Karmuhhhh's $575 Budget Build.

So I sold off my pride and joy a few weeks ago to pay off some bills, but thanks to a generous tax refund and an even more generous trip to Vegas, I finally got the funds to complete my budget replacement. I must point out that in order to meet this budget, I relied on purchasing some used parts, as well as parts I already had and a gift from my boss at work! Now I know this is not really a build log, but I feel it is the appropriate place to share my latest child with the world :-P

Here is a quick breakdown of my parts and the price I paid:

AMD Phenom II X4 820 @ 2.8GHz (have not yet attempted an overclock) - $60 - Used
ASUS Crosshair IV Foruma - $80 - Used
8GB Patriot Viper Xtreme 1600MHz CL8 RAM - $20 After MIR and $15 off Microcenter coupon - New
MSI TFII Radeon HD 6950 Unlocked to 6970 Shaders - $180 - Used
Cooler Master Hyper N520 - $25 with $5 off Amazon coupon - New
Seasonic X750 - $110 with Newegg $40 off promo code - New
Sony Optiarc DVD+-RW - $25 - New
Fractal Design Arc Midi - $94 with 5% off Microcenter coupon - New
640GB Hitachi HDD - Already owned (no cost)
2 Extra 140mm fans - $30 - New

Subtotal: $624
Minus: $50 donation from my boss
Total Paid Out-Of-Pocket: $574

Some notes: I must say that I am absolutely blown-away by how wonderful the FD Arc Midi is to work with. At first I didn't really like the case because I thought it looked a little cheap compared to my old Lian Li, but to be honest, it is just one of the highest-quality cases I have ever worked with. The amount of room that this case has is phenomenal, and it is easy to see how much thought actually went into building it. The side panels are super thick and sturdy, and all the pieces are very easy to work with. I still don't think it looks half as good as my Lian Li did, but it makes up for that in so many different ways!

And now for some pictures!









And now...to start overclocking

Thanks! Yep I love my work, lol. And I am currently OCing my CPU, so hopefully I'll be able to get a good speed out of her!

I was seriously considering the Switch 810 white, but decided to save the cash and went for the Fractal. This is definitely the widest case I have ever used. As for the CPU/RAM/mobo, the motherboard is a dream to work with (although there were some issues with my CPU cooler, I kept getting a "CPU Fan Error" because my cooler uses a 3-pin), and the RAM is great. The CPU is already pretty quick for its age and speed. I haven't been able to game yet because I am still setting up my machine, but I will post some updates later!