Q: I found a Barebones kit on the web for $419.99 and I am abit unsure if its a good deal and also about the motherboard is it any good? Here are the specs: AMD Phenom X3 8450 Tolimen - Processor Speed: X3 8450 / 2.10GHz - Front Side Bus: 1800MHz (3600 MT/s) - Cache: 3.5MB L2 L3 Asus M3A Motherboard - AMD 770 -Chipset: AMD 770/ATI SB600 - Front Side Bus: 2600MHz (5200 MT/s) - Processor Interface: Socket AM2 / AM2 E-Torque Mid-Tower ATX Case Power Up GEN-6803 800-Watt Power Supply -Wattage: 800-Watt - Special Features: SLI Ready - Dual 80mm Fans Crucial Dual Channel 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 Memory - Memory Size: 2 x 1024MB - Memory Speed: 800MHz PC6400 - Memory Type: Dual Channel DDR2 I am also going to add: Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 Video Card - 512MB GDDR3 Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB Hard Drive OCZ Dual Channel Titanium 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz Memory OS - Windows Vista Home Premium - SP1 upgrade -So will this set up play mid to high end games? -Is the motherboard okay? -What would need changing? I'm more of an ATI, AMD kinda guy so I won't use NVIDIA or Intel.
A: As to whether that barebones kit is a good deal or not: the components you listed as coming with the kit can be bought separately for around $420. But, I have my doubts about that power supply. I haven't seen any reviews of that model, and 800w is way than you need for the system with the components you listed. I think you could save some money overall and buy the same components separately (assuming you like that processor and motherboard), except get something like a Corsair 550vx instead of that Power UP unit. If you buy separately, then just get 4GB of RAM to begin with. To see what memory goes with your motherboard, go to www.crucial.com and use their menu-based memory selector.