Peering Into the Future
Finally, Ars Technica has updated their famous system guides. I plan to use this as a framework for my planned compy next year that I will purchase the parts for and assemble for when I (hopefully) leave for university.
Naturally, I’m using the guide for the Budget Box. Since my local stop for computer parts and supplies, Canada Computers doesn’t have everything in the world (sadly), I’ve substituted a few things. In the past, I’ve always mixed the budget and hot rod guides together, but this time, I’ve seen no need. The Budget Box fits my needs perfectly, and comes just a bit over my budget. Let’s see what we have now:
| Part | Chosen piece | Price ($) |
|---|---|---|
| Mobo | MSI RS480M2-IL | 113 |
| Processor | Athlon 64 3000+ | 186 |
| Memory | Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR400 2x512MB | 184 |
| Video Card | ASUS EN6600/TD/128 Geforce 6600 128MB | 167 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar SATA 160GB | 111 |
| DVD-/+RW | NEC ND3520 | 70 |
| DVD-ROM | Sony DDU1621 | 30 |
| Case | Antec Lifestyle Aria MicroATX Cube | 120 |
| Speakers | Logitech X-230 | 50 |
| Monitor | BenQ FP757SB 17″ LCD 16ms | 320 |
| Mouse | Logitech Wheel Mouse Optical | 11 |
| Keyboard | Logitech Internet Keyboard | 14 |
Yes indeed. MicroATX cube. Since the budget box was made to be microATX, I thought ‘why not?’ Also note the absence of floppy. And yes, I am getting an LCD monitor no matter what. I may look for cheaper RAM as a way to get under $1300 though.