About a year ago, I led myself to believe that I’d find the time to play Fallout 3 on this new gaming PC that I’d build. Here are the parts that I’d picked, with my dear friend Eddie’s help, circa December 2008:

CPU/Mobo    Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 + Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P        474
Memory      Corsair PC2-6400 DDR2-800 (2x2GB)                     128
Chassis     3R System K400                                         59
PSU         Vantec 500N ION2+500W                                  75
Graphics    Gainward 4850 512MB                                   244
Storage     WD Caviar Black 640GB                                 138

The damage tallied up to $1118, excluding an optical drive, monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers. I didn’t purchase it in the end, and I didn’t find the time to play much of anything, so it turned out to be a good decision. Now, a year later, I’ve gotten into the mood to compile an updated list, mostly driven by the release of new cheaper, better and faster (CBF) parts. So here we go again:

CPU/Mobo    AMD Phenom II X2 550 BE + Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-UD2H    309
Memory      Team Xtreem Dark PC2-8500 (2x2GB)                     155
Chassis     Gigabyte GZ-X2 w/420W PSU                             109
PSU         Ditto                                                   -
Graphics    ?                                                       -
Storage     WD Caviar Black 1TB                                   155

The cost for the base (CPU, Mobo, Memory, Chassis and PSU) system has dropped significantly, and I’m undecided on whether I actually need new Graphics/Storage parts. Anyway if I do purchase this system sometime soon, Fallout 3 will play really well. Or I might just wait a year for something even more CBF.