Upgrade Budget Gaming Rig

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PornFlake

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 24, 2005
Messages
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I am rebuilding a system for my nephew and the core video card is a 9800NP. I stuck this card in his existing system which is a Celeron 800 with 512MB SDRAM and thing thing is slower than molases when playing Far Cry and COD:UO. Even with a FORMAT/REINSTALL something just ain't cutting the mustard.

If I was a betting man I would be the CPU is the bottleneck and would like some suggestions on a MB/RAM/CPU combo for under $150.

Any ideas, guys?
 
oh yeah the cel 800 is the problem -
you want intel or amd?
what is the present motherboard and its specs? can it pull a higher cpu? (does not sound like it considering you said sdram...)
hmm
$150 is a hard target to hit... but I'll try - since I know more about AMD - i'll go that route prices are from Newegg.
Asrock "K7VT4A PRO" VIA KT400A Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket A CPU -RETAIL -$36.75 $4 ship - asrock is abit's cheap boards -
Sepron 2300+ $64 free ship (boxed -$2 more than same cpu oem)
PC2700/3200 DDR will set you back for about $25 plus $5 ship per stick of 256mb (2x for 512) That puts you in around $165 - Look at the new rosewill special price ram ( pc3200 256mb $19.99 +4.99 ship) to see if it is compatible and you could lower your price (I thought 1 stick of 512 - around $55 plus 5 ship could work too)
Look around a bit and I bet you can hit your $150
 
PornFlake said:
I am rebuilding a system for my nephew and the core video card is a 9800NP. I stuck this card in his existing system which is a Celeron 800 with 512MB SDRAM and thing thing is slower than molases when playing Far Cry and COD:UO. Even with a FORMAT/REINSTALL something just ain't cutting the mustard.

If I was a betting man I would be the CPU is the bottleneck and would like some suggestions on a MB/RAM/CPU combo for under $150.

Any ideas, guys?
Click to expand...

Definitely try a sempron+mobo combo. If you can't get them too cheap separately, Fry's and Newegg has combos for around 80-100. After that you'll want at least 512mb of pc-2700. Rosewill has a 512 stick of pc3200 lifetime warranty ram for just under 50 shipped at the egg. The celeron and ram are holding his Far Cry performance back.
 
I was eyeing that Rosewill DDR memory. Sounds like a decent budget memory.

I haven't kept up on the Sempron CPU's. Are they OK for gaming or is the extra $17 worth it for an XP 2500?

I was looking at the ECS KT600-A it's $39 any opion on that board?

-Flake
 
Uh avoid ECS and PCChips - generally bad boards (tho ECS has improved of late - still avoid it for now)
The difference between a Sempron and a full on XP is half cache - if I remember correctly.
As for the Rosewill memory - take a hard look at it and make sure it is compatible with the chipset you settle on.
yeah for around $17 more, I would look hard at the XP 2500 - especially if it is boxed (I assume you wont be overclocking... also note - I think the sempron speed ratings are tweaked higher than the XP's - like the 2300+ I intially recommended would prolly perform like a 2200+ XP)
you may want to look at the nforce 2 chipsets
IF you want to go low end on the motherboard do go asrock as they have a decent reputation (as they are the cheap boards from abit.)
 
PornFlake said:
I was eyeing that Rosewill DDR memory. Sounds like a decent budget memory.

I haven't kept up on the Sempron CPU's. Are they OK for gaming or is the extra $17 worth it for an XP 2500?

I was looking at the ECS KT600-A it's $39 any opion on that board?

-Flake
Click to expand...

In the budget processor range, Semprons are very inexpensive and perform well for gaming. For the extra $17 I would go for the XP 2500. It will overclock very easily too. Just remember, if you want the best stability, don't go too cheap on motherboard.
 
Computer Geeks has a SiS661FX motherboard new for $22.

Newegg has 512MB sticks of PC3200 for about $60.

E-bay or Anandtech forums for a Celeron mobile 256K or a P4-M, about $50.

$132 total gets you 3GHz on a Celeron mobile, memory divider gets you 400MHz DDR.

Or the P4-M defaults to a 12X multiplier and runs a 800MHz fsb for 2.4GHz.

It doesn't get any cheaper for that kind of speed.

I have one of each cpu for sale if you are interested.
 
BIOSTAR "M7NCD PRO" nForce2 Ultra 400 53.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-227&depa=1

AMD Sempron 2400+ Retail 67.00
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-104-210&depa=1

Geil Value Series 184-Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 52.50
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-144-330&depa=1

Total:

172.50

I know it busts the price this is just an example. If you really look though you should be able to do something very similiar in your budget. These are all retail and from the egg.
 
I am not going to OC the rig as he is 1200 miles away and can't do any tech support.

The Intel solution does sound interesting. Does it work pretty much the same as using an AMD mobile CPU? I have been an AMD !!!!!! for so long I haven't kept up on the Intel side.

New Egg has an interesting Sempron/MB combo that I was looking at

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-138-241&depa=1

Throw in $40 of memory and I am dead on the $150 mark.

-Flake
 
that should do fine - tho I personally believe the 266 series of via chipsets under perform - that was why I was pointing to 400 or higher - and also the nforce2 400 or ultra 400( ultra has dual memory bus - these two perform within 5% of each other) But, again that board should do fine - Biostar is a decent board (do not expect a lot of documentation)
other places to look that have good reputations:
zipzoomfly.com
chiefvalue.com - actually uses newegg's servers, usually has a little lower price - odd no? and has more free fedex shipping on items...
mwave.com - I believe they have bundle discounts as well as extended warranty option for oem cpu's...
in otherwords take a hard look around and see if you can find a better deal at another reputable place or mix and match.
Does he need a new case? if so do look here: ebuyer.com - as they will have some basic mid-tower atx cases for like $5 plus $10 shipping. No. Really. obviously without power supply
speaking of which what is his psu? That may be a thing to check out - if it is a cheapo or like under 300watt there might be an issue.
 
Thanks HvyMtl, I will shop around a bit.

No case needed, just a MB/CPU/RAM.

I built this system for him about 2 years ago and he sent it back to me complaing of it being slow. Turns out the damn thing was full of spyware and after formatting and reinstalling I noticed games were not running like they should. I thought it must be the Radeon 8500 but after the OS reinstall and installing a 9800NP they still ran like crap. That's when I realized the Celeron 800 might just be the problem and not the OS or video card.

He is a console junky (PS2) and I am trying to get him to open his eyes when it comes to gaming on the PC and I think some decent hardware would help the cause.

Hey, I am dealing with a 14 year old, what do you expect? :)

-Flake
 
The Intel system is very easy to set up and overclock. Just set the fsb and memory divider, no cpu core voltage, no chipset voltage, no DDR voltage. All these settings can remain bone stock. The SiS661FX chipset defaults the Celeron Mobile and the P4-M to 1.60v.

I have used, t-bred, Sempron and Barton set-ups. The Celeron Mobile at 3.0GHz budget solution outperforms the t-bred and Sempron, and is about equal to a Barton at 2200MHz.

The P4-M mobile is nice too because you can just set the fsb to 800MHz and end up with a 2.4C for $50.

Check out this thread:

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1527123
 
ok, 14 year old eh? Well one way of hooking them is teaching them how to build the system... just a thought.
OK, another place to look is Fry's outpost.com (they seem to be decent)
http://shop4.outpost.com/category/O...ents/Computer+Components/CPU/Socket+A/Single/
heck, Fry's might be near you.
IF you really want to impress him, you might want to boost up the costs a bit and throw in a sound card and a "decent" set of logitech surround speakers (decent price/performance compromise. look at logitech.com then pricewatch.com to find decent price...)
 
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