a challenge for all of you who know your hardware. what is the cheapest computer you can build that meets the following requirements: 8800GT GPU at least 2.7Ghz C2D or C2Q (must be standard, as the parts must be under warranty) Decent case (none of that $50 break on unbox BS) a 2-4 port Hardware RAID card is not necessary but is a plus keep in mind US pricing (meaning $ and not GBP) shipping is irrelevant. I know these threads are normally common and most of you usually reply with this nice little smiley: but this is a simple challenge for those who wish to take it.
C2D E8400 3.0 GHz $236.80 ASUS 8800GT 512 $249.99 Corsair HX620 $138.90 - $20MIR Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R $128.98 integrated RAID OCZ 2Gb (2x1Gb) DDR2-800 $52.80 - $20MIR Coolermaster CM690 case $64.99 WD 500Gb 7200RMP SATA2 HDD $120.90 Total: $993.36 - $40MIR = $953.36AR
very nice one question though, since I haven't been keeping up with things very much. does the NF700 series support peynryn or not? now the big question is, can anyone beat that? *que bad limbo music*
Yes, they do support the 45nm CPUs. But I read quite often that the intel chipsets are better and the only reason to get a board with an nvidia chipset is for SLI support.
It does seem odd to me that Intel would only support AMD's Crossfire. To me, it should be the other way around. Intel chipsets should support SLI, not the competitions solution.......but hey, what do I know? Can't really do much better than radodrill did, though I'm not crazy about the Gigabyte mobo. The E8400 is about $15 cheaper at newegg, but that's just squeezing a few pennies. Nice to see someone else that shops at ZZF.
Damn near perfect! Having said that, you might even get away with a 520W Corsiar, and be able to get something like a Freezer 7 Pro to keep the noise down
nVidia does not license out their SLI technology to chipset makers so that they can have a monopoly on SLI boards. I've heard a lot of good things about the Gigabyte P35 boards; that said, I'm running a DFI LP 680i. Sure some things can be a bit cheaper here or there, but when considering shipping costs it's only worth it if there's a substantial price difference. I shop all over the place; Newegg, ZZF, Tigerdirect, PCMall, ClubIT, etc.
Yes, for that system a 520W Corsair is plenty. Onboard RAID is much slower - if speed is critical then there's no point, otherwise, yes.
the person wanting the system wants to possibly do dual-gpu in the future have there been any major issues with the reference boards this time around? I'm still looking hard at the striker II, because I'm familiar with the original. and any onboard RAID is likely to be SoftRAID that relies on drivers. even the cheaper RAID cards on the market are all SoftRAID that said, I talked the person wanting the system out of the RAID requirement because the only cards that do true hardware RAID are $100+
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 $44.99 Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz $189.99 ASUS P5N-D $149.99 XFX PVT88PYDF4 GeForce 8800GT $259.99 G.SKILL 2GB $46.99 Western Digital Caviar 80GB $44.99 Rosewill RP550-2 550W 66.99 $756.94 You did say cheapest right?
Seriously, do NOT go for a Rosewill PSU. They're really bad quality. It'll sooner or later (propably sooner) kill the other components of the computer... Even if it's a lot cheaper, it's not worth to risk.
You will save shorterm going with a cheap psu but longterm, replacing all the components will be what you have to do if you have a cheap psu.
I'm not fond of rosewill power supplies either. The power supply is one item where you don't want to skimp.
updated challenge: Peynryn tech if possible min of 2.6Ghz SLI Motherboard and PSU capable of handling dual 8800GTs in the future 8800GT Minimum of 2 HDDs of at least 160GB+
C2D E6750 2.66 GHz $189.99 eVGA 8800GT 512 $239.99 OCZ GXS 700W $129.99 - $20MIR XFX MB-N780-ISH9 $249.99 OCZ 2Gb (2x1Gb) DDR2-800 $47.99 - $15MIR Coolermaster Elite 340 case $39.99 2x WD 500Gb 7200RMP SATA2 HDD $104.99 could go smaller but I like big HDDs and the Gb/$ increases with bigger drives. Total: $1107.92 - $35MIR = $1072.92AR
Well, there goes my cheap computer. I drop out of this challenge, because i dont feel like it. I let you guys know if my rosewill fries my motheboard
