Wow, i really feel special. Thanks Ducky.

Echo ill have a list ready for you in the next hour.
Edit: Done.

Case: CM RC690 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137
Motherboard: DFI BloodIron P35-T2RL http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813136038
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 250GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262
RAM: A-Dara 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066
GFX Card: MSI 9600GT 512MB OC http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127333
DVDDrive: ASUS Black SATA DVDROM Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135143
Soundcard: SB Audigy SE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102010
PSU: Seasonic 500w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151040
CPU, CPU Cooler, and Thermal Compound: E2180 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116052 , Arctic 7 Freezer Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 , Arctic MX-2 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020

Due to my experiance with overclocking, im going to go ahead and say yeah, you can do it. I thought it was hard and would require a lot of know-how and such: It doesnt. Quite simply it toggling some settings and checking your temps with a program. I can now comfortably say anyone capable enough to build a computer can overclock it. And i have faith in you Echo. I have faith that you can see that E2180 hit 3.2GHz on air cooling, and possibly push it to 3.6GHz, maybe even 3.8GHz.

Anyway thats my build for your price range and with tax and shipping it came out to 779.24. I guess i could cut it down a little if needed, but you said about 750$ i think. Ducky and Hawk may come in here and shoot some of my ideas down but i did my best. Best of luck to you with building the machine.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Jul 1 2008, 6:24 pm by Excalibur.

Firstly, you don't need to overclock too much. Right there you can save some money by getting rid of the aftermarket cooling supplies. Just use the retail Intel heatsink and fan, and you'll still get a decent, stable overclock. You might be able to save a little on the case and power supply as well. 500 watts is more than enough to power an 8800 GTX system, and your PC won't require nearly that. Also consider going with a cheaper motherboard, such as Gigabyte's $75 P35 motherboard (though I'm admittedly not too familiar with Intel chipsets - last motherboard I bought was an eVGA nForce 680i). If you want some seriously kick ass performance, upgrade to a $200 ATI Radeon 4850. I've just seen some great deals on them at Newegg, and with mail in rebates you can get them for ~$170. Whenever you do go for parts, don't buy OC editions of video cards and stuff. You can get those OCs on your own without having to pay the companies more.

That card seems to have a lot of bad reviews, particularly from people saying it doesn't play nice with their mobo or w/e

Echo, if you do overclock, save a few bucks and go with the e2140. They overclock very well without extra cooling. I got mine up to 3Ghz with light volt modding, but dropped it back down because of driver instability. Otherwise, just stick with the e2180. And if you don't overclock, don't buy all the coolers and stuff.
I think the 4850 is a better deal than the 9600, too.
You might want lightscribe/labelflash too on your optical drive, I dunno.
Cases don't matter much, as long as they are the right size. The r604 is almost half as much.

Some of that stuff might have rebates, I dunno.
Also remember that it doesn't include software. You'll either have to use your existing XP install or buy Vista.

Why not?


Ive heard nothing but bad things about intel's stock coolers on the E2xxxs.

Nonsense. It is more than needed but not by a large amount. It allows for upgrades in the future instead of an entirely new computer.

Giga's P35s were nice until they started replacing the normal DS3Ls with SUPER ENERGY EFFICENT ones that from what ive read had some issues. Ive used the DFI myself and its a great mobo and very much worth every penny.

Actually, the OC edition of that MSI card was cheaper than some of the other normal 9600GTs that i had been looking at. Admittedly i picked it quickly but only because its good bang for the buck. I refuse to recommend ATI cards.

Again ive heard nothing but bad things about intel stock cooling and the E2180 has a higher multiplier for a few bucks more. I say its worth it.

Agreed but i dont see why he shouldnt. Its easy enough to do and gets a lot of value out of the chip i suggested. Unless hes going to go with an E6xxxx.

Again, I cant recommend an ATI card.

I suggested the RC690 simply because ive worked with it, it comes with a lot of fans so you dont need to buy more, and has great air flow.

Who wants to wait months on a rebate?

Two words: Arrrrr matey!

Just because you've read bad things doesn't mean that the rest of us have. On the same note, I read GREAT things about Radeon 2xxx cards before they came out, and then what a disappointment! On the subject of overclocking, any current CPUs will offer moderate performance as is. My E6700, while obviously more powerful by a considerable margin (not in the spirit of bragging, but admittedly at most), has no problem running CPU intensive games like Supreme Commander and Crysis. Overclocking really isn't necessary for any programs that I'm aware of, and if it is, you ought to just buy a better CPU to begin with. I believe that you'll find most, if not all, new games to be GPU dependent at max settings, and the little extra performance that you'll squeeze out with the use of aftermarket cooling just isn't worth the cost in my experienced opinion building a moderate number of PCs for myself, family, and friends. At the low end of the PC spectrum (which is where the $700 range falls), that money can be spent much better on faster equipment. As for the Radeon 4850/70 - the cards kick ass. The former is comparable to the 9800 GTX (much faster than the 9600 GT), and the latter is comparable to the new GTX 260 from NVidia. Both NVidia offerings are roughly $100 more than their respective ATI counterparts. Just because you've never bought an ATI card before (for that matter, neither have I. Past video cards for me have included: PCI GeForce 5500, PCI-e GeForce 6800, 7900 GT, 7950 GT, 8600 GTS, 8800 GTX), doesn't mean that you should have some stigma against making the purchase now, especially at such a terrific price-performance ratio.

dumbducky -- when you say you put together your system for $600, did that include a monitor?

Yeah, I'm interested to know what exactly is in ducky's computer to begin with. Unless he has a Radeon 4850 up his sleeve, I'm sure I could do better for $1,000.

Thanks guys. Ducky, is your computer suited for gaming/overall? $600 is great.

Excalibur's PC with my modifications would do you well for ~$700.

Go with the laptop incase you have to take it to group projects or to the library.

I doubt college will be like elementary school.

Not sure about yours, but a lot of design schools are incorporating more and more team-based projects into their programs.

Oh, if you're taking architecture believe me that there's going to be stupid ammounts of team works.
I hate teams by the way, I always end up doing most of the work cause everyone else is mediocre.

A laptop was integral for me during my college experience. I type much faster than I handwrite, so it was great for recording notes in non-lab classes. I could work wherever and whenever I needed. It was fantastic to have with group projects. The convenience of having all my work with me was priceless, as it's all too easy to forget to copy something onto a thumb drive from your desktop. Finally, here's where the laptop wins hands-down: Tired of sitting in a chair? Go lay on the couch, in bed, on your side, stomach, or back, any way you choose, anywhere you want, and you can still work. It's sublime.


Risks
- Damage: More likely, simply because you're carrying it around. Carelessness, on your part or those around you, could be disastrous. Luckily it never happened to me beyond a few minor bumps that had no ill effects. Most of the time, as long as you're mindful and have a good bag/case, you'll be fine.

- Theft: Easier to steal, and more opportunities to do it. Again, like damage, you just need to not get careless. Don't leave it unattended for any length of time.


Cons
- Limited Upgradability: New hard drive, more RAM, but that's about it.

- Case Design: If you aren't paying attention, this can turn into a con. You can't change it. Where are your USB ports located (at least one on each side is ideal)? Where is your headphone jack (front or side is best)? Where is your exhaust vent (that's where it'll be hottest)? Like the keyboard layout? Hope so, because you'll be stuck with it. I have seen countless idiocies when it comes to just the keyboard design. Why the f*ck would I want two Windows buttons but only one Ctrl key? Why is the Insert key taking up a fifth of my spacebar (I loathe the insert key, it just needs to die)? Why are three whole inches wasted in width for a couple of useless media buttons, when the keyboard is sacrificed by cutting the lefthand tab/caps/shift/ctrl keys to two-thirds their original size (talk about a b*tch to type with)?


Here's what I suggest: Get both. You can get a decent laptop for $300-400 (look for deals), capable of doing all schoolwork needed. At that price, you can forego any protection plans that would otherwise bump your cost up by $100-250. Then, save up a bit more from what's left of your $750 and get a gaming rig.

Oh, and don't get a Dell. They suck balls. A class-action lawsuit was even brought against them and won due to faulty computers.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jul 3 2008, 4:50 am by Hercanic.

Thanks Hercanic, I forgot about the taking notes, which the laptop would be useful but is there another way to get notes faster other than typing it on a laptop? This is because I don't think my college has lecture halls and such.

Corbo, you're majoring in architecture in college? How is it? Hard and expensive?

Okay I think majoring would be the equivalent to what we get here.
But yes, I go to university and I study architecture and I am going to be an architect in a few years.

It's not hard, but then again, there's people that say it is but that just depends (IMO) on how much you love the career. If you like it a lot then you won't feel it like really hard work but rather than that you will enjoy it.
Anyway, one thing that it has (at least in here) is that we basically don't sleep
There's weeks that I can only get like 10 hours, max, (in the whole week) of sleep and that is mostly on finals week, when you have to defend your assigned projects and such.
Expensive? Kinda, specially in my country where everything is like doubled to what it is on the U.S. You have to buy a lot of materials for your plans, Rapidgraphs, technical pens, different types of graphites, colors (believe it or not), markers, different types of paper like bond, sketch, vegetal and so on.
That's really not that bad because, for example, rapidgraphs are like $40 here (yes, that's expensive here I don't know if $40 is a lot there) and then I checked the website of the trademark and they're like only $29 or so a set of 4 rapidgraphs, a set in here only brings 3 so you get there for 11 dollars less one more pen But anyway, my point is that things like that you will use them your whole life (supposedly and I believe it) and they last a lot if you take good care of them. The pricey things are the rapidgraphs, a good set of colors (watercolors) and markers, that I have so far bought of course there are more things I guess.

Then you have to make models, and the materials for them are not as cheap as the plans materials, however one smart thing you can do is recycle materials, almost everyone does it. It means that you use materials from previous works to make new ones that way you save some money, note that things are probably and I am almost 100% sure that what I call expensive here is not there.

Putting aside that, the programme there is probably not even close to what it is here, you probably do most of your things on the computer, you make your plans there on AutoCAd, you make your 3D models there and so.
And we do that at some point. but the programme here is something like "you must learn to do everything with your hands first so that you can use a computer" which is actually a pretty good thinking in my opinion.

But overall it's awesome, awesome, awesome, you can talk about almost anything by taking architecture, because it covers art, music, techical drawing, culture, math, science, blah blah blah and it's awesome to have a lot of knowledge (hello elitism )
but anyway, I could just keep talking and talking but that would make a really long post so you can talk to me on MSN whenever you wish and I could talk more about so.

You could theoretically record the teacher, provided you get permission, but they usually don't allow that without good reason (such as a disability).

Isnt there a Program out there that Types down whatever you speak into the computer?

It's not accurate to any degree.