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flipflopsnowman
Limp Gawd
- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 155
Hello to all and thanks for all of your help so far in building a wishlist and etc.
Let me start by explaining myself:
In May my wife and I, after a LONG discussion, decided that it was time for a new computer. My Athlon 1300, GeForce 2MX, 512 MB RAM, 16" Gateway CRT just wasn't cutting it anymore and in fact was keeping us in the stone age. I am moving from the Stone Age to the year 2007 and embarking upon Project Caveman.
We decided that I would be allowed to build a computer for my birthday in October. I began to work on a wishlist, post threads, and wait. [H]ard has been an immense help in this process taking me from a ChillTec cooler with a Striker Extreme to a much higher quality and budget minded rig.
Goals:
Overclockable: I've never overclocked a computer before and the prospect of getting even more bang for my buck is something that I can't pass up even if I try.
Aesthetically Pleasing: My wife is an artist and I pride myself on quality both at work and at home. As such, I wany my PC to reflect this. Cable management, solid black design, and just a beautiful piece of machinery.
Upgradeable: I want to be able to take this PC and upgrade it on the cheap. My old PC just was not cutting it any longer and part of the reason was because I neglected it because of other fiscal responsibilites including, but not limited to, college, engagement, wedding, pizza, late night fast food, and a general lack of income.
High Quality: As stated before I love high quality workmanship and I am willing to pay for it. On the other hand, I'm not going to spend an arm and a leg or a harsh lecture from my wife for going over budget.
Budget: ~$2000 give or take not including MIR. Any price I post is the actual to my door price that I paid.
Currently Have:
Dell 2407WFP-HC $620.98 - I cannot say enough about how beautiful this monitor is. I got the color file from another [H]ard user and since that day I have been nothing but happy with it.
Logitech MX518 $41.49 - I got this via the paypal20 Newegg deal and it is the most amazing mouse I have ever held. Large so my hand's don't cramp while using it and plenty of buttons.
Linksys WRT54GL $41.49 - The other half of the mouse order. Buy this router, you will NEVER regret it. I haven't bridged or flashed it but the onboard stuff works just fine for now. Waiting on a $10 MIR.
Saitek Eclipse - $39.99 - My first purchase for this build. Very responsive and I love the LEDs. The lights don't fully illuminate the longer or taller keys (enter, shift, etc) since the LED seems to be in the center of the key, but I know for the most part where the keys are and the illumination is enough for me to read it in the dark. Also has 3 settings (off, medium, bright) which is nice for daytime use.
Corsair HX520 $92.71 - Sitting in its box at home waiting for a home. Modular and plenty of power for what I'm going to need.
Abit IP35 Pro - $181.99 - Just ordered this from club-it. I was going to go with the Gigabyte DS3R but the price and the reviews I've read say that this is better. It also has onboard 7.1 sound and firewire. I was going to have to get an add on card for the DS3 plus it had a $20 MIR.
nVidia 8800 GTS 320 OC $261.72 - Ordered from Dell. This was a hard call to make since I have a 24" monitor. But then I realized that anything better than a GeForce 2 MX would blow my socks off so a 320 will allow me to game at pretty much any resolution that I would care to use and I can only see myself using this card for about a year or so before I upgrade. No sense in blowing $500 on a GTX with more nVidia cards on the way (I don't know the date, just know they're coming)
Other parts will be posted as the come in and the build day is set for ~9/20 depending on Newegg shipping time. I will be posting updates and pictures between now and then. Stay tuned.
FlipFlopSnowMan
Let me start by explaining myself:
In May my wife and I, after a LONG discussion, decided that it was time for a new computer. My Athlon 1300, GeForce 2MX, 512 MB RAM, 16" Gateway CRT just wasn't cutting it anymore and in fact was keeping us in the stone age. I am moving from the Stone Age to the year 2007 and embarking upon Project Caveman.
We decided that I would be allowed to build a computer for my birthday in October. I began to work on a wishlist, post threads, and wait. [H]ard has been an immense help in this process taking me from a ChillTec cooler with a Striker Extreme to a much higher quality and budget minded rig.
Goals:
Overclockable: I've never overclocked a computer before and the prospect of getting even more bang for my buck is something that I can't pass up even if I try.
Aesthetically Pleasing: My wife is an artist and I pride myself on quality both at work and at home. As such, I wany my PC to reflect this. Cable management, solid black design, and just a beautiful piece of machinery.
Upgradeable: I want to be able to take this PC and upgrade it on the cheap. My old PC just was not cutting it any longer and part of the reason was because I neglected it because of other fiscal responsibilites including, but not limited to, college, engagement, wedding, pizza, late night fast food, and a general lack of income.
High Quality: As stated before I love high quality workmanship and I am willing to pay for it. On the other hand, I'm not going to spend an arm and a leg or a harsh lecture from my wife for going over budget.
Budget: ~$2000 give or take not including MIR. Any price I post is the actual to my door price that I paid.
Currently Have:
Dell 2407WFP-HC $620.98 - I cannot say enough about how beautiful this monitor is. I got the color file from another [H]ard user and since that day I have been nothing but happy with it.
Logitech MX518 $41.49 - I got this via the paypal20 Newegg deal and it is the most amazing mouse I have ever held. Large so my hand's don't cramp while using it and plenty of buttons.
Linksys WRT54GL $41.49 - The other half of the mouse order. Buy this router, you will NEVER regret it. I haven't bridged or flashed it but the onboard stuff works just fine for now. Waiting on a $10 MIR.
Saitek Eclipse - $39.99 - My first purchase for this build. Very responsive and I love the LEDs. The lights don't fully illuminate the longer or taller keys (enter, shift, etc) since the LED seems to be in the center of the key, but I know for the most part where the keys are and the illumination is enough for me to read it in the dark. Also has 3 settings (off, medium, bright) which is nice for daytime use.
Corsair HX520 $92.71 - Sitting in its box at home waiting for a home. Modular and plenty of power for what I'm going to need.
Abit IP35 Pro - $181.99 - Just ordered this from club-it. I was going to go with the Gigabyte DS3R but the price and the reviews I've read say that this is better. It also has onboard 7.1 sound and firewire. I was going to have to get an add on card for the DS3 plus it had a $20 MIR.
nVidia 8800 GTS 320 OC $261.72 - Ordered from Dell. This was a hard call to make since I have a 24" monitor. But then I realized that anything better than a GeForce 2 MX would blow my socks off so a 320 will allow me to game at pretty much any resolution that I would care to use and I can only see myself using this card for about a year or so before I upgrade. No sense in blowing $500 on a GTX with more nVidia cards on the way (I don't know the date, just know they're coming)
Other parts will be posted as the come in and the build day is set for ~9/20 depending on Newegg shipping time. I will be posting updates and pictures between now and then. Stay tuned.
FlipFlopSnowMan
) and I'm fed up with the PC. Been running it and screwing with it for far too long. Once the new one is up and running, I'll turn it into a Linux box and give it a proper cleaning. If it dies, I won't cry.