Make My Selection Cheaper?

Hey guys, it's time for a computer build. I've hit a roadblock, and that is funds. I've to piece together a nice, lasting build from here through at least through 1-3 years in college. I'm nearing the end of my sophomore year, and the price line is anything that will add up to be in a sub $1000 price line. I'll give a list of my selected components, give reasons why if asked or needed, and my distress call to you guys is that I need to lower my price, while maintaining very close quality to what I've selected.


***THE SELECTION***

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard = $29.00

CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115067 $209.99

MOBO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813128448 $104.99

North Bridge Heatsink http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835118214 $6.99

GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814500115 $114.99

CASE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product $139.99

PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product $154.99

HDDs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6822136358 x 2 = $99.98

DVD-RW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827136216 $18.99

RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820226095 $81.99

Extra Case Fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835228010 $5.99

Monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824236117 $184.99

FINAL PRICE NOT INCLUDING REBATES, TAX, OR SHIPPING: $1,152.88

I have faith in you people and I will accept any help. Thanks in advance guys.

Ive tried hackintosh. Not a big fan of macs. And yes, BTW, it does work on AMD. Try getting a different PSU too. Instead of 2 x 500 GBs, just buy a 2 TB for $85. or better yet 2 x 1 TB for $60. You could even get a GTX550 for almost the same price as the 9800, but it doesnt have full compatibility with Macs. Why even bother with Mac? Just out of curiosity? Everything is just so... limited with Apple.

AMD is compatible, but not stable. At all. I'm looking for pretty clean compatibility, and the 9800 GT is the most compatible out there. I could go with a 400 series or 500 series, but CUDA and other features of the new gen cards don't work so well with OS X, and drastically alter frame rates and power on various applications, (but not to go low enough o be under a card I've selected). The idea behind two hard drives is easier to boot both windows and Mac OS. Partitions are difficult with Hackintoshes, as bootcamp doesn't work right, even with the alterations to it with other software. The idea behind my Mac OS X fix is I've never tried it full scale, it looks pretty useful for the types of applications I run for work, and windows can be used for play. Final Cut and Motion look much friendlier to me than things like After Effects and Sony Vegas, as they take much less time to learn and still provide a very large amount of quality.

My logic behind the PSU is the case is small, doesn't have much cable routing, and the PSU is mounted sideways in it. Seasonic is the bet PSU manufacturer on the planet, and a fanless just looked like it'd work out, not having to take away cool air from the video card, and remaining amazing quiet. Fully Modular and 80 Gold certified aren't bad either. Since the video card is lower end than the originally chosen 460, I can probably go with a cheaper, fanned power supply, bringing down the price a good bit. I'll look for cheaper HDDs since I might not need 500GB for both systems right away, and sometimes higher capacity drives are even cheaper. I went with the caviar green because of the cache and being a lot cheaper than a black.

Thanks for the input, ME.

If you want to cut down on price, buy a mid-ATX case, and an $70 80+ cerf. PSU that should be around $120. Or a better Idea is to build a "portable computer" It costs $180 for the case and PSU.. That should save you $100
http://www.dangerden.com/store/dd-lan-tower-450w.html
Pics:

http://photos.dangerden.com/Cases/Tower-12-LAN-RIG-450W/13278060_FXdFJ#964777410_65PC6

Im a big fan of After Effects, Ive never tried out Final Cut. After Effects works better then Final Cut (in windows, performance wise) Because in windows, you can get a better system for cheaper. For example. You pay $120 for a GTX9800, you could buy a GTX550 for almost the same price. Therefore, you get to build a better rig. Also Final Cut Pro is expensive...

Actually, Im thinking of building a portable computer myself, to bring to lan parties, etc.

And one more thing, Ive never heard of Seasonic before.

Regarding 500 GB, it goes by fast to the Photo/Video Editor. I got a 1 TB HDD for Christmas, I only have 200 GB left. I do a lot of HD video/photo editing.

I'll look into the Danger Den case. It looks nice and the only problem could be solved with an external DVD-RW.

Seasonic is a company pretty much dedicated to 80 Plus gold certified power supplies, all in weird Watt counts and special features. Almost all are fully modular and have amazing build quality. The Corsair AX series was made by Seasonic, to get a good example of their quality. The reason they're not seen much is that their biggest PSU is 850W, and it's at the cost of other power supplies enthusiasts would use. It's at the price of something that wouldn't provide insane power, but it's too expensive for some people who don't need the quality that is Seasonic.

I'll look into higher end video cards, especially if I'm paying the same price.

With Danger Den case, EVGA 550 Ti, and another fan, without a monitor, the price is now around $852.88 including rebates and such. I can save up a little while longer and I'll reach enough to get the last few components.

To UPDATE: In the forum topic of the Danger Den case, it looks like the PSU is sold separately. I don't think it is, because when it said it was, it was a post back in August of 2010.

http://www.dangerden.com/Cases-from-Dan ... -450W.html

At least I hope the PSU is included. The larger case is only $99.95 and it doesn't include a PSU, so this shouldn't be that expensive for no reason, right?

Do they have a Micro Center near you? They have the i5 2500k for about $180 there.

Im pretty sure the DD Case comes with the PSU

Do they have a Micro Center near you? They have the i5 2500k for about $180 there.

Never heard of a microcenter, but that would be really handy, since the H67 boards aren't much more expensive than the one I have selected.

If i was you i would buy the i7, just add $60.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115201 ___ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115067

Change HDDs to this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

If i was you i would buy the i7, just add $60.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115201 ___ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115067

Brownman, its not that easy, You CANNOT use an i7 940 in a mini ITX build. You would need a i7 sandybridge Plus a different mobo. And also, the i5 he choose uses socket 1156, the i7 940 is not compatible. It uses socket 1366.
They DO NOT build X58 compatible mobos in ITX form. They build either sandybridge(1155) or 1156


But it is cheaper if you use a Sandybridge build. It is also faster.

Mobo : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128484
i5 Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074
I7 proccesor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

You would also need this mobo for the WD 500GBs (6Gb/s) I recommended eariler. Fast system for about $10 less

If i was you i would buy the i7, just add $60.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115201 ___ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115067

If money was not an object, he could go this route, but he is on a budget:

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/0407BUNDLEpromo.html

The Caviar Green's I had earlier actually dropped to $39.99, but they're only 3.0gb/s, and I might as well just go with a PC this time and make a hackintosh far into the future. Gonna rework my list now.

Also, are the non (K) sandy bridge processors just as overclockable, but not as quickly/easily overclockable?

The Caviar Green's I had earlier actually dropped to $39.99, but they're only 3.0gb/s, and I might as well just go with a PC this time and make a hackintosh far into the future. Gonna rework my list now.

Also, are the non (K) sandy bridge processors just as overclockable, but not as quickly/easily overclockable?

Hey Pengwin,

This memory is on sale today. I would move on it if you have the money now. It's only $7 cheaper, but hey at least it is a savings.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?SID=u648681t2828625f9fp0dd0c0s701&AID=10440897&PID=1225267&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16820231416