Building PC for a mild-gamer

[Flavorite]

welp... i have 900 to spend and this includes monitor, mouse keyboard, win xp and speakers. SO i'm on a tight budget, not much money to play around with. Other requirements are the keyboard, floppy drive and mouse have to be wireless and a cd-burner. The guy i'm building this for intends to use it for surfing, music and the occasional game. I plan to OC it a little on the stock cpu heatsink.

This is the case picked that was picked out(not by me)
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=11-144-026&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

So i went with this mobo and this video card i looking at so far
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-133-087R&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-150-045&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

The rest of the system is...
Lite-On Black 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive
Arctic Silver 5
SONY Black 1.44MB 3.5inch Floppy
Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 8mb cache 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive
Logitech Cordless MX Duo USB/ PS/2 104keys
Geil Value Series 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200
NEC/MITSUBISHI FE771SB-BK 17" SuperBright Diamondtron CRT Monitor
Fortron 350W ATX12V Power Supply
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ retail
Microsoft Windows XP Pro Upgrade Version - Academic
Logitech Z640 5.1 Speakers
vantec round cables

total comes to 868 + shipping..

would OC it more if i could fit a better heatsink in the budget, is there a better video card out there for around $50 and do I really need as5 with a stock hs?

 

[BB Gun]

First, the minor nitpicks, IMO...

get an athlonXP 2400+ mobile for better overclocking. 77 bucks.

add decent HSF - http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=35-150-023&depa=0 for a nice midrange quiet, though not [H]ard heatsink that will give enough cooling for decent overclocking on that mobile athlon. Net cost change - almost 0.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-219&depa=0 for basic RAM which provides plenty of overclock room for that 266 FSB athlon2400+

Finally - there is NO "decent" gaming card for 50 bucks. Any card in that price range will disappoint in any halfway modern game. At least a Radeon9600Pro or GeForce FX5700 level . Something like this: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-170-049&depa=0 for 113.00 bucks. Or this one for 126.00 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-221&depa=0

BB

 

[SidewinderX]

I was beat to suggesting the XP-M

if the video card HAS to be around $50... here's a refurbished 9600SE http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-325R&type=Refurbish

not the greatest...but better than a 5200.

or for $70 a refurb 9600np http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-289R&type=Refurbish

 

[skiddy]

I was beat to suggesting the XP-M

if the video card HAS to be around $50... here's a refurbished 9600SE http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-325R&type=Refurbish

not the greatest...but better than a 5200.

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actually its probably about the same performance if its a 64bit 5200. A 128bit 5200 would definitely be faster than a 9600SE.

 

[stumpy]

I'd go with the XP-M as well.