You contract me to get you one... that way I can get some money for tuition
... if you're talking in CAD then might I assume you would be from Can? (and thus we might be able to work something out differently?
) In either case, let's see:
MOBO
- ASUS A8V Deluxe (
http://usa.asus.com/products/mb/socket939/a8v-d/overview.htm)
- A very solid mobo all around, designed for the new A64-Socket939 interface and accepts both the Athlon64s and the FX-53s for a lot of all around compatability
- $225CAD
CPU
- AMD Athlon64 3500+ (Newcastle)
- A solid chip you wont regret: just enjoy the performance and dont get into pissing contests
- $560CAD (if thats a bit rich, you can always "drop" to the 3200+ for $400CAD)
RAM
- 1GB Corsair TwinX1024 -4400 (
http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx1024-4400.pdf)
- You give up on timings 3-4-4-8 but timings arent really important for what 99% of consumers use their memory for anyways.... the raw Mhz is much more benificial when it comes to making the most of burst mode access to memory. These sticks are matched beforehand for Dual Channel applications and I'm sure you can push the memory much further than 3-4-4-8 if you wanted to
- $450CAD
HDD
- Segate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA (
http://www.seagate.com/cda/products/discsales/marketing/detail/0,1081,599,00.html)
- A very solid performer and shockingly "cheap" for what i'd thought it to be. Use this drive for installing stuff to and keeping stuff that likes good solid transfer rates
- $200CAD
OPTICAL1
- LiteOn 52x32x52
- Argueably the best (affordable) CDRW drive available (although I'd tend to argue for the ASUS 523252 but those are harder to come across).
- $35CAD
OPTICAL2
- Pioneer 107
- Since you've got a "2-sheep" CD burner theres no need for the Plextor burner (which is expensive as hell)... this is the next best thing
- $120CAD
CASE
- Cheming 601AE (
http://www.chenming.com/)
- A very solid case, used a lot -- for good reason. Comes with 400W Enermax PSU
- $85CAD
HSF
- Thermaltake Polo735 (
http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/comboCool/a2144Polo735/polo735.htm)
- An excellent HSF; initially I would have reccomended the Venus12 but the Polo735 is virtually the same cooler except it is also comaptible with Intel and AMD32 chips adding to the lifespan of the cooler
- $50CAD
VIDEO
- eVGA 6800GT 256MB (
http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?Part_Number=256-A8-N344-AX )
- This is the midrange card for the new nVidia's 6800 line of chips. Lots of people will compare the 6800GT to the X800 and argue (when) the X800 beats this card, that the X800 is better. Sure it's better: but the X800 is the top end card and this is a medium end card. Personally I'm kinda surprised this is a 1-slot deal but yeah, enjoy the card and dont get involved in pissing contests. From a technical point the reason I chose this card was because (a) the card is clocked fast enough regardless of what people will tell you and (b) the inclusion of Pixel Shader 3.0, while not horribly a big deal, does add some life to the card
- $525CAD
SOUND
- Soundblaster Audigy 2
- You're not keen on the fancy audio but having an independant audio processor helps with the overall gaming performance by not burdening your CPU
- $85CAD
NET COST: $2335CAD
Not bad all in all
but I'm on TOUR in Afghanistan and have only one week to go to complete my 6 months and made a fair amount of money.....so here's the deal : I plan on spending between 2000 $ and 2500 $ in CAD. I want a PC built for GAMING and SURFING ( emails, paying accounts and stuff ), all I need is the tower and its components. I have a monitor, mouse, keybord and speaker system (surround). For a sound card, I don't want to invest money cuz I find that the factory base card is fine by me !
