±Recent Visitors

Recent Visitors to Com-Central!

±User Info-big


Welcome Anonymous

Nickname
Password

Membership:
Latest: cgsimpson
New Today: 0
New Yesterday: 0
Overall: 6645

People Online:
Members: 0
Visitors: 675
Total: 675
Who Is Where:
 Visitors:
01: Community Forums
02: CPGlang
03: Community Forums
04: Downloads
05: Photo Gallery
06: Community Forums
07: Community Forums
08: Community Forums
09: Home
10: Community Forums
11: Community Forums
12: Community Forums
13: Home
14: Home
15: Community Forums
16: Downloads
17: Community Forums
18: Photo Gallery
19: Community Forums
20: Community Forums
21: Photo Gallery
22: Photo Gallery
23: Community Forums
24: Community Forums
25: Community Forums
26: Your Account
27: Community Forums
28: Community Forums
29: Photo Gallery
30: CPGlang
31: Home
32: Downloads
33: Photo Gallery
34: Community Forums
35: Community Forums
36: Community Forums
37: Photo Gallery
38: Community Forums
39: Community Forums
40: Community Forums
41: Photo Gallery
42: Home
43: Community Forums
44: Your Account
45: Community Forums
46: Photo Gallery
47: Downloads
48: Photo Gallery
49: Community Forums
50: Photo Gallery
51: Home
52: Community Forums
53: Community Forums
54: Downloads
55: Your Account
56: Community Forums
57: Community Forums
58: Community Forums
59: Community Forums
60: Community Forums
61: Community Forums
62: Statistics
63: Community Forums
64: Community Forums
65: Community Forums
66: Community Forums
67: Community Forums
68: Your Account
69: Photo Gallery
70: Home
71: Photo Gallery
72: Community Forums
73: Community Forums
74: Community Forums
75: Community Forums
76: Community Forums
77: Community Forums
78: Community Forums
79: Photo Gallery
80: Community Forums
81: Community Forums
82: Home
83: Community Forums
84: Photo Gallery
85: Community Forums
86: Community Forums
87: Your Account
88: Community Forums
89: Home
90: Community Forums
91: CPGlang
92: Photo Gallery
93: News
94: Community Forums
95: Home
96: Statistics
97: Community Forums
98: Photo Gallery
99: Photo Gallery
100: Community Forums
101: Community Forums
102: Community Forums
103: Community Forums
104: Community Forums
105: Community Forums
106: Community Forums
107: Contact
108: Photo Gallery
109: Home
110: Home
111: Community Forums
112: Community Forums
113: Community Forums
114: Home
115: Community Forums
116: Community Forums
117: Home
118: Community Forums
119: Community Forums
120: Community Forums
121: Home
122: Community Forums
123: Photo Gallery
124: Photo Gallery
125: Photo Gallery
126: Community Forums
127: Home
128: Community Forums
129: Home
130: Community Forums
131: Community Forums
132: Downloads
133: Home
134: Community Forums
135: Photo Gallery
136: Community Forums
137: Community Forums
138: Home
139: Community Forums
140: Community Forums
141: Community Forums
142: Photo Gallery
143: Community Forums
144: Photo Gallery
145: Community Forums
146: Community Forums
147: Member Screenshots
148: Community Forums
149: Community Forums
150: Community Forums
151: Community Forums
152: Community Forums
153: Your Account
154: Your Account
155: Community Forums
156: Downloads
157: Community Forums
158: Community Forums
159: Photo Gallery
160: Community Forums
161: Community Forums
162: Downloads
163: Community Forums
164: Community Forums
165: Community Forums
166: Your Account
167: Community Forums
168: Community Forums
169: Community Forums
170: Community Forums
171: Community Forums
172: Community Forums
173: Community Forums
174: Photo Gallery
175: Community Forums
176: Photo Gallery
177: Community Forums
178: Photo Gallery
179: Community Forums
180: Home
181: Community Forums
182: Community Forums
183: Community Forums
184: Downloads
185: Community Forums
186: Community Forums
187: Community Forums
188: Community Forums
189: Community Forums
190: Community Forums
191: Community Forums
192: Community Forums
193: Community Forums
194: Community Forums
195: Community Forums
196: Community Forums
197: Community Forums
198: Community Forums
199: Community Forums
200: Community Forums
201: Community Forums
202: Home
203: Your Account
204: Photo Gallery
205: Photo Gallery
206: Community Forums
207: Community Forums
208: Home
209: Community Forums
210: Statistics
211: Statistics
212: Home
213: Home
214: Community Forums
215: Community Forums
216: Community Forums
217: CPGlang
218: Community Forums
219: Community Forums
220: CPGlang
221: Community Forums
222: Home
223: Photo Gallery
224: Community Forums
225: Your Account
226: Community Forums
227: Community Forums
228: Photo Gallery
229: Photo Gallery
230: Community Forums
231: Photo Gallery
232: Home
233: Community Forums
234: Statistics
235: CPGlang
236: Community Forums
237: Community Forums
238: Photo Gallery
239: Your Account
240: Photo Gallery
241: Community Forums
242: Community Forums
243: Community Forums
244: Community Forums
245: Community Forums
246: Community Forums
247: Community Forums
248: Member Screenshots
249: Photo Gallery
250: Photo Gallery
251: Community Forums
252: Community Forums
253: Photo Gallery
254: Community Forums
255: Downloads
256: Photo Gallery
257: Community Forums
258: Community Forums
259: Photo Gallery
260: Home
261: Community Forums
262: Community Forums
263: Downloads
264: Community Forums
265: Member Screenshots
266: Community Forums
267: Community Forums
268: Community Forums
269: Community Forums
270: Community Forums
271: Downloads
272: Community Forums
273: Photo Gallery
274: Home
275: Downloads
276: Community Forums
277: Photo Gallery
278: Community Forums
279: Home
280: Home
281: Community Forums
282: Your Account
283: Community Forums
284: Community Forums
285: Community Forums
286: Community Forums
287: Community Forums
288: Community Forums
289: Community Forums
290: Home
291: Community Forums
292: Home
293: Community Forums
294: Community Forums
295: Community Forums
296: Community Forums
297: CPGlang
298: Community Forums
299: Photo Gallery
300: Community Forums
301: Photo Gallery
302: Home
303: Community Forums
304: Community Forums
305: Community Forums
306: Photo Gallery
307: Community Forums
308: Community Forums
309: Community Forums
310: Community Forums
311: Home
312: Your Account
313: Community Forums
314: Photo Gallery
315: Photo Gallery
316: Community Forums
317: Community Forums
318: Downloads
319: Home
320: Community Forums
321: Community Forums
322: Home
323: Downloads
324: Home
325: Community Forums
326: Community Forums
327: Community Forums
328: Community Forums
329: Community Forums
330: Community Forums
331: Community Forums
332: Home
333: Photo Gallery
334: Community Forums
335: Photo Gallery
336: Photo Gallery
337: Photo Gallery
338: Community Forums
339: Community Forums
340: Community Forums
341: Community Forums
342: Photo Gallery
343: Community Forums
344: Photo Gallery
345: Community Forums
346: Community Forums
347: Your Account
348: Community Forums
349: Photo Gallery
350: Your Account
351: Community Forums
352: Community Forums
353: Member Screenshots
354: Community Forums
355: Photo Gallery
356: Member Screenshots
357: Community Forums
358: Community Forums
359: Community Forums
360: Statistics
361: Community Forums
362: Photo Gallery
363: Community Forums
364: Community Forums
365: Home
366: Community Forums
367: Community Forums
368: Community Forums
369: Downloads
370: Community Forums
371: Photo Gallery
372: Community Forums
373: CPGlang
374: Community Forums
375: Photo Gallery
376: Community Forums
377: Community Forums
378: Downloads
379: Community Forums
380: Community Forums
381: Community Forums
382: Community Forums
383: Community Forums
384: Home
385: Home
386: Community Forums
387: Community Forums
388: Home
389: Home
390: Photo Gallery
391: Community Forums
392: News Archive
393: Community Forums
394: Community Forums
395: Photo Gallery
396: Community Forums
397: Community Forums
398: Community Forums
399: Downloads
400: Community Forums
401: Home
402: Community Forums
403: Community Forums
404: Home
405: CPGlang
406: Community Forums
407: Downloads
408: Statistics
409: Community Forums
410: Downloads
411: Photo Gallery
412: Community Forums
413: Downloads
414: Community Forums
415: Photo Gallery
416: Photo Gallery
417: Community Forums
418: Downloads
419: Photo Gallery
420: Photo Gallery
421: Photo Gallery
422: Community Forums
423: Community Forums
424: Photo Gallery
425: Community Forums
426: Community Forums
427: News Archive
428: Home
429: Community Forums
430: Photo Gallery
431: Community Forums
432: Photo Gallery
433: Photo Gallery
434: Member Screenshots
435: Community Forums
436: Community Forums
437: Community Forums
438: Home
439: Home
440: Community Forums
441: Home
442: Home
443: Community Forums
444: Member Screenshots
445: Downloads
446: Community Forums
447: Home
448: Photo Gallery
449: Community Forums
450: Community Forums
451: Downloads
452: Community Forums
453: Community Forums
454: Community Forums
455: Community Forums
456: Photo Gallery
457: Community Forums
458: Photo Gallery
459: Downloads
460: Your Account
461: Photo Gallery
462: Community Forums
463: Community Forums
464: Community Forums
465: Community Forums
466: Photo Gallery
467: Home
468: Photo Gallery
469: Statistics
470: Community Forums
471: Home
472: Home
473: Community Forums
474: Community Forums
475: Photo Gallery
476: Community Forums
477: Photo Gallery
478: Your Account
479: Community Forums
480: Community Forums
481: Community Forums
482: Community Forums
483: Home
484: Community Forums
485: Community Forums
486: Community Forums
487: Photo Gallery
488: Community Forums
489: Community Forums
490: Home
491: Community Forums
492: Your Account
493: Community Forums
494: Member Screenshots
495: Community Forums
496: Community Forums
497: Home
498: Community Forums
499: Community Forums
500: Community Forums
501: Home
502: Home
503: Community Forums
504: Your Account
505: Home
506: Photo Gallery
507: Your Account
508: Your Account
509: Downloads
510: Photo Gallery
511: Home
512: Community Forums
513: Home
514: Photo Gallery
515: Member Screenshots
516: Community Forums
517: Home
518: Community Forums
519: Community Forums
520: Community Forums
521: Community Forums
522: Home
523: Community Forums
524: Photo Gallery
525: Community Forums
526: Photo Gallery
527: Community Forums
528: CPGlang
529: Community Forums
530: Community Forums
531: Photo Gallery
532: Community Forums
533: Community Forums
534: Downloads
535: CPGlang
536: Community Forums
537: Home
538: Home
539: Community Forums
540: Community Forums
541: Community Forums
542: Community Forums
543: Home
544: Photo Gallery
545: Community Forums
546: Home
547: Community Forums
548: Photo Gallery
549: Statistics
550: Community Forums
551: Community Forums
552: Community Forums
553: Home
554: Home
555: Home
556: Community Forums
557: Statistics
558: Home
559: Community Forums
560: Downloads
561: Community Forums
562: Community Forums
563: Photo Gallery
564: Downloads
565: Community Forums
566: Community Forums
567: Community Forums
568: Downloads
569: Home
570: Photo Gallery
571: Community Forums
572: Community Forums
573: Community Forums
574: Photo Gallery
575: Photo Gallery
576: Photo Gallery
577: Community Forums
578: Community Forums
579: Photo Gallery
580: Home
581: Community Forums
582: Community Forums
583: Community Forums
584: Community Forums
585: Community Forums
586: Home
587: Community Forums
588: Home
589: Community Forums
590: Community Forums
591: Member Screenshots
592: Community Forums
593: Home
594: Community Forums
595: Photo Gallery
596: Community Forums
597: Photo Gallery
598: Community Forums
599: Photo Gallery
600: Home
601: Community Forums
602: Community Forums
603: LinkToUs
604: Community Forums
605: Community Forums
606: Statistics
607: Community Forums
608: News
609: Community Forums
610: Photo Gallery
611: Community Forums
612: Downloads
613: Home
614: Statistics
615: Photo Gallery
616: Community Forums
617: Downloads
618: Community Forums
619: Home
620: Community Forums
621: Community Forums
622: Community Forums
623: Community Forums
624: Home
625: Photo Gallery
626: Community Forums
627: Downloads
628: Community Forums
629: Community Forums
630: Community Forums
631: Community Forums
632: Home
633: Community Forums
634: Member Screenshots
635: Community Forums
636: Community Forums
637: Community Forums
638: Photo Gallery
639: Community Forums
640: Home
641: Home
642: Community Forums
643: Community Forums
644: Community Forums
645: Community Forums
646: Community Forums
647: Downloads
648: Community Forums
649: Home
650: Community Forums
651: Community Forums
652: Home
653: Downloads
654: Community Forums
655: Photo Gallery
656: Community Forums
657: Community Forums
658: Community Forums
659: Community Forums
660: Community Forums
661: Home
662: Community Forums
663: CPGlang
664: Community Forums
665: Community Forums
666: Photo Gallery
667: Photo Gallery
668: Community Forums
669: Photo Gallery
670: Community Forums
671: Photo Gallery
672: Community Forums
673: Community Forums
674: CPGlang
675: Community Forums

Staff Online:

No staff members are online!
The $1500 Challenge?? :: Archived
Resolve issues with your computer problems here or read about the latest computer parts and information.
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page     Forum Index ›  Hardware

Topic Archived View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Tue May 09, 2006 10:52 pm
Post subject: The $1500 Challenge??

Here's an idea, since we're all lookin' to upgrade at one time or another and occasionally get members looking for an emergency replacement system.....what's the best current deal going on out there for an average PC system price?

In other words, what's the best system you can identify, staying within a given price range?

There could be essentialy two categories.....buy an off-the-shelf system (for the members who prefer not to wrench on their own system) or buy the components (case, mobo, RAM, vid card, etc) for those who like to build 'em themselves.

In another life when I worked for a very long time in association with the private industry retail channels, I always noticed that the average minimum full system purchase was about $1500 US, and that has also been mirrored in some price ranges I remember coming up in the recent past here. My own past purchases reflected this as a goal also, whether I chose to build a system or bought an over-the-counter one, even though you save on non-essentials and get more hi-performance parts...it just always seemed to come out that way.

So that's it. What's the best simming and general-purpose rig you can put together in either category, staying within the price range? And of course you get some leeway.....as we all know from dealing with our better halves, $1500 really means anything up to $1599.99!

Basically by "simming/general purpose rig" I'm thinking the minimums of 3.0Ghz CPU, 1Gig of fast RAM, decent vid card (PCI 128 or 256M) and vast storage (160Gig HD or higher). Monitor would be optional since we're talking upgrade scenarios.

Here's a sample entry in the "Over the Counter" category:

Gateway® DX310X



Spec'ed with optional items:

Microsoft® Windows® XP Home (SP2) w/ XP Home Backup CD [ +US$0.00]
Microsoft® Office Basic Edition 2003 (Includes Word, Excel and Outlook) w/ Microsoft® Home Collection [ +US$139.99]
Intel® Pentium® D Processor 940 featuring two processing cores (3.20GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2x2MB cache, non-HT EM64T) [ +US$250.00]
1GB (1024MB) 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM PC4200 (2-512MB modules) [ +US$99.00]
Desktop Value Plus Service Plan -- 3 year parts/labor/on-site/3 year toll technical support [ +US$119.99]
NVIDIA GeForce 6600 with 128MB, DVI, VGA & TV-Out [ +US$110.00]
Monitor not selected [ -US$50.00]
McAfee® Internet Security Suite with VirusScan, Personal Firewall Plus, SpamKiller & Privacy Service, 36-months [ +US$119.99]

Base Price $799.99
Additional Items +$788.97

Total $1,588.96

The "Customize" feature didn't make it available but seperately (form the same source - important!) Gateway lists this vid card, which would be a better bang for the buck and require abotu 10 minutes of effort to install:

ATI RADEON® 9250 256MB PCI
API Supported OpenGL, DirectX
Compliant Standards DDC-1, DDC-2B, VESA DPMS, DDC-2B+
Graphics Processor / Vendor ATI Radeon 9250
Manufacturer Warranty 3 years warranty
RAMDAC Clock Speed 400 MHz
Video Memory Installed ( Max ) 256 MB - DDR SDRAM
Video Output 2048 x 1536 / 85 Hz - 24-bit (16.7 million colors)


Price $104.99
Mail-In Rebate $30.00
After Rebate $74.99

...comes out to about $1550 if my math is right.

This was a quick throw-together as an example and should be easy to beat. Any takers on another entry?

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
XcalibeR
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 11, 2005
Posts: 358

PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 12:30 am
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

I'll take up that challenge, but not right now. Give me a week or so. Smile

_________________


[TSF]Lt. Col. XcalibeR{5thF}
PG_Raptor
Back to top
View user's profile Photo Gallery
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7015
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:28 am
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

Buying over the counter PC's is a good bet if...

1) You're not very savvy on technical assembly

2) You need a company who you can call for tech support

3) A warranty for the system/componants itself

4) You don't have the time to research parts you'll need to build your own

Building your own is a good bet if...

1) You like to select or hand pick your componants

2) Can troubleshoot your own problems

3) Don't like the hassle of 'taking in your new unit and waiting for tech support to 'fix it' '.

Even if you opt for the 'Buy the System' option, there are alternative cheaper/better/free options such as Open Office instead of M$ Office, AVG or Avast for Anti-virus, Zone Alarm or use the built in Firewall in XP for the firewall or if you can get by without Windows, Linux in almost any flavor is free as on operating system. In the quick toss together scenario you posted Stoopy, you can quickly save $260.00 off the purchased PC... Wink

But to get to the actual question posed, for my personal use, I like to build all my own PC's although it's not cheaper than buying one over the counter in the general sense of common computing, but the gamer or the games he/she plays demands better/more hardware.

Most OTC (Over the counter) pc's have Main Boards with all the features built in the board such as Sound, LAN, Video, Firewire and USB. This is great for the mass PC makers as the hard work of installing additional hardware and drivers are taken out of the production costs. For Gamers, the LAN, Firewire and USB are good built in options but Sound and Video are not.

I've looked into buying those OTC machines and upgrading the parts needed to make it into a reasonable gaming rig and it can be done reasonable if the company building the PC offers those options.

Other things to consider is buying last years "HOT" items for upgrading. We all know in the computing world as soon as the "NEW AND HOT" items are released, last years models drop in price by as much as 50% which is a good deal if you don't have to be on the bleeding edge of technology. If you can get by on 2 year old hardware, the prices are more attractive. Beyond the 3 year mark older hardware won't work for most games or gamers rigs today with any reasonable amount of FPS.

I know I didn't post up any prices or quotes from PC makers and I'll let the other posters do that, I just wanted to toss in some "FYI" for others to consider in their quest for information for posting...
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6473
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 10:34 am
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

THIS could help your cpu budget (only for the brave and foolhardy ;)).

www.BuildYourOwn.org.uk/forums will help you build your own (although I didn't find it until after I'd built mine).
I didn't know anything more than how to re-wire a plug before I started.
Now I am more than confident enough to do it again and am able to fix any problems. Although I haven't had any, because I built it myself and didn't buy it from Dell etc. so I know exactly what went into it and not what they want me to think went into it.


_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
JG300-Stoopy
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 05, 2005
Posts: 5840
Location: Group W bench
PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 2:43 pm
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

- Shadow_Bshwackr

Even if you opt for the 'Buy the System' option, there are alternative cheaper/better/free options such as Open Office instead of M$ Office, AVG or Avast for Anti-virus, Zone Alarm or use the built in Firewall in XP for the firewall or if you can get by without Windows, Linux in almost any flavor is free as on operating system. In the quick toss together scenario you posted Stoopy, you can quickly save $260.00 off the purchased PC... Wink


Yep! In my example though, I equipped it that way intentionally, Microsoft Office was included to provide some working capability when needed (thinking that many of us still have real-world stuff to do when not simming, and to make it even more useful and cost-justified overall) and the O/S choice of Microsoft XP was chosen because I'm simply not aware of how to get sims such as FS9, IL2, CFS1/2/3 to run on a straight Linux platform (never having needed to look into that)...plus I figured the same type of person that would go for the over-the-counter solution (no fuss no muss as you point out, take it home and plug it in) would also not want to get involved in other O/S besides what is considered "mainstream" for those applications. I'd be willing to bet the vast majority of CC visitors are running a Microsoft O/S....not saying that one is better than the other however. Same thoughts applied to the on-site warranty costs and commercial anti-virus and firewall.

So, yep, taking those into consderation it should be easy to beat. And like I said, the net result of some comparisons and maybe an ongoing challenge would be that when our next member is in dire need, they might be able to look here and get some immediate sources and prices on which of the two paths suits them best....if it keeps rolling.

_________________
"Once your reputation is ruined, you can live quite freely."
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7015
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2006 6:36 pm
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

Yep, like most 'puter users, the machine has two or more purposes and/or users and needs to be 'fully equiped' to handle all of those purposes. MS Office was and is a great software, but Open Office will run MS Office apps including PowerPoint and it's FREE ...:wink: What MS Office has over any other app is Front Page. FP is a great piece of software and I know it can be bought seperate from Office as a stand alone app...(BIG Smile)

As far as OS' go, XP is out front by a wide margin and for Gamers such as CC gamers, MS is the only real choice. I put in the Linux scenario for those that aren't gamers...

As far as getting CFS or FS9 to work on Linux, I've heard rumors that Caldega, a layer app, can run CFS and CFS2, but haven't seen it in action to prove if it will or not. I haven't seen any mention of CFS3 or FS9 so who knows.

This I do know. If MS keeps jackin' up their prices for OS and making life general harder for their constituents, an alternative OS may get a chance to grab a larger share of the market and with Apple/Mac running on Intel hardware now, who knows what the outcome for Mac will be. I currently have a version of Apple running on XP in a virtual desktop that I'm messing with to see how things work. At the present time, I can triple boot XP Pro, XP MAC and Linux.

Back to the original post, I agree. It'll be good to see how many 'out of the box' configs there are out there...:wink:
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
Shades
Forum Tree-Rat

Offline Offline
Joined: Mar 07, 2005
Posts: 6473
Location: 3rd Branch up, 'Ye Olde Oak', Green Wood.
PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2006 6:43 am
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

FrontPage is being eliminated soon (possibly this year).
I'll try and find the stuff I been reading on that and post in the Software section.

_________________
Skwerl's place.

Com-Central's cutest, fluffiest, twitchiest, tail.
CPU > Intel i9-9900k (o/c 4.9GHz); COOLING > BeQuiet! Dark Rock Pro 4;
MOBO > ASUS PRIME Z390-A; RAM > 2x32GB Corsair LPX 2666MHz;
GPU > Gigabyte GEFORCE GTX650Ti PCI-e 3.0 2Gb GDDR5;
AUDIO > Creative X-Fi Xtreme Music (plus - Universal Audio UAD2 Quad Custom accelerator);
HDD > 3x1TB+ M.2. SSDs; LCD > DELL - S2419HGF (1920x1080);
PSU > 650W be quiet Straight Power 11 - 80+ Gold;
CASE > BeQuiet! SILENT BASE 601; OS > Windows 11 Home Advanced (64-bit).
Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website ICQ Number
Shadow_Bshwackr
Janitor

Offline Offline
Joined: Jan 21, 2005
Posts: 7015
Location: Central Illinois, USA
PostPosted: Wed May 17, 2006 12:05 pm
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

Extreme Tech has released an article about this very subject called "Build an $800.00 Gaming PC".

This may shed some new light on your decision to build or buy... Wink

May 16, 2006
Build It: $800 Gaming PC
By Jason Cross


It's a commonly held misconception that playing modern PC games is an expensive proposition, full of $500 video cards and $900 dual-core processors. Sure, you can have an amazing gaming experience if you want to blow thousands of dollars putting together our Killer Gaming Rig, but it doesn't have to be that way. You can enjoy the latest PC games with a sub-$1000 PC.

As you'll see, that doesn't mean you have to miss out on all the "good stuff," either. You don't need to turn all the detail levels down, or play at a resolution of 640x480. With the PC we built for around $800, we're able to play even demanding games at HD resolutions (1280x1024) quite well. Granted, that's without anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering, but it's still a great gaming experience. So if your computer is getting too old to play all the hot games, or if you're looking to build a second computer on the cheap, our suggestions for an $800 gaming PC may be a good place to start.


To read the whole article: Click HERE!

Back to top
View user's profile Visit poster's website Photo Gallery
FF_StepChild
Power User

Offline Offline
Joined: Jul 12, 2005
Posts: 174
Location: Hampton Va. US
PostPosted: Sat Jun 10, 2006 8:59 am
Post subject: Re: The $1500 Challenge??

Abit AN8 32X motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 3800+
XFX Ge-Force 7800GTX OC 256MB maybe another later...
2 GB Corsair DDR400 RAM

MB $145 zipzoomfly
CPU $327 zipzoomfly
Vid $185 ebay
RAM $140 ebay
Total Upgrade $797
All parts bought through online stores and ebay
Keeping my dual 80G hard drives, case, fans, and power supply to save a little dough. I should have all the pieces and parts by Thursday 6-15-06, and put it together that weekend.

_________________
Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of OLD LADIES running around with tattoos? (And RAP music will be the Golden Oldies!)
Back to top
View user's profile Send e-mail Visit poster's website MSN Messenger
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic    Revive this topic    Printer Friendly Page    Forum Index ›  Hardware
Page 1 of 1
All times are GMT - 6 Hours

Archive Revive
Username:
This is an archived topic - your reply will not be appended here.
Instead, a new topic will be generated in the active forum.
The new topic will provide a reference link to this archived topic.