Should I go with a barebone or a completely new system. I'm going to have ~ $500 to spend, my bro made a kick ass system about 2 years ago for $600 (3.0 northwood, 1gb DC pc3200, BFG 6800 Ultra OC, 2 x WD 80GB). I'm thinking about getting a barebone to start with but the ones I've seen are POS's for like $400...Also..Which system is better stock/oc...AMD or Intel...I play CZ, WoW, Wc3, BF2, shit like that....I was hoping to see if I could get a better / or about the same system as him (video card not included I got a Quadro FX 500 I can use). I already have a 250gb HDD and some 300GB hdd so those don't count either. About what could I get with $400 (Ram, Mobo, CPU)
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barebone, or custom made
- Thread starter InvictuS
- Start date
D
Deleted member 119758
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There used to be GREAT deals on barebones and mobo/cpu combos. They're a little harder to find these days. You've probably already been to newegg and tigerdirect, but in case you haven't, they occasionally have some really good deals on mobo/cpu combos. You can shave $100 off in some cases.
If you're a gamer, I'd have to recommend AMD over Intel. If you're planning to OC, then the stock cooling on intel is a bit better. If not, stock on AMD will be sufficient. I'd suggest buying a mid-range sink/fan anyway, though - you can get a good one for less than $30.
I wouldn't bother with anything over 1.5G of pc3200 RAM (~$150). Another $100 for a good mobo. That leaves you with about 150 for a good cpu - maybe this one Venice.
If you're a gamer, I'd have to recommend AMD over Intel. If you're planning to OC, then the stock cooling on intel is a bit better. If not, stock on AMD will be sufficient. I'd suggest buying a mid-range sink/fan anyway, though - you can get a good one for less than $30.
I wouldn't bother with anything over 1.5G of pc3200 RAM (~$150). Another $100 for a good mobo. That leaves you with about 150 for a good cpu - maybe this one Venice.
Would a AMD Athlon XP 3200+(Barton) Be good? It comes with 2GB DDR Ram and a ECS KT600-A ATX AMD Motherboard...it's like $282 
...best deal I've found...I have a mini watercooling kit for $40 im going to use...and a full ATX case with 13 slots $20, and a 550W PSU for $23...this is a little bit less so leaves some room for maybe a video card upgrade .
...best deal I've found...I have a mini watercooling kit for $40 im going to use...and a full ATX case with 13 slots $20, and a 550W PSU for $23...this is a little bit less so leaves some room for maybe a video card upgrade .
Nasty_Savage
Extremely [H]
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- Mar 19, 2001
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- 37,752
Consider a Shuttle SFF? Just by a box, chip, Ram and slam a vid card in it. I would suggest going socket 939 AMD64 with at least a BFG 6800 GT OC for the gaming you want.
If you don't want a shuttle, just go custom. Get a brand name nForce4 Ultra motherboard, a Venice Core AMD 64 CPU, and a power supply and your cooking with crisco. The above mentinoned card is good, unless you have the spare jack for a 7800 GTX. Consider 2 Gigs of Ram, but 1 gig is definitely minimum nowadays and BF2 pushes that envelope a bit even now...
If you don't want a shuttle, just go custom. Get a brand name nForce4 Ultra motherboard, a Venice Core AMD 64 CPU, and a power supply and your cooking with crisco. The above mentinoned card is good, unless you have the spare jack for a 7800 GTX. Consider 2 Gigs of Ram, but 1 gig is definitely minimum nowadays and BF2 pushes that envelope a bit even now...
D
Deleted member 119758
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InvictuS said:
That's a pretty good find. The only bit of caution I would throw out is what the RAM is. They may try to sneak some 2100 in there on you if you're not careful. Make sure its 3200. Otherwise, looks pretty good. ECS makes a pretty decent board, but this particular one kind of blows. It has a top FSB of 400mhz, so you'll have to buy a new mobo if you ever want to upgrade your cpu. For this cpu, though, you're ok with that one.