A ?New system, what should I buy?? question, kind of?

[jefferoo]

My wife finally gave me the go-ahead and so I?m starting to design a new system. Only thing is ? I can?t afford everything that I would like right now, but need to have a system up and running soon. So the question is: What should I buy now , and what should I plan to upgrade as I go along? I?ve got around $600 now to create a system. I?ll have another $1000+ or so as the next year wears on.

Here?s my uses, now and later:

Now: office suite stuff (98se), e-mail, MP3 listening, music burning, a little gaming (once I get a 3D video card..), DVD playing (my wife?s only requirement ? which is, of course, numero uno ? is that it play DVD?s, including German DVD?s (is there a difference?), on a full-sized TV and look GOOD!).

Later: I want to dual boot Linux (as soon as I figure out how) so I can play with it, some adventurous digital photo work and more serious gaming (as soon as I find the time).

The hardware requirements are nice sound, that DVD thing for my wife, a CD-RW, and front-side USB 2.0. I use pen drives to carry stuff to work and back. I?d like an AMD solution and lean toward NVIDIA.

Thanks in advance for the thoughts.

 

[WarmAndSCSI]

I'd recommend you get an AMD platform-based system and an ATI graphics card - probably a Radeon 9500. The ATI cards are just BETTER in all ways than the CURRENT nVidia cards. It's pure fact no matter what nVidia fanboys will tell you. Now older nVidia cards always used to beat ATI cards, but this is no longer.

 

[DaveSimmons]

^^ more good advice from WarmAndSCSI. There are 2-3 other "budget" threads here in the last day or two that go into exactly what parts to buy in an AMD system.

Even a dirt-cheap XP 2000+ CPU still offers serious gaming potential, as there are only a few games out now that need more than 1 GHz speed to play very well.

 

[dakels]

well $600 isn't alot to work to work with when building but you can certainly make a decent machine. Its the video card that will kill you. If you want just the best comp for the buck no matter if its prebuilt like dell, then look out for dell deals in the hot deals forum. To build your own, I would definetly go Athlon Barton base system, They are by far the best performance for the buck over very expensive P4 800fsb systems. Dual channel DDR PC 2700, ATI Radeon 9500 if you plan on softmod/OCing it or a Radeon 9700 non pro is you can swing it. A good motherboard is critical too. Soltek's SL-75MRN-L gets great reviews but I'm can't say much for newer Athlon MB's as I use Intel stuff except for an older athlon 1600+ I have. Don't go crazy on the PSU either. Getting a 300-350 watt good PSU like Enermax/Antec/Thermaltake is good enough for most systems unless you plan on having a bevy of drives which you won't for $600. If you get a generic or not so well recognized then get 350+ watt to be safe. Get a good cooler if you pan on OCing like a a ThermalRight SLK900 or Zalman 7000. There are other cheaper coolers too that are just as good so be sure to check the cases and cooling forum. For Hard drives check the AT hot deals forum. You can always get some 80-120 gig 7200rpm drive for like $60-80.

Athlon 2500 Barton $87
Motherboard $80-110
RAM 2x 256mb PC2700 (I'd go with some Crucial - look for deals) $60-80
Radeon 9500 pro $150
80 gig 7200 rpm HD $60
DVD-ROM $30 (cheaper with a rebate/coupon deal)
CDRW $40 (cheaper with a rebate/coupon deal)
HS+Fan $40
Case with 300+ watt PSU $50
_______________
About $600-$650 +-$50 and applicable taxes and shipping. If you order most from newegg then shipping is usually free and no tax outside CA. You can shave some more money there with Hot deals like a CDRW at best buy for $20 after rebate and HD for $40 or so, Ram deals, etc.

edit: my spelling[/l]