you have something against women? my budget system is great. by the way this thread should be in System Builder's Advice.
- Christine
Probably shouldn't get so worked up over it. People ignore my posts all the time for some reason or another. Maybe he just didn't have anything to say about it, or was waiting for further ideas.
That being said, as an alternative for your system going an AMD/ATI route...
Either case will do fine. One is aluminum, very light and easy to mod if you're into that.
Coolermaster CAC-T05 Centurion 5 63$
Steel cases are a bit cheaper, and if you're not going to LAN parties or modding, they'll serve the same function.
Coolermaster Elite RC-330 48$
A cheap-but-quality power supply will do a non-CF/SLI rig just fine. In this I find the
Antec Earthwatts 380W for 55$ should do just fine.
A review of it
here.
Asus has a good AMD board, two pci-e slots that run at 16x, and onboard video to save power when you're just surfing the net. They're making good boards, and for the price, its a hell of a deal. 122$
AMD X2 5000+BE is a classic processor that clocks well up into the 3ghz range. Plenty of people here that can help ya do it too. 98$
Not to mention you can combo it with a
OCZ Vanquisher CPU Heatsink for 12$ after rebate. There are better coolers out there however.
The
250GB Seagate Barracuda is a fine choice for an HD. Get it open-box for 57$.
Mushkin HP PC2-6400 4GB 2X2GB DDR2-800 CL5-4-4-12 72$ after a 10$ MIR. 4 gigs of ram will make everything so much smoother. DDR2 is so cheap there's really no reason not to do it.
This is where your real money is going to be spent. A good videocard will make all the difference in the world when it comes to gaming. Having crossfire available is excellent for next year when even tougher games come out, you can drop in a second card for a better boost. I like to recommend the
VisionTek 3870. Lifetime warranty, and only 210$ after a 30$ MIR.
Comes out to 674$, and a system that will hold you over for a few years at least.