On 9/13/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Chris Ribe</b> <<a href="mailto:chrisribe@gmail.com">chrisribe@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<div><span class="gmail_quote"></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
<span class="q"><br><br><br>> <br>> <br>> Alternatively, you could scale back on the computer components and get an HD box + a small HD monitor for the same $1100 you have budgeted right now. <br>> <br>> I'll be back shortly with my suggestions....
<br><br><snip><br></span><br> ******MOTHERBOARD********
<br><br>You picked: ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD, $140 <br>I suggest: Open Box: BIOSTAR TForce TF7025-M2 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 7025 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard , $40<br> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131172" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)">
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138074R</a><br><br>reasoning: SLI?, 4 x PCIe slots? 8GB memory supported? what are you going to do with that?
<br>Go with something cheaper and smaller that has integrated nvidia video and a DVI port. <br><br>saved / total saved: $100 / $250<br><br><br>***** Video card ****<br><br>You picked: You didn't! Oops!<br>I suggest: Gigabyte GV-NX72G512P1 GeForce 7200GS $30
<br> <br>reasoning: You're TV viewing experience will be much improved if you can actually get video out of the computer :) This is a nice and cheap card that should work well.
<br><br>saved / total saved: -$30 / $326<br><br>***** High def monitor ****<br><br><snip><br>saved / total saved: -$450 / -$124<br><br><br><br>There you have it - for $124 more than your current shopping list, you can have a 4 tuner HD beast of a backend AND a shiny new 1200p monitor.
<div><span class="e" id="q_11501579c1f5939a_2"><br><br>-chris<br>
</span></div></blockquote></div><br>Chris,<br><br>Good analysis, but there were a couple of glitches.<br><br>1) the link for the open box BIOStar mobo had the right URL in the label, but the URL behind it was wrong. Here's a good link:
<br> <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138074R">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138074R</a><br><br>2) Why buy the 7200GS video card when the mobo has a built-in 7025 with support for VGA and DVI already? Save another $30. (for now, anyway).
<br><br>Craig.<br>