Low Budget Gaming Rig

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mayakindaguy

Gawd
Joined
Jan 28, 2004
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Trying to build a low budget rig for friend around this fry's combo.
AMD Phenom II X2 555 Dual Core CPU + MSI 785GTM-E45 AM2+ Motherboard combo $77 AR @ Fry's B&M

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
2) What's your budget? Around $200
3) What's the system for? Gaming

I think we'll just need RAM, PSU, and Video card. He's upgrading from an old P4 2.8ghz setup with IDE drives. I'm thinking he can maybe use an IDE to SATA converter to salvage his old IDE hdd.

Any overclock, core unlock tips on this combo would be much appreciated.

I'm also thinking of splitting the costs and giving him my 8800GTS 640MB card and upgrading my system to something like a 9800 GT or something. Although I'm not sure that's really an upgrade for me, but I don't really have money to spend on an upgrade.

I'm running a 3007fpw and the 8800GTS has been fine for the most part, but I run some games at 1920x1080 windowed because it chugs sometimes at native res. So I'm wondering if 9800GT would be worth the upgrade and if it needs to be 1GB or 512MB will suffice.

Thanks!
 
SO $200 for the RAM, PSU, and video card correct?

Well, go back to Fry's and get the Earthwatts EA430D 430W PSU for $30:
http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads/2010/05/07/47896/Antec-Earthwatts-Green-430W-Power-Supply

And pick up the RAM there as well for $45:
http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/ads/2010/05/07/47899/Patriot-2GB-DDR2-PC6400-Memory

That'll leave you about $125 for the video card. Get this GPU:
$110 - PowerColor AX4850 1GBD3-PH Radeon HD 4850 1GB PCI-E Video Card

The 9800GT isn't much of an upgrade from the GTS 640MB. However the HD 4850 1GB is a pretty decent and noticeable upgrade from the GTS 640MB.

EDIT: Also no need for an adapter since there's already an IDE port on the motherboard. And IIRC, newer IDE controllers no longer exhibit the slow performance when you put a CD drive and hard drive on the same IDE port/cable.
 
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Yah, buy the HD4850 for yourself and sell him your 8800GTS.
 
I think upon closer inspection you would find these 'software issues' are merely the excuses given by a sufferer of brand favouritism.
 
Well ATI definitely has the better gaming cards right now. I've had many issues with ATI drivers and Maya in the past, but granted it's been a few years.

After doing some research maybe I could wait a bit for the 250 or 260 to drop in price unless anyone has first hand experience with ATI drivers and Maya running flawlessly.
 
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