Thoughts on budget build...

E

Eickst

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
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Ok so here is my current system-

Athlon X2 4400
Abit AV8 mobo
2gb Corsair DDR400
Sapphire X800XT PE 256MB AGP Video Card

Monitor is only 22" Acer 1680x1050.

I was toying with buying a new AGP video card, but it was advised to pick up a used mobo that had a PCIE slot and then get a PCIE VGA card.

But here is something I was toying with on newegg and I wanted to get some opinions on this system as I am extremely out of the loop lately-

AMD Athlon II X3 425 Rana 2.7GHZ AM3
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UDP3 AM3 Mobo
G.SKILL 2GB DDR3-1600
XFX HD-4770 512MB VGA

Total cost including tax and shipping - $363.30

I already have case, psu, hdds, dvd's etc and will just reuse those.

Going to overclock the piss out of it, both CPU and VGA and just try to keep it for a year or two until I don't owe the IRS anymore money and I get a tax refund for the first time in 10 years.

Thoughts? Trying to keep it as CHEAP as possible but still making it an upgrade over what I have.
 
ASUS M4A77D $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131618

Radeon 5770 / 250 $215 ($10 off with promo code VGA181)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315901

Corsair 1600 $93
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

If you see the reviews on the rana, it is slow and behind many of the dual cores. It seems to also run hot. The 925 quad core would be the best solution.

925/5770 $279
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.312206
 
Last edited:
gwarren007 said:
ASUS M4A77D $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131618

Radeon 5770 / 250 $215 ($10 off with promo code VGA181)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.315901

Corsair 1600 $93
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260

If you see the reviews on the rana, it is slow and behind many of the dual cores. It seems to also run hot. The 925 quad core would be the best solution.

925/5770 $279
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.312206
Click to expand...

Not bad, much better than what I put together but also about $60 more but def worth the sixty bucks. One question though, does that board support DDR3? Newegg's site says DDR2.
 
Thanks for the links. I'm going to swing by microcenter later and see if they have any of this stuff cheaper than newegg.
 
What is your current PSU model? if its a low quality or underpowered unit, you'll probably need a new one.
What model HDDs? if they're IDE, they're most likely very slow unless somewhat newer than your other parts, and would probably want to replace it, too.
Is your optical drive IDE? again, if so, you might want to replace it, but the board does support 2 IDE devices, hence the question about the HDDs.
 
PSU is an antec neopower 500, hdd's are sata, a 74gb raptor and a 250gb wd. Opticals are IDE.

I'm still going to get the gigabyte board over the msi, I need firewire and I perfer gigabyte over msi anyway.
 
NeoPower? cool NeoHE? too old. ;) Yes, there's a difference.

A newer Samsung F3 500GB or WD 640GB black/blue would be faster than your current drives, especially if thats a 1st gen raptor. I'd suggest a new F3 500GB for your OS drive, if you can afford one. Yes, they're that fast.

gigabyte is fine. i, too, prefer them over msi, but i still own a few msi.
 
So I went ahead and tookthe plunge, thanks for all the help.

Athlon II X4 620 (I do too much video editing, I had to have the quad)
XFX 5770 1GB
4gb G Skill DDR3 1600
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P (needed the firewire ports which the MSI didn't have)

Total with tax (damn CA sales tax) 465.43

Not too bad, it was a little over budget but the quad was worth the extra 35/40 bucks.

Once again, thanks for all the help.
 
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