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N00b to Hardware....

I

Imcompa

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 10, 2004
Messages
109
I'm on a limited budget, I've found basiclly what I want. I'm looking around for better prices. Anything I pick that I shouldn't have? And Ram.... not sure what to get... looking for around 1gb.

Video Card - $138.00 - http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-326&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE

Processor - $157.00 - http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-157&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE

Mobo - $159.00 - http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-449&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE

Memory - Not sure need 1gb of decent stuff, not too expensive. Like generic stuff thats almost like

Kingston HyperX 1gb
 
Are you looking for decent performance? What are you planning to to with the system? These questions are important, as well of the question of budget. The mobo is a great choice - a really great package there. The proccessor is OK, but if you are on a budget it is fine. Good choice of vid card - the 9600XT is a good performer for a good price.
As for RAM - the HyperX is a good choice, but if you are on a budget 1gb might be a little too much. You could look at the Kingston ValueRAM, and get 1gb of that. It all depends on your budget.

Other questions: what about case? PSU? Hard drive? Or do you have those things already?
 
I have a Case CD-rom 350 watt power supply and a HDD. My family has 2 computers so I don't need any other burning roms or anything(thats why I figured the 350Watt that came with the case was enough). I play games (I want to be able to run farcry with decent specs and doom 3.) and I plan on making some gameplay videos. I'm a programmer. I help my friend rendor his maya projects with network rendoring. I use alittle bit of photoshop. I have money to get a better processor.... mabey get this one: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=19-116-156&DEPA=0

and memory, I dion't plan on getting HyperX, Its price is still way up there.
 
Imcompa said:
I have a Case CD-rom 350 watt power supply and a HDD. My family has 2 computers so I don't need any other burning roms or anything(thats why I figured the 350Watt that came with the case was enough). I play games (I want to be able to run farcry with decent specs and doom 3.) and I plan on making some gameplay videos. I'm a programmer. I help my friend rendor his maya projects with network rendoring. I use alittle bit of photoshop. I have money to get a better processor.... mabey get this one: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=19-116-156&DEPA=0

and memory, I dion't plan on getting HyperX, Its price is still way up there.
Click to expand...

If you want to be able to do all those things, you will need that better processor.
That system will run Doom3, especially with that new processor. And you probably will need 1gb of RAM to do maya rendering, so look at the ValueRAM - good price vs performance, thats what you want.
 
If u are on a buget, i suggest looking @ the AMD 64 (Socket 754) processors. They preform very nicely in games and are cheaper.

My choices:

Processor: AMD 64 3000+ w. Heatsink ($172.00)
Motherbaord: MSI K8N Neo-FSR Motherboard w. Nvidia nForce 3 250GB ($109.00)

If u really want intel, ur setup is fine.
 
Yeah, if you go with AMD, the money you save could be spent on getting a better video card. Games use the CPU a lot, but, don't forget that in the end they need a good video card most of all until you run into the CPU limit. And even a system like mine can pull off games like Far Cry pretty tolerably with just the help of a decent video card.
 
I hear that card I have chosen is pretty decent. Its the proc, mobo and memory I'm worried about.
 
Eh, 9600XT is pretty good, but, the 9600 series is getting just a little bit outdated. Sure, it's pretty decent, yes, but, it really isn't what you want to go with in the near future with HL2 and Doom 3 engines soon to be used a lot, not to mention Far Cry is already out. You truly would end up better off with a better video card. And just because AMD is cheaper doesn't make it automatically worse. Tests in Far Cry showed that with a darned good video card, a really CPU limited system can still pull over 40 FPS. The thing was, it did over 40 at every resolution, it just didn't go as far over 40 as it should have at the lower resolutions. This was with the highest possible quality settings, 16xAF, 6xAA. So, even if you DID end up CPU limited you'd end up pretty well off. Still, a good Athlon XP mobile can do pretty darned well considering that you can easily overclock to 3200+ speeds. Besides, he was suggesting the Athlon 64. That CPU should get the best out of your system in the end, and in the near future with Windows XP 64-bit soon to be shipping, it might actually have a certain advantage (this could take a while though,) and you still save about $50 on the mb. The extra $50 would get you just about enough to get a Radeon 9800 Pro, which is worlds better than 9600 XT. Or, if you are patient enough to wait just a bit, nVidia has already made a 6800LE and will soon have a 6600GT (PCI-E first, but later AGP too,) both of which should do at least a little bit better than the 9800 Pro for the same price.
 
Yep, Nazo has some good advice there.


9600xt just isn't worth buying nowdays for gaming.
 
Atleast a 9800Pro can do the trick for a while. I have a 9600Pro (which i bought a year ago) and i already want to upgrade but my funds are low. So im trying to get a 9800 Pro for $285 Canadian.
 
I'm going to get the 9800 pro for 212$ at new egg the Saphire brand....

I'm waiting till the 22nd or a few days after( intell is supposed to drop prices on thier chips then) and I'm going to buy the 3.0C Intel P4 800 mhz fsb 512 cache.

Is that a good mobo for this stuff?

And memory. I have no idea, NO memory with the word value in it. I'm thinking about this http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-114&depa=1
but its alittle pricey... by that I mean I'd be paying more for the ram then for anything else...

This system so far is:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=13-131-449&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=19-116-156&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-281&depa=0&manufactory=BROWSE


I have everything else already. (Case, Monitor, HDD, CD-Rom, Power Supply 350w, mouse keyboard and speakers)
 
Actually, you might want to wait just a bit if you can. There are about to be two new cards (one already out, but not on the shelves yet) which are supposedly a little bit better than the 9800 Pro but for the same price. These are the nVidia GFFX 6800LE and soon the 6600GT (which will start PCI-E, but supposedly should have AGP about a month later.) If you can't wait, the Radeon 9800 Pro is a darned good card and should last you a while yet anyway.

Anyway, really the CPU and motherboard look fine. I think you should be ok there.
 
The MSI RX9800 Pro is only $193 at Zipzoomfly... I've got one and I've been able to OC to XT speeds solidly. I havent pushed it any further yet, but I'll bet it can go more...

I'm going to second the notion on the MSI K8N Neo-FSR and the 3000+. I've got a similar combo and it's plenty fast for how cheap it is.
 
Waiting is not a problem, I just don't like Nividia, I'm sticking with ATI, so the 9800 will do me good :)
 
Imcompa said:
Waiting is not a problem, I just don't like Nividia, I'm sticking with ATI, so the 9800 will do me good :)
Click to expand...
I don't like nVidia that much either, but don't do ATi a favor and rule nVidia out...do yourself a favor and get what is best for you and your dollar, since it is your money!!!!
 
I agree. I felt the same way back when I got this. That was around the time of the GFFX5200. ^_^ However, even I must admit these new cards sound like they will be quite good. Remember, this is competition. Because the 9800 Pro was doing so well in that line, nvidia has to release something at least equal if not better. A mistake here would NOT help them.
 
Well, videocards can wait, That kingston stuff is awosme, just need to find it alittle less then $275 :\
 
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