[philodox]

I have sourced out the components that I want from two canadian stores that have online ordering. I am buying everything except for the graphics card to start and will wait a while to get that so that this doesnt hit my wallet too hard at the start.

All prices are in Canadian $$$

Tiger Direct:

$121.99 Aspire X-Qpack Silver Micro ATX Tower
- Picked it for the form factor, design, decent PSU and slide out MB tray. The UV LED fans might be cool, and if they arent I will replace them both with something more quiet.

$375.99 MSI RS480M2-IL ATI Socket 939 MicroATX Motherboard and AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor
- The only MicroATX Socket 939 board I could find that has PCI-Express. Good deal when purchased with the CPU. I will probably upgrade to a FX or X2 processor in the future, so I figured I should buy the lowest speed that they sold as a combo to maximize value.

$148.99 Seagate / 250GB / 7200 / 8MB /S-ATA-150
- Fairly cheap and I like Seagate, 250GB seems to be the best price point.

So from Tiger Direct it would be $646.97 + tax... $744.02

Canada Computers:

$129.99 OCZ PC-3200 DDR400 Premier Series 1GB (2x512MB) Dual Channel Kit
- I was going to get a 1GB value stick of OCZ, but this dual channel kit should perform better, has better latencies and is cheaper. Besides, there are 4 RAM slots on the board and I doubt I will need more than 2GB of memory any time soon.

$41.99 LG 52X CD-RW/16X DVD-ROM Combo Drive (Black)
- I really wanted to get a slot loading DVD combo drive, but the only one I could find was a Plextor DVD Burner that is $200.

$388.00 LG L1950S 19" LCD (Silver) Ultra Narrow Bezel 12ms 500:1 250cd/m2 1280 x 1024
- Styling matches the case and it has good specs for the money.

$54.99 Zalman CPU Cooler CNPS7700-Cu
- I am a sucker for Zalman heatsinks.

$38.99 Logitech MX700 Cordless Optical Mouse
- Styling matches the case and I like the docking charger.

$12.99 Black Mini USB Keyboard
- I love mini Keyboards. This one is black.

So from Tiger Direct it would be $666.95 + tax... $766.99

So the total is $1511.01 [$1254.32 USD] with tax acounted for and no video card. Seems a little expensive considering I tried to go on the cheap whenever possible.

I will likely fill the extra 5 1/4 slot with the CoolerMaster Musketeer 3 in black once it is available... because it just looks cool. And who knows, maybe it will drive my Sennheiser HD201's well enough for gaming and playing MP3's. I will likely snatch the Chaintech AV710 from my current computer and put the soundblaster live back in it so the Wife can use that. I may upgrade to a better sound card in the future if I see a good deal in the FS forums. I won't be putting a floppy drive in this, so if anyone has any creative uses for the 3 1/2 bay let me know. I may add some rounded UV reactive cables for the interior if I decide to keep the UV LED fans. Bigfootcomputers.com is the Canadian distributor for CoolerMaster and sells the rounded IDE cables as well as some other bling, so I will probably buy from them... if I need to replace the fans, I can at that point.

For the video card, I was going to go with a nvidia... but the motherboard I am getting has the ATI chipset. I'm not really a nvidia fanboy or anything though, and ATI is a Canadian company... so why not? Any suggestions on manufacturers for ATI cards? I know that people seem to like BFG for nvidia. My first gut reaction is to go with an MSI card so that it is extra happy with the motherboard.

If anyone has any suggestions, they would be appreciated. I tried to go with small components. The idea is that the case will be on a small table next to my comfy leather chair and I will buy or build some sort of swing out desk that the LCD and keyboard will sit on. The mouse charger will be near the case and I will pick up the mouse and drop it off before and after using the computer. My audio rack will of course be set up to the right of my comfy chair. I've been thinking about putting the computer on a bar fridge instead of a table, but that might be taking things a little far.

What do you think?

 

[tgunner]

Looks great!, but ironically, buying small parts seems to make the computer cost much more! I built a comparable full size system without monitor, for $750. And where is your DVD-Burner?? What OS do you plan on using?

 

[philodox]

Well, without monitor this would be a lot cheaper too... but I'm leaving out the Video Card, so it is pretty much the same difference.

I wasn't really planning on getting a DVD Burner, as I don't think I'll ever really need to burn DVD's. I almost ended up getting one since I really want a slot loader and the only slot loading drive I could find was a Plextor DVD Burner, but I decided that $200 was too expensive.

I think for OS I will stick with Win2K and set up a dual boot to play around with 64bit Linux. My buddy just bought an extra copy of WinXP by accident that I could buy off of him for $180 CDN if I want, but I'm not sure if I care that much.

 

[TheGreenBastard]

You can pickup some cheap Pioneer oem DVD burners. I think the DVR-109 goes for about $69 Canadian. With ATI I would go with an ATI or Sapphire card. Asus & MSI are OK too. X800 XT anything is nice. I'm not too up to date on the latest cards because since getting my X800 XT PE back durring the paper launch I've been playing everything @ 1600x1200 with everything cranked. That is until BF2, had to make some small adjustments. Here are some links for good prices in Canada

http://www.pricenetwork.ca/

http://www.computers-canada.com/

http://www.redflagdeals.com/

 

[TheGreenBastard]

I got to put in a plug for the Logitech MX 1000 Laser Cordless Mouse. The MX 700 if RF so it should be similiar because with the 1000 you don't even realize that it's cordless. No lag! The Gyration Ultra Cordless Optical Suite is also another awesome RF mouse & keyboard especially if you have a HTPC. The gyroscope in the mouse means you don't have to lay it down, you can just move it around in the air. Cool!

http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/pro...0023091&catid=

http://www.gyration.com/

 

[akwok]

Great choice on the motherboard! Have built two, and have nothing but praises.

However. Are you sure the CNPS7700 fits in that case/motherboard?

To be honest, I would stay away from Aspire's cases. Have you looked at the Antec Aria? A much, much better case and power supply. Very quiet too. Fits a CNPS7000.

 

[akwok]

Oh. And go for BBA (Built By ATI) video cards. The X800 XL seems to be a good bet, only $399 for an awesome PCI-e card, outperforming the Pro and overclocking like mad.

BBA cards are much easier to service. No questions asked. Fantastic.

 

[philodox]

TheGreenBastard - I don't really need DVD Burning capability. What I really want is a slot loading DVD combo drive... but I can't seem to find one.

Thanks for the info on that mouse, I'll check it out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok Great choice on the motherboard! Have built two, and have nothing but praises.

Cool... glad to hear it. Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok However. Are you sure the CNPS7700 fits in that case/motherboard?

Not sure, bt it doesnt look that much bigger than the 7000 and if there is room in the Aria, I would think it will fit in the Aspire case from the looks of things. Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok To be honest, I would stay away from Aspire's cases. Have you looked at the Antec Aria? A much, much better case and power supply. Very quiet too. Fits a CNPS7000.

Did you check out Aspire's website for more details on the case? It has a lot more features than you would think and it looks like the power supply is of high quality. Link

I have looked at the Antec Aria, and I'm not really sure it is of better quality. The PSU is 300W instead of 430W and is the Aria aluminum or steel? I like that the Aria is supposed to be so quiet, but the fact that the only fan is the power supply fan makes me a little leary.

 

[philodox]

Hmmm, apparently neither the 7000 nor the 7700 fit on the MSI motherboard. Anyone know of any good alternatives?

I was going to get this crazy fanless CPU heatsink, but I'm pretty sure that it would be too tall as there seems to be an overhang in the case that would get in the way. [Link]

 

[philodox]

I'm also thinking of one of these nice home theater cases as an alternative since I could put it in my audio rack.

 

[Erukian]

I would get a case that silences all your stuff. You don't want to hear whining hard-disks and whirring fans do you?

Grab the Antec P180, it just came out july. Read the review's on silentpcreview.com it's probably the case most of us would buy in here.

If your in a speaker enviornment, you especially dont want noise from the PC, so yeah, silence the sucker with a p180.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox TheGreenBastard - I don't really need DVD Burning capability. What I really want is a slot loading DVD combo drive... but I can't seem to find one. Thanks for the info on that mouse, I'll check it out. Cool... glad to hear it.Not sure, bt it doesnt look that much bigger than the 7000 and if there is room in the Aria, I would think it will fit in the Aspire case from the looks of things.Did you check out Aspire's website for more details on the case? It has a lot more features than you would think and it looks like the power supply is of high quality. Link I have looked at the Antec Aria, and I'm not really sure it is of better quality. The PSU is 300W instead of 430W and is the Aria aluminum or steel? I like that the Aria is supposed to be so quiet, but the fact that the only fan is the power supply fan makes me a little leary.

A poor 430W will get demolished by a solid 300W. Aspire is one of the cheapeast case manufaturers out there..

The Thermaltake fanless 'sonic tower' is a POS. Anything my Thermaltake is a POS. AVOID!

Like the poster above me, if you can, try to get the P180.

 

[akwok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by philodox I'm also thinking of one of these nice home theater cases as an alternative since I could put it in my audio rack.

You might want to check out Silverstone's LaScala line, although Ahanix is pretty nice already .

 

[philodox]

Quote:

Originally Posted by akwok The Thermaltake fanless 'sonic tower' is a POS. Anything my Thermaltake is a POS. AVOID!

Funny you should say that as I've just decided that I might say screw small size and go with this case. It certainly doesnt look like a POS.

I'll look at that Antec case, thanks Erukian.

After looking at the Antec, it does look cool... kind of like this Arctic Cooling case. But I think I still like the Thermaltake case better.

 

[akwok]

Once you've built a Thermaltake.. you'll know. Piss poor quality.

That case is a ripoff of Coolermaster's Stacker, by the way. All of Thermaltakes ' products are ripoffs of other companys' designs. They do not have original products.