Build 4 a Friend.
 

I'm building a system for a friend he gave me $1200 to play with. So this is what I have come up with. He won't be overclocking it.


Asus P5Q Pro Atx LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2 Sound Gblan Esata Motherboard - $139.99
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor - $215.88
2GB Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 DDR2-800 4-4-4-12 - $54.99
Dual HIS Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E - $379.98
Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm 32MB Cache 500GB SATA - $75.88
LG-H20NS10 Black DVD±RW - $26.46
Corsair TX650W 650W ATX PSU - $91.35
NZXT Apollo ATX Mid Tower Case - Black - $73.44

Total - $1,057.97

Amazing, I just had some fun doing a "pretend quote" @ NCIX (my fav thing to do on a slow day at work) and came up with almost the exact same build (albeit the AMD version with a 780G motherboard and 4Gigs of Mushkin PC-6400). Sub-$1k Gaming boxes are not only possible now, they're powerful! (Thanks to the new 4800-series). Looks great!:thumb:

If your running Crossfire, I think it would be worth while to get a X38 motherboard so you have full x16 on both slots...

Even if he/she isn't overclocking, still get a heatsink. Those Xigmatek ones are rather cheap.

I actually looked at that one for my "pretend build" quote and noticed that it's a lil too tall for the run-of-the-mill budget midtower at about 159-160mm tall. I used the Arctic Cooling PWM HSF and a couple of PWM sharing fans for the case as well.

I agree with the X38 motherboard! I would get a Cooler Master CM590 tower instead because the power supply sits at the bottom of the case. The bottom of the case have vents for the power supply to suck the air from outside the bottom of the case.


Paphman910

I second the X38 mobo, an after-market HSF and a better case. Now, with the 4870 around the corner, wouldn't be better to go for one?