So, some of you know that recently I found out my desktop is running around 5-6 Years old. It kinda explained why things ran so slow. I haven't BUILT a desktop in years, mostly because the last time I tried, you had to watch CPU/Motherboard matching.
I started to look at bundles, and a site I look at sometimes has a nice build guide: http://www.mmo-champion.com/content/2151-Guides-Contest-Guild-Reputation-Setup-of-the-Month-Recruitment-Comics (Scroll down)
In their build suggestion, I was looking at Narwhal and when I looked at the price here locally, I could do it about the same, not including Case, CDRom, HDD and other things I don't really need.
My current vendor of choice is Canada Computers, I find they are reasonable, and not as pushy as TigerDirect has be come. So I started looking at the site to see what they had, pre-built. I settled on http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=7_121&item_id=035681 and asked for comments via Twitter. @marshray pointed out the following:
@coolacid another $100 might make a big difference on the video card. The 'Home' OS? Oh and that chipset is defective http://bit.ly/g4BpzI
Sigh - I didn't care for the M$ Tax, I use Linux on my desktop. And a defective chipset. Back to the drawing board. Fortunatly, he suggested I look at the Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H and AMD Phenom II 1055T. I have been a fan of AMD for a long time, but getting tired of their lack of quality linux video drivers. But what the hell, lets price it out:
Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H Socket AM3 (Six-Core Support) AMD 880G + SB710 Chipset ATI Radeon HD 4250 Graphics with HDMI/DVI/VGA Dual-Channel DDR3 1800+/1333/1066 MHz 8-Channel HD Audio Gigabit LAN 5x SATA 3Gb/s + 1x eSATA3Gb/s 12x USB 2.0 Micro ATX
http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=26_340&item_id=030753
CPU:
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T (125W) Six Core Socket AM3, 2.8GHz, 9Mb Cache, 2000MHz HT, 45nm (HDT55TFBGRBOX)
http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=4_64&item_id=030520
RAM:
Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz CL9 DIMMs (996770)
http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_311_312_611&item_id=035006
Video:
Asus ENGTX470/2DI/1280MD5 nVidia GeForce GTX 470 Chipset (607Mhz) 1280MB (3348Mhz) GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI-I/HDMI Display PCI-Express 2.0 Graphics Card
http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_557_559&item_id=030349
Power:
Antec TP-750 Blue Truepower New 750W Continuous Power Supply
http://canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=33_443&item_id=021535
Motherboard: 87.99
CPU: 174.99
RAM: 76.99
Video: 267.99
Power: 125.99
Total: 732.95
I don't include mail in rebates - I don't ever expect them to work ;) Comments and suggestions welcomed!
Update: (Mail In Rebates)
Just to Kinda keep all this together MIRs come out to about $65. So IF the MIR actually go though, total cost before tax would be: $667.96
