$350 PC that runs Fallout 3 better than PS3 & 360.

[Linkzmax]

ameratsu said:

Just a few final thoughts. see my last post in addition to this..

1- I added all the newegg items into my cart to check shipping cost (except the $5 mouse because it's out of stock), and the cheapest shipping was $28.34 to New York. Wouldn't you have to pay some kind of tax as well? So the price is $378.34 + tax, not $350.
2- He chose a dvd reader instead of a dvd writer in order to save $3.
3- that case includes no fans, and no case fans are budgeted in this build.
4- That 80gb harddrive is laughable for any modern PC, especially when considering many games take up 4gb+ each.

1) There are stores or "trade shows" where you can pick up the parts for similar prices to newegg/tigerdirect etc. as well as states which do not include tax. And if you don't have access to one of these, drop Windows and it covers the shipping cost. Also since tax is applied after $400 for a PS3 the challenge is more to meet $350 before tax.

2&4) Those are obviously just cuts made to meet the challenge. Anyone seriously considering building a rig along these lines would most likely splurge for a better optical and hard drive.

3) That is a valid point, but cutting corners elsewhere(OS for example since it's been brought up a number of times) allows room for fans in the budget.

 

@theprof

2		TDP - Thermal Design Power. We recommend 85-90% since it is very rare that CPU will utilize 100% of TDP.

That's from the calculater. I even bumped it up to 100% as well as system load, and OCed to 4GHz at 1.35 V and the result is 318W. Your exploding PSU's would definitely depend on the brand of the PSU as well as the parts in your rig. What do you mean by gimping parts?