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I'm going to list the hardware I purchased and the thought processes behind each piece and maybe next week when it's finished get some pictures up. I'd like some criticisms or any insight to some of the more "up there" technical aspects that I may have overlooked or misunderstood 
Case: Antec 300 Illusion
Probably one of the more superficial items (to an extent) in building your own computer, I went with a basic mid-tower that had 4 fans. I don't care much for flashy lights as I keep the tower behind a door.
Motherboard (edit): ASUS M4N75TD:
I wanted a mobo w/ 2 PCI express slots for possible SLI running in the future. I also wanted firewire, AND DDR2 since I wanted to use my old ram that already had a sweet CAS latency of 2. I had to give up on the search though and settled with DDR3. (Couldn't find an asus board with iee, 2 pci slots, ddr2 that was in stock/ my price range)
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555:
3.20GHz, AM3, 6MB Cache, 2000MHz Bus. I was completely indecisive for a minute between 2 cores, 3 cores, aaah. Basically it came down to the fact that not many programs I run even use multiple cores (I play a 10 year old game), and I wont be multitasking much at all. So I went with a dual core with a 6mb cache =D. The thing about the higher core count in my price range was the worse cache. So in my opinion for what I do, less cores and more speed was a better choice.
GPU: EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 SSC+:
1GB GDDR5, 256-bit, 850mhz Core, 1700mhz Shader 3900mhz Memory, 336 Stream Processors. Oh wow, I must have looked at 30 or so video cards before deciding on this one. Back and forth between 2gb memory with lower core/shader/memory clocks, and 1gb memory and higher clock speeds. What settled this debate for me was a quick discussion with a buddy who pointed out that on the 2gb graphics card with lower bandwidth (256 bit was the only 2gb in my price range) there would be some bottlenecking. So I went with a 1gb card with better clock speeds, and if I ever go SLI it would be better in the long run to have two 1gb cards with their own 256-bit bus than trying to squeeze a single 2 gb card through one 256-bit bus.
PSU: Raidmax 530w RX-530SS SLI/Crossfire:
This I had a little dilemma- I've heard alot of raidmax hate, but this one was right in my price range. If I do end up running SLI i'll probably switch it out but in the meantime anyone have any opinion on raidmax?
RAM:
G.SKILL 2x2gb. 1333mhz. I went with the 7 CAS latency ones instead of the worse ones. Many people like their ddr3, I guess I'm just not into changing what already worked for me with a better cas.
I also went with Windows 7 x64, Seagate Barracuda hd, and an Asus dvd-rw drive.
Total including tax and shipping: 650
I got most of my hardware from tigerdirect. They're doing a free shipping deal to CA residents so go jump on it! Also no tax (edit: don't forget use tax... mumble) for us (unlike newegg, where I got some other things). Also look on ebay/craigslist, you'll find some good deals on new Ram.
Case: Antec 300 Illusion
Probably one of the more superficial items (to an extent) in building your own computer, I went with a basic mid-tower that had 4 fans. I don't care much for flashy lights as I keep the tower behind a door.
Motherboard (edit): ASUS M4N75TD:
I wanted a mobo w/ 2 PCI express slots for possible SLI running in the future. I also wanted firewire, AND DDR2 since I wanted to use my old ram that already had a sweet CAS latency of 2. I had to give up on the search though and settled with DDR3. (Couldn't find an asus board with iee, 2 pci slots, ddr2 that was in stock/ my price range)
CPU: AMD Phenom II X2 555:
3.20GHz, AM3, 6MB Cache, 2000MHz Bus. I was completely indecisive for a minute between 2 cores, 3 cores, aaah. Basically it came down to the fact that not many programs I run even use multiple cores (I play a 10 year old game), and I wont be multitasking much at all. So I went with a dual core with a 6mb cache =D. The thing about the higher core count in my price range was the worse cache. So in my opinion for what I do, less cores and more speed was a better choice.
GPU: EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 SSC+:
1GB GDDR5, 256-bit, 850mhz Core, 1700mhz Shader 3900mhz Memory, 336 Stream Processors. Oh wow, I must have looked at 30 or so video cards before deciding on this one. Back and forth between 2gb memory with lower core/shader/memory clocks, and 1gb memory and higher clock speeds. What settled this debate for me was a quick discussion with a buddy who pointed out that on the 2gb graphics card with lower bandwidth (256 bit was the only 2gb in my price range) there would be some bottlenecking. So I went with a 1gb card with better clock speeds, and if I ever go SLI it would be better in the long run to have two 1gb cards with their own 256-bit bus than trying to squeeze a single 2 gb card through one 256-bit bus.
PSU: Raidmax 530w RX-530SS SLI/Crossfire:
This I had a little dilemma- I've heard alot of raidmax hate, but this one was right in my price range. If I do end up running SLI i'll probably switch it out but in the meantime anyone have any opinion on raidmax?
RAM:
G.SKILL 2x2gb. 1333mhz. I went with the 7 CAS latency ones instead of the worse ones. Many people like their ddr3, I guess I'm just not into changing what already worked for me with a better cas.
I also went with Windows 7 x64, Seagate Barracuda hd, and an Asus dvd-rw drive.
Total including tax and shipping: 650
I got most of my hardware from tigerdirect. They're doing a free shipping deal to CA residents so go jump on it! Also no tax (edit: don't forget use tax... mumble) for us (unlike newegg, where I got some other things). Also look on ebay/craigslist, you'll find some good deals on new Ram.
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