Cheap PC BUILDING, Part 3

I broke down and decided to continue on the PC after all.

Bunny and I were in Micro Center and had found a deal on a MB and CPU (Soyo SY-P4VTE and Celeron D 325) for $100. Onboard LAN and 6.1 sound (which seems to be the norm) was a great help. Up to 800 FSB.. good.. ATA serial compatible? Dont have anything SATA.. yet.. It seemed like a solid board (some quick research after the fact found that it was an OK board, but no real OCing, which is fine by me.. 2.53ghz compared to the 800 I have now will be a big deal to me).

After a call to JT to confirm this deal ("For $100, Its worth a try!"), we started loading the basket with other essentials.

They had a nice $60 case for $24.99, an Antec in Metallic Bronze, but it only came with a 300w PS. Getting home and looking through the MB manual, It asks for a 350w PS.. oop..
As I had also planned to run any CD/DVD HDs I had around the house in this beast, I would need a larger one... Id take care of that later..

Some cheap memory was in order and a 512 DDR was found for about $30.

(Note all prices are after rebates)

Walking up to pay for these, I found A copy of DOOM 3 for $29 and Half Life 2 Collectors Edition for $45 ($5 less than the regular version? HL and CS remastered and a T shirt? Normally $80? Im all over that.)

With a $4 keyboard for S&Gs, we dumped the lot in the trunk, and went off to the Minor league Hockey.

Gladiators lost a shameful 6-0

Later that night, I poked through the bits and assembled most of the hardware.

I ordered a new 500w PS and an extra IDE card from Acortech.com.
Knowing I had a CD, CD-R, DVD and DVD-R ready to pop in, I needed more IDE spaces (How I long for affordable SCSI) :P
Acortech had one for.. $13.. Most stores carry them for $40-90. Same as the PS, the local shops had them for $40-99.. Not acceptable.. Acrotech? $27

I have a sweet spot for video cards.. although my Geforce 400MX meets the bare requirements for running my beloved DOOM and HL2, the bare minimum will probably bog the whole thing down. I found a GeForce card (FX5700LE 256MB DDR TV/DVI/2H AGP) from PCOnTime.net for $90.

So cost breakdown to date
(shipping is included when applicable. after rebates and all prices are rounded UP to the nearest dollar, tax not included):
HD $100
MB/CPU $100
Memory $30
Case $25
Keyboard $4
Video Card $90
Extra IDE card $13
PS replacement $25.29

Total: $387.29
Not bad...

Next time: Pics and stuff!