cheap box - HP PAVILION SLIMLINE S3200N - $380

[Schwarz]

OK sorry to Hijack this thread but are the parts you listed earlier missing a motherboard?

[keyclone]

@Vos
it's not for me, as i already have my setup, although i find the info very interesting (i'll probably upgrade the setup sometime in the spring).

my intention, after i saw the very cheap box... was to start people talking about a peer reviewed set up that would work for our needs. maybe have like 2 or 3 different set ups. cheap, mid range and max. and have the hardware updated monthly so people would know the equipment to get.

we would probably need a special thread that wouldn't allow for posts (it'd get too cluttered) and would just show the set ups.

[Vos]

I didn't think it was for you specifically 8) I do enjoy the hardware discussion of single boxing though. Just to through a monkey in the works, I went with the basic quadcore, 8800gt, 4gb of ram setup that most seem to agree on as the baseline for a "good" setup, however, I'm not convinced that with the right video card and ram that an overclocked dual core wouldn't offer performance that meets or exceeds your 25/50 fps reqs for considerably less...

[MunkeyMuck]

^ ^ something like that would be awesome for someone just starting off such as myself. I am thinking of building a new box to either run 3 on with my current box for my main (not even sure if you can do 1 on one and 3 on another).

[Monkofdoom]

2 weeks ago my workplace offered me around 12 pc's (old ones) and I tried to value the costs to see how much I would end up spending to upgrade them to be good enough clones. At the same time I also looked up individual PC's (built from scratch) and got a total of £154 per pc and around £100 for a "19 monitor.

This obviously working out at £250 ~ per pc which for England terms is cheapish, however the American prices are insane compared to ours so our 5 box builds are far more costly.

I'd also be very interested in what price range people from the UK can get a pc / build a pc from to run 1 simple clone with similar reqs as KC posted.

[Diamndzngunz]

Nice solid computer, do what Wilbur suggested and your set.

Thanks Rob for the link. Should help out people who are on a budget.

[BobGnarly]

Hey,

This is not intended to be a recommendation for particular parts (although I consider each of these to be good parts), just an example....

$277.99
1
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM

Sorry for a bit of a derail here, and I know you specifically said that you weren't recommending parts as much as giving an example. Nevertheless, I wanted to point out, so that somebody here doesn't get burned by this, that the System Builders OEM version of Vista will not allow you to transfer to another computer. To understand, in Microsoft parlance transferring computers can be as simple as changing one component (like the motherboard). IOW, if you get this and ever want to upgrade your computer in the future, you probably will not be able to use this Vista again.

Too bad, because the price is definitely right.

[MaxD]

assuming you have nothing to start with It takes around 1600 to build a 5 box setup,

I did this in 5 minutes, with careful planning and watching sales you could probably knock off a couple o hundred bucks, maybe... There's also 85 bucks in rebates and 35 dollars in shipping to consider, but that's the basic idea...

I did not include mouse, keyboard, speakers, keyclone, or wow accounts.....

This is not intended to be a recommendation for particular parts (although I consider each of these to be good parts), just an example....


Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price 1

Antec Solo Black/Silver Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case -
79.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

$69.99
2

Acer AL2216Wbd Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor with HDCP support -

$499.98$439.98($219.99 each)
1
EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -
$239.99
1
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad (Crossfire Edition) EPS12V 750W Power Supply -

$199.99$149.99
1
Patriot Viper 4GB(2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model PVS24G6400LLK -$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$99.99



ABIT IP35-E LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard -
$30.00 Mail-in Rebate
$99.99


1
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Quad-Core Processor Model BX80562Q6600 -

$277.99
1
Microsoft Windows Vista 64-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM


$111.49
Subtotal: $1,599.40


edit: blerg, in trying to edit the links out I accidentally got rid of the mobo... fixed

You must not live in Alaska that system would cost me over 2k

[MaxD]

note: does Recertified == refurbished?

Not sure if this was mentioned but Recertified means it was recived by the buyer normally a company or Military and send back because they ordered more than they needed. So its still new but out dated

[Teamboca]

I am looking to dual-box would this computer be able to handle it for me (i dont care if i have to play with the lowest settings). If not will getting a $300 videocard do it for me. I am such a noob when it comes to computers ;( .