General J August 8, 2004 Share General J Member August 8, 2004 Ok, here's the deal. My current computer is 800 mhz, 128mb ram, 30 gig hd, ATI Radeon 9200. Since I will be moving out sometime in the near future, I will be needing a computer of my own. This setup will be staying with my parents, minus the vid card. I would like to be able to run more current games (along the lines of cs, bf1942, rainbow six 3. Not the killer games like doom 3. HL 2 would be nice, but not a need.) The max budget is about $500-600. Parts can be used/refurbished as long as they are easily attainable. Let the suggestions fly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Kill3r August 8, 2004 Share All Kill3r Member August 8, 2004 DFI board - $56 Barton 2600+ - $93 Allied 400w PSU - $28 80gig hdd - $63 9600XT - $131 total - $371 leaves you with $130 for Ram and a case. You can have a real nice gamer for under $500, i have 2x256 ram i can sell you for cheaper then stuff you will find on newegg, and is faster then anything you will find on newegg. Case doesn't make your PC faster so i wouldn't spend a lot on one since your on a budget. if you want to stay under the $600 i would go for a 2x512 kit of A-Data pc3200 for the ram. Will play Doom3 in 800x600. Will play CS at constant 100fps, and play BF1942 in 1024x800 with nice quality and good frames. I'd let your parents keep the 9200 Honestly, its going to have a hard time playing anything better then CS, and im not sure it will even play that at 100fps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 8, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 8, 2004 Hmm, I may return the 9200 tomorrow, stick the 16mb tnt2 back in (fine for what they do with it) and start odering! :-) What kind of ram are you selling AK? I wouldn't mind splurging a bit on the processor, since I can upgrade the ram pretty easy after the fact. So if you have a good price on the ram, i may take it off your hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Kill3r August 8, 2004 Share All Kill3r Member August 8, 2004 2x256 Kingston HyperX PC3500 2-2-2 $110 shipped insured. I would take the 9200 back too, if your able to. A 9600XT will amaze you im sure. If you want to throw extra money into something on that list i would do it in the video card department, not cpu. a 9800pro would be the next step up for just under $200. To put more into the cpu you would need to go P4 or A64, things get expensive then though. Maybe a bigger HDD, but im sure 80gigs will be plenty after your used to 30gigs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zerodamage August 9, 2004 Share Guest zerodamage Guests August 9, 2004 I recommend this for a PSU. Powmax 580, 30 bucks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 9, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 9, 2004 So is something like what AK suggested with the PSU that zero posted about my best buy for a good gaming rig? I am trying to get the most bang for my buck. An 80 gig HD will be more than I will know what to do with, let me tell you! AK I will pm you when I get off work about that RAM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdman August 9, 2004 Share Birdman Member August 9, 2004 I think it would be a good system for the money. I've heard a lot of good things about the powersupply that AK was talking about. I also like sparkle and fortran for a good cheap PSU. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 9, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 9, 2004 Would it be worth my while to spend a few extra bucks and get a mobo with onboard Sata/RAID? Such as this board? How much faster is Sata than IDE? And will I really notice a difference? Also, should I go with RAM like what AK is selling? More expensive "high end" Ram and go with 512mb. OR - should I go with slightly lower grade RAM such as THIS and get 2 sticks of 512mb for a gig? I found out through actually balancing my checkbook that I have a little bit more money than I had figured. So... I got a few extra bucks to drop. I still have to remember that I need a monitor and keyboard as well. I was thinking about this monitor... oops.. wrong link How about this one? Anyone have any suggestions for monitors? The keyboard I am really none too worried about. I bought my current GE keyboard at Target for like $5. Works great if I do say so myself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Kill3r August 9, 2004 Share All Kill3r Member August 9, 2004 I've never ran Raid 0 before, but i do have a 10,000rpm Raptor drive, and i can't feel it being any faster then my 7200rpm drive.. i wouldn't waste my time or money with it. If you have the extra money to spend, get an A64. i would get the gig. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 9, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 9, 2004 I think I have decided whatever the amount of ram, I want to go with the dual sticks. (Dual channel if I recall correctly right?) Wasn't sure about the latency though. How much of a difference is there between 2-2-2 and 3-3-3? Again, anything that I could really notice unless I was doing benchmarks? Would I be smarter to save some money, and just get a case with a 400 watt power supply instead of getting the psu seperate? Right now, with the Kingston 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 x2 to make a gig, and the stuff you suggested, I am at $534. Here's the cart Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdman August 9, 2004 Share Birdman Member August 9, 2004 If buying new stuff there really isnt a reason not to use SATA as it costs almost the exact same and coule be considered a lil' more future proof. I wouldnt buy a PATA drive over SATA, but thats just me. Gig of slower RAM would be better than 512MB of the slower stuff if you arent overclocking a P4 or something. I love NEC monitors and prolly won't ever own anything else besides them. They can cost a lil' more but are great for gaming. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc....-002-037&depa=0 I have owned that one for 2 years and it's sweet. I own the bigger 22" version of it too and both are working great. Make sure you get @ least a 19" that is a flat screen though, no matter what brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
All Kill3r August 9, 2004 Share All Kill3r Member August 9, 2004 3-3-3 is fine for gaming. I'd go for it, but with one of the psu suggested. 'generic' for your power source isn't good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 9, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 9, 2004 Thanks for all the help so far guys. I will probably try to surf around for a few minutes on break time at work or when I get home for a case. If you happen upon any nice cases, without psu, for cheap, post em up if you would. I am looking to order tomorrow or wednesday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zerodamage August 9, 2004 Share Guest zerodamage Guests August 9, 2004 I haven't looked but take a look at www.xoxide.com and see what they have their for cases. I get all of my case modding stuff there also. Fans are cheaper there than Newegg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher August 10, 2004 Share Preacher Member August 10, 2004 (edited) Also Crazy PC is great for modding supplies and prices are slightly lower on cases. http://www.crazypc.com/Merchant2/merchant....oduct_Code=8057 Edited August 10, 2004 by Preacher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 10, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 10, 2004 Ok, so I made my final picks and I am ready to order Total came out to be $717.98. Not too bad. A little more than I was wanting to spend but that's ok. I dropped the 9600xt for now. Rest assured that I will be ordering one in a few weeks. Looking at benchmarks at Tom's Hardware with a decent setup and the 9200, I should be fine for now. Here is the shopping cart just in case anyone wanted to take a peek. I will be adding in little things as I get the money, and probably upgrading a few things down the road. But this will give me a start to being able to change things when I feel like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaPe August 10, 2004 Share TaPe Member August 10, 2004 Total came out to be $717.98. That's a lot of money for an empty cart! Your shopping cart is empty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 10, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 10, 2004 (edited) Oops.. lol well let's try this...Here are my selections. Changed my mind a bit... Took off the monitor for now, and added back the video card. Went with the ATI 9600xt though, not the powercolor. Edited August 10, 2004 by General J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Birdman August 10, 2004 Share Birdman Member August 10, 2004 I'm not seeing anything. Congrats on your purchases though. What games are you looking to play on that 9200? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwEEziL August 10, 2004 Share dwEEziL Member August 10, 2004 Lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General J August 10, 2004 Author Share General J Member August 10, 2004 Ok since the links aren't working for whatever reason. I went with the DFI mobo, Athlon 2600+ Barton processor, WD 80 gig hd, 2x 512mb kingston ram, ATI 9600xt video, This Case, This DVD/CD-Rom, This IDE cable, and the allied 400w psu that AK suggested. I am going to use my current monitor for the time being (a few weeks) and then order a nice 19" monitor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crowbar August 11, 2004 Share Crowbar Member August 11, 2004 J, check out this site for monitors: http://www.azatek.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Preacher August 11, 2004 Share Preacher Member August 11, 2004 I just bought this for $49.99 They have these for $19.99 And this falls in the middle For monitors this place is good and the shipping is a little cheaper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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