I just came across what looks like a great deal for a new HP system with a 3.4Ghz i7 2600 CPU, 8GB of RAM and a 1.5TB hard drive (among other things). If you have no interest in overclocking, this is a really excellent system for TG2. This deal might go fast, so check it out if you're interested in a fast new machine a budget:
http://www.woot.com/ (note, if you visit this link after the deal is over, it will show some other product)
- Oshyan
Note that this would be mainly useful as a render system. It comes with a pretty crappy graphics card and a small power supply so it would not be easy to upgrade the graphics without also upgrading the PSU.
Here are some slightly more expensive but similar deals I found in researching further:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=19568&CatId=4928 ($50 more, same specs, better graphics card, but no Bluray)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=557085&CatId=4928 ($100 more, same specs, even better graphics than above, no Bluray)
Overall it still looks like a good deal, with the caveat that it would be for a render box (or if you just don't care about a decent graphics card, but remember it will affect object preview speed, especially for large populations).
Edit: this might also make a nice media player hooked up to your TV. Easily play 1080P video content, has a Bluray drive, lots of hard drive space for DVR stuff. Just need to add a TV tuner. Use it as a render box when not watching HD video. :)
- Oshyan
Pretty sure this is US only :) :(
It dose raise the old question though. With sufficient budget would it be better to buy two (or more) smaller render boxes (in the 3.4ghz region) at approx $600/$700 versus possibly twice that for a sweet OC'd top of the range system. If its purely for rendering, "Render Crofting" anyone? then I think it starts to make sense.
Cheers
Richard
Looks like it's gone. What was the price? I'm following pricing closely and hoping that prices drop enough to warrant a purchase before too long. The i7-2600 is exactly what I am after as I've found that I have no time to tinker with clock speeds and risk overheating and system instability. US$300 for a CPU is still too much to swallow, especially with MOBO prices for Sandybridge CPUs so high.
It was a complete system for $699. I've since seen similar deals since, one from Dell. All US though.
- Oshyan