DISCLAIMER:
I realize I could have saved some $ by using AMD stuff but, I'm really Intel slanted.
CPU - i5 -750 Lynfield - $78 - Passmark Score 3738 - Source: E-bay
The reason I went with one of the older quad cores was a question of speed vs price vs preference. When you go to buy a processor you need to think about the other components. This chip seemed to have the best value to me over all. It beats out the newer i3's and Pentium Dual cores in speed and costs about what a good Pentium Dual Core or Celeron does with better performance than either.
Motherboard - MSI P55-CD53 w/ I/O shield - $90 - Source: E-bay
This was one of the best boards I could find that would take the socket 1156 CPU I picked. You can get them cheaper but, I wanted it fast so, I used a US seller and paid a bit more. I've generally had great luck with MSI and this board had all the specs I wanted (pci-e slots, USB headers, & SATA connections). Oh - and it has great CAPS, not those cheap ones that leak.
RAM - Corsair XMMS 3 (8) GB Kit - $58 - Source E-bay
I love corsair products and the color scheme fit the rest of the board. Plus - The performance is excellent!
CPU Cooler: SilenX EFX-92HA2 - $10 - Source: Newegg.com
It's low profile, fit the color scheme, efficient, & quiet. The only thing I didn't like about this cooler was the fins are really easy to bend!
End of Phase 1:
Case: Apevia X-Cruiser Silver w/ 3x 120MM blue LED fans - $58 - Source: Newegg.com
This was seriously about price vs looks w/o modding. It has great airflow and is relatively well made right out of the box.
Optical Drive: The least expensive Lite-On DVD Burner Newegg.com had - $19
Let's face it most people don't use them much anymore and why blow a ton of $ on it?
SATA Cables: (3) blue Coboc SATA 3 18" cables - $.57 each! - Source Newegg.com
It was really just all about the color.
Power Supply: 585W HEC - Substitute 600W LEPA - $54 - Source Newegg.com
Ok, so I ordered a 500W EVGA and it was DOA. I had a brand new HEC 585W that was a pull from a previous build that I substituted. I have the Lepa listed b/c it rocks and is cheap.
Keyboard and Mouse: Devastator! - $33 - I'm just going to direct link this. It's an incredible buy: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823129030
SSD: PNY XLR8 120GB - $57 - Source: E-Bay
This drive has really good r/w rates and its cheap. You can also use one of the Kingston's or whatever's on sale. Even a cheap SSD is 10X faster than a mechanical.
Data Drive: 500GB Seagate Barracuda - $40 - Source: E-Bay sort of.
I actually had this floating around so I didn't buy or charge anyone for it. You can get them for about that price range pretty much anywhere for new stock. I used a 500 b/c if you throw in a Terabyte for a home user that doesn't game; they almost never use it.
Video Card: XFX Nvidia Geforce 9800GT - 256bit / 512MB / DX10 - $50 - Source: E-Bay sort of...
I again had this on the shelf. It's color and power usage are perfect; plus - it's still a good performer. The only downside of this card is that it's not DX11. For a gamer this card is under-powered but, for a home user it's major overkill and wrecks on-board any day.
Total would be: $548.71 for a really solid PC that'll games decently and looks cool. It would have been way cooler to sleeve the cables in blue mesh but, I don't have the stuff to do that anymore and I didn't want to bug Chris. The other thing is that for whatever reason Apevia only chose to put in (1) LED fan. The front and rear fans aren't illuminated and all the fans only have the big 4 pin molex connectors not the 3 pin. It also has a fire-wire header connector that was useless for me and I stashed it behind the hard drive cage with the other wires and zip tied it. There is no gap behind the motherboard tray but, there is a fair amount of space behind the drive cages to hide all the excess wires.
We also added a 26" Hanns-G Monitor for $196 from Newegg.com That's major overkill but...
I thought this was the best balance of power / coolness / budget. Like I said I might have been able to shave a bit with an AMD Quad core or something but, i'm slanted Intel - LOL. It's got amazing air flow and you can't hear it run. I only had a few complaints (which I expressed) so, it was a great build.
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