$1200 Rig

[oSReApEr]

Hey guys, my friend has 1200 to spend on a rig, he wants to play games like Halo2 (when it comes out for PC god knows when) and listen to death metal on it. Speakers, monitor, and case are all needed. Ive tried a few times to configure an amd based system for him on Newegg but I never get the correct setup, either its lacking in quality sound, or has a crappy graphics card. He doesnt want to go with dell b/c he thinks he can get more for the money when building it himself. If anyone could show me a configuration around 1200 it would be greatly appreciated.

o$

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

If he needs the monitor and OS, the fact is he can't get a better deal than Dell. Just configure a system with the cheapest vid card and memory and upgrade those yourself. All new motherboards come with at least 5.1 audio which would be totally fine.

 

[Special1Sauce]

Be shure to get a dell with a AGP slot! But You really should try to reconfigure it maybe with less ram or a slower processor

 

[axemanxt40]

CHIEFTEC Black Server Chasis Workstation Tower with Side Panel Window and Front USB and Firewire, Model "DX01BD" -OEM $55

Lite-On Beige 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model LTR-52327S BEIGE, OEM $32

LITE-ON 16X DVDROM,Model XJ-HD166/XJ-HD165H, OEM $29

SAMSUNG SFD321B/LEB 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy Disk Drive, OEM Driver Only $6

Western Digital Special Edition 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD1200JB, OEM Drive Only $87

1 x OCZ Enhanced Latency Serices 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 $105

SAMSUNG 955DF-T/T 19" DynaFlat CRT Monitor RETAIL $175

MSI K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU, Model "K8T NEO-FSR" -RETAIL $94

Thermaltake W0014 Silent Purepower 480W with Black housing - Xaser Edition ATX 2-Fan Power Supply $58

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor - Retail $227

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS PCI Sound Card, Model "SB0350" -RETAIL $88

Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers Retail $63

POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9700PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "EVIL COMMANDO 2(XF97-C3G)" -RETAIL $196


Subtotal: $ 1215
Total (shipping to NY): $1254

The shipping might be a little more, might be a little less...but that is just to give you an estimate of what it should be.

Its not the nicest case out there, but its decent...has a window so he can add lights and what not. Has the best sound card available in my opinion, pretty good set of speakers, awesome video card, awesome processor, nice monitor, great motherboard. Only thing lacking...its only 512 RAM, but your friend can just throw another stick in at a later time.

Hope this helps, btw all priced @ newegg.

 

[redass1876]

i thought that board had dang good onboard sound

 

[Markfw]

axemanxt40, I like that system, but I have two other suggestions, PC3500 might give more room for either stability or overclocking. Also, several people have problems with that MSI board. I would go with the new Aopen (86-L ??) or the Albatron has had several good feedback comments. I like the ASUS K8V but it is quite a bit more.

 

[Neyd3400]

It really hard to beat dell offers. Not that it can't be done, but I came across this deal at FW.

"Found this on http://www.gotapex.com/deals.php (not affiliated in any way)

DellSB - Dimension 8300 3.0Ghz HT P4 Desktop with 1GB DDR SDRAM, 80GB HD, 128MB Geforce FX 5200 AGP Card, for $649 with FREE Shipping! (Posted by: Lights)
The Dimension 8300 comes with an i875p chipset motherboard (8x AGP, 2 S-ATA ports, 3 PCI slots, etc), a hyperthreaded 3.0Ghz P4 processor with 800mhz system bus, the better clamshell case, featuring an incredible 1GB of dual channel DDR SDRAM upgrade, an 80GB hard drive, Geforce FX5200 AGP card with 128MB of memory, integrated Dolby Digital capable 5.1 sound, 10/100 networking, Windows XP Home, and a 1 year inhouse warranty. No rebate hassles and FREE shipping!!"

You can upgrade geforce to a 9800pro for another 140. Dell always seem to have a good deals on LCDs.

 

[nitromullet]

That rig is a good indication of what you can get for $1200 and I'm certainly not knocking it, but there is no OS or keyboard/mouse (which is included with a Dell). I really am not sure if you will be able to part together a rig for $1200 that does everything that he wants. However, I don't think you can do it at Dell either. I started out with a Dell Dimension 8300, and after upgrading the monitor from a 17" to a 19", the video card to a RADEON 9800, and the sound card to an SB Audigy I was already over $1200. Not to mention that I have used the standard Dell mouse at work, and it is an absolute piece of crap, so this should also be upgraded. I would suggest to your friend that either he looks more towards an Athlon XP based system or increases his budget a bit more to about $1500-1600.

 

[axemanxt40]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
axemanxt40, I like that system, but I have two other suggestions, PC3500 might give more room for either stability or overclocking. Also, several people have problems with that MSI board. I would go with the new Aopen (86-L ??) or the Albatron has had several good feedback comments. I like the ASUS K8V but it is quite a bit more.

I built my friend's PC off this board and its great...only issue I ran into with it was with Corsair RAM...the board just simply hates Corsair, so I threw in OCZ on this config and figured that would solve the problem that I ran into with it. If not the MSI I would recommend the Asus, which is an excellent board...but just a bit more expensive. As for the Aopen if your talking about their nforce 3 chipset...I really like how Aopen laid out that motherboard, it looks really easy to work with because they just spaced everything out!

Aopen nforce 3 board @ newegg

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: Neyd3400
It really hard to beat dell offers. Not that it can't be done, but I came across this deal at FW.

"Found this on http://www.gotapex.com/deals.php (not affiliated in any way)

DellSB - Dimension 8300 3.0Ghz HT P4 Desktop with 1GB DDR SDRAM, 80GB HD, 128MB Geforce FX 5200 AGP Card, for $649 with FREE Shipping! (Posted by: Lights)
The Dimension 8300 comes with an i875p chipset motherboard (8x AGP, 2 S-ATA ports, 3 PCI slots, etc), a hyperthreaded 3.0Ghz P4 processor with 800mhz system bus, the better clamshell case, featuring an incredible 1GB of dual channel DDR SDRAM upgrade, an 80GB hard drive, Geforce FX5200 AGP card with 128MB of memory, integrated Dolby Digital capable 5.1 sound, 10/100 networking, Windows XP Home, and a 1 year inhouse warranty. No rebate hassles and FREE shipping!!"

You can upgrade geforce to a 9800pro for another 140. Dell always seem to have a good deals on LCDs.

You can't build this computer for less, add the 9800pro and a 19"crt for under $1200.

Tom

 

[oSReApEr]

Thanks alot fellas im just going to be lazy, configure something for him thats around 1200-1300 at dell, if its over ill tell him to pay monthly.

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

I'd wait until the "free" dvd burner deal is over. That's probably $200 tacked onto the backend price that they'll probably replace with a mail in rebate or more useful upgrade once this deal is over.

Also, the "free" quadruple memory just means they're sticking it to you with their outrageous ram prices and there's nothing you can do about it.

Wait a couple days before ordering, bro.

 

[Bonesdad]

I just put together a great system for my brudda for $1200. Its an AMD Barton 2500+ system...not a HT 3.0 Intel, but pretty dang good. Includes:

Case (Antec SLK3700BQE with 350 W PSU)
Abit NF7-S mobo (use onboard soundstorm audio)
2500+ Barton (retail)
512 MB PC3200 Memory (Buffalo)
Win XP Home
CD/DVD Combo Drive (Liteon)
80 GB HDD (Western Dig special)
Microsoft Keyboard/Mouse
Sapphire 9800 Pro 128MB
19" Mitsubishi monitor CRT
Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers

Total: $1108 + Shipping of $46 (just for Monitor, Keyboard and Case.)

You can lower this by getting the HDD at Omax B&M with a rebate and browsing other etailers (like zipzoom) for lower prices. All this came from Newegg.