HEY HEY HEY ITS THE BUILD OF THE DAY!!!

Ok so check out these links to build yourself an inexpensive pc that has room to grow and plenty of upgrade overhead -

From the boys over at geeks.com check out - http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=B-MSI-H62-K2&cat=CAS&cpc=JAD

I've ordered from them quite a few times with no problems at all - this geek kit comes with an MSI 775 mobo, cordless logitech keyboard, cordless mouse, speakers, basically everything you need except for the hard drive, RAM, and processor.

The only problem I can see with this kit is that the case looks cheap (beggars can't be choosers on a budget)and the mobo is supposedly a platinum edition version of the uber popular MSI P6N. Apparently the geeks are selling this mobo as the OEM edition which excludes a second PCI-E slot and most of the other features that would make the P6N platinum a platinum edition mobo. However you can't get away from the fact that the P6N utilizes the Nvidia 650i northbridge, and comes with plenty of expansion ports.

If your starting from scratch this is a good buy. If you already have a lot of the accessories that this kit comes with then the value does a nose dive. Still, 200 bucks for this kit offers a tremendous value to a first timer.

BUT FAT JOEY WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE COMPONENTS???

Well, since the geek kit is a socket 775 Mobo (an intel socket) we'll need to get a socket 775 procesor. I'm partial to the current Core 2 Duo's myself which offer exceptional value. Check this link out: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3856076

I like this proc - a steal at 150 bucks... core 2 archeitecture with 3 megs of cache instead 4 (like on the old conroe procs), or 6 on the new Penryn procs. So it basically has the same amount of cache as the conroe core 2 procs (like the E6 series of processors), and half the cache of a new penryn (the E8 series of procs). It's a fine compromise between cost and performance. This is a boxed proc so it also comes with the CPU fan. Nice.

As for the Hard Drive and memory, well I like these deals from Tiger Direct for both a hard drive and RAM check em out and hit the jump:

Hard Drive - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3323621&Sku=TSD-500M4

Memory - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3079597&Sku=O261-7054

500 gigs for 70 dolla - gonna make you holla!!! Oh and 2 gigs of OCZ RAM for 25 bucks (after a 30 dollar rebate) - so 55 bucks upfront... still... the grand total is about $475.00

Plus a 30 dollar rebate will pay for most of the shipping.

So there you have it... my first build of the day. Leave me comments and let me know what you think. L8R