Can I "REALLY" build a good computer for less-then $800 ? Is this possible ??

I was told you can build a great computer for under $800? Is this
TRUE?

I'm not talking about bare bones, I was told a 'good computer that
could play the latest games and newest apps for less than $800'

I plan on keeping both my Hard Drive and LCD Monitor, so if those were
deducted from a New Build could I really build a 'great' computer for
less than $800?

What If I wanted an INTEL system this time?

I built an AMD system myself about 5 years ago but in todays dollars
that would cost me more than $1,200 today...So you can see how I find
the $800 claim to be impossible.

NEED FOR COMPUTER:
I'd need one to play the latest games with good FPS rates
I'd need to be able to use the photo shopping programs now and then.
I'd of course want to have no noticeable lag or jerky screens.

AMD OR INTEL?
I'd want the most bang for my buck, which ever wins, wins.

I'd also want these details
Video Card with at least 512mb ram PCI x 16/or x1 slot
Ram- at least 2-4 gb's
CPU, Quad core at least, with OC abilities
Motherboard, supports Quad core with OC abilities
Hard Drive -already have one
Monitor -already have one
printer, keyboard, mouse, already have them
CASE- One the moves the air a LOT, lots of fans, lot's of cooling.
HSF, mid-range price, something that is nice for less heats.
Operating SYSTEM? I am 'addicted' to WIN XP but would be willing to
learn VISTA if it really is better?

So is it 'really' possible to get all of this for less than $800?
Can some of you show me so details of a complete build with my
requirements? Maybe using NEWEGG and showing me a 'wish list' in
public mode?

Man, I'd appreciate this a lot.

This NG has always been the top in my mind. Some NG's help but this NG
is better because people always go into great details.

p.s. If I forgot to include something or some detail wasn't clear
enough then please let me know and I'll try to clear things up.

Thanks a lot.

These examples tend to be come dated quickly, but here's one from May:

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/guides/...le.php/3747766

and February:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2270998,00.asp

Neither one of these includes a quad-core CPU. You can get an Intel Q6600
for less than $200, but it may not be a better choice for a gaming machine
than a dual core with a faster clock. (On the other hand, it's not difficult
to overclock a Q6600 above 3 GHz. The newer 45 nm CPUs may be more
overclockable, but they are more expensive.) If you go that route, the G0
stepping of the Q6600 is preferred. (It draws slightly less power than older
versions, and may be more overclockable.)

In particular, AMD/ATI has released the 4800 series graphics cards. A 4850
can be had for less than $200. I don't know that would be better than a
similarly priced card based on the nVidia 9800 GTX+ chip. (Get the GTX+, in
preference to the older GTX.)

Keeping your hard drive may be problematic. The newer Intel chipsets don't
include IDE controllers, so manufacturers usually add a third-party
controller that only supports a single IDE channel (two drives). SATA is now
the standard.

Some motherboards may also lack PS/2 connectors for the mouse and/or
keyboard. USB is becoming common.

Neither of the above systems would compete with a $3k gaming PC, but they
would be much better than any 5 year old system.

Return address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

"Robert Blass" wrote in message
...
I was told you can build a great computer for under $800? Is this
TRUE?

I'm not talking about bare bones, I was told a 'good computer that
could play the latest games and newest apps for less than $800'

I plan on keeping both my Hard Drive and LCD Monitor, so if those were
deducted from a New Build could I really build a 'great' computer for
less than $800?

What If I wanted an INTEL system this time?

I built an AMD system myself about 5 years ago but in todays dollars
that would cost me more than $1,200 today...So you can see how I find
the $800 claim to be impossible.

NEED FOR COMPUTER:
I'd need one to play the latest games with good FPS rates
I'd need to be able to use the photo shopping programs now and then.
I'd of course want to have no noticeable lag or jerky screens.

AMD OR INTEL?
I'd want the most bang for my buck, which ever wins, wins.

I'd also want these details
Video Card with at least 512mb ram PCI x 16/or x1 slot
Ram- at least 2-4 gb's
CPU, Quad core at least, with OC abilities
Motherboard, supports Quad core with OC abilities
Hard Drive -already have one
Monitor -already have one
printer, keyboard, mouse, already have them
CASE- One the moves the air a LOT, lots of fans, lot's of cooling.
HSF, mid-range price, something that is nice for less heats.
Operating SYSTEM? I am 'addicted' to WIN XP but would be willing to
learn VISTA if it really is better?

So is it 'really' possible to get all of this for less than $800?
Can some of you show me so details of a complete build with my
requirements? Maybe using NEWEGG and showing me a 'wish list' in
public mode?

Man, I'd appreciate this a lot.

This NG has always been the top in my mind. Some NG's help but this NG
is better because people always go into great details.

p.s. If I forgot to include something or some detail wasn't clear
enough then please let me know and I'll try to clear things up.

Thanks a lot.

Robert Blass wrote in
:

CPU, Quad core at least, with OC abilities

For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual core
than a slower quad core.

Buy your parts at newegg and get these parts.

Intel C2D 3.0GHZ cpu
OCZ Vendetta2 HSF
ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2
Sound GBLAN eSATA Motherboard
ATI 4850 or 4870 video card
2GB or 4GB of 800MHZ DDR2 (stick to the cheaper value priced ram instead of
the expensive stuff)
600w PC&P PSU or Seasonic 600w PSU
Samsung DVD-RW
Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top
USB2.0 1394 Audio

THat should run you about $800.00 or so depending on if you go with 4850 or
4870 and 2GB of ram or 4GB. Only get 4GB of ram if you intend to use 64bit
OS.

THat should run you about $800.00 or so depending on if you go with 4850
or
4870 and 2GB of ram or 4GB. Only get 4GB of ram if you intend to use 64bit
OS.

Even then, stick with 2GB.

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:21:11 GMT, Maat sayd the
following:

Robert Blass wrote in
:

CPU, Quad core at least, with OC abilities

For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual core
than a slower quad core.

Buy your parts at newegg and get these parts.

Intel C2D 3.0GHZ cpu

Is that CPU you mentioned a Dual or Quad core?

OCZ Vendetta2 HSF
ASUS P5Q Pro ATX LGA775 P45 DDR2 2PCI-E16 Crossfire 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA2
Sound GBLAN eSATA Motherboard
ATI 4850 or 4870 video card
2GB or 4GB of 800MHZ DDR2 (stick to the cheaper value priced ram instead of
the expensive stuff)
600w PC&P PSU or Seasonic 600w PSU
Samsung DVD-RW
Antec Nine Hundred Mid Tower Gamer Case 900 ATX 9 Drive Bay No PS Top
USB2.0 1394 Audio

THat should run you about $800.00 or so depending on if you go with 4850 or
4870 and 2GB of ram or 4GB. Only get 4GB of ram if you intend to use 64bit
OS.

And thanks for the time I'm sure that took :-)

"Robert Blass" wrote:
CASE- One the moves the air a LOT, lots of fans, lot's of cooling.

Nah, get a video card that vent out the next slot down, and one of the new
45nm process CPUs from Intell, and your case won't develop all that much
heat. No need for massive airflow, just a continual quiet stream will take
care of everything just fine.

Jon

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:50:47 -0400, Robert Blass
wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:21:11 GMT, Maat sayd the
following:

Robert Blass wrote in
g:

CPU, Quad core at least, with OC abilities

For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual core
than a slower quad core.

Buy your parts at newegg and get these parts.

Intel C2D 3.0GHZ cpu

Is that CPU you mentioned a Dual or Quad core?

Pay attention to this part....
For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual
core than a slower quad core.

"Syfo-Dyas" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:50:47 -0400, Robert Blass
wrote:

On Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:21:11 GMT, Maat sayd the
following:

Robert Blass wrote in
:

CPU, Quad core at least, with OC abilities

For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual
core
than a slower quad core.

Buy your parts at newegg and get these parts.

Intel C2D 3.0GHZ cpu

Is that CPU you mentioned a Dual or Quad core?

Pay attention to this part....
For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual
core than a slower quad core.

I must disagree with you... While that was true in the past, when Quad cores
were much more expensive and no games used more than two cores, it is
rapidly changing.

There is very little difference between a $190 dual core (E8400) and a $190
(Q6600) quad core when it comes to gaming performance. The Core2Duo possibly
just edging it.

Yes, the E8400 is a 45nm chip and yes it runs at 3GHz, but the Q6600
overclocks like a good'un and the extra two cores seem to take the
background load off the first two, leaving them to get on with the game in
hand. I get noticably better performance on my Q6600 than my mates E6600
everything else (clock speed, memory etc) being equal.

The other thing to remember is that more and more software is being written
for multicore CPUs (and I mean more than 2!)... Operation Flashpoint 2 will
be quad core enabled for example. The dual core may be slightly better for
gaming right now, but in six months time that will probably be reversed. If
you want to do anything other than gaming, such as video editing, the quad
core will leave the Core2Duo in its wake.

Rarius


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"Rarius" wrote...

Pay attention to this part....
For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual
core than a slower quad core.

I must disagree with you... While that was true in the past, when Quad
cores were much more expensive and no games used more than two cores, it
is rapidly changing.

There is very little difference between a $190 dual core (E8400) and a
$190 (Q6600) quad core when it comes to gaming performance. The Core2Duo
possibly just edging it.

Yes, the E8400 is a 45nm chip and yes it runs at 3GHz, but the Q6600
overclocks like a good'un and the extra two cores seem to take the
background load off the first two, leaving them to get on with the game
in hand. I get noticably better performance on my Q6600 than my mates
E6600 everything else (clock speed, memory etc) being equal.

A couple considerations for the OP, though:

Will a low-cost system support OC'ing? While the MoBo and CPU may
technically support it, will it be straightforward enough for the builder
to actually do it, and will the case/cooling support the additional heat
load?

Will the games the OP runs suppost 4 cores? Does the current software
he has support 4 cores? Can he afford new software with that support?

On Mon, 1 Sep 2008 08:04:02 -0000, "John Weiss"
sayd the following:

"Rarius" wrote...

Pay attention to this part....
For gaming purposes you would be better served by buying a faster dual
core than a slower quad core.

I must disagree with you... While that was true in the past, when Quad
cores were much more expensive and no games used more than two cores, it
is rapidly changing.

There is very little difference between a $190 dual core (E8400) and a
$190 (Q6600) quad core when it comes to gaming performance. The Core2Duo
possibly just edging it.

Yes, the E8400 is a 45nm chip and yes it runs at 3GHz, but the Q6600
overclocks like a good'un and the extra two cores seem to take the
background load off the first two, leaving them to get on with the game
in hand. I get noticably better performance on my Q6600 than my mates
E6600 everything else (clock speed, memory etc) being equal.

A couple considerations for the OP, though:

Will a low-cost system support OC'ing? While the MoBo and CPU may
technically support it, will it be straightforward enough for the builder
to actually do it, and will the case/cooling support the additional heat
load?

Will the games the OP runs suppost 4 cores? Does the current software
he has support 4 cores? Can he afford new software with that support?



I would only use perhaps a FPS game or something like WOW.

In addition to some image editing software like psp.