Stuart_G

Farrrrk me. $1500 for a 4800+ x2? That chip costs nearly $1k alone. The rest of the system is pretty crappy though, so they would make their money from the hardware changes you would have to make. You might also need an OS unless youve already got one you can use. But if i were you, i would start off with the AMD 3200+ system($790), then upgrade to these things. -160gb Hard Drive +$70 -1gb RAM +$60 -128mb 6600GT +$135 -16x LG Dual Layer DVD-+RW drive +$40 -Windows XP +$125 -17" LG LCD monitor +$315 Total - $1535.00 So really, after youve changed the hardware specs around, it doesnt really end up being cheaper than building one from scratch. Another thing is they dont list the brands of things such as the RAM, hard drive and the manufacturer of the video card, so they might just throw in some really cheap name parts into it, which isnt very good and could possibly cause trouble down the road. So its probably wiser to build it yourself because you know exactly whats going in there, but if your on a tight budget or dont know what your doing, this might be a route to consider. Just wait and see what others have to say about it though.

This is somewhat like the dvd burner i have and its been reliable so far. Id look into it if it intrests you.

Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to power supplys. Get that Xion case if its what you really want then sell off the power supply unit that came with it on ebay or just keep it with you incase you ever have the need to use it. Its not always possible to separate a power supply from a case so you might as well just take it and stick a new one in there. So yeah, get the antec power supply you posted and what ever case you choose then stick the antec power supply in the case you buy and keep/sell the power supply that came with it.

Wiki page here. Thats the true meaning of it. But its 4 letters, plenty of other acronyms could be made up for it :wink:

Yes, should be fine, but i dont see the point in getting an SLi unless you really, really intend to use it now or upgrade it in the future so you can utilise all of its potential.

Sister installed one of these unintentionally once. Was a pain to remove as it disabled all antivirus and antispyware programs which leaves your computer open for bombardment from unwanted crap. But yeah, running in safe mode and doing all the scans with up to date programs should find it and be able to get rid of it. Worked for me anyway :wink:

http://www.pixel2life.com/tutorials/Visual_Basic/All/ Not sure if that will be of any help or not, but theres a bunch of tutorials there that might help you with what your looking for.

This may be an alright alternative if you still want to get an ATi card. The x1600xt is out of stock while the x800gto is in stock, so if you dont want to wait for the x1600xt to come in, the x800gto might be worth considering.

Building a computer yourself is worth it because you know exactly what parts are in it and what brand they are. But have a good look at CentreCom. Reasonably good prices because compared to the other sites ive looked at, they have usually had the cheapest prices out of the ones i compared. Victoria based business too, so they should have no problem shipping to you. Not to blow my own horn, but the parts i chose would be fairly alright for your needs. Decent amount of ram, plenty of hard drive space, good processor and the 6600GT is an excellent card. Only thing im unsure of is the power supply because im not sure if its got a 20 or 24 pin plug for the mother board. Perhaps someone could find that out? Auspcmarket may be another place to have a look at as well as Global Group Im unsure if they ship to victoria though, so you may have to find that out.

Yeah, i do, ill pm you it cause i dont want every one to me able to see it...

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (S939) - $242.00 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_27_29&products_id=11478 Gigabyte GA-K8VT890-9 motherboard - $133.10 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_36_63&products_id=13944 WD 120Gb 7200 8Mb Cache SATA Hard Disk - $110.00 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_107_22&products_id=5886 Generic 1Gb PC3200 DDR Ram - $115.50 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_23&products_id=16855 GIGABYTE GEFORCE 6600GT, 128MB, PCIEX16 - $229.90 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_26&products_id=14687 Zalman ZM400B-APS Noise-free 400W PSU - $121.00 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_74&products_id=11905 Proview 17" LCD Monitor - $299.00 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_25&products_id=16770 Antec SLK1650B Black Tower - $99.00 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_60&products_id=13662 Pioneer DVR-110 DVD Re-Writer (16x/8x Dual Layer Black) - $69.30 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=93_49&products_id=16766 Logitech X-230 2.1 Speakers (32 Watts) - $69.30 - http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=96_61&products_id=11897 Total - $1488.10 Just came in under your budget. Theres a list of parts that might interest you, they are all reasonably good parts and should be fine for the uses you listed.

Ah, australia, well, newegg dont ship to australia unfortunantly. Where in australia do you live then?

Yep, i pretty much agree with everything Militaris listed, they would all be fine for your needs. For a monitor, something like this or this.

Id have to disagree with you there, all the 256MB 6600GT's on newegg are clocked slower than the x1600. The only one close to the x1600 is the Leadtek 6600GT. The only thing it beats the x1600 is in the memory interface which is 256mb while the x1600 is only 128mb. The x1600 beats it in core and memory clock, its running more pixel pipelines, the 6600GT is only openGL 1.5 whilst the x1600 is openGL 2.0. Not only that, but the leadtek 6600GT is $100 more expensive than the x1600. So unless ive misunderstood something here, at first glance, the x1600 beats out all of the 256mb 6600GT's.

As blade995 said, Corsair arent some cheap knock off brand, they are one of the top RAM suppliers and all their products are top notch. POWERCOLOR Radeon X1600XT 256MB Video Card - $179.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131317 If you prefer an ATi card, that would probably be fine for you. Nearly half the price of the 7800gtx i listed earlier. So if you want an ATi card, look into that one. Western Digital Caviar SE 80GB 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - $55.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106 That would do fine if your wanting a smaller hard drive, but with the money saved off the graphics card, you could still afford a 160gb one. Its better to have too much space than not enough methinks. NEC Display Solutions LCD1770GX-BK Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - $349.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824002284 Thats the monitor you listed earlier, so im assuming you think its alright so you should consider getting it.

Its beyond me why your shunning amd for intel, but if you want it that way, take a look at this. Gigabyte GA-8I945P-PRO ATX Intel Motherboard - $125.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128293 Intel Pentium D 920 2.8 GHz 800MHz FSB LGA 775 Dual Core Processor - $268.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116237 CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory - $73.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145526 Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $85.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144415 eVGA Geforce 7800GT 256-P2-N516 Video Card - $299.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256 Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-450 450W Power Supply - $66.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103936 BenQ FP71G+ (Black) Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - $208.95 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014100 ASPIRE X-Dreamer II ATXB4KLW-BK Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window - $54.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144026 Logitech Black Wired Value Keyboard - $7.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126170 Logitech Value Black Mouse - $6.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826104181 Logitech X-530 5.1 Speaker - $49.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121118 Total - $1243.92

Hrm, lets see... The motherboard is a 775 socket with pci-e while you chose a socket 478 processor and an agp video card, those three parts arent compatible. The motherboard doesnt support DDR2 ram so the ram youve chosen wont be compatible there either. None of those parts go well together because most of them arent compatible. If your going to try and keep under budget, its a good idea to stick with an AMD cpu because they are cheaper than Intel cpu's and can perform just aswell if not better. So if your seriously considering a new computer, i would really think about the parts i listed because i think they would do just fine, but thats my opinion, wait and see what other people think about it.

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor - $160.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535 ASUS A8N-E ATX AMD Motherboard - $109.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131530 CORSAIR XMS 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Dual Channel Kit System Memory - $99.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145450 Western Digital Caviar SE 160GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $85.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144415 eVGA Geforce 7800GT 256-P2-N516 Video Card - $299.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130256 Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-450 450W Power Supply - $66.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103936 BenQ FP71G+ (Black) Black 17" 8ms LCD Monitor - $208.95 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824014100 NZXT TRINITY BLK Black/Silver Computer Case With Side Panel Window - $79.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811146015 Logitech Black Wired Value Keyboard - $7.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16823126170 Logitech Value Black Mouse - $6.00 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16826104181 Logitech X-530 5.1 Speaker - $49.99 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16836121118 Total - $1171.91 Now thats got everything you would need such as monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers. I find the case rather sexy myself, but you might not like the looks of it. It comes with a psu, but normally psu's that come with cases arent that great so i put in a 450w Antec psu which should be able to provide ample power. I could write stuff about the other parts, but i cant be bothered. So if any one else wants to suggest something better than the parts i listed, you can do so. Oh, by the way, nice sig :wink:

Probably no set up because windows should recognize it and install drivers and such.

This kid has some serious mental problems and need to be admited to the mental ward of a local hospital. When you think the way that kid must have, you need to have your head checked. As for being goth, thats got nothing to do with it. This kid just has some serious problems with him and he needs to get them sorted out.

Now what gave you that idea? If your considering to go with something from dell or harvey norman, its not the best idea. Sure most prices include a monitor, but its not the best idea buying a premade because when you build a custom, you know what parts and brands are in it. I went through all the prebuilt computers on that site and the only ones in your price range are ones with a celeron chip, and there not that good. I still think its in your best intrest to send centre com an email and see if they ship to where you live, because their range is much, much better than this PLE computers one. Also, if you decide to get a 6600GT, get this one, NVIDIA GEFORCE 6600GT PCIe/128MB/TV/DVI, under their graphics card area.

Yes youll have to buy windows, so that another $200-300 youll have to spend. A SLi motherboard is a waste of money if your not intending to get two cards to run in sli, but what ever, your money.

Well, take a look at their site and find another socket 939 mother board. The only ones there from a decent company are asus sli boards and unless you have the money, which you dont, buying an sli board isnt worth it. So foxconn is the only other brand there with a socket 939 board with pci-e that isnt an sli board. Like i said, they dont have a very good range so i didnt have much choice then to use that one. Only other option you have if you want a decent board is to swap over to the asus socket 775, but thats only got an agp slot, and agp is getting out dated. The other option is for a intel board with pci-e, but if youve looked, youll notice there not the cheapest. In the end, it all comes down to your decision.

Freight Information "Our appointment of these carriers gives us the greatest level of flexibility with regards to nation wide coverage and ensures our freight charges are highly competitive." So yeah, they deliver australia wide. But ill use the site you gave me, just because im nice. And ive got nothing better to do. Edit: Ive had a look through their site, and they dont have the greatest range ive ever seen and the site isnt set up that great either... But see if you like the looks of this. MBRD FOXCONN S939/PCIe/SND/LAN/NF4 - $139 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=MBRD&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 AMD ATHLON 64 3500+ S939 VENICE CORE - $319 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=CPU&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 PC3200 1GB DDR400 DIMM - $129 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=MEM&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 200GB 7200RPM HARD-DRIVE SATA - $146 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=HDD&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 ATI RADEON X700 SUPER PCIE/512MB/TV/DVI - $165 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=VC&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 PIONEER DVR-110D DVD WRITER W/SOFT BK OEM - $79 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=OPT&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 ANTEC TRUEBLUE 480W POWER SUPPLY - $129 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=PSU&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 ThermalTake SOPRANO 430W P4 TOWER/BLK - $159 - http://www.ple.com.au/components.php?select=CASE&PHPSESSID=kpf2cp99m548aq6j8t9aon88a6 Total - $1255.00 Now that system might be worth looking into. Not 100% sure if its all compatible, because they gave next to no description on most products. Personally, i dont really like that site because of their lack of range and lack of descriptions, but whatever, its the site you chose so i picked parts. Hope this is of some help to you.

Now that i look at it, the cheapest monitor with 8ms refresh rate is only $11 more than the other one. So a monitor like this might be ok if you can afford the extra price involved.