Firstly I must say I have yet to order and assemble the PC myself, so for more information on that, look at Robert’s guide. Secondly, this is not going to be the most upgradable or expensive PC in the world, but you will easily fool your friends with its power.

Requirements

Before you get started make sure you have a copy of Windows and a monitor, as well as a keyboard and mouse. This guide does not account for the price of either of these so the easiest solution to this is to use an existing TV or monitor and an existing hard drive. If you are like me and your old rig died, simply remove the hard drive and use it on your new PC, as you already have a copy of Windows on it. This PC build will include a 60GB SSD within the $600 budget, so if you do not own Windows, you will have a super fast hard drive to put it on.

Components

Motherboard – Biostar A780L3G – Once again, its not state of the art, but it will definitely get the job done. This motherboard has one PCIe slot and two memory bays. Not the best if you are looking to upgrade, but at $50, its a bargain. There are other options, so if you have a few hundred dollars, this is the first thing I’d recommend spending the money on.

Processor – AMD Phenom II x6 1035T CPU – A cheaper alternative to Intel’s Core i7 series, this AMD processor is beastly, and its six dedicated cores will tackle any game with ease. This is one of the more expensive items in the build, but having the power of a nice CPU can be worth it.

Graphics Card – XFX Radeon HD 6870 900M 2GB GDDR5 – This graphics card is one hell of a deal, considering it has not just one gig of memory, but two gigs! For the price its the best card you can get, and pairing ATI with AMD processors is always your best bet.

RAM – Patriot 8GB (2x 4GB) DDR3 RAM – In today’s world, RAM is no longer that expensive and eight gigs is your best bet to tackle the job. 8GB of RAM will get through most of your gaming needs, and going higher just slopes up the price rapidly.

Hard Drive – OCZ 60GB SSD - This hard drive is puny, but it is blazing fast. For situations like mine where you already have an existing drive with all your games, this drive is perfect for a clean installation of Windows and your favorite games and will run silently for gaming in the dark. Even with such a small size, the benefits outweigh it. If you prefer, you can use a 1TB HDD instead for the same price.

Optical Drive – Samsung 22x DVDRW drive – Noting fancy, but will allow you to install software and use optical media. This isn’t really required, but it’s up to you if you think you need it. If you didn’t get this, you could upgrade your RAM slightly, or another tweak so think wisely!

Case and PSU – For the case and PSU we will be looking at a slightly less expensive version of the case Robert used last year in his build – the Cooler Master Storm Scout Mid-tower case. And to top things off, the Coolmax 600-Watt Modular Power Supply will get the job done.

And there you have it! All the components to build a beastly rig that won’t break the bank. Putting togethor your new computer really isn’t very hard, and there are tons of guides online which can help you assemble everything.  If you have any questions, drop ‘em in the comments below! All of the components are on Amazon and here are their respective links:

Motherboard – http://omnite.ch/vOSaZG
Processor – http://omnite.ch/sz4I9f
Graphics Card – http://omnite.ch/vR7Plb
RAM – http://omnite.ch/rOIy4a
Hard Drive – http://omnite.ch/s0LHGV
Optical Drive – http://omnite.ch/sjx3mm
Case – http://omnite.ch/sCzAfc
PSU – http://omnite.ch/s8X9sG

Let me start this post by saying- Happy New Year’s Eve! Thanks to every single one of you readers and supporters, you have helped us flourish into what we are today.

Let’s keep it up for an AWESOME new year next year, shall we?

I hereby present you the 10 most visited, read, clicked on, and shared posts here at OmniTechNews-

10. Luxeed U5 Keyboard Review by Lucas. A video review of the Luxeed U5 by Lucas, in which he explains all the specs/features and gives an honest opinion on the product.

9. A Great iPhone Case for 1 Cent? It’s Possible (Default Case Review) by Robert. Robert thoroughly reviews an iPhone case from Default Case, a company that sells their products for 1 cent (plus shipping).

8. What is Rainmeter? by Lucas. This is a detailed article by Lucas on what Rainmeter, the Windows desktop customization tool, is.

7. T-Mobile G2 Spotted in the Wild by Robert. Mr. Clarke was lucky enough to snap a picture of a rumored T-Mobile phone, and he posted it on the site.

6. Flip Slide HD Spotted at Best-Buy by Lucas. A leaked picture of the new Flip product line? Certainly looks like it, reports Lucas.

5. Should you Jailbreak your iOS4.1 Device Using Limera1n? by Pablo. This post, written by me, explains the dangers, features, magic, advantages, etc. of jailbreaking your iDevice running on iOS 4.1 using GeoHot’s Limera1n.

4. Bose IE2 In-Ear Headphones Review by Jon. A review on some Bose headphones by Jon, who explains how they’re worth their price.

3. New Vietnam Leak shows 4th Gen iPod touch by Lucas. A leak by a Vietnamese site gave us an insight on what the 4G iPod touch might look like, but, as reported by Lucas, nothing was for sure. Turns out the rumors were only half correct after all.

2. Sony Vaio Z Series i5 Laptop Reflections by ClarkeZone. Not a full-blown review but more like an initial thoughts post on the Sony Vaio Z Series.

And we’re down to the TOP READ POST THIS YEAR ON OMNITECHNEWS… Cue drum roll…

1. iLife ’11 Review by Pablo. This lengthy, in-depth review of each and every feature in Apple’s iLife ’11 garnered the most hits, reads, and shares this year on OTN, and I’m proud to say it was written by me.

So there you go, geeks and non-geeks. Personally, what post in or out of this list did you enjoy reading the most here?

Have an amazing New Year’s Eve (or hope you had one if you live on the other side of the world), and let’s have a toast for an awesome 2011. Cheers!

Today, the OmniTechNews crew took a trip to downtown Seattle. More specifically, the Seattle Convention Center. Even more specifically, PAX 2010. As you likely know, PAX is the Penny Arcade Expo, a HUGE gaming convention hosted annually in Seattle. This is OTN’s second time attending the convention and we had a good time last year, but an even better time this year. What kind of awesome goodies did we see and try out?  Things like Halo Reach, Microsoft Kinect, Playstation Move, Portal 2, and the new 360 controller were some of the major highlights. Of course we also saw the latest from companies such as Alienware, Nvidia, and Intel. Unfortunately, the only video we really got at PAX 2010 was an interview with the Rooster Teeth guys. We were all so busy having fun! So, I figured that I should take the responsibility of telling you about our PAX 2010 experience.

Major Nelson’s Podcast

After picking up our badges, we headed over to Benaroya Hall for Major Nelson’s live podcast recording which was fantastic. The show was full of humor, great conversations, and tons of giveaways. One person even left with a limited edition Halo Reach Xbox 360! Larry Herb was amazing on-stage as well as off. We got a chance to see him on the show floor and try out the new Xbox 360 controller.

Halo Reach

Halo Reach was the first game we tried on the show floor. After waiting our fair share of time in line, we got our turn at the Firefight goodness. Reach was fantastic and packed with cool new features. Learn more in Robert’s multiplayer beta demo video from a while back: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xz_nruK7Zs. Bungie did a great job with Reach and the whole team was even there signing posters!

Portal 2

One of my personal favorites at PAX 2010 was the Portal 2 Co-op demo. Carson and I waited in yet another line and I have to say it was very well worth the wait. Getting to see this sequel’s incredible graphics, physics, and new gameplay elements was really cool. The Co-op mode looked absolutely fantastic as well. I’m really excited to try Portal 2 when it comes out in February.

Playstation Move

The Playstation Move didn’t really have a line. This was kind of disappointing considering that it was actually pretty neat. Carson and I both agreed that the Move is better than the Wii remote and even a decent competitor to the Kinect. It’s nothing revolutionary though.

Microsoft Kinect

There’s been controversy over Kinect. Some people don’t think that it will be at all functional for hardcore gaming. This is absolutely true. However, for more family oriented Wii-style gaming, the Kinect is fantastic. Trying Kinect Adventures was actually really fun and I’d actually recommend it to anyone who enjoys that style of gaming.

Overall

These were just a few of the many amazing things we saw at PAX 2010. We had a blast this year and we’re likely going to be attending again next year. We also recommend that you join us in 2011. PAX is a fantastic experience for geeks and nerds all over the world. So, if you can, come to PAX next year. We’d love to see you there.

A little mini-review/first look at Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Plus.
http://www.microsoft.com/office/2010/…

Microsoft Office 2010 is finished! The software will soon be released Microsoft employees along with any other MSDN or TechNet subscribers. Like Windows 7, Office 2010 had a very high amount of beta testers: over 7.5 million. However, the full version won’t be available until June. Microsoft Corporate Vice-President, Takeshi Numoto, wrote this blog post earlier today with some more details on this achievement.

All you have to do is follow this link:

Get the new YouTube 2010 Layout

For those of you that don’t know, YouTube is currently testing out a new HTML5 layout that will go into effect sometime within the next few months. This is still in beta so don’t expect everything to be completely ready yet.

Some of you may know by now that Google is planning to actually sell a netbook that runs Chrome OS. Well, now we have some rumored tech specs for you guys. The IBTimes says that the Google netbook will contain an Nvidia Tegra platform with an ARM CPU. Apparently the device will have a 10.1" multi-touch screen that supports HD, a 64GB SSD, 2GB of RAM, and some other basic components like Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, and a webcam. The IBTimes is also telling us that the netbook should be available by the 2010 holiday season and will cost around $300. That’s pretty impressive considering the great specs it has. We’ll update you when we get more information on Google’s Chrome OS netbook.

Recently, HTC’s 2010 lineup was leaked. Here are the Windows Mobile devices that are now expected for the first half of 2010. Also make sure to check out the post on HTC’s lineup for 2010 Android phones.

HTC Photon (April)

HTC Trophy (May)

HTC Tera (April)

HTC Legend (March)

HTC Salsa (June)

HTC Tide (April)

HTC Buzz (May)

HTC Bravo (April)