Flitterkill's Slow Build - Half Built

[Flitterkill]

August 11th, 2007

Antec 900 Case: $70 shipped

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...Tpk=antec%2b900

 

 

August 21st, 2007

OCZ GameXStream 700 Watt Power Supply: $90 shipped

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817341002

 

 

August 31st, 2007

Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L Motherboard: $83 Shipped

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128059

 

 

 

September 10th, 2007

OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Reaper HPC 2 gig 4-4-4-15: $60 shipped

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5283407

 

 

 

September 17th, 2007

WD 500gb Sata2: $106 shipped (stupid tax...)

 

 

 

September 18th, 2007

Intel Core2Duo 6750: $194

 

 

 

September 18th, 2007

Samsung lightscribe DVD SATA burner: $30

 

 

 

September 18th, 2007

MSI 8800gts OC 575mhz pci-e: $346

 

 

The chip, vid card, and burner all through ClubIT - chip was free shipping but burner and card each tacked on $6, plus I bumped another $10 (3 day fed ex) so I could assemble this weekend.

 

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

Total Damages: $1002

 

With more patience/hustle, prob could have gotten down to $900.

 

---------------------------------------------------

 

While we were down, the power supply dropped just enough to warrant pulling the trigger. Still more than I wanted to spend, but it is 700 watts.

 

Both of the above are after nifty coupons and rebates and were purchased at NewEgg.

 

Nvidia announced the new 9000 series of cards to be released in November. So, naturally, I'll end up buying a vid card just in time to see the prices drop on the 8000 series. That's prices dropping *after* I buy...

 

8800 GTS seems to be where I'm looking; the 640 meg version. With the 24" wide monitor, I cannot skimp on card memory even if I wanted to if I ever want to see teh pretties at 1900x1200. Video card will still likely be the last thing purchased.

 

Seems also that now is the time for memory to be bought - scuttlebutt I'm hearing has memory prices to go substantially up in the next quarter or two.

The motherboard is almost certainly going to be this, just waiting for the deal stars to align.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813128059

***Bought August 31st***

 

Still looking to wrap up the build sometime in early to mid October. Mid September it is...

 

-Fk

[ZeroDamage]

Keep an eye on http://www.slickdeals.net when it comes to HDD and Memory deals. I am seeing them all the time.

 

Here is one from a couple of days ago that is still good: http://www.slickdeals.net/?permadeal=10097#direct_deal_10097

[Flitterkill]

I follow those guys and many other religiously but thanks for the tip anyways.

 

800GTS 640 meg EVGA card - $305 shipped after rebate.

 

Wait or pull the trigger?

 

-Fk

 

EDIT: Scratch that - $326 (stupid tax...) Prob keep waiting...

[Nick Soapdish]

i like my 8800 gtx

[Flitterkill]

I'd like your 8800 gtx too...

 

-Fk

[bushwack]

Wow the prices on the 8800s have been holding steady. I gave $299 for my BFG 8800 GTS OC 320mb (550 core/1300 stream) 3 months ago from ZipZoomFly. When I bought it, Newegg had it for $309 and the 640mb version for $399, same as the current prices today!

 

I agree with you Flitter, I'd go for the 640mb too with that 24 incher. Also when looking for a model pay attention to shader (stream) clocks. Stock GTS cards have their shaders running at 1200 but if you can get an overclocked model at 1300 or 1350 it will give you a small boost. Seems shader frequency is locked in the BIOS while the core and memory can easily be clocked with nVidia's or other utilities. I o/c'ed my card at 600/1800 no probs, I picked BFG for the higher shader clock, great warranty service with real Americans in the tech department (I had a card die once).

[akaM2]

I think the vid card should maybe be the last thing you get along with the proccessor. I thought I read somewhere that the 8900gtx's are coming out soon and they will push the 8800gtx down to the gts price. Maybe cujo could shine some light on this.

[Flitterkill]

I'm pretty sure that's the 9000 series cards Nvidia is dropping in November - probably too late for me to wait on : (

 

-Fk

[Cujo]

i agree. buy the vid card and cpu last. new versions of both are coming out in november.

 

honestly, buying slow is something i'd never do or recommend. by the time you finish you'll start regretting some of the earlier purchases...

[Tek-Almighty]

i agree. buy the vid card and cpu last. new versions of both are coming out in november.

 

honestly, buying slow is something i'd never do or recommend. by the time you finish you'll start regretting some of the earlier purchases...

 

 

I think (before crash) i made a similar post regarding price:performance:replacement...wait too long or buy too soon and you may pay too high a price for what you get. It was a tough guess on the 8000 series, unless you had ready cash. I am in the same boat, only I am pretty sure I want 8800 GTX so I can watch "teh pretties" (lol) at decent fps. I do not know what kind of price drops we will see with the 8000s, but if history is any indicator, within a couple of months of 9000 release, probably 25% drops on gtx and gts, if not sooner.

 

As I said in another thread regarding today's "higher" end games (e.g. bioshock, supreme commander, and the like); game that have complex lighting, textures, and particle phsics...the 8000s are necessary to enjoy at decent rates.

 

I don't know.

 

I am in same boat. I was considering buying the 8800 GTX at the end of september (just in time for demo of UT3, i hope), but upon knowing about the 9000s, maybe wait...dang. tough spot. Probably should have sucked it up and paid the $500 for one 1/2 year ago, so i could have enjoyed it more, before regretting prices.

 

OCZ psu was good choice, I have one and it is gravy.

 

I am stuck on ddr2 choices too, but the OCZ i have now (4 x 1 gb) has been rock solid for almost 2 years, and that is with overclocking. Now may be the time to buy ram, because prices are fairly low. Anybody try patriot or crucial lately?

 

 

I was gonna start my build thread again, but probably won't...just bogart yours a bit and point to similar products, etc...

[dragonfly]

OCZ has solid ram. I love their ram and have never had a bad stick. I'm using 4x1gb right now of the gold stuff (5-5-5-12 but $30 cheaper than the platinum ) I'd buy the ram now - I got 2gb of the stuff for $70 with a rebate CAD.

 

Tek, you COULD buy an 8800gtx at the end of september, but buy an eVGA - they have a step up program so that if you want to upgrade within 90 days (3 months basically) of your purchase, you trade in your old card and pay the difference for the 9000 series card. Just make sure you register your product.

[Tek-Almighty]

OCZ has solid ram. I love their ram and have never had a bad stick. I'm using 4x1gb right now of the gold stuff (5-5-5-12 but $30 cheaper than the platinum ) I'd buy the ram now - I got 2gb of the stuff for $70 with a rebate CAD.

 

Tek, you COULD buy an 8800gtx at the end of september, but buy an eVGA - they have a step up program so that if you want to upgrade within 90 days (3 months basically) of your purchase, you trade in your old card and pay the difference for the 9000 series card. Just make sure you register your product.

 

 

You know what, I was thinking about that. I have the evga 7900 GT KO and I was contemplating trading up for the 7900 GTX...(course, this was a year ago...)

 

I was planning on looking at their site to see if that program was still available.

 

That would rock.

[boiler]

eVGA still has the step-up program.

 

It will probably be very difficult to get a 9000 step-up close to launch, though. My guess is there will be quite a lot of people that buy an 8800 close to the 9000 launch and will look to step up. Your choice - you probably will be able to step up, but it may take a while to get the new card. Then again, the 8800's aren't bad cards either

[Flitterkill]

1) Well, this 'slow build" is more of a 50 to 60 day build, starting with the basics and then working towards the potentially regrettable purchases (hence vid card closer to UT3 demo time). I'd never recommend taking 4 or more months to put something together - yikes

 

2) eVga step up program eh? Will look in to that - was toying with finding a cheap used 7000 card to tie me over til after the 8000 series prices drops in Nov/Dec but perhaps go that route? Or I could get lucky with teh deals. If it wasn't for tax I probably would have nabbed the 8800 gts and ramped up the build to complete by the end of the month.

 

3) Power supply has arrived. I should put it in and marvel at it. Because I can. That and teaching has blitzed the brain cells. Maybe I should blow stuff up. In UT that is.

 

-Fk

[dragonfly]

Maybe I should blow stuff up. In UT that is.

 

-Fk

 

Not just in UT. It's a big part of your masculinity, just embrace it.

[Flitterkill]

Picked up the motherboard today - should be here next week.

 

Still remaining: Memory (prob just 2 gig), SATA harddrive, CPU, Vidcard.

 

I imagine I'll pinch the memory and HD in the next week or so, and wait as long as I can for a real nice deal to hit for the chip and card.

 

Doin' alright so far.

 

-Fk

[Unclean]

I've been following your build threads for a bit -- would you mind maintaining a list of what you bought and what you paid for it? It'd be interesting to see how much you're saving overall on your machine.

 

On a side note, I bet you come up with cool names for your computers. What is this one going to be named?

[Flitterkill]

would you mind maintaining a list of what you bought and what you paid for it? It'd be interesting to see how much you're saving overall on your machine.

 

Que? (*cough* first post *cough*)

 

 

On a side note, I bet you come up with cool names for your computers. What is this one going to be named?

 

Eh, though I do name them for networking purposes, I rarely ever think of the computers by their "names" other than, desktop, notebook, and downstairs box. On the network though, desktop is usually Aphrodite, notebook is usually Neptune, and downstairs projector/movie/game box is Sprite.

 

-Fk

[Unclean]

would you mind maintaining a list of what you bought and what you paid for it? It'd be interesting to see how much you're saving overall on your machine.

 

Que? (*cough* first post *cough*)

You added that, right? I'm not just going crazy?

 

Also, what do you have left to buy? Proc, videocard, RAM at a minimum, but what about the hard drive setup? Cool dual-layer DVD burner with lightscribe? Any other goodies?

[Flitterkill]

Nope: crazy. Pics are new but otherwise...

 

As to your other point, again, I say, ?????? - more specifically, post 16

 

Go home, have a beer, relax, this reading thing has you a bit befuddled

 

-Fk

[Flitterkill]

Pinched the memory tonight - not the greatest for OC but I prob won't be pushing much (if at all) and all these memory deals are in the $60 range these days anyways.

 

Quad core G0 chips keep trickling down slightly but the 6750 chip won't budge from $200. NewEgg seems to be shipping nothing but G0 stepped Q6600s now for $280. Decisions, decisions...

 

Hoping some deals hit in the morning, I'm half tempted to just bang out most of it tomorrow and start assembly on Friday but - eh... we'll see.

 

Only possible mistake so far would have been skipping the $320 deal for the GTS 640 meg vid card. I thought there might be more movement but I've seen nothing. Best I can do on that now is around $350

 

-Fk

[Tek-Almighty]

That's a deal for GO stepping....

 

OH, and from what I've read in recent interview with Crysis developers, the Cry-engine is optimized for 4 cores...physics, AI, etc. etc...

 

I am torn between the E6850 and the Quad core 6600...$260-280 seems to be what the street is offering and paying for the 6600.

 

I saw OCZ gold 2 x 1GB DDR2 for $59.99 (after $30 rebate) on newegg last Friday! Crazy...how long can this memory price war last...?

[Cujo]

no reason to be torn. they'll both oc the same and 4 cores are better than 2.

[ZeroDamage]

Just keep in mind that the quads run hotter than the dual cores. Your room will be warmer and you will NEED better cooling in your case.

[Cujo]

zd, he should be just fine with that antec 900 case.