • 2-2-2-6 • DDR400 • 2.8V - $118.00

BFG GeForce 7600 GT OC PCI-E 256MB 128BIT GDDR3 Dual DVI HDTV Out SLI-Ready - 147.01

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 4 SE PCI 7.1 Surround Sound Card - $49.83

Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATAII 7200RPM 16MB - $79.99

LG GSA-H22N DVD+RW 18X8X16 DVD-RW 18X6X16 Dual Layer 8X DVD-RAM 12X DVD Writer 2MB Black OEM W/ SW - $37.26

SilverStone SST-ST56F Strider 560W ATX12V Power Supply W/120MM Fan Active PFC Crossfire Ready - $87.99

NZXT Apollo ATX Tower Case 5X5.25 1X3.5 4X3.5INT No PS Front Audio USB Firewire Black - $75.60

Total: $808.65

Originally Posted by K1LLER_INSTINCT

Everyone likes a challenge, so here is the challenge. Your mission if you choose to take it, is to build a budget AMD gaming system for no more than $900 CDN this does not include shipping, cables, or accessories. You must have the following:

• Processor
• Memory
• Motherboard
• Graphics Card
• Sound Card
• Case
• PSU (This could be included with the case such as an Antec)
• Hard Drive
• Optical Drive

If a part is on sale and the sale ends before March 1st you have to use the regular price.

e4300 $210
2x Crucial DDR2 512MB $76
Biostar Tforce 956PT $124
Compucase ATX chassis $24
Fortron 400W PSU $43
250GB Seagate HDD $83
Samsung DVD+-RW $35
eVGA 8800GTS 320MB $330

This system is $25 over your budget, but kicks everything else's ass.

for another $25 you can buy an LED fan or two, a bit for your dremel and a thing of spray paint and make that case look pwnage.

[Babrbarossa]

Here's a C2D for $874 direct canada- sorry for the lack of link, but my browser was acting up:

WD 250 GB HD-- $80
Creative SB Audigy 7.1-- $29
Logisys CS 51 WBK 450w case-- $40 - will eventually need to replace the psu
Gigabyte GA 965P DS3-- $164
2GB OCZ Gold PC6400-- $199
e4300-- $206
LG gSA H22N dvd burner-- $37
HIS Radeon ICEQ3 X1650 from NCIX-$119

I do like the look of Miso's with the dx10 gpu (although he omitted the soundcard) but with this sytem, I think you'd have a better overclocking motherboard and 2GB of ram-- the video card isn't so great, but you could upgrade when you could afford it. If the soundcard isn't necessary, my system would be 845. Ram is only going to get more expensive after this first quarter so it might be a good time to buy what you need.

Here's an e6300 system on sale at NCIX right now for 830:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...l&promoid=1051

[sswilson]

Originally Posted by Misoprostol

e4300 $210
2x Crucial DDR2 512MB $76
Biostar Tforce 956PT $124
Compucase ATX chassis $24
Fortron 400W PSU $43
250GB Seagate HDD $83
Samsung DVD+-RW $35
eVGA 8800GTS 320MB $330

This system is $25 over your budget, but kicks everything else's ass.

for another $25 you can buy an LED fan or two, a bit for your dremel and a thing of spray paint and make that case look pwnage.

400w psu????

Not sure what the power requirements for the intels are, but I'm pretty damn sure a 400w PSU won't power that graphics card properly. :)

That said, as much as an AMD fanboy as I am, I wouldn't be building an AMD system right now.