Best PC for $1500 Intel or AMD? Can you help?

R

Rodbrazil

New Member
Hi Guys, my birthday is coming up and the wife finally said she's giving me a new system this year.

These opportunities don't come often for me so please help me get the best deal for my money.


I would like to do the following with my pc:

1. play games like Quake, Call of duty 2 etc.
2. Convert avi and divx to dvds.
3. Burn DVD's (I think I would like to get one with lightscribe technology).
4. Use it as a media center to watch tv and play music.
5. Surf the net and download tons of stuff.

My Budget is $1500 and I basically I need everything.

Cpu
Mobo
Video Card
Ram
Sound Card
Case
Monitor (LCD)

If possible please list links for me.

Thank you!

Rod.
 
 
adz_619 said:
http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...00005&product_code=332834&Pn=VAIO_VA10G_TV_PC

This is a great pc, especially for media. It is an outstanding media and general use pc. Also it is below your budget.

http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...uct_code=52006815&Pn=Ascent2_A64_Gaming_Tower
Another great allrounder

http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...ocessor_E6400_2_13GHz_and_19_inch_LCD_Monitor
This one is great with the latest intel CPU +19 inch monitor


LCD'S:

http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...code=337513&Pn=19_inch_LCD_Multimedia_Monitor

http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...t_code=339851&Pn=FPD1975W_19_inch_LCD_Monitor
Click to expand...

Those are nice, but overpriced.

I highly recommend building your own, since you can get better parts for less money.

And I would go with the Intel Core 2 Duo.
 
Omega what do you suggest?

[-0MEGA-];415538 said:
Those are nice, but overpriced.

I highly recommend building your own, since you can get better parts for less money.

And I would go with the Intel Core 2 Duo.
Click to expand...


I would really like to build my own and get the most out of my money.

Also I definatly want the Core 2 Duo.

Omega please let me know what you suggest.

Thanks!
 
Instead of the video card and psu offered i'd go for this deal
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Special/xfx-promo-080406.jsp?intpromo=xfx_ultra_bundle-080406_HPG

Also instead of that ram I'd go for the OCZ PC-6400 Revision 2 Platinum Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227139

Also I'd change the hard drive to the Western Digital SE16 250GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144701

You don't really need an awesome sound card unless you plan on using the computer for like home theater or w/e. You can play games fine with this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16829102004 As a bonus it comes with a remote :D

Upgrade the Core 2 Duo E6300 to a E6400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115004

For the Case I recommend the P180B
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129017
 
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1. That zipzoomfly deal is not a good deal. One, because you pay $282 for the graphics card, and two, you get a much cheaper and less powerful power supply. The price? A whole $337.59. After rebate, you pay only $13 more for an overclocked 7900GT, as well as a great power supply

2. OCZ ram has been known to glitch with that board. After all, the G.Skill ram regularly gets up to DDR2 1000.
Here's proof about OCZ compatibility issues.http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/motherboards/gigabyte/GA-965P-DS3/p6.htm

3. He's going to need a big hard drive for all of his DVDs and music. Media Center Pcs need big hard drives. Its only $10-15 more for the extra 70 GB

4. A much better deal is the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum edition, coming in at $102 after rebate from newegg.com (if you want a remote). As he said, he does want a home theater pc:

4. Use it as a media center to watch tv and play music.
Click to expand...

5. With the Gigabyte GA-965P DS3, the E6300 easily gets over 3 Ghz. I don't believe he'll need much more than that :)

6. I thought you were more or less trying to get the price down, not up :). A $1500 computer doesn't have the extra cash for a $110 computer case. I know it is nice, but it's not worth the cutting back of other vital components.
 
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Cpu

Jet said:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
Gigabyte GA-965P DS-3
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB cache
EVGA 7900GT KO
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Lite-on 16X DVD+-RW Burner with Lightscribe
Hiper HPU-4K580-MS 580w

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2B

Optiquest by Viewsonic Q9b-2 19" LCD 8ms

+ $50 to the case of your choice.

EDIT: oops, total is $1610 shipped to my house. Do you need windows?
Click to expand...

Jet if I deiced to go with the Core 2 Duo E6400 would I have to change the memory? Please let me know if yes and which to buy.

Thank you!
 
Rodbrazil said:
Jet if I deiced to go with the Core 2 Duo E6400 would I have to change the memory? Please let me know if yes and which to buy.

Thank you!
Click to expand...

The memory and motherboards are the same for all Core 2 Duos, with the exception of the Extreme edition X6800.
 
Review

Jet said:
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300
Gigabyte GA-965P DS-3
G.Skill 2x1GB DDR2 800
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA2 16MB cache
EVGA 7900GT KO
Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic

Lite-on 16X DVD+-RW Burner with Lightscribe
Hiper HPU-4K580-MS 580w

Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2B

Optiquest by Viewsonic Q9b-2 19" LCD 8ms

+ $50 to the case of your choice.

EDIT: oops, total is $1610 shipped to my house. Do you need windows?
Click to expand...


Ok guys, I was reading the reviews on the Gigabyte GA-965P DS-3 and it seems this is not a very stable mobo. If you read the reviews on newegg there's just too many issues being reported. Plus it does not even have firewire port which I may need. So can anyone suggest a solid and stable motherboard for me.
Also I am not a big overclocker so I'm more looking for a good performance mobo, stable and with good features, it doesn't have to be an overclocker's mobo.

Thank you!
 
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I can't say anything about the lacking firewire, but just for your info, newegg.com reviews aren't the world's best revews. Most often the reviewer doesn't know enough about the product and hence says this or that against (or for) the product in question. Always google the product with "review" on the end and take a look at actual computer hardware review sites to check on more reliable info. I just randomly picked this out for you:

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=2025&cid=6&pg=8

As well, I was assuming that you were overclocking your processor since you chose the best value overclocking processor on the market. Forgive me :)
 
DFI INFINITY 975X Socket T -$178.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 -$369.99
OCZ Gold 2GB DDR2 667 -$139.99 after $40.00 MIR
MSI RX1900XT -$274.99 after $100.00 MIR
Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 -$108.99
Seagate Barraccuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s -$94.99
NEC ND-3550A -$29.25
ViewSonic VA2012wb $299.99 after $30.00 MIR

Total: $1,667.18; Minus MIR: $1497.18

I also left out a case, I may have gone a bit over your budget though...

I don't know how much it'll be after tax, I live in california so the tax here is $120.87 and the shipping $12.63... then again the starter of this thread wasn't the guy who mentioned $1650 after tax, it was another guy...
 
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He shoudn't get the e6600,the e6400 is just fine,i believe both have the same cache and the e6400 is a fine overclocker.
Click to expand...
Right now I'm kinda confused, cause he said he wasn't overclocking... then again "he" wasn't the guy who posted this thread orginally. Anyway you can downgrade the E6600 to an E6400, I just put it in there because it fit. The E6600 has double the cache (not that important), and a 266 Mhz increase clock speed increase (and higher multiplier).
 
rodbrazil...

34erd said:
DFI INFINITY 975X Socket T -$178.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 -$369.99
OCZ Gold 2GB DDR2 667 -$139.99 after $40.00 MIR
MSI RX1900XT -$274.99 after $100.00 MIR
Antec NeoPower NeoHE 550 -$108.99
Seagate Barraccuda 7200.10 SATA 3.0Gb/s -$94.99
NEC ND-3550A -$29.25
ViewSonic VA2012wb $299.99 after $30.00 MIR

Total: $1,667.18; Minus MIR: $1497.18

I also left out a case, I may have gone a bit over your budget though...

I don't know how much it'll be after tax, I live in california so the tax here is $120.87 and the shipping $12.63... then again the starter of this thread wasn't the guy who mentioned $1650 after tax, it was another guy...
Click to expand...

Sorry Guys for the confusion,
the reason why you see Galosat posting here is because I'm using my co-workers pc from work to post and forget to sign off his username and log into mine.

Anyway. I want thank all for all the help so far. Specially Jet. Thanks!

As far as the configuration above. My question here is just about the video card. Is this a better option than what Jet had suggested 7900?

Also what would be a nice case for this system? $100 please.
 
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