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[hemmingjay]

Sorry if this is the wrong section.......

I have a little bit of cash sitting around(I also make monthly donations to Tarn) and want to make a computer specifically for running DF very well.
I know it has no use for graphics cards, so that will save money. What about processor and RAM? Will be running Windows 7 since it isn't a resource hog and more stable than Linux DF. Let's set the budget @ $250 with no monitor.
Also, I don't need any suggestions for powering it with magma

Thanks folks.

[Ravenplucker]

As far as I know the only thing you really need a lot of to run DF well it processor speed.

[G-Flex]

Keep in mind, though, that higher clock speed doesn't necessarily mean better performance. Two CPUs will similar (or even fairly different) clock speeds can perform differently. It's more important to look at benchmarks or reviews or other things.

[MrWiggles]

Then you can use a liquid booze cooling system.

[hemmingjay]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Gonna mull it over for a few days.

[Kugu]

Custom Dwarf Fortress Case! 

[KaelGotDwarves]

The fastest processors that would give you the greatest boost in DF speed is i7, phenomII, i5s.

If you are not limited by funds, go i7, particularly the 920 which can be overclocked to 3.6 easily on almost any aftermarket aircooler and runs DF like a beast-it can be found for $200 from microcenter.

If you want a balance of performance and cost, go phenomII and i5.

[Nadaka]

a budget of $250 sans monitor will be very difficult to get a decent computer for dwarf fortress. In fact, you will have a hard time putting any computer together for that price unless you are getting your parts second hand or you already have most of the components you need. A legal copy of windows 7 is going to run at least a hundred dollars, leaving only $150 for hardware.

You have a minor upgrade budget, not a new computer budget. Find the fastest CPU your motherboard will support, buy that. If you already have it, look at buying more memory if you have less than 2 gigs. If your existing graphics card is very weak, some benefit could be had from a new $50 video card.

[vturtle]

That is an extremely tight budget.  I really don't think I'd bother with that little.  If you already have at least a case to put it in or a hard drive to re-use then it might be possible, and I don't think you're going to be able to afford Windows, so it'll be Linux for sure.  My go-to site for PC builds is Ars Technica.  Here's a link to their latest Budget Box Guide, which they target $700, including monitor:
http://arstechnica.com/hardware/guides/2009/10/the-budget-box-october-2009-edition.ars

I recommend checking their CPU and Motherboard Technologia forum.  That's where most PC Build questions end up.

Let me see what I can put together at Newegg:
Case: This is actually the hardest part on a cheap build because you pretty much have to get one with a built-in power supply, which typically suck.  Find something with around a 250-300watt power supply that you can tolerate.  Maybe the Foxconn TLM776 at $40.

Motherboard: I would look for an AMD motherboard with a 780G Northbridge, as recommended by Ars.  The cheapest one I see at Newegg that I'd be comfortable with is the ASRock A780GXE at $65

Processor: For DF I'd probably go with the Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz at $67.  A Phenom II would be good, but the cheapest is the X2 545 at $93.

RAM: Wow, it looks like RAM has gotten expensive lately.  I'd normally recommend 4 GB of DDR3, but the cheapest you can get that is $84.  You may have to start out with a 2 GB stick and add another 2 GB later.  The cheapest there is $39 (and Crucial is actually a pretty decent brand).  RAM prices change frequently, this may drop heavily in month or so.  I'm surprised it's that expensive.

Hard Drive: I wouldn't normally recommend getting less that 500GB now, but DF obviously doesn't need that much.  Still, it seems silly to go less than 250GB.  The cheapest 250GB is a Western Digital Caviar Blue for $45.  That works for me since I happen to like Western Digitial, although I usually get their higher end drives.

This will make a complete computer as the audio and graphics are on the motherboard.  My only real reservation about it is the case (especially the power supply) and the RAM.  Adding more RAM is pretty easy, but moving everything to a new case is not.  At some point you'll probably want a graphics card, but the onboard graphics should be adequate for now, and certainly fine for DF.

The total there before tax and shipping is $256, so I came close.  You could actually drop the processor to the 240 and be under $250 base price.  The shipping will probably hurt though, especially with a Case involved.

At this price point you can often get better deals from the big manufacturers.  Dells 2 cheapest Inspiron Desktops are both $249.  The base model Inspiron 546 is reasonably close to what I specced out, but the processor is significantly weaker (and upgrading to the X2-250 costs $90 -- more than the processor itself actually costs).  Still, you would get Windows with that, so it's not horrid.