Which to get?

[Maguspk]

Friend of mine is building a computer for me and these are the parts he's selected for the most optimal PC for around 1000 dollars which is my budget I want to stick to. Basically, as you can see, both are over 1100 which is fine I guess, but I would really like to get it closer to 1000 if at all possible. Does anyone see something that can be found for cheaper or replaced with little impact on the performance? I want to be able to run serious games on it and such so keep that in mind while looking at them.

Intel-based Computer:

Intel Core 2 Duo E4550 2.2GHz + EVGA 8800GT video card 304.98
Corsair XMS2 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2800 69.00
APEVIA 680W PSU 109.99
Seagate Barracuda 250GB HDD 59.99
Philips 20x DVD Burner SATA 24.99
Thermaltake SopranoRS case 59.99
Acer 19" widescreen 189.99
Vista Home Premium + EVGA 680i gaming motherboard 269.98

Total: 1151.08 after shipping

AMD-based Computer:

Athlon 64x2 6400+ 3.2 GHz + 950 watt PSU combo 282.99
MSI 3870 video card + Vista Home Premium combo 269.98
Acer 19" widescreen 189.99
Corsair XMS2 DDR2-800 2GB 69.00
Seagate Barracuda 250GB HDD 59.99
Philips 20x DVD Burner SATA 24.99
Thermaltake SopranoRS 59.99
ASUS M2R32 AM2 motherboard 119.99

Total: 1120.24 after shipping

[Vaplade]

I've used AMD in building my PC and a friend's PC when he's on a budget, but from what I understand the Intel side of things is faster. The 8800GT is going to be better than the 3870 for most gaming.

For the AMD PC though, I wouldn't recommend that motherboard. If your friend could stretch a few bucks there's the MSI K9A2 Platinum, I bought this motherboard recently and have had no problems with it. PCI-e 2.0, Phenom support and a lot of newer features that would add more life to it over the older 580x chipset.

[Avanarius]

probably the top one for maximum power. Why does the bottom one have a 950w psu? overkill much

I don't trust 19" acers either, but probably better then the one my friend has/had

[Isiolia]

I'd spend the extra few bucks for 4GB of RAM too.

IMO, look at what you need for a PSU as well. If you're not doing SLI, overclocking, etc, I'd look more at a lower output PSU with 80%+ efficiency. May save a little there.

Most of it is kinda hard to reduce though, since most of it is already pretty baseline for a midrange type system.

[Maguspk]

Thanks for the quick replies. He mentioned the prices being as low as possible the only adjustment is that I will probably not get an OS with the PC and instead buy Vista from my school store for 10 bucks instead. That should save about a hundred bucks.

[Cjskater]

I'd say go with this one that mootsfox suggested:
viewtopic.php?p=1016060#p1016060

Could upgrade most of it, but really, it will play anything out there anyway. If you was going to upgrade it; go with 4gb ram, E8400/Q6600, and maybe a better mobo (it is still really good).

Edit: forgot to mention I'm cheap though... cheaper stuff is always the winrar for me.

[Maguspk]

What are the key differences making it so much cheaper and would you all consider them worth the ~400 dollar price cut?

[Cjskater]

Well it is actually more like $200 price cut since it doesn't include the monitor. Just stick in the 4gb ram and a monitor. That would make it closer to the $1000 mark.

edit: forgot you need case too, so add that in.