Building a gaming system on a budget..

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strebor

Weaksauce
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
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I'm looking to build a good gaming system for a friend and I haven't really been keeping up on current hardware. I need this system to be basically a good system to eventually upgrade a little (graphics card, more RAM, etc), but I need it to last a couple of years and be able to play the newest games on playable/decent settings.

I priced this system from Newegg, but I built myself a very similar system to this 2 years ago with a similar price, so it just seems like I should be able to get a much better system for the money. I'm not hard set on Athlon or Pentium, Nvidia or ATI...I just need the best bang for my buck.

This system needs to be around $500-$600 and I want to buy from Newegg. I don't need to buy new speakers or a monitor.

This is what I have right now, should I go with Athlon 64 or something instead? PCI-e?

ASUS A7N8X-X MB - $62
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton OEM - $79
Corsair Value Select PC3200 RAM 1GB (512MBx2) Dual-Channel - $81
SAPPHIRE Radeon 9600XT 128MB - $102
Seagate Barracuda 160GB 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA100 HDD OEM - $93
LITE-ON SOHC-5236K Black IDE Combo Drive OEM - $32
Antec Solution SLK1650B case w/ 350W PSU - $65 (is 350W enough for all this?)
THERMALTAKE Extreme Volcano 12 HSF - $35
extra 80mm fan - $3
= $552

Thanks.
 
you could get a lowend a64 for around that price, also i think you can get a new 9800 pro for just a little more than you have the 9600xt listed as .
 
Which A64 would you recommend? I'm not familar with the good ones, and this system isn't going to be OCed or anything.
 
Yeah, I was looking through Newegg and I think an A64 is a good choice. Is there a specific MB you would recommend? Also I was looking at the socket 939, is there any real advantages of a 754 socket over a 939 one with the A64 series?

GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 - $82
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Socket 939 ADA3000BIBOX - $146
 
try looking here in the forums i built the pc in my rig for around 600 from the forums
 
strebor said:
Yeah, I was looking through Newegg and I think an A64 is a good choice. Is there a specific MB you would recommend? Also I was looking at the socket 939, is there any real advantages of a 754 socket over a 939 one with the A64 series?

GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 - $82
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Winchester Socket 939 ADA3000BIBOX - $146
Click to expand...

if you can fit it into the budget, it seems the 939 has more of an upgrade path, also they seem to be proven overclockers.
 
I was wondering for the build I have listed above, is a 350watt PSU sufficient?

orvil01 said:
you could get a lowend a64 for around that price, also i think you can get a new 9800 pro for just a little more than you have the 9600xt listed as .
Click to expand...

How big of a difference would there be between a 9600xt vs. 9800pro?

And I am pretty sure that I am going to go with a A64 3000+ Winchester.

One last thing, is this a good buy GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 - $83

Thanks for the advice so far :)
 
strebor said:
I was wondering for the build I have listed above, is a 350watt PSU sufficient?



How big of a difference would there be between a 9600xt vs. 9800pro?

And I am pretty sure that I am going to go with a A64 3000+ Winchester.

One last thing, is this a good buy GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce3 - $83

Thanks for the advice so far :)
Click to expand...

I would upgrade the PSU. The 9600XT will probably be a little more than half as powerful as a 9800 pro. If I were you, I'd save up for a 6600GT.
 
MemoryInAGarden said:
I would upgrade the PSU. The 9600XT will probably be a little more than half as powerful as a 9800 pro. If I were you, I'd save up for a 6600GT.
Click to expand...

Needing more than 350 WATTS for a basic system is a load of crap. A friend of mine runs a 3.0C Pentium 4 overclocked and a 6800GT @ Ultra speeds with a gig of ram and 2 optical drives. Just one 7200rpm HD on a single Antec 330WATT PSU. He has 0 problems.

You do not need a monster PSU for even high end systems. My Antec 480WATT PSU was just fine until I added the second 6800GT for SLi. Even then it was fine until I started overclocking. My 12V rails were sagging pretty badly.

I'm sure the SFF owners will agree with this.

A good name breand 350WATT PSU will be just fine for the system you mentioned. Even with a 9800Pro.

To answer the question on the 9800Pro vs. 9600XT question, the 9800Pro has 8 pipelines instead of 4. That will make a huge difference. The 9600XT is pretty weak by todays standards. It was last generations medium end card in the ATI lineup. Which would put it way down the list. Considering this generations medium end cards are slightly faster than last generations $500 titans.
 
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