What happened to the Video Guides/ Card reccomend sub $150

[supernancy]

I remember a [long] time ago, Anandtech did mobo and videocard reviews and reccomends each 2 weeks/month.
Those are gone, right?

The reason I ask is that this little kid neighbor of mine wants to play CounterStrike [could be another game]. But, right now he has some Celeron and onboard video.

:bows head:

I told him we could do a cheap upgrade for around $350- what would you reccomend for a video card in the price range of $80? Or would it make no sense to NOT get the $150 Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis Pro?

Thinking:
$70 mobo
$60 ram DDR2100
$150 video card <-- could I choose something cheaper? This kid isn't a massive super gamer. He still has dialup!
$60 Hard Drive
$30 Power Supply

-supernancy

 

[Rage187]

vid card = gf4 4200 128mb, cost you $80 at the FS/FT forums.

mobo = nforce 1 or 2, cost you $25-$60

hardrive = 40gig, cost about $35-$40

CPU = Atlon xp 2100, cost about $50

PS = 400-500watt, cost $20-$30

512mb pc 2100 = $45-$55




so anywhere from $250-$350 for a decent setup.

 

[Matthias99]

I'd go with an Athlon setup -- motherboards are pretty cheap (just stay away from the ones with onboard everything), and you can give him a cheap processor now (like a 1700+, or even a Duron 1.4) and he can upgrade it all the way to (at least) a 3200+ Barton later if need be. I'd shell out for 512MB of decent DDR333 if possible, or even just 256MB (get a slower processor and better RAM if need be). You don't want to cripple him with really slow memory, and even a 1500+ will offer more than enough power for today's games.

An 8MB cache hard disk would be nice, but it's not a necessity. Just be sure to get a 7200RPM one, as 5400RPM is painful when loading games.

For the video -- to really save a few bucks, you can get an NForce2 motherboard with an onboard GF4MX video chip (~$100 probably for the MB and video). That'll play CS just fine, and if he wants to upgrade it to something more capable later, he can.

My thinking -- I'm not sure I'd pay even $80 for a Ti4200 right now when it's already rapidly becoming obsolete. A 9600Pro for $150 (especially if you can find a BBA one bundled with HL2) will last him a long time if he's not a hardcore gamer, and is likely to maintain some amount of resale value through the next year or two. If he doesn't really care about video performance (or only plays CS), get him a GF2MX or GF4MX for like $30. Even if it only lasts him six months, by then the current cards (like the 9600Pro) will have dropped in price significantly, since newer ones will have come out.

And you *don't* need a 400-500W power supply -- get a good quality 300-350W one, like an Antec Truepower or a Fortron. A system with one HD, a CDROM, a low-end video card, and not-so-fast processor is unlikely to pull over 200W *ever*. You get into trouble when you buy those super-cheap high-wattage ones, because they use equally cheap components.

 

[Jeff7181]

Maybe this will help?