Cheapest E6300 C2D System Build!

Messer

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I'm trying to put together an E6300 gaming system as cheaply as possible.

Here are the price lists I am working with:

http://www.microbytes.com/computer/ordinateur/index.php

Mouse over "components" to get the prices.

THE PRICES ARE IN CANADIAN CURRENCY.

Here is what I have so far:
CASE ATX ALPHA 1150 BLK 450W (450W constant supply) $75.00
ATI PCIE RAD X1950XTX 512M BOX $579.00
LCD 19IN VIEWSONIC VX922 2MS BLACK/SILVER $365.00
INTEL CORE 2 DUO E6300 1.86G/1066/2M/S775 $239.00
OCZ 800MHZ DDR2 NO-ECC 2048MB GOLD KIT $349.00
P4 S775 GIGA GA-965P DS3 965P PCIE $189.00
300.0 W.D 7200 8MB WD3000JB $115.00
DVD+/-RW ASUS DRW-1608P2S DL 16/16/6 OEM BLK $45.00
C.LABS SOUNDBLASTER X-FI XTREME MUSIC BIL $139.00
already have KB and mouse

Total: $2095
With tax: $2388.30
(a good $1000 cheaper than an equivalent Dell System)
Am I missing anything? Did I screw up some compatibility issue?

Thanks :)
 

will14

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Oh must resist flaming author...

You don't need a aound card.
600 video card on a "cheap gaming system?" You're crazy get a $300 one perhaps, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130061

E6300 is only 183
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115005
but if you wanted to spend $2k I'd get 6600.($320)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819115003

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827131031
save $15 over other one.

ram just spiked in price
So I'd go with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820141211
Then you can oc FSB to 333(should be easy for this minor OC). Not quite 400 but if you were to buy a dell you'd be unable to OC at all.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822152025
If you need more storage get another one.
You could do a striped raid 1 array with 2 of these for better performance and more storage.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131043
has raid and is around $30 cheaper than the mobo you had.
Yours might have supported but i was too lazy to check.

so saves you a few hundred dollars and should get similar/better performance I'd say. At least are getting more bang for buck.
Hope this is somewhat helpful.
 

SidVicious

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Heh, are you in Montréal ?

The system that you priced doesn't exactly qualify as cheap by any means, I'm sure that you can shave a few hundred loonies by going with a X1900XT from Sapphire, PC2-5400 (666MHz) and a more frugal sound card, the difference in performance will be insignificant.

I'm also curious to know what are the specs on your current computer and if you intend to overclock.

Oh must resist flaming author...

[...]

Hope this is somewhat helpful.
Just in case you haven't noticed, those prices are in Canadian currency, so much for your long winded rant about the prices...
 

Messer

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Yes, in Montreal. Hence why I quoted those prices.

:p

The sound card... I heard that it is very important in order to have as viscereal experience as possible in the future of gaming once all the games start implementing the X-fi technology... I know a good sound card is only worth a few fps, tops.

My current system is a Dell Laptop XPS Gen 2... runs Oblivion on High textures but minimized everything else at like 12-15 fps outdoors, double that indoors.

I think I may wait a few months Kentsfield to come and see if maybe I shave off a few hundred bucks. The quest for the Oblivion-proof system lives on...
 

will14

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mebe and I sorta began to realize mebe it was canadien I had forgotten canada had electicity tho <3 =P
regardless seeing 2k and cheapest 6300 build in same post made me laugh.

Oh actually I spec'd a system for no reason earlier.
two.jpg

one.jpg


Could modify it I was messing around and did it in 5 minutes.
I think it doesn't include a case+psu.
But I had a combo off another site for like $120.
Same/similar price as yours.
I would suggest yours/mine over dell's.
 

SidVicious

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I'm just trying to help you save a few hundred dollars as I wonder if that X-fi lives up to the hype.

A quad core will be nice for running multiple distributed computing clients on a single box and doing highly multithreaded tasks such as media encoding but it won't help gaming performance AFAIK.

From my experience, Microbyte's staff is a wee bit on the clueless side about hardware so you ought to know what you are buying, don't expect accurate answers from them (they tend to parrot buzzwords without knowing what they are talking about) but their policy on hardware return is rather lenient, especially if you make a big purchase. You could try a cheaper sound card to see if you like it then exchange it for a X-fi if you're not satisfied.
 

Messer

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I guess I can use an integrated sound card and wait for the X-fi games to come out and wait for the reviews before plunking down the $150~ or so to buy it. The integrated sound on my laptop sounds fantastic already.

The reason I said that I was going to wait for Kentsfield is for the price drop - I already know that the quad cores have only a very marginal effect on the performance for games, and definitely not worth the price.

I do plan to do some overclocking (hence the E6300)... I heard that any idiot can get it up to 2.6ghz with hardly any trouble at all. We will see.

People at Microbytes not knowing their stuff? My experience has been quite the opposite. I always hate how there are never any salespeople available when I go, though :p