I am so upset, My PC Died Today!!

[Indica]

My motherboard took a dump today and was forced to build a whole new system on a limited tight budget while making on the fly decisions at the store w/o research.

I ended up having to buy a video card too cuz my original setup was GeForce 7800 GS AGP, and had to go with PCI-E type video card.


Today, I picked up

- Pentium Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz 800MHz FSB w/ Motherboard - $99
- 2GIG DDR-2 667MHz - $50
- PNY GeForce 9600 GT 512MB - $147 - $30 Mail In Rebate

Everything came out to $323.00 which is pretty dam good and should be much faster then my original P4 3Ghz w/ HT and 1 GIG 333MHz Memory.

It's installing now and was scared I had to go back to store to buy a power supply because I saw this 24 Pin Sticker on the Motherboard.

Im running an Enermax 435w Power supply and that should be ok and didnt have to buy a new 24 Pin Power Supply.

Bad thing about the motherboard is that it has only 1 PATA Controller, but has like 4 SATA Controllers. I'll just have to ditch an internal HDD and use one of my External Drives that uses SATA.

Rest of setup has

- C: Drive 150GIG WD Raptor 10,000 RPM
- D: Drive 500GIG
- S: Drive I forget DVD R/RW
- Gateway 24" LCD

[ABDUR101]

If you can drop $350 on a whim, it's not a 'limited tight budget'. You made out rather well anyway.

[Shadowpawn]

I surprised you managed to get a dual core WITH a motherboard for a mere $99. The Core 2 Duo usually goes for around $150-$200 dollars alone.

[Indica]

I surprised you managed to get a dual core WITH a motherboard for a mere $99. The Core 2 Duo usually goes for around $150-$200 dollars alone.


Im surprised too as searching NewEgg, the very same CPU is selling for $119.99

The store I went to is called Fry's Electronics and it's a mega huge store. Some friends of mine are telling me to return the GeForce 9600GT and exchange it for ATI 4850 Video Card.

[MetaZedlen]

If you are going for ATi, then go for the 4870, yes it is more expensive, but the performance is AMAZING, even though I don't care for ATi.

I am still deciding whether or not to get the 9800 GTX 512 MB, but if I do, then I would have to get a bigger power supply, 'cause mine is only 450W, but the one I would get is a 650W and about 110$

All-in-all, it should cost 350$ at the most...

You are getting a better deal than I am...

[CelestialBlade]

I surprised you managed to get a dual core WITH a motherboard for a mere $99. The Core 2 Duo usually goes for around $150-$200 dollars alone.
You can find Quad-cores for around $200 now, if you're being charged $150-200 for a Dual-core then you're getting majorly ripped off.

[Shadowpawn]

You can find Quad-cores for around $200 now, if you're being charged $150-200 for a Dual-core then you're getting majorly ripped off.


I didn't know that, I haven't shopped around for a chip set in a while. So I was just going off memory.

[Fossil]

You can find Quad-cores for around $200 now, if you're being charged $150-200 for a Dual-core then you're getting majorly ripped off.

True that. I'm guessing you either got an E2xxx or a E4xxx series Core 2 Duo because those are the common ones these days and they overclock like mad. I know the E2xxx series go for $70 or so on Newegg. But you got a Mobo and a C2D for $99? I must say that is a pretty bad ass deal. What kind of motherboard was it? ECS? lol

The 9600 is a nice video card. It's just a step below an 8800GT performance wise. It is too bad you had to do a spur of the moment build because there are a lot cheaper video cards online at places like www.fxvideocards.com that have AMAZING deals on Zotac cards.

[CelestialBlade]

I didn't know that, I haven't shopped around for a chip set in a while. So I was just going off memory.
I see. Intel's Q6600 (probably the best bang-for-your-buck quad-core currently on the market) goes for around $215 on average, so prices have really come down in the past year or so.

[Indica]

Id like to get a Quad Core setup but Im still holding out till everything - CPU, FSB and Memory is greater then 1600MHz

[amtalx]

If you are building this for games, forget the Quad Core. Your games will actually run slower. My PC died recently too. However, it gave me an excuse to buy a new rig that I can actually play games on. Since buying a new computer is no fun unless you can tell someone whats in it, here goes:

Thermaltake ArmorPlus(Armor+) VH6000BWS Black Computer Case
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor
ASUS RAMPAGE FORMULA ATX Intel Motherboard
2x Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB 3.5" SATA-300 Hard Drive
ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler
Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R Burner Black SATA Model AD-7200S-0B
SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4870 100243L Video Card
SILVERSTONE ST70F 700W Power Supply
SAMSUNG Black Internal Floppy Drive Model SFD321B/LBL1 (yeah, that's right :P)
G.SKILL 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel

[Indica]

I decided to return the video card for credit and ended up spending more money, lol

Just picked up an ATI Diamond HD 4870, Thermaltake PurePower 600w and copy of Unreal Tournament 3. Game runs pretty damn slick in 1920x1200