Advice on new build

[Pred]

My old PC finally blew up, so it's time for a new one. I'm going for a budget gaming system, so here goes.

EPoX AF550GPro
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+(65w)
Kingston HyperX 1GB DDR2 800 kit
BFG Tech GeForce 7600GT 256mb
Western Digital 160GB SATA 3.0Gb/s drive
Asus DVD Burner
Raidmax ATX Mid Tower with a 500w power supply

The PC that just blew up I built almost six years ago, spending around $1800 on. However this time my wife has told me to keep the $$$ down. Basically, as I said, I just want a budget box that will still play the games I like (Doom 3, CSS, FEAR). And I just want to make sure the stuff I'm buying is quality stuff. So, what does everyone think? I plan to put another gig in it down the road, and I'll probably just use the onboard sound for now. However I do have an old Santa Cruz card laying around that still works just fine.

 

[conlan]

Looks good :thumbsup:....... 'cept, heres a few options on the VidCard:

X1950Pro

X1950pro w/ free game deal in hot deals forum

7900GS

I'm also wondering why you're using a mobo w/ onboard video??

 

[Pred]

Hmm, I might go with the 7900GS instead. As for the mobo with onboard video, the board has what I need, and the price seems good.

 

[conlan]

As far as your PSU, might i suggest This one over that Raidmax.

 

[Pred]

Any specific reason why you don't like the Raidmax?

 

[conlan]

Nothing against the Raidmax, FSP=Quality. And 450W is more than enough for your build, it is of course, your call

 

[Pred]

Thats cool. I planned on making some changes down the road, and I knew that if I went with a bigger card I'd need a bigger power supply. It sounds like what I've got will work for what I need. Of course, I think I'll go with the 7900 you recommended, and buy some more memory and another PSU down the road. I got to adding everything up, and after the rebates I'm only spending about $620. And since I've already got a monitor, XP Pro, a sound card that will work for now, thats not bad for a budget box.

 

[looper]

I have been very happy with PC Power & Cooling power supplies. I currently have the Turbo-Cool 510.

 

[happy medium]

Use my build and buy a harddrive and optical dive for 150 bucks. Why not reuse old ones?

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=2027115&enterthread=y

It will smoke that system you got there for around 570.00$ 2 gigs ram,and 8800gts 320, And should reach 2.6/2.7 ghz easily.

570$+150$=720.00$ for lots more performance. It will max out most games made today.