Computer Armory
For my own future reference, here are the specs of the recently ordered computer:
Case
Cooler Master Centurion 5: I like how it looks, although I do worry about the possibility of having to clean a lot of cat hair out of the foam… I like that the internal bits can be swapped around without needing tools. The one I ordered supposedly has a window, which is nice. I swapped out the under-powered 350w PSU that comes with it, per Velius’ (and other peoples’) suggestion. The new PSU is a 550w Legolas Logisys. I hear the cheap ones can fail just as easily as the really expensive ones, so I went cheap.
Motherboard
Biostar I945GZ-M775 mATX with Intel 945GZ chipset and 8-channel audio: Pretty much the cheapest motherboard that would give me a PCI-e 16 slot and hook up to an Intel Core 2 Duo processor. Only supports 2×1GB of DDR2-533 RAM, but I’ll probably need a new computer by the time I need more than 2GB RAM.
CPU
Intel E6300 Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz processor: I really didn’t want to get a Pentium D, and I am a little shy of AMD this time. I like what I’ve read about the Core 2 Duo line, so I got the cheapest one…
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 SATA 250GB: Nothing too special, although it’s amazing how cheap space is these days. I more than tripled the amount the HD could hold for $30.
Memory
Corsair Value Select DDR2-533: I got two 1GB sticks of the stuff, and I’ve read that it’s a reasonable bargain without too much performance loss.
Graphics
nVidia GeForce 7100GS 256MB: Not really very good; supposedly the 7100GS is just a reworking of the GeForce 6200. Oh well, what’s the point of paying much for a DirectX-9 card anyway?
Audio
Random onboard 6-channel audio: I never splurge for a sound card.
Optical Drive
Random CD/DVD thing: I already have two reasonably new CD/DVD Read/Write drives.
I didn’t bother getting a monitor, keyboard, mouse, or OS because I already have all those things. I’m going to wait on Vista, as per Catnip’s suggestion; perhaps the Vista purchase will accompany the purchase of a new DirectX-10 GFX card in the future. Other than that, I totally cheaped out because I’m finding more and more than computers are becoming disposable after only a few years.
By Catnipped, 3/28/2007 @ 4:51 pm
Maybe eventually they will have totally disposable computers, just throw in trash after one use.
By David, 3/28/2007 @ 4:53 pm
Just a quick question, but where did you buy the hard drive from? My storage space is kind of low, so was just wondering if you had any advice, hehe
By Kabitzin, 3/28/2007 @ 6:48 pm
I got mine from Directron.com, but Newegg also has very good prices (and more review information). I’d say those are two excellent places to buy computer equipment at low prices.
By David, 3/29/2007 @ 2:57 pm
Thanks — just bought a 250GB HD from Directron too
By Kabitzin, 3/29/2007 @ 2:59 pm
Velius, according to the refer-a-friend feature, that means I get my PC free now, right?