Gaming Machine

Revision as of 16:08, 2 November 2007

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon X2 5200+	144
Motherboard	MSI K9N-Neo V3	98
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	65
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung Spinpoint P120 SP2504C	70
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS	187
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/430W PSU	100
Power Supply	Included with case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	697 + Postage

This system, despite its low price is a viable ticket to entry level gaming. It features a reasonable sized hard drive (250GB) sufficient for most users, and a decent video card, which will be plenty quick enough for most games.

$750 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E4500	145
Motherboard	Gigabyte P31-S3L	97
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	65
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung Spinpoint P120 SP2504C	70
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS	187
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/430W PSU	100
Power Supply	Included with case	-
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	694 + Postage

$1000 AMD

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon X2 5600+	168
Motherboard	MSI K9N-Neo V3	98
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	65
Hard Drive	320GB Samsung Spinpoint T HD321KJ	88
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT	314
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	111
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	946 + Postage

For under $1000 this machine is a bargain beast.

$1000 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E4500	145
Motherboard	Gigabyte P35-DS3L	123
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	65
Hard Drive	320GB Samsung Spinpoint T HD321KJ	88
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT	314
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	111
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	948 + Postage

At a touch under $1000 the Intel Core 2 Duo system is quite impressive. For $1000, this system would be very quick and well suited for demanding office applications and some decent gaming.

$1250 AMD

Part	Model	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon X2 6000+	179
Motherboard	MSI K9N-Neo V3	98
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	65
Hard Drive	500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ	129
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT	314
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	111
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro	35
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1033 + Postage

This machine is a bargain beast, with a 6000+, GeForce 8800GT, 2GB of RAM and a 500GB HDD. Definitely a good value system :)

$1250 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E6750	219
Motherboard	Gigabyte P35-DS3L	124
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	65
Hard Drive	250GB Samsung Spinpoint P120 SP2504C	70
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT	314
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W	111
Cooling	-	-
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1025 + Postage

I'd say that this machine is probably the sweet spot. It has a quick CPU, plenty of RAM, and a very quick video card. :)

$1500 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Duo E6750	219
Motherboard	Gigabyte P35-DS3L	124
RAM	2GB Kingston DDR2-667	65
Hard Drive	500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ	129
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX	640
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	620W Corsair CMPSU-620HX	164
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro	39
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1482 + Postage

This does go over budget, but it gives you an excellent video card. If price is an issue, maybe drop down to an E6550 or a Radeon HD2900XT/GeForce 8800GTS instead.

$1750 Intel

Part	Model	Price
CPU	Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600	318
Motherboard	Gigabyte P35-DS3L	124
RAM	2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 800	106
Hard Drive	500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ	129
Optical Drive	LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW	35
Graphics Card	768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX	640
Sound Card	Onboard from motherboard	-
Case	Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05	67
Power Supply	620W Corsair CMPSU-620HX	164
Cooling	Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro	39
Additional	-	-
Total Cost	-	1632 + Postage

Probably as far as the average user needs to go to have a very decent gaming experience - top of the range graphics card with a decent CPU. If dualcore is more your thing, an E6850 is similar money.

After this point, the higher end systems are found in the Dream Machine section

@@ Line 289: / Line 289: @@
 I'd say that this machine is probably the sweet spot. It has a quick CPU, plenty of RAM, and a very quick video card. :)
-==== $1500 AMD ====
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-! Model
-! Price
-! Case
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-! CPU
-| [http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_13041,00.html AMD Athlon X2 6400+] || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=X2+6400%2B 259]
-| rowspan="12" | [[Image:Centurion5.jpg|right|Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05]]
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-! Motherboard
-| [http://global.msi.com.tw/index.php?func=proddesc&prod_no=1244&maincat_no=1&cat2_no=171 MSI K9N-Neo V3 ] || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=K9N-Neo 98]
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-! RAM
-| 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=2GB+DDR2+Kingston+667 65]
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Hard Drive
-| [http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=computersperipherals&type=harddiskdrives&subtype=spinpointtseries&model_cd=HD501LJ&tab=fea&ppmi=1087 500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ] || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=500GB+SATA 129]
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Optical Drive
-| LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=H62N 35]
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Graphics Card
-| [http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce8.html 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX] || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=8800GTX+768MB 640]
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Sound Card
-| Onboard from motherboard || -
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Case
-| [http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s=2&url_place=product&p_serial=CAC-T05&other_title=+CAC-T05+Centurion%205 Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05] || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=Centurion+5 67]
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Power Supply
-| [http://www.corsairmemory.com/products/hx.aspx 620W Corsair CMPSU-620HX] || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=Corsair+620 164]
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Cooling
-| [http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=80&disc= Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro] || [http://www.staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=Freezer+64 35]
-|- bgcolor="#efefef"
-! Additional
-| - || -
-|
-|- bgcolor="#cccccc"
-! Total Cost
-| - || 1492 + Postage
-|-
-|}
-This machine might be a shade over budget, but it's worth it for the excellent 8800GTX video card. If price is an issue, maybe drop down to a HD2900XT or 640MB 8800GTS.
 ==== $1500 Intel ====