Budget rig

I've never purchased from Digital Storm, but looking to buy a budget PC!  I built my last PC myself, and it has been a so/so experience. While it has lasted 3 years, not having any warranty to fall back on is difficult.  A friend of mine heard about this place, so hear I am! 

My goal is to build an affordable gaming PC.  Honestly, I'm not gaming on the PC a whole lot, so I really don't want to drop a ton of cash on a PC right now.  This rig meets my budget fairly well. 

I do use MS Flightsim 2004 a lot.  I have a ton of addons for FS2004.  I might consider going to FSX depending on how the demo runs, but I'm more interested in performance.  I'm sure I will grab an FPS game once in awhile with a PC that can actually run them.  I am deciding on whether to get Modern Warfare 2 on PC or 360 also. 

Anyway, I'm interested in opinions on my build.  I would rather not spend any more, but if there is a really good bang for the buck upgrade I might consider it.  I'm aware that this PC might not be very future proof, but again with the amount of gaming I do now I don't want to spend more. 

I do not plan to overclock at all, so my cooling options may be a bit of overkill.  I always worry about heat though.  I like having the temperatures handy as well just in case. 

I am hoping the onboard audio is sufficient for me.  I have an older X-fi card in my current PC which I could swap over. 

I was thinking of going with the 8800GTS card to save $100, but the benchmarks on the GTX 260 look like a good bump for the price. 

I have a copy of Vista Ultimate 32 bit still unopened.  It won't read all of the memory, but I will be getting a copy of Win7 through work (legally ) and I should be able to get the 64 bit version.  I figure I can live on 32 bit for a few months rather than buying Vista 64 bit just to replace it soon. 

Thanks for looking! 

Total Price with Instant Savings: $1,483.00
Specifications:
Chassis Model: Cooler Master HAF 932
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA or XFX (NVIDIA 790i Ultra Chipset) (Supports SLI)
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Digital Storm Certified by mushkin enhanced (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVDąR/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: !CLEARANCE HOT SELLER: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896MB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: CLEARANCE HOT SELLER OCZ Vanquisher 775 CPU Fan  (Not Compatible With i7 Processors)
Liquid Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a H20: Stage 3 Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With Zalman Performance Fans (Up to 6 Fans)
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: LCD Temperature Display & Fan Controller (Requires Chassis Airflow Upgrade)
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: - No Thanks, Please test my memory, I will be responsible for software based support
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

We are out of stock on the GTX 260, so I suspect that will be coming off the list here any time as we will not be carrying it anymore. So going to need a different card in there. I suggest the 275.

Nope, we ran out today.

Thanks for the info.  That i7 looks tempting.  That with the 275 puts the price up a bit, but not too bad. 

Is 3gb enough on the ram?  That would work well with Vista 32 bit I already have. 

How about the GTS 250 1gb video card?  

1920x1080

I rebuilt again and think I found a good budget rig.  With i7 I probably would want to go 6gm ram and have to buy a 64 bit OS as well.  Overall, that is getting over my budget a bit.  Again, I'm not really gaming a whole lot anymore.  FS2004 should run as well as it is going to on this.

I bumped up the processor and moved back to the 275 video card.  I dropped the case and cooling down a bit.  I won't overclock, so that should be ok I think. 

With all discounts it runs about $1200 and change. 

Ticket Number: 309561
Total Price with Instant Savings: $1,316.00

Direct Load URL: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=309561

Specifications:
Chassis Model: Antec Nine Hundred Two
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Interior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA or XFX (NVIDIA 790i Ultra Chipset) (Supports SLI)
System Memory: 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Digital Storm Certified by mushkin enhanced (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Card Reader: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 20x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275 896MB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: Standard Factory Heat-sink and Fan
Liquid Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a H20: Stage 3 Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my processor
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Tweak Windows: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: - No Thanks, Please test my memory, I will be responsible for software based support
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
LCD Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty


Edited by kerosene31 - 18 Jul 2009 at 12:39pm