Need advice on a budget rig

SilverSliver

SilverSliver

[H]F Junkie
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Feb 23, 2004
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Well, my e1705 in my sig is giving up the ghost. It works fine for surfing the net and the such, but as soon as I start up any games, it gives me a NMI parity "gofkurself" error and craps out. It's gone as far as getting stuck pixels when loading into Windows in the background. I've always used a 3rd party fan monitor to keep the thing running cool, but, it seems to be a very widespread problem with the laptop so, I'm chalking it up as a loss.

With that said, I need a reasonable gaming rig. Right now I can play Hellgate London for about 6 minutes before the computer takes a dump at 1900x1200. I'd like to build myself a desktop that can emulate or partially surpass the performance of my current notebook.

I need everything on a budget pretty much. I wouldn't mind buying used parts off the forums to boot, but new would be great. No need on advice for keyboards and the such, just need advice on bargain/bang for the buck/reliable pieces of main hardware. If anyone can help me, I'd appreciate it. I used to keep up with the tech, but since I got my laptop, I have gotten behind. Thanks in advance.

If someone could give me a ballpark of what it will cost to have a desktop that performs as well, if not slightly better than my current notebook, that would be great as well. Money is tight.
 
- What's your budget?
- What exact parts do you need for that budget?
- Will you be overclocking?

Well it depends on how much quality/performance you want while gaming. Do you want to play games at max settings on 1900 x 1200? or Just be able to play games at medium settings on 1900 x 1200? etc. It would also help if you told us what parts you need.
 
My budget is basically the minimal cost of a rig performing as well, if not slightly better than my current notebook -- minus it being an absolute piece of shit.

I need every part. I parted out my last desktop, so I don't even have a keyboard now, let alone a monitor, etc.

I can overclock -- my track record is rather poor, but I chalk that up to having bad luck with hardware in the past. I'd prefer not to spend hours and days twiddling in bios screens to achieve the current performance of my notebook, so I'd like to use my current ideal performance as the benchmark, and if I can overclock on top of that, great.

My notebook can currently run Hellgate London before pissing itself on 1900x1200 on all high settings. I'd like to be able to achieve that if reasonably possible, if not, a relatively high res like 1600x1200 would be acceptable.
 
What are your FPS with the Go 7900GS with Hellgate London @ 1900 x 1200?
 
 
Go for Danny's build, its good.

If you want to save money, you can drop to an E4400 CPU without much performance loss. You could also go for a cheaper case, like an Elite 330 or Centurion 5, 532, or 534 instead. Another cost cutting suggestion would be to go with a cheaper HSF, like the CM TX-2 for $10AR. And finally, lower the PSU down to either the XClio Goodpower or Stablepower 500W. Thats a possible $145 saved, btw.

With Danny's build, go for a 20 or 22" LCD. This one looks good:
CHIMEI CMV 221D-NBC Black 22" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD - $205 after $30MIR

Another option is the 8800GTS 320MB instead, which will save you about $100 over the 640MB version. Oh, and if you like the 7900GS, that'll save you ~$240 or so, lol. Just know that its an old card, so it won't do as well in newer games as the 8800GTS.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. How is the overclocking potential/ease on this setup?
 
C2D CPUs are the easiest CPUs to OC these days. You can easily OC any C2D by 1Ghz without too much trouble. That HSF I included in the list, will keep your CPU pretty cool.
 
The E6750 can reach around 3.9Ghz at around max voltage (1.55v).
The E4400 can reach around 3.4Ghz at around max voltage (1.55v).

As always, with OC'ing, your results may vary.
 
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