Thread: Toms builds a freaking BEASTLY machine for 968 dollars.

whoa... I didn't even notice that. That power supply is definitely too weak for that setup. It's not sli certified and I wouldnt' stick anything less than a 600watt in an SLI machine (and would prefer at least a 750).

Max power draw on a system (without lots of drives and extra shit) with 8800SLI is around 300, so yes it could do it. They were working within a pretty strict budget though so they went with a reliable cheap option.

Like I originally posted though I would bump it up a bit to be ready for upgrades down the road and to be sure.

2 months time ends up getting you way more system:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15381/4

Component Item Price
Processor Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 $274.99
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R $134.99
Memory Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR2-800 $71.49
Graphics VisionTek Radeon HD 4870 $270.00
Storage Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB $84.99
Samsung SH-S223Q $28.99
Audio Asus Xonar DX $89.99
Enclosure Antec Sonata III w/500W PSU $99.99
Total Buy this complete system at Newegg. $1055.43

And the 500 dollar system they list is more powerful than my personal PC:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/15381/2

Component Item Price
Processor Intel Pentium E2180 $69.99
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L $99.99
Memory 2GB Kingston DDR2-800 $36.99
Graphics PNY GeForce 8800 GT $119.99
Storage Western Digital Caviar SE16 640GB $84.99
Samsung SH-S223Q $28.99
Audio Integrated $ 0
Enclosure Antec NSK 4480 w/380W PSU $79.95
Total Buy this complete system at Newegg. $520.89

I am almost of the mind that we are at a state were you can plunk down 5-600 every year and have all the PC you need.

2 GB's of ram, a single 80GB harddrive, and a sub-par 400W powersupply are not shortcuts I'd recommend into anyone's budget.

Also, there's no monitor, OS, and only a single optical drive on this list.

crappy.

wait, what? 80 gig where now?

I agree the powersupply is probably a cheap ass one that i wouldnt care to run, but come on at 500 dollars thats a pretty damn beefy machine.

Ya you need an OS, and a monitor, but if someones on a budget to the point where they need to squeeze those things into a 500 dollar machine they need to be looking at a prebuilt dell or something with those things included in the price. Which for gaming, would be crappy, so its all a matter of perspective and end users needs...

Originally Posted by Mcstrange

wait, what? 80 gig where now?

I agree the powersupply is probably a cheap ass one that i wouldnt care to run, but come on at 500 dollars thats a pretty damn beefy machine.

Ya you need an OS, and a monitor, but if someones on a budget to the point where they need to squeeze those things into a 500 dollar machine they need to be looking at a prebuilt dell or something with those things included in the price. Which for gaming, would be crappy, so its all a matter of perspective and end users needs...

ah ha....it's a 500GB HD for $80.

I'd rather go for 2 250's for $60 a piece. 2 drives is better than one drive.