A challenge for a new system, from Maximum PC

[strredwolf]

Okay, another geekout moment here.  Maximum PC has a PC Hardware guide out now.  Hidden on page 50, we have a budget guide -- set below $2000.  They reached $1255.

Of course, I don't need a gaming system.  Lets try cheaper.  Refrence prices from NewEgg, shipping in parenthesis, comments in italics.

CPU:  Athlon 64 3000+, a Socket 939 processor, with fan, $149 (+ $0 shipping). Might as well go 64 bits
Mobo:  MSI K8N Neo4 (no need for SLI).  $55.58 (+$1) refurbished, $82.99 (+$2.50) new and on sale. A difference of about $28 combined.
Vid Card: ASUS EN6200TC128/TD/16M NVidia Geforce 6200TC.  $50 (+$2.50) Do I really need SLI?  I'm not using the rig to play games!
Case: Antec Solution SLK3800B.  $105 (+$18.99) For $4 more I could of gotten the Performance TX640B
Optical Drive: Plextor IDE DVD Burner PX-740A/SW. $90 (+$4) Funny, it burns dual-layer DVD's at 8x, compared to the PX-716A's 6x.
OS:  Gentoo Linux (FREE) No duh.
HD:  Maxtor DiamondMax 10 Ultra ATA133, 160 Gig.  $77 (+$2.99) Do I really need 300 Gigs of HD space?  I just need to get FLCL off my HD, and I've reclaimed half the space!
RAM: 2 x Cosair ValueSelect 1 GB DDR 400 - $89.75 (+$3.83) each. About $20 cheaper than what MaxPC said they were, but then at the end, I get 4 half-gig sticks.

So, rounding up to the dollar, that's $697.  I've now just saved almost half of what MaxPC did -- and by using NewEgg!  Anyone can try for cheaper?

Comments

[strredwolf.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if XGI has Xorg drivers. NVidia has, and I'm a bit weary of ATI.

The power supply... well, I got burned by one, and hopefully a Shuttle AN35N mobo I have isn't fried because of it. If I have the cash, I'm getting good hardware instead of cheap cheezy hardware.