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What is your budget? Are shipping and/or taxes included within that budget?
Other things to note:
Ascent is doing the actual building of the computer for me this is a free service and I don't lose anything out of it. They do offer a 2% discount when shipped as components, but really the hassle saved is easily worth that to me (and I get 1.5% off for direct credit). Not very [H]ard I know!
I also realise I could get a better deal shopping around, and possibly a better selection, but again the savings wouldn't be worth it to me considering the hassle avoided ordering from one place.
PLEASE NOTE this is in NZ dollars! It may seem ridiculously expensive, but rest assured it is the difference in currency (mostly!
).
Possibly the most important thing to note is that, while New Zealand is pretty good, we don't get everything and we definitely get things a bit later than the US. So certain products might be a better choice, but unless they are on Ascent I won't be getting them.
I greatly appreciate any advice!
This is in NZ dollars (apologies!). My budget is under NZ $3,000. The place I am buying from has free shipping and tax is included.
Where do you live? Where are you (planning on) buying everything at?I live in New Zealand and will be buying everything from Ascent (ascent.co.nz).
Do you plan on overclocking? Are you going to use water (or some other form of "exotic") cooling?I will not be doing any overclocking. I realise this isn't particularly wise, but I don't see it as necessary for me. Put simply the ability of components to overclock should NOT be taken into consideration. My cooling will be standard air.
Which features do you want on the motherboard?I don't really need a feature-heavy motherboard, certainly not in terms of overclocking, but a decent range of features would be nice.
Other things to note:
Ascent is doing the actual building of the computer for me this is a free service and I don't lose anything out of it. They do offer a 2% discount when shipped as components, but really the hassle saved is easily worth that to me (and I get 1.5% off for direct credit). Not very [H]ard I know!
I also realise I could get a better deal shopping around, and possibly a better selection, but again the savings wouldn't be worth it to me considering the hassle avoided ordering from one place.
PLEASE NOTE this is in NZ dollars! It may seem ridiculously expensive, but rest assured it is the difference in currency (mostly!
).Case: Cooler Master Centurion 590 NZ $134
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L NZ $179
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 NZ $317
Hard drive: Western Digital Caviar WD6400AAKS 640GB NZ $160
Optical drive: Samsung SH-S203D DVD Writer NZ $65
Memory: G.Skill F2-8000CL5D-4GBPQ 2x2GB DDR21000 NZ $185
This seems like the best 4GB choice out of them all.Video card: XFX GX-280N-ZDF9 GeForce GTX 280 NZ $1,072
Ah... I have no excuse! Other than the 4870s haven't arrived yet and I have the money to spend. I realise it is complete overkill at 1680x1050, but I want a card which I can chuck in and not have to worry about upgrading for as long as possible. I'm also sick of waiting! But I'm certainly open to the 4870. The main reason for this is I have enough money saved that I can afford to treat myself without worrying too much about the price. If you like call this a placeholderPSU: Corsair TX750 750W NZ $185
Monitor: Samsung 2053BW 20" NZ $435
Speakers: Logitech X-230 2.1 NZ $75
OS: Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium (64-bit) OEM NZ $171
Total: NZ $2981
Possibly the most important thing to note is that, while New Zealand is pretty good, we don't get everything and we definitely get things a bit later than the US. So certain products might be a better choice, but unless they are on Ascent I won't be getting them.
I greatly appreciate any advice!
