Building on a Budget

[IoloShamino]

Hi. I'm building a PC for gaming/general use and just looking for advice from people that know more than I do. My top three are: Budget, Gaming, and Upgradability.

So far I have purchased:

Pioneer DVR-710
Seagate 200gb UltraATA-100 HDD

And I'm looking at getting:

Gigabyte G8-K8N MB - ~$100.00
AMD Athlon 64 3200: ~ $130.00
1gb DDR 400: ~$80.00
Budget Case and PS -??

Video Between:
GeForce 6600GT
Radeon x1600Pro


Looking to spend around $400 on MB, CPU, and GFX card. May be able to get RAM from a friend. Thanks!! -Will

 

[raildogg]

Epox 9NPA Ultra board is great. Antec Sonata costs around $80-90 and comes with a power supply. And a Geforce 6600GT is proven and is nicely priced. However, you can add some more money, you can get a upgrade over that and purchase this:

X800GT

You can also get a Geforce 7600GT but it is at $170.

 

[IoloShamino]

Let me preface by saying I currently have:

Dell Dimension 2400 ;p

P4 2.4ghz
256mb DDR 400
Onboard Intel GFX and Sound
Not really sure about mobo thanks to the wonderful dell tech support

My only real reasons for building a whole new PC are: Socket A and AGP.
I really don't want to pay more for an AGP card that is not as good.
Think I should build a new one on a low budget, or spend my money upgrading with a nice AGP (heh) video card and 2 gigs of ram?

EDIT: After reviewing benchmarks... AGP is 100% dead end now :-\

And as for the X800GT, several reviews site glitching and freezing. They just need to do some heat modding?

 

[numark]

One thing to keep in mind is that it's better to buy two matched 512MB sticks of memory than one 1GB stick. That way, you get dual-channel support for the memory, which can help a bit with performance. Ditto on the Antec Sonata recommendation...I use an Antec Overture and have been very impressed with Antec's workmanship on their cases. Unfortunately, I can't say much on the video card, since I'm still stuck with a 6200 and haven't kept up with technology as much as I should.

 

[IoloShamino]

Scrap the upgrade possibility... just agreed to give old PC to my father because I think it would suit his needs and upgrading would be more trouble than it's worth.

 

[IoloShamino]

bump^

 

[Howard]

So what are you looking for now?

 

[IoloShamino]

So far I have purchased:

Pioneer DVR-710
Seagate 200gb UltraATA-100 HDD

And I'm looking at getting:

Gigabyte G8-K8N MB - ~$100.00
AMD Athlon 64 3200: ~ $130.00
1gb DDR 400: ~$80.00
Budget Case and PS -??
Geforce 6800 Xtreme

Looking to spend around $400 on MB, CPU, and GFX card.

 

[imported_rod]

7600GT is probably a better option than the 6800. Price and Performance is about the same, but the 7600GT runs cooler (and quieter), and uses less power (and puts less strain on the PSU).

3200+ is a good chip.
Can't really comment on the MoBo.

2GB of ram would be better for current games. If you plan on upgrading in the nearer future, maybe get a single 1gb stick of ram now, and buy another in 6 months. But that means you won't have dual-channel until you get the second stick... I dunno, that's just an idea.

RoD

 

[pkme2]

For under $100, well cooled aluminum cases. http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...mit=ENE&Manufactory=1375&SubCategory=7

PSU choices.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103512
http://www.xoxide.com/seasonic.html?gclid=CILB1rXOqoUCFTV7JAodDwtd3Q

Smart choices for reliable start. Don't buy cheap, buy realiability to avoid problems later. Read the other threads on cooling and cases, and also power supplies.

 

[acole1]

You will be hard pressed to get all that for $400

You might want to look at 6800GS's though... some of them you can find pretty cheap. (~125)

And a cheap case might cost you $50 w\ PSU.

 

[IoloShamino]

Decided to wait a few and save more money. I could do it with $400 but I don't want to cheap out now and have to spend more later (esp. on power supply). Consider my budget to be $550. I've talked to several friends that build PCs and the general consensus is Gigabyte MBs are good for stability, Asus are better on performance but less stable. They also said Antec makes good power supplys, so their case/PS combos are generally a good deal, and I can get one locally for aobut $70 with a PS suitable for my needs. I'm mainly concerned with what GFX card would be best for my $$. I'm not looking for super high res 4x antialiasing or anything, just something that will run most games out now at above 50fps with moderate gfx enabled.

 

[imported_fx]

I would suggest you to save up at least 1k dollars to get good gaming pc.

 

[sniperruff]

after reading that article on tom's, i'd be tempted to get one of those P-D 2.66's and see how far it can go.

 

[alimoalem]

do you have $550 now or you will in a few months? if u will have it, ask in a few months because prices will drop and conroe'll be out in ~7 weeks

 

[akshayt]

6600GT and gaming can no longer go toger

buy atleast 7900GT class or at the very very least 7600GT class if gaming is not too much of a priority.

 

[AngleDust]

outpost.com has that cpu/mobo combo with an a64 3200+ for $160

 

[IoloShamino]

Thinking of going for that outpost.com deal... but what do you think of this?


EVGA 7600 GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130283
$170 ($150 AR)

1 GB PQI DDR2-667
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820141187
$65

ASUS P5RD2-VM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813131590
$73

Pentium D 805
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819116001
$121

And although gaming is high priority, I don't need 100% options enabled.

I no longer shoot my SKS so I'm looking to sell it. If that works out, I'll have $200 or more to add to investment which would be well worth it (better Vcard, more ram... I'm happy with the processors that have been discussed).

 

[IoloShamino]

Any ideas on good MicroATX cases? I'll go for a flimsy case if it has a nice PSU and cooling.

 

[IoloShamino]

Got a decent In Win case and a Antec Truepower 550W PSU. Still sticking to last posted setup, but had several problems come up at the same time so it will be a week or so until I can buy it. However long it takes me to sell my SKS. Thanks for the help everyone.