- 4 Comments
- HOTNESS UNHOT
Tiger Direct has the AMD Athlon II X3 Biostar 760G 4GB Barebones Kit for $204 - $20 rebate [Exp 2/28] - $20 rebate [Exp 2/28] - $10 rebate [Exp 2/10] - $10 rebate [Exp 2/10] - $10 rebate [Exp 2/10] + $10 shipping = $144 shipped.
AMD Athlon II X3 450 Triple-Core 3.0GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3
Biostar A780L3C 760G MB, XBlaster Mid-Tower V2 w/ 450W PSU
$144
5 rebates. Is this a new record for a deal?
You'll probably want to replace the heatsink since it's marginal for a triple-core, let alone if you o'c it, replace the PSU since it's a low rated generic, and add a video card since the board has only analog video output... leaving you with no free PCIe slots.
Also there is a discrepancy in that it lists gigabit lan but in the feature list further down it lists 10/100 Mbps. On Biostar's product page it appears to be only 10/100 Mb. Kinda sneaky of them to name a 760 board as A780 too...
http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=612#spec
The price isn't bad but there sure are a lot of trade-offs to get there.
You'll want to replace the motherboard off the bat and then replace the rest later so just replace everything.
Sure all the rebates necessitate a diligent amount of toil; but $80 back and a good final price for what you get... that's how some deals work.
What's surprising is that case is actually not bad or outwardly distasteful, just a decent case though it will emit noise without some skillful balance. For me it's the Mobo that may provide a flimsy backbone, being barely acceptable in features and quality. Now the Red HyperX 2x 4Gb sticks is nice upside, while furnishing dual channel. As for the OEM CPU cooler, sufficient, generic, offering nothing seriously unhealthy. Irrefutably the PSU is a weak link, my thinking just don't push it. It appears to pull air from inside the case, which over the long might be a blessing, less dust clogging. Just be sure to flood the case with cool air with those extra fans, and the whole thing may have acceptable odds. Then yes a bump in Graphics is just unavoidable, I'd say just grab a 6670 DDR3 card for $40 and don't make it or expect it to be anything more.
http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX16C9B14pdf