What Would You Do?

[y4na]

What would you do if you were building a rig for $600, $1100, or $2000?

[Trace]

I'm not sure quite what you mean-- could you elaborate?

[nevermind1534]

Do a kick-ass build

[Zephik]

Do you want a parts run-down or just a short description of what we would do?

For the first two, I'd build it myself. For the last one, I'd buy professional. Maybe Falcon Northwest.. no no, wait, I'd definitely buy a Voodoo Envy all-carbon fiber notebook. A bit underpowered, but sooo nice. haha ...actually, I think that would work for the second option unless they're customizable. The third option I'd spend the first half on the Voodoo and the second half on a custom build.

[billygoat333]

I would pay off a credit card and not build a system.

[Spawn-Inc]

i would build a computer

with 2000 i would go i7 and get an ati card for a change.

[Luke122]

i7 920, 6gb OCZ Reaper ram, Asus Gene Mobo, ATI 5870 1gb, 2x150gb 10krpm Raptors, 1kw Antec PSU. 1kw might be overkill, but if I want to overclock or go crossfire later, I'll have the juice.

I already have a case, optical drives, and input devices, so all I'd need after that is a monitor. 24" LCD for around $250 and you are styling.

[y4na]

I'm doing this so that the TBCS community has an idea on what they should be looking at when building/buying a computer.

[mtekk]

Well for ~2100USD I'd do the following:

Intel Core i7 920
GIGABYTE GA-EX58-UD5
GIGABYTE GV-R587D5-1GD-B Radeon HD 5870
CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB
Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G2R5 (for the OS and often used apps)
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS (for everything else)
CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W
Pioneer Black Blu-Ray Combo SATA Model BDC-202BK
LIAN LI PC-A05NB

It should be pretty well balanced, and you can OC the 920 a bit to make up for it's "slowness". The 850W PSU should be enough power, even if you add in another 5870 for some crossfire action. Also, the SSD will make a world of difference for many applications. Windows 7 pro (64bit) loads in under 30sec to the desktop in my computer now that I have a SSD as my main drive. The only thing with SSDs is that they are terribly overpriced at the moment. If the SSD was at MSRP you could easily take 100USD off of the price of the system (I got mine for a bargin off of ebay). You could swap the VelociRaptor for a 1TB WD Caviar Black, it will be ~120USD cheaper, has more space, but it will be a little slower (not by a ton, however).

[Luke122]

I just happened to be calculating a build when I spotted this thread, hence my input.