Updated $1500 Computer Recommendations -- ASUS, EVGA, NVIDIA, INTEL
Here are my current recommendations for a $1500 state of the art computer system. Motherboard by ASUS, Video Cards by EVGA, System Chipset and GPU by NVIDIA, and CPU by Intel. Monitors, speakers, keyboard, and mouse are not included. All prices are current prices at Newegg.
Case -- ENERMAX Uber Chakra ECA5001B Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case -- $119.99
Power Supply -- ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W Power Supply -- 139.00
Motherboard -- ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard -- 184.99
CPU -- Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 -- $186.00
CPU Cooler -- Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler --$64.99
Cooling Fans for case and CPU cooler -- Two Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fans -- $27.98 ($13.99 each)
Memory -- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory -- $$69.99 after $45 rebate
Video Cards -- Two EVGA 256-P2-N761-AR GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Cards -- $319.98 ($159.99 each after $15 rebate)
Hard Drives -- Four Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives -- $307.96 ($76.99 each)
DVD Burners -- Two SAMSUNG 18X DVDR DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black SATA Model SH-S183L -- $75.98 (37.99 each)
Grand Total -- $1496.86, after $75 in mail-in rebates.
Please note that the price has come down from $2000 to $1500, and this is a more powerful computer than my previous recommendations. The price reduction is primarily because of the huge decrease in the price of computer memory, cheaper video cards, and because of generally lower prices on everything else.
As you can see, I have made a few changes in component recommmendations. These recommendations represent my current thinking on the best price/performance value for each component.
You could reduce the price further with cheaper video cards, fewer hard drives, and only one DVD burner. I wouldn't recommend compromising on any of the other components.
I picked the Intel E6420 CPU because it has the best performance/price ratio, and because it is extremely overclockable. The E6420 is an updated version of the previously recommended E6400. The primary difference is that the E6420 has a four-megabyte unified cache, compared to a two-megabyte cache for the E6400. People are routinely overclocking this CPU to 3.2 ghz with the Intel stock cooler and standard voltage. Slight overvolting and high-end air cooling are yielding overclocks up to 3.8 ghz.
The Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU cooler is definitely high-end. In fact, it bested all other high-end CPU coolers in a recent test at Anandtech. I would recommend a conservative 3.2 ghz overclock. The E6420 has a 1066 mhz frontside bus (FSB). But this is misleading. The FSB is quad-pumped, so the true FSB is 266 mhz. The E6420 has an 8x clock multiplier, and 8 X 266 mhz = 2.13 ghz.
So if you increase the FSB to 400 mhz, you get 8 X 400 mhz = 3.2 ghz. Now, here is the elegance of this overclock. The memory is DDR2-800, meaning 800 mhz. But that means the actual memory bus speed is 400 mhz. Voila! FSB = memory bus = 400 mhz. A 1:1 ratio of FSB to memory bus is very desirable, resulting in the lowest latencies and synchronization delays.
By the way, I have read reviews which state that the Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 memory will overclock to DDR2-1000 and still run at the same 4-4-4-12 memory timings. This means you could run your CPU FSB at 500 mhz and still synchronize with the memory bus. Of course, that would mean a CPU speed of 4 ghz. You are unlikely to reach that milestone, but people are overclocking this CPU in the range of 3.6 ghz to 3.8 ghz with high-end air cooling.
Obviously there are alternatives for all the components. If you want to know why I chose a particular component, or what alternatives are available, just ask.
William Coleman (ramashiva)
Case -- ENERMAX Uber Chakra ECA5001B Black Aluminum/Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case -- $119.99
Power Supply -- ENERMAX Liberty ELT620AWT ATX12V 620W Power Supply -- 139.00
Motherboard -- ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard -- 184.99
CPU -- Intel Core 2 Duo E6420 Conroe 2.13GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 -- $186.00
CPU Cooler -- Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler --$64.99
Cooling Fans for case and CPU cooler -- Two Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fans -- $27.98 ($13.99 each)
Memory -- Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory -- $$69.99 after $45 rebate
Video Cards -- Two EVGA 256-P2-N761-AR GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Cards -- $319.98 ($159.99 each after $15 rebate)
Hard Drives -- Four Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drives -- $307.96 ($76.99 each)
DVD Burners -- Two SAMSUNG 18X DVDR DVD Burner With 12X DVD-RAM Write, LightScribe Technology Black SATA Model SH-S183L -- $75.98 (37.99 each)
Grand Total -- $1496.86, after $75 in mail-in rebates.
Please note that the price has come down from $2000 to $1500, and this is a more powerful computer than my previous recommendations. The price reduction is primarily because of the huge decrease in the price of computer memory, cheaper video cards, and because of generally lower prices on everything else.
As you can see, I have made a few changes in component recommmendations. These recommendations represent my current thinking on the best price/performance value for each component.
You could reduce the price further with cheaper video cards, fewer hard drives, and only one DVD burner. I wouldn't recommend compromising on any of the other components.
I picked the Intel E6420 CPU because it has the best performance/price ratio, and because it is extremely overclockable. The E6420 is an updated version of the previously recommended E6400. The primary difference is that the E6420 has a four-megabyte unified cache, compared to a two-megabyte cache for the E6400. People are routinely overclocking this CPU to 3.2 ghz with the Intel stock cooler and standard voltage. Slight overvolting and high-end air cooling are yielding overclocks up to 3.8 ghz.
The Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU cooler is definitely high-end. In fact, it bested all other high-end CPU coolers in a recent test at Anandtech. I would recommend a conservative 3.2 ghz overclock. The E6420 has a 1066 mhz frontside bus (FSB). But this is misleading. The FSB is quad-pumped, so the true FSB is 266 mhz. The E6420 has an 8x clock multiplier, and 8 X 266 mhz = 2.13 ghz.
So if you increase the FSB to 400 mhz, you get 8 X 400 mhz = 3.2 ghz. Now, here is the elegance of this overclock. The memory is DDR2-800, meaning 800 mhz. But that means the actual memory bus speed is 400 mhz. Voila! FSB = memory bus = 400 mhz. A 1:1 ratio of FSB to memory bus is very desirable, resulting in the lowest latencies and synchronization delays.
By the way, I have read reviews which state that the Crucial Ballistix DDR2-800 memory will overclock to DDR2-1000 and still run at the same 4-4-4-12 memory timings. This means you could run your CPU FSB at 500 mhz and still synchronize with the memory bus. Of course, that would mean a CPU speed of 4 ghz. You are unlikely to reach that milestone, but people are overclocking this CPU in the range of 3.6 ghz to 3.8 ghz with high-end air cooling.
Obviously there are alternatives for all the components. If you want to know why I chose a particular component, or what alternatives are available, just ask.
William Coleman (ramashiva)
posted by William Coleman at 3:51 PM
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