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Please OK before I purchase

B

BUD212002

Bad Trader
Joined
Jul 14, 2003
Messages
156
trying to stay under $500
Suggestions appreciated.
Not a hardcore gamer

UNINCOM ROUND, 18-Inch, True ATA133/100/66/33( BLUE ) IDE Cable. 3-Head. 18 Inches -RETAIL
Item# N82E16812181061

$3.55

Aspire X-Dreamer II(Black) ATX Mid-Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, With Window, Model "ATXB4KLW-BK/350"
Item# N82E16811144026
$59.00

Hard Drives
Western Digital Special Edition 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model WD800JB, OEM Drive Only
Item# N82E16822144122

$62.00


Kingmax 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 - OEM

Item# N82E16820156006

$80.00



Encore 56K V.92 Internal PCI Fax Modem(NetoDragon), Model ENF656-ESW-NDPR - Retail
Item# N82E16825180003
$7.50



Motherboards - AMD

AOpen "AK77-600N" KT600 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL
Item# N82E16813137038
$59.00

or

ASUS "A7N8X-X" nForce2 400 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL ?
$67.00



AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton", 333 FSB, 512K Cache Processor - Retail

$87.00



SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600SE Video Card, 128MB DDR, 64-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model "ATLANTIS RADEON 9600SE" -RETAIL
Item# N82E16814102327

$71.00





Product total: $439.05

Total (Before tax): $ 439.05 plus tax
 
Hmm I'd personally go with Abit or Asus over Aopen and you can probably get a better video card than the 9600 SE, but if you're not going to be gaming much, it's not of much worry.

Oh and wrong forum.
 
Everything looks pretty good except your hard drive...the 120gig version of that drive is only like $10 more...so I'd shop around a bit there...
 
i'd recommend spending a little bit more money on a better graphics card. the 9600 SE just isn't good enough for modern games. I'd recommend a 9700 or 5900XT
 
Ya if you're going to do any kind of gaming, then stay away from the 9600se. Get a plain ole vanilla 9600 over it any day (double the speed!)

Stay away from the PSU in that case. Its really a 250 watter that will quickly fry your componenets. Lots of complaints with it and it fried my friends brand new harddrive right after i swapped my psu with that crap. Really, pick something different. It'll either quickly fry your hardware...or slowly fry it, leaving you clueless why your games crash to desktop, and other bizarre but permanent anomolies.

Slap a fortron/sparkle 300-350watt into any budget case and you're golden.

Get the Asus Nforce2 mobo with a Mobile Barton $2400+ and overclock it to 11 x 200=XP3200+ (2.2ghz).

If you have any questions, ask away.

PS: I'm not kidding about that psu, its worse than crap, it'll fry your investment.
 
Are people still having problems with the ASUS "A7N8X-X" ? Casn I get the mobile to work on the Abit nf7-s board with no problems. Is it better than the Asus and no problems?
 
BUD212002 said:
Are people still having problems with the ASUS "A7N8X-X" ? Casn I get the mobile to work on the Abit nf7-s board with no problems. Is it better than the Asus and no problems?
Click to expand...
It'll work 'perfectly' fine on both mobos and the asus issues have mostly cleared up as well. The nf7-s has more onboard goodies than the vanilla A7N8X but the -E Deluxe version is a near equal to the nf7s. You'll have to closely read the product descriptions to make sure you pick the one with goodies you prefer.

NF7-S v.2
Plain vanilla A7N8X-X
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe

Come to a decision on the power supply yet? I have 3 or 4 specific recommendations if you're interested, all potent but inexpensive ;)
 
If you're building a budget machine, then you should probably go with the NF7-S. The soundstorm audio makes up for the lack of a sound card. Also, you can get a Radeon 9550 for the same price range as the 9600se, and that'd be better...
 
Yep, also the A7N8X-X is single-channel RAM only. No Soundstorm, so I'd go with the NF7-S myself.
 
If you wanted to go Socket-A, the first version (rev 2) of that board would be fine, but Socket-A is no longer mid-range. Mid range is about 2.8 pentium 4 or an A64 2800+. The 754 would be much better as far as upgrade lastability goes. However, an AthlonXP 2600+ would just fit the mid-range.
 
That mobile cpu is perfect for its price range and will work perfect in the mobo's we've proposed here. That PSU is 200% better than the aspire. And that NF7-S2 is a watered down version of the better NF7-S V.2 . If you're looking for a cheaper, budget overclocker then look into the normally reliable shuttle AN35N ultra. The shuttle lacks the mcp-t southbridge though (no soundstorm, firewire or Sata).

Otherwise i might take so_cal_forever's advice and start pricing out the newer A64 rigs since their prices have been in a free-fall the past few days. Take your time, don't rush into anything because you might miss out on something good. Be sure to check out our [H] Deals forum for better prices. Check out our Mobo and amd mobo forums for more ideas/info.
 
BUD212002 said:
i am so confused now. OK I do not want to go 64 yet, so, what mobo. should i get?
Click to expand...
That depends on what features you want onboard. Study the product descriptions carefully. If you don't mind lacking Soundstorm, Firewire and Sata, and don't want a monster overclock then get the Shuttle AN35N ultra. If you want those onboard goodies, and want a chance at monster overclocks, the get the NF7-S V2 that i linked above.

I'd recommend the NF7-S V2 because it has Soundstorm (High quality audio & very low cpu usage), Serial ATA + nifty Sata/ide converter and Firewire onboard. Not to mention it'll give you chance at a really good overclock.

Another heads up. The Sparkle/Fortron "FSP" series PSU is better than the "ATX series" one you linked. They underadvertise their voltage, and are usually 50-100watts more powerful than they advertise. A few great recommendations:
Sparkle 350w $36 this model has more power than the huge 12cm fan 350w model btw.
Fortron 350w 12cm fan $39

Their 400w "FSP" models are even better, if you're willing to spend the extra $$$.
 
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