New Rig

[Nephilim]

Well it's that time again...
Pops been telling me he needs a new system sometime now, ye ole Sempron 2500 has run its course. So I managed to convince him to take my current system and build another for myself chain up iymc!

So far these are what I've been looking at:

Case/PSU
USD 65 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
USD 100 CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX USD90 OCZ StealthXStream
Main Components
AMD Option
USD 120 GIGABYTE GA-MA770-DS3 - For that price these features are great
USD 155 AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ - at stock more or less equals an E6600/E6550
USD 55 CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) - I may replace this with a set from Kingston
Intel Option
USD 110 Intel BOXDP35DPM USD90 GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L
USD 170 Intel Core 2 Duo E6550
USD 50 Kingston 2GB
Graphics
USD 150-160 XFX PVT88SFDF4
Drives
USD 80 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS
USD 35 SAMSUNG DVD Burner

Total:
USD740
Total in TTD = 740 * 7 = 5180 (assuming USD1=TTD7)

Considerations for bringing it in TTD1500 - TTD2000

more or less my budget is TTD7000 (+/-TTD500)

I don't plan to O/C, too convinced of the stability of stock. Also the Intel option sacrifices PCI-E x16 2.0 support, as the only board that has that are out of my price range. Tried to get the best performance:$ within my budget.

Suggestions?

EDIT1: Edit for considerations in thread

EDIT2: Revised Parts List

TTD 1000 CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX
TTD 500 COOLER MASTER Centurion 5
Those are more or less in the bag

USD 130  GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R - Bigger bro of the DS3L more sata ports and a few more raid options
USD 65  Kingston HyperX 2GB - nice timing and latency for ram this price
USD 175  Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 - meh

USD 185  EVGA 512-P3-N862-AR Superclocked GeForce 9600GT/USD 235  BFG Tech BFGE88512GTOCE GeForce 8800GT - this is a tossup, last quote had them TTD300 close to each other, no need to mention which i choose, but on hearing talks of VAT, new quote may scare the hell outta me, while the MSI is cheaper i decided to go with some brands i've had good experiences with before

USD 80 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS
USD 35 SAMSUNG DVD Burner
nothing special here a storage and a sata dvd burner to get rid of that god awful IDE i still have

[Spazosaurus]

Forget about PCIE 2 spec. Its not that important and probably won't be for at least a year or two. As for the board, you could save some $$ and go with this board. That board is the $hit. The money you save there you could put towards getting a 8800gt via a vis this one. Put that together and you have a bess gaming system

[AvatarTT]

This is a great PSU for under $100USD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007

[Crixx_Creww]

that is one PULLSTONES machine for dat money lawl

[Spazosaurus]

This is a great PSU for under $100USD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007

Or this one as well.

[Arcmanov]

Forget about PCIE 2 spec. Its not that important and probably won't be for at least a year or two. As for the board, you could save some $$ and go with this board. That board is the $hit. The money you save there you could put towards getting a 8800gt via a vis this one. Put that together and you have a bess gaming system

Seconded.  Especially the motherboard.
Go with the Intel option.  There is a much wider upgrade path there.
That P35 motherboard instantly allows an upgrade to the faster 45nm CPUs right out of the box.  It would be kinda foolhardy to ignore such
a great bang-for-buck value here.

[Nephilim]

Or this one as well.

I like that OCZ, nearly the same specs as the corsair (bar a few increases)
After talking to arc a bit and hearing his horror story I'm debating if to source the pwr supply locally though, I'll let you know how that turns out.

Go with the Intel option.  There is a much wider upgrade path there.
That P35 motherboard instantly allows an upgrade to the faster 45nm CPUs right out of the box.  It would be kinda foolhardy to ignore such
a great bang-for-buck value here.

Agreed. That board is pretty impressive lots more features than the Intel I picked, in my defense though, I'll say i had one too many good experiences with them

The money you save there you could put towards getting a 8800gt via a vis this one.

dred you know the bleedy card gone up buy 20US...ill say it looking worth it though, the cooling alone and the fact it come pre-o/c...compared to others at 250US it give good bang:$

[Spazosaurus]

Its a shame that the price of that card went up. But still, at that price I believe its still worth the extra dough. Think about it this way. After all is said and done and you build the system using the cheaper components, are you gonna be totally satisfied or are you gonna wish that you spent the extra couple hundred tt to get substantially better?

I think the latter sceneario is gonna play out.

[Nephilim]

Small update, just acquired my pwr supply (CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX) and found out where to get ma case too, also I've been informed we have to pay VAT on parts, not so sure the reliability but i doubt is an idle rumor.
 
got it for TTD1000 + 1yr wrty not bad considering the price.

[Arcmanov]

Not all parts.  From personal experience, VAT is currently applied mainly to RAM and PSUs.
All other PC parts are currently exempt from VAT/duties.

[Crixx_Creww]

why would ram and psus be vat inclusive, the very heart of a pc, and other things not>?

[Saxito Pau]

Crixx, I've paid import VAT on motherboards

those customs officers are whimsical at best... you can avoid VAT for an item and get VAT for the exact same item if you import it again.. happened to me with USB drives.

[mmstt]

It is exactly as Sax says.

Either way I have a faxed 7 page document from customs and excise (not great quality) regarding computer parts and accessories. This is the new updated list which they "should" be following.

Main parts: mobo, cpu, memory, psu's all vatable only. Video cards free ( could be charged if they classify it wrong )

Let me know if anyone wants to know anything else.

[TriniXaeno]

Sax is right on the money.

Been dealing with customs (GAS Courier Bond) for years and they are as corrupt as they come. They can and do charge you any which way they feel.

Sure, you can try to say they are wrong and make trouble for the officers. A good idea if you plan to NEVER import anything ever again in life.

The sweetest part is that you have to pay the $$ before you can even get the querry sorted. Adding insult to injury, the money has to be refunded from the national treasury (granted that you win the case) which takes a considerable amount of time. Months to years.

The absolute worst incident I had, was where they itemized ten demo discs that came with a video card as individual computer gamers, estimated a value and charged my mc for em. That bill totalled to more than the cost of the video card itself. A true story.

WASD, I'd suggest marrying a customs officer before importing the items if you want to avoid duty and vat altogether. If not, budget for the worst (vat & duty on everything) and be joyous for whatever items get spared the tariff.

Great thread btw. Love the detail in the first post.

[Crixx_Creww]

no man that is so nastily wrong

there is a parliamentary bill that was passed last year or year before
detailing the removal of customs on all classifications of computer items, effectively making importation of pc parts tax free once the parts are for a pc and nothing else.

Is our right to get these papers and challenge customs on their s%$%

[TriniXaeno]

a lot of things in trinidad are wrong. doh even get me started on urp, hdc, licensing office and the police service (no offense trinitus)

[Nephilim]

WASD, I'd suggest marrying a customs officer before importing the items if you want to avoid duty and vat altogether. If not, budget for the worst (vat & duty on everything) and be joyous for whatever items get spared the tariff.

yeah i tend to do that, I usually have a sum in what i call the "oh-fcuk" fund, don't think it need more explanation

no man that is so nastily wrong

there is a parliamentary bill that was passed last year or year before
detailing the removal of customs on all classifications of computer items, effectively making importation of pc parts tax free once the parts are for a pc and nothing else.

Is our right to get these papers and challenge customs on their s%$%

dred in an ideal world we would win, however in ye good ole trini we will get our ass3s shaft.
i suppose we could write a letter or sum to the editors of the daily newspapers, but it's anybody's guess if it will do any good.

[Arcmanov]

*steers thread back on topic*

So, WASD...based on all the advice, what are your final choices?

Please list em so we can critique.....

[Nephilim]

listed
had to raise my budget a bit but i figure after this the next major upgrade will be when quad becomes viable (well to me)

[Nephilim]

well i finally get ma sh1t together...

COOLER MASTER RC-690-KKN1-GP
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX
GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3R
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750
Kingston HyperX 2GB
BFG Tech BFGE88512GTOC2E GeForce 8800GT 512MB
Creative Sound Blaster SB0570 Audigy SE
SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD (mix up in order, no more sata )
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS
I'm still undecided on an after market HSF, not many meet all my criteria.

TT$8500 total...blech i went over budget a little.

more to come, benchies and such nuh...

(look ah rasta in ma PC!!!)