Maximum PC

Here is my pick:

OCZ PowerStream 520 Watt PS
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Winchester OEM
ZALMAN CNPS7000B-Cu LED
CORSAIR XMS 1GB Dual Channel (2x512mb) CAS2
2 x eVGA Geforce 6800GT PCI-E
Maxtor DiamondMax 10 200GB SATA 16mb
NEC ND-3520A Black IDE DVD Burner
LITE-ON SOHC-5236K BK RTL Black IDE CDRW/DVDROM
Logitech MX518 Gaming Mouse
SAMSUNG 915N-Black Black 19" 8ms LCD Monitor
SENNHEISER HD 485 3.5mm/ 6.3mm Headphones


ALL at Newegg for $2,339.60 shipped (to my address anyways). That doesn't include OS or Case, but you should be able to find a nice size case to fit all of this in and an OS can be had pretty easily or at a later date!


Confusedsoul

my only suggestion is this:

save money on the speakers and get a nice pair of headphones. My gf HATES when I play games on the speakers, esp FPS games. The only reason I say that is cause I saw the keyword wife. Maybe you have her on lockdown though.

That is why I like pariah build, except I would get better PSU the ram from one4yu2c's build, and

Umm, mine had headphones only. If he needs speakers, he can get a cheap pair to listen to music with, or just get headphones. Whats wrong with my build?!

Confusedsoul

As One4ya says



The tech support at Asus has been lacking these last few months. There were times when I went there to get info about someone's mobo to find all of their support was down, this included links to the mobo manual. I understand places have days where they will be down, but I'm talking 2 to 3 weeks that most of the site was down. If your a new builder and need support, what are you going to do for 2 to 3 weeks?



As One4ya says, the Dell monitor can be bought cheaper - keep your eye on Tech Bargains and also go to Dell to sign up for email's from them. I get coupon codes all the time. I know MPC rated the Dell high, but I would rather go with a Sony with Xbright technology. Go to one of the major stores & check them out, the quality can't be beat.

I would also try to find a few extra $$ and upgrade the old box for your wife. Sharing computers suck, I wouldn't doubt the processor can get upgraded a little. You may also be able to put a better inexpensive MicroAtx mobo in there, then get her some updated ram, this is depending on what ram is in there. If it's PC2100, then I'd get her a new board. You could probably upgrade hers for $300.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Re: the wife, she actually has a laptop already thats only about a year old...she uses it for email and that's about it so no need to worry about that.

My idea I think is by far the best!!! The best today is cheap 6 months down the line and even cheaper a year from now. I learned a long time ago it easy to spend money today on the latest greatest but you save in the long run by buying yesterdays proven stuff. $2500 is easy to spend today and get a great system however $2500 over 3 years will keep you balls to the wall over what you can buy today!! Forget LCD's because they don't last very long, let the other's piss their money on them while they get them to work right. I bought 2 Samsung 950P's 19 inch monitors back in 1999 and they are still clean and crisp to todays standards. LCD's by far our the best viewing when they are new and if you are lucky to get a good one it will be well into a year of normal use before they fall to what I have. LCD's wash out after a year of use and you will find yourself tweeking the screen a lot after that. I wont mention if you get a bad one what a pain they are to deal with. Save your money because the 75 buck idem today was the $475 not long ago.

true that i have logitech z560's and i can almost never use them ... I wind up gaming on a pair of headphones...cause my g/f gets quite pissed when i shake the house with my z560's ... sigh.

Yeah, it can be pretty annoying; especially when your trying to watch tv.

well yeah, Still when I have the house to myself It is very nice to turn up the speakers and game away.

oh well i have pretty deceent headphones so it doesn't bother me too much.

psst - if you give her some money or a Victoria's Secret gift certificate, she can go shopping, leaving you with more gaming time

victoria's secret idea might just work, plus it will be good for me, when she gets home too


however, i hesitate to 'encourage' her to shop woman has more shoes and clothes than i have ever seen anyone have ..... I have to keep my clothes in my office in the house cause her stuff takes the whole bedroom closet.

but it's ok cause my computer stuff takes up the whole office room

Just remember, they have clearance sales in January & June if I remember right. That's when a gift certificate is good, more for the money!



Sounds like my daughter.

Maybe she needs a hobby?

I have never had a problem finding what I need on Asus's site. As for the chipset fan needing to be replaced, they are sending me one to replace it even though it hasn't gone out yet. And to this day, I have not had a problem with this Motherboard nor any Asus I've had to this date. I'm still using an old A7A133 with an 1800+ XP for a folding machine.

Confusedsoul

Consider yourself lucky, though our problems aren't with Asus's site becuase it works just fine sometimes. No, the area where Asus is severely lacking is in email/phone support. I emailed them first on December 26th, then got an email back three WEEKS later stating what I'd already said I'd tried, and have never gotten a reply to any of my other emails. This isn't just me either, this happens to everyone I know who trys to contact them, and it is just unacceptable. Until you switch to a different brand you never realize how truly horrible it is to work with Asus, so if all you've ever used or had to find stuff for is Asus boards, pick up few other ones and find out how much better it is.

Well, my problem is with the site- thankfully I have never owned one and had to use the phone support. I remember the post a few months back where someone couldn't find a valid phone number for them.