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Budget PC

T

TheJoelster

n00b
Joined
Jan 5, 2005
Messages
59
How is everyone!! Well I am new to the boards as you can see with the number of posts I have. Well here is the deal I want to build my brother a nice simple machine that can run some games but it doesn't have to be the latest and greatest. What I am getting at is that I want to spend less the $600 which I think should be possible as I don't need a screen, speakers, keyboard or mouse which I have already. I was thinking of going AMD as I have heard good things about them and was wondering for that price range what chip would be a good fit as well as any reccomendable mobo's and video cards, ram, ect... Also one thing I have been pretty confused on is what type of case to get.. I really want one with a gamer look and a side window but the ones I have picke out people say the PSU is no good.. So if you could help me out I would really appreciate! Thanks in advance and happy new year!!
 
Some thoughts:

I'd get an A64 3000+, cheap for the performance you get & you can upgrade later.

Get a S939 motherboard, the price is too close to the 754 now to go with the old one. Plus, your future upgrade path is alot better than 754. Asus A8V 2.0 or MSI K8N Neo2 seem to be the two most popular.

I'd say get a basic case and have it modded for a window later to keep the price down. There are cheap windowed cases, but they stink. The Antec SLK3700-BQE is a good affordable case, you can mount 2x120mm fans in the sucker and it comes with a good power supply... not huge wattage, but good quality & quiet, and you won't need huge wattage to start because you can't afford power hog processors and video cards yet anyway.

For a video card, look at a 6600 GT, best bang for the buck at the moment. I'd suggest the Leadtek version. Cheaper alternatives: plain 6600 or a used 9800 Pro/XT.
 
The 6600gt is a great card for the price... Some people might tell you to save your money for the 6800nu, which might be worth it if you could save a little more. The 6800nu can be overclocked relatively easily to some serious performance numbers.

If you don't feel like dealing with the hassle, the 6600gt is a good option. The X700 is a great card, I'd still advise to stick with the Nvidia solutions...

Here's a good test... Half-Life 2 seems to give better results with ATI cards... But in this case, the 6600gt fairs very well: http://firingsquad.com/hardware/counter-strike_source_2/default.asp
I like that particular series of results because the Nvidia cards typically perform worse than the ATI cards in HL2... You could assume from the results that less "ATI-centric" games will perform a lot better on the 6600gt.

If you decide to go with the 6600gt, I'd reccomend consulting the following site (when you want to make the decision of which 6600gt is the way to go): http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2295

It looks like the Winfast 6600gt is the way to go... If you can find it.
The XFX card got their "Silver Award," so.. you might also consider that card (I recently bought one).



One case you might want to consider is: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=11-119-056&DEPA=1
I recently bought one for my new build... Coolermaster is a reputable manufacturer... So, you know their products will be pretty good.
Here's some reviews:
http://www.anandtech.com/casecooling/showdoc.aspx?i=2187&p=1
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD03NjgmdXJsX3BhZ2U9NA==
http://www.hwhell.com/articles/cooler_master_centurion_5/
 
The 6600gt is the ultimate mid-range solution. :)

You can get the XFX 6600gt for $225.00 at newegg.

About those cases... I've heard that the X-Dreamer is not a bad case... I'm not sure about the enermax... As for the Rosewill... Stay away from Rosewill products. Whatever they are.

I posted the coolmaster case because it offers really good performance for the price (in terms of temperature and sound levels).
 
Well are there any cards below the 6600Gt is like $180 and I was only planning on trying to spend a $500 on the whole machine which is why I named it a budget pc.. So let me rephrase by saying any low-midrange video cards that you may reccomend?
 
Ti4600s go for ~$70 used...Radeon 9600 XTs for a hair over $100..9700 Pros for ~$125..
 
TheJoelster said:
Are any of these decent cases? I know that you reccomended other brands but would any of these be good for a pretty simple budget PC?

ENERMAX Black ATX Mid Tower Case, Model

ASPIRE X-Dreamer II Silver ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply

Rosewill Silver ATX Mid Tower Case with 400W Power Supply & Side window

Also those video cards that you put out seem pretty high end.. Is there more of a mid ranged card that can run games just maybe not at its highest settings??
Click to expand...

120mm fans are your friend... move lots of air with little noise. All those cases use 80mm fans. They also don't have the noise-reducing features of the Antec, and their power supplies are probably crappier too. They aren't "bad" necessarily, it is just hard to beat the combination of features for the price of the Antec case if you have to pinch pennies. Of course, you can get a better case for more cash, but this is a bargain proposition.

New, your best bet is probably a 9600 XT, used find a 9800 Pro or 9700 Pro.
 
There are so many good cases out there but I am so confused as so many people have been reccomending different brands. I want to spend 50-60 bucks on a case but I want it to look good.. I know i know I can't have my cake and eat it to.. but if you had 50-60 bucks what case would you get for a gamer bro.. he says he "has to have a side window"...

Also I noticed you guys were reccomending the AMD 64 but that seems to be a little pricey as this really isn't going to be a heavy used machine, mostly for common use, maybe a little watching DVD's but nothing over the top. I was thinking of going for a AMD XP2500+ Barton

With an ASUS "A7N8X-X" nForce2 400 Chipset Motherboard

What do you guys think??
 
If you go Athlon64, you probably won't be able to get a decent video card. However, that being said, you'll probably save <$50 by going AthlonXP. The Video card is the key. Looks like you can pull an ATI 9800 for around $130, and that's not too bad a card. Get a decent Antec case, I think you can purchase a windowed side panel for it later if you so desire.

For $86 this case is not a bad choice. Includes power supply AND window.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewprodu...-119-056&DEPA=1

You may want to purchase your mobo/CPU from Fry's Electronics or Outpost.com as they tend to have good combo specials if you're not too picky about ECS motherboards.
http://shop4.outpost.com/category/O...s/Computer+Components/CPU?accipterAreaString=

If you're not afraid of rebates you could pick up an 80GB drive for <$40 after rebates at one of the bigger chains like Best Buy, OfficeMax, Staples, CompUSA.

Don't forget to purchase your copy of Windows XP!
 
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