After my PSU died taking with it the mobo I have been shopping around for a new setup. Come up with this so far...

Gigabyte EP35-DS3P (Pro) - $164 (MSY)
Intel 775 E4600 - $166 (MSY)
Topower 420W PSU - $138 (MSY)

RAM: 4 GIG Kit 800 (2 x 2G) ADATA - $95 (MSY)

or

RAM: 2 GIG KIT 800 KIngmax - $45 (MSY)

or

RAM: 2 GIG Kit 1066 PQA - $74 (MSY)
???

Trying to keep to a reasonable budget, but I willing to bend a little on price. Basically I play a few games mainly TF2 and Q3 so doesn't need to be cutting edge. Use Photoshop a bit and I like s*** to load quickly and smoothly (funny that). Other than that use XBox media centre and run 4 3 sata HDD plus would like plenty of USB 2.0. Don't need onboard video or audio, although don't care if mobo supports it. That's about it.

Would like to know if anyone has used any of these products and what they were like etc. or if you think you can suggest a better rig for around the same money feel free.

Ta.

I'd recommend checking out this list:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/index.cfm?a=wiki&tag=rmp_sg_whirlpoolpcs_boxes

If all you want is to play TF2 and Q3 at a high framerate, you can get by with an 8600GT or similar card. That won't give you much room for much else like crysis, but is a good cheap solution if that's what you're after.

Looks like the E8200 or E8400 CPU might be the go, but currently hard to get in Australia apparently.
If it means waiting a month, is it worth it? How much better are they?

As far as video cards go, I have an old 6600GT PCI-E card that will do for the time being.

last edited by IncrEdible_vEgetable at 15:52:15 17/Mar/08

I tried getting an E8400 from IT Estate last week but they told me the earliest they've be getting them would be early April. Ended up just getting the Q6600 as it was only an extra $30.

If it means waiting a month, is it worth it?

Heh probably not worth a 1 month wait.

I still have an E6600 (dual-core 2.4GHz) from 2006, and I still have no need for a CPU upgrade whatsoever.

http://www.overclockers.com.au/wiki/Gaming_Machine