XXXXXXX 2007OCTOBER 2007 MAMAXIMXIMUUMMPPCC 0045
The 90-Minute
Shopping Spree
DAVE’S PURCHASESPART PRICE
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 $120.00
CPU COOLER: Cooler Master $17.99
X Dream P775
MOTHERBOARD:
ECS RC410L/800-M $47.40*
ECS P4M900T-M $65.99
RAM: Kingston DDR2 1GB $54.99
(2 x 512MB) PC5300
VIDEOCARD: EVGA GeForce $99.99
7600GS
HARD DRIVE: Maxtor 200GB $49.99
6L200MO SATA
OPTICAL DRIVE: HP DVD740 $29.99
External 16x LightScribe
(refurb)
PSU: Raidmax ATX528B $39.99
SALES TAX (8.25% ) $39.50Total $518.43*Initially Dave was within the budget, but a major over-
sight had him doing a parts exchange that would cost
him money... as well as his pride.CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 $120.00SALES TAXSALES TAXSALES TAX (8.25% ) (8.25% ) $39.50 $39.50$518.43*Initially Dave was within the budget, but a major over-OVER
BUDGET!CPU: Dave chose the Core 2
Duo E4300 because of its repu-
tation as an insane overclocker.
He planned to take the proc to
3GHz and possibly beyond. That’s
a far cry from its stock speed
of 1.8GHz, and the reason he
splurged on an aftermarket cooler.
“I’m going to try and crank this
baby,” says young Murphy.MOTHERBOARD: Dual core, Core 2 Duo, what’s
the diff? That’s what Dave thought when he picked
up an ECS RC410L/800-M motherboard on his
fi rst trip to the store. That mobo supports an Intel
dual-core chipset compatible with the Pentium D,
not the Core 2 Duo he bought. “I’d like to blame
the speed of purchasing and the English language
for this screwup,” he says; “Dual core means two
cores, regardless of the CPU generation.” His
motherboard begged to differ.CASE: What, no case? In a frantic effort
to save money and impress Maximum PC
readers with his mad scissor skills, Dave
chose to do without a standard computer
case. Since the rules require the PCs to
be both functional and moveable, his mad
scheme is to fashion an enclosure out of
the very cardboard boxes that contain
his purchases. Utter brilliance? Pointless
stupidity? A complete waste of packing
tape? We’ll soon fi nd out.