Need Assistance in Building $1000 gaming sff

Cr4ckh3ad

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my cousin just moved into his new house and wants to build a new computer. I showed him some pics of sff cases and showed him some at frys. He seemed very interested in it and wanted one for his next computer. His budget is only 1000 after tax + shipping. He will mainly use this computer for gaming. A list of the parts would be cool and thanks for your help.



he would play games such as bf2 occasionally but mainly strategy games.
single core cpu
1gb ram
decent video card that can handle bf2 at med-high settings and the upcoming games
160-200gb hdd
no need for high sound quality hes not that much into it.

NO keyboard ,mouse, and monitor is needed
 
Some more info would help
Would he like a single or dual core cpu?
How much ram? 1gb or 2gb?
High or mid end vid card? budget looks like mid end to me
How much hard drive space?
Sound card?
Is the budget just for the tower or is monitor and mouse kb and stuff included in the budget?

What are some of the games that he is interested in playing? These could help decide between more ram or better vid card etc.
 
i'd say something like this (for non-oc'ing)

*prices are approximate, from what i can remember.

aspire x-qpack ~ $85
xclio 450bl psu ~ $55
a64 3500+ ~ $230-ish
2x512mb ram - get the cheapest by a good company (it'll probably b kingston) ~ $80
biostar tforce mobo ~ $80
watch the fry's ads for a hard drive deal, 200gb goes on sale for $50 after rebates all the time.
7800GT ~ $400 or less if you find a deal, not sure on what they're at right now.

this comes out to about $980. it'll end up over $1k after tax and shipping, but not by far. see if you can stretch your wallet, or possible money-savers:

switch the 7800GT for a x800 xl = -$100
switch the 3500+ for a 3200+ = -$80

one of those two should cover tax/shipping. the 7800gt is a pretty high end video card, it should be able to play everything currently out at high quality w/ a reasonable resolution. x800 xl is pretty good too, it'll play med-high like you want. gt is better though, and probaly the better buy, cuz you can most likely find a deal for it for $350 instead of 400.

switching down to the 3200+ for the processor is mostly recommended if you or your friend knows how and/or is willing to oc. if you're gonna oc, no point in getting the 3500+. if not, though, i'd probably search for a deal on the 7800gt to save some money, and try to find stuff locally for the same price as online to make it so you dont need to pay for shipping.
 
thanks soymilk for the list. i would prolly go for the gt and choose the 3200+.

Anyone else has any other suggestions? I would like to see the possibilities with the $1000 i got to spend on.
 
o, we forgot about optical drives too. like a dvd burner or something, but thats just like $40, head on over to newegg and they have a lot in the $40 range, lite-ons, benq, nec, sony, samsung, they're all good, just get the cheapest (w/ a black bezel if color coordination matters to you, cuz the front of the qpack where the optical drives are is black), unless ur friend already has them.
 
Soy knows what he is talkin about, a 3200 shall do fine, Wont be your bottleneck
 
CRaZYMoFo said:
for the x-qpack i suggest a short dvd burner like the Lite-ons and Sonys
ya, forgot about that. thats probably a good idea :)

the qpack case has a problem with full length psu's and full length optical drives; it doesnt fit. just barely. so a lite-on or sony drive, since they're shorter than the normal size, will make it so it will fit. if your friend already has a drive though, no need to fret. try it anyways, but if it doesnt work you can always do this simple mod: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=924745
it really does just BARELY not fit, so go out to a computer parts store and buy a couple low profile molex connectors and switch the plugs over, and it should fit.
 
Soymilk said:
i'd say something like this (for non-oc'ing)

*prices are approximate, from what i can remember.

aspire x-qpack ~ $85
xclio 450bl psu ~ $55
a64 3500+ ~ $230-ish
2x512mb ram - get the cheapest by a good company (it'll probably b kingston) ~ $80
biostar tforce mobo ~ $80
watch the fry's ads for a hard drive deal, 200gb goes on sale for $50 after rebates all the time.
7800GT ~ $400 or less if you find a deal, not sure on what they're at right now.

this comes out to about $980. it'll end up over $1k after tax and shipping, but not by far. see if you can stretch your wallet, or possible money-savers:

switch the 7800GT for a x800 xl = -$100
switch the 3500+ for a 3200+ = -$80

one of those two should cover tax/shipping. the 7800gt is a pretty high end video card, it should be able to play everything currently out at high quality w/ a reasonable resolution. x800 xl is pretty good too, it'll play med-high like you want. gt is better though, and probaly the better buy, cuz you can most likely find a deal for it for $350 instead of 400.

switching down to the 3200+ for the processor is mostly recommended if you or your friend knows how and/or is willing to oc. if you're gonna oc, no point in getting the 3500+. if not, though, i'd probably search for a deal on the 7800gt to save some money, and try to find stuff locally for the same price as online to make it so you dont need to pay for shipping.

I strongly suggest keeping the 7800GT and going with a 3200+
You can find a 7800gt for 330 on newegg right now! hurry! seriously!
 
Well guys heres the list.


CPU:AMD 64 3200+ VENICE SOCKET 939
MOTHERBOARD:Biostar Tforce6100 SOCKET 939 MICROATX
MEMORY:Corsair 1GB PC3200 DDR400
VIDEO CARD:eVGA Geforce 7800GT
CASE:Aspire Q-Pack
POWER SUPPLY:Xclio 450w Power Supply
HARD DRIVE:Maxtor 200gb SATA150 hdd
Cd drives:Lite-on Black DVD BURNER


the total after tax and shipping is : $1012.64 i hope my cuzin can stretch his wallet just alil or he might just take his cd burner out of his old ones and use it. hopefully we will find a way to fit the molex connector in w/o any serious changes
 
if you dont especially want the windows on the qpack, the windowless version is 5 bucks cheaper. theres the silver faceplate and black faceplate versions for windowless.
 
no i want the one with windows cuz i want my cousin to look inside his case to see wats going on. Because he was like aren't these parts all gonna melt inside that small thing?. So i told him i'm getting one with windows so he can see if its melting when he gets BSOD or something so he won't be calling me everytime something happens.
 
The Q-pack you linked already comes with a power supply. Is there a reason you're replacing the aspire psu?
 
rofl. best reason for windows evar. OMG ARE MY PARTS MELTING?!?! *goes to look into window*
 
Equalizer said:
The Q-pack you linked already comes with a power supply. Is there a reason you're replacing the aspire psu?

i'm guessing because it can't handle the 7800gt i'm gonna put into it so i get a better power supply. and people said the one that came with it sucked.
 
Soymilk said:
rofl. best reason for windows evar. OMG ARE MY PARTS MELTING?!?! *goes to look into window*

You made that sound so much funnier than I thought it was lol
Hilarious :D

Yea the PSU sucks, keep it as a backup PSU and buy a nice ~500W one
 
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