Need System Recommendations

[Jafo]

I have a friend that wants to build a gaming computer and he has less than or right at a $1000 to spend on a new system. All he needs is the tower setup. He already has keyboard, mouse, monitor and may reuse his IDE hard drive until he gets more $$$. He's a bit timid on what to put in it and I've given some suggestions but I was hoping I could get some help finding the lowest price on all parts with links to every part going into the system.

Things needed:

1. Case - barebones sytems excepted
2. PSU - if case doesn't come with one
3. Motherboard - Prefer AMD compatible
4. CPU - fastest possible for the money
5. Memory - at least 1GB but would like 2GB
6. Graphics card - best possible card for the money with above parts

[gvblake22]

First of all, check out the HardwareLogic Recommendations

Second off, check out the HL Boneyard for a case or something to save some money.

I'll post up some recommendations of my own in a bit

[screwballl]

I just built a budget system myself which could ring in under $1000 easy (I ended up with a few extra bucks so stepped up on the CPU)

Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 1.8GHz LGA 775 Processor - Retail for $169
or
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor - Retail for $183

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail for $123

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950GT 100199L HDCP Video Card - Retail for $150

Newegg.com - pqi 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail for $164

Newegg.com - Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Computer Case - Retail for $100 (includes 450W Power supply)

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM for $90

All this for $796 (not including shipping, $810 for E6300 instead)

This means another $150 (before shipping) for parts like Arctic Silver, stepping up to the E6400 ($848) if you like or even a 19" widescreen LCD.

[gvblake22]

Antec LifeStyle SONATA II (includes 450Watt SmartPower 2.0 PSU) :: $99.99
EVGA 320-P2-N815-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB :: $299.99
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 :: $183.00
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 :: $122.99
OCZ Platinum Revision 2 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 :: $199.99 (and a $25.00 Mail-in Rebate)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250620AS 250GB :: $79.99 (because it is a good, suggested upgrade)
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+~$25.91 Shipping
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$1,011.86 TOTAL (shipped to your door before any rebates or combo deals)

[halutzparilla]

here a cheaper 250gb HDD Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by halutzparilla

here a cheaper 250gb HDD Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB 3.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

But with half the cache, less warranty, and less performance
Still a good deal though!

[Jafo]

Originally Posted by gvblake22

First of all, check out the HardwareLogic Recommendations

I think this list will be perfect for his needs.

thanks, everyone for the help.