[dabigmandan]

I'm planning on buying a new computer within the next week or so but my budget is pretty strict topping out at about $750, taxes in.
I went to pccanada.com and built one myself with the following specs.

Chenbro PC61319 Steel Mid Tower Case, Black (Invis: 6545) $44.99
Intel Pentium D -945, 3.4-GHz @ 800Mhz w/ 2Mb x 2 Dual Core (Socket 775) (Retail Box) w/ Heat Sink & Fan (Invis: 6162) $199.99
Heat Sink and Fan included with CPU (Invis: 3) $0.00
Asus P5ND2-SLI, Socket 775, NVIDIA nForce™4 SLI Chipset w/ PCI Express x16 (ATX) (Invis: 4992) $109.99
1Gb DDR2 Ram Module, PC5400 (Invis: 4444) $119.99
320GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATAII-300 7200RPM 16Mb OEM (Invis: 6151) $114.99
Mitsumi 3½ in (1.44Mb) Floppy Disk Drive, Black (Invis: 2436) $9.99
On-Board Video built-into motherboard (Invis: 4) $0.00
On-Board PCI Sound built-into motherboard (Invis: 5) $0.00
On-Board 10/100Mb Lan built-into motherboard (Invis: 7) $0.00


Regular Price: $599.94
Best Price: $598.66 ($683 with taxes)

Now, bearing in mind that I will be removing dvd drives, power supply and a few other things from my other computer and installing them into this one, how did I do?

I will buy a kick ass graphics card further down the road so no need for one now.
I need this computer to do daily things. Play movies, surf the net, play music and play the occasional video game now and then. Considering all this, am I getting good bang for my buck?

[euro_zx5]

Sweet choices... although I have yet to warm up the the latest offerings from Intel. I'm still in Northwood territory. :o Regardless, it should be a sweet rig... lots of potential no doubt. Best choice was sticking with an Asus mobo, but if I were you, I would definitely get some decent ram. Your from Toronto, and they have the best shops around imo, I used to go to the trade shows down there every year and always find local Toronto shops selling good stuff at reasonable prices.

[NOS2Go4Me]

It's not bad for an entry-levelish PC. Just don't expect to game on integrated video from ANY vendor. Seriously.

Also, the Pentium D dual-cores are just two single-core processor cores on a single substrate... they're horrendously power-hungry and not actually a true dual-core. Based on what you expect of the system, perhaps either something built around AMD's Socket AM2 or a Core 2 Duo E6300 system is right for you. Both are purposely-engineered dual-cores.

[dabigmandan]

NOS2Go4Me,Jan 9 2007, 08:22 AM Wrote:It's not bad for an entry-levelish PC. Just don't expect to game on integrated video from ANY vendor. Seriously.

Also, the Pentium D dual-cores are just two single-core processor cores on a single substrate... they're horrendously power-hungry and not actually a true dual-core. Based on what you expect of the system, perhaps either something built around AMD's Socket AM2 or a Core 2 Duo E6300 system is right for you. Both are purposely-engineered dual-cores.
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I considered the core 2 duo but the price difference would be too much for me right now. With this motherboard I can switch over to core 2 duo in the future so thats why I picked it. As for the video card, I have an older graphics card I can throw in there till I save up for a new one.

[Gravter]

Why not just get the D805 and overclock it!
It's cheaper than the 945, so you'll save cash to get your core 2 duo ;)
I have a D950 and like it, but its no core 2 duo!
Don't buy anything better than a 7600GT for now because you will waste your money. DX10 cards will be coming out in the masses soon, unless you get the 8800GS/GTX which is a beast :)

P.S. dump that floppy ;)

[dabigmandan]

Gravter,Jan 9 2007, 12:31 PM Wrote:Why not just get the D805 and overclock it!
It's cheaper than the 945, so you'll save cash to get your core 2 duo ;)
I have a D950 and like it, but its no core 2 duo!
Don't buy anything better than a 7600GT for now because you will waste your money.  DX10 cards will be coming out in the masses soon, unless you get the 8800GS/GTX which is a beast :)

P.S. dump that floppy ;)
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Hmm... Interesting suggestion on the D805. As for the video card, thats the exact reason I'm not buying anything right now. I'm waiting for the DX10 cards to be released and I'll be running windows vista so... yeah. And I would love to dump the floppy but pccanada's "configure your own pc" option won't let me <_<

[dabigmandan]

Hey I just noticed this deal on the MDG website. Seems a little too good to be true. I called and asked which intel motherboard they are offering and they said they just put in whatever they have :blink: Same goes for the LCD monitor. Probably all low-end stuff but the price sure is sweet and I do get a core 2 duo which I believe is the 1.86 GHz version. What do you guys think?

[NefCanuck]

dabigmandan,Jan 9 2007, 03:30 PM Wrote:Hey I just noticed this deal on the MDG website. Seems a little too good to be true. I called and asked which intel motherboard they are offering and they said they just put in whatever they have :blink:  Same goes for the LCD monitor. Probably all low-end stuff but the price sure is sweet and I do get a core 2 duo which I believe is the 1.86 GHz version. What do you guys think?
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Based on the number of complaints I get from callers who have been victims of "bait and switch" tactics at MDG I would say stay far, far away from them.

Better to go with a "white box" vendor and know what you're getting in the case than playing roulette what "whatever they have" IMO

NefCanuck

[NOS2Go4Me]

Yeah, MDG... not a safe bet.

The thing IS upgradeable as you have it, but I'm not a fan of re-mounting on the LGA processor "bed". You can pretzel the mobo now, as opposed to pretzeling one processor before.

Just my opinion.

[dabigmandan]

Yeah i passed on the MDG. Read a lot of bad things about them.

[euro_zx5]

Stick with ATI's offerings, way better imo than the Nvidia cards, well... their drivers that is.