anyone think they can build a gaming comp with 500$?

[dennisjai215]

hmm lets see... everything is needed besides case...

i want amd64...

i was thinking a amd64 combo here for like 170...

and i dunno what else to get..
hopefully a NF3 that has soundstorm?

video card... 9800pro or 5900xt? (180$)

ram

edit:

hd

dvd burner?

yeah im broke as hell.. im gonna start looking at rebate items.. though im scared of them

 

[ts3433]

No such thing as an NF3 with Soundstorm...

$170 already for the A64 combo
$140 for 2x512MB of RAM (Mushkin/Corsair)
$60 for an 80GB HD
$50 for some Fortron that should do the job
$70 for an NEC 3520a
This leaves about $10 for a video card; $80 if you go with half a gig of RAM, $110 if you drop down to a CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive. You're about in used 9700 Pro territory there.

 

[dennisjai215]

oops.. what gave soundstorm?

 

[ts3433]

Some NF2 motherboards offered it. That's for Socket A. Any particular reason why you're really looking for Soundstorm?

 

[Cstodgell]

Well i just recently built one for 575$ that's shipping and taxes included

I live in Kelowna BC so I ordered from NCIX which is in Vancouver.

what i had was

SOLTEK 75FRN2-L NFORCE2 SOCKETA DUAL DDR AGP8X 5PCI ATA133 SOUND LAN MOTHERBOARD
84.00$

SAMSUNG 512MB PC3200 DDR400 184PIN OEM
94.01$

SONY CRX230 52X/32X/52X CD-RW
34.83
(cheapest one will do)

SEAGATE BARRACUDA 80GB HD
78.94$

MSI GEFORCE FX5200
77.35$

=402.37$
provided you know how to put it together yourself
if you have a case you can use that, or buy one off NCIX for like 40 bux.

This computer runs half life 2 fine. Haven't tested it on many other games, for a budget computer you can't really go wrong though you'll be able to play most games on medium or low level!

 

[dennisjai215]

Originally posted by: ts3433
Some NF2 motherboards offered it. That's for Socket A. Any particular reason why you're really looking for Soundstorm?

because soundstorm is the best onboard sound i can get for a decent price mobo i would think

 

[ts3433]

Cstodgell: You mentioned a Socket A board, and he's aiming for A64, but I think Socket A is still a good option for this price point too (used ~2100+ and a good board = overclock).

That CD-RW looks good and cheap (Canadian dollars, right?). Maybe I overestimated the cost of something like that.

FX5200 != gaming rig, though. (For clarity, != means "does not belong in the same sentence as.") That's also quite steep at about $65 US for that card. For the same price, a used GeForce4 Ti series does better in DX8 and older games (no DX9 codepath support, but the FX5200--not to mention the whole FX series--sucks at it anyway).

dennisjai215: Yes, Soundstorm is the best onboard audio you can get anywhere, but if you want A64, you'll have to settle with your typical onboard for a while and maybe add a Chaintech AV710 ($25) later.

 

[dennisjai215]

nah guys.. i already have a amd xp 2400 with abit nf7
cdrw drive
antec psu (but its pretty old like 2 years)
ati radeon9100 (better than nv fx5200)
512 corsair valueram

 

[Kishan]

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
nah guys.. i already have a amd xp 2400 with abit nf7
cdrw drive
antec psu (but its pretty old like 2 years)
ati radeon9100 (better than nv fx5200)
512 corsair valueram

why don't you get a better chip and a 9800 Pro/Vanilla 6800 and 512mb of RAm. That would be a nice computer then🙂 That should be around $400 with a AXP 3200, a 6800, and another stick of Corsair Value Select PC3200.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: KPSHAH316

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
nah guys.. i already have a amd xp 2400 with abit nf7
cdrw drive
antec psu (but its pretty old like 2 years)
ati radeon9100 (better than nv fx5200)
512 corsair valueram

why don't you get a better chip and a 9800 Pro/Vanilla 6800 and 512mb of RAm. That would be a nice computer then🙂 That should be around $400 with a AXP 3200, a 6800, and another stick of Corsair Value Select PC3200.

yeah what you got now aint all that bad

another stick of ram and a new video card and your good to go, maybe do abit of an overclock? get PC3200 and run it at 200 and run the FSB at 200, and drop the multiplier on the cpu

that board supports a 200 FSB doesnt it?

 

[magomago]

yeah its your videocard holding you back....stick in a 9800pro (would balance nicely with that system) or maybe a 6600GT and BAM you'll feel like its a new pc...even better is to get 512 more ram...

 

[fuzzynavel]

Originally posted by: dennisjai215
nah guys.. i already have a amd xp 2400 with abit nf7
cdrw drive
antec psu (but its pretty old like 2 years)
ati radeon9100 (better than nv fx5200)
512 corsair valueram

I'm still running on an athlon xp 1800+ 768MB RAM PC2100 RAM+ and an old 266mhz bus with only 4xAGP....also FX5900 with bios flash to 5950ultra... and a little overclock 🙂

I need to upgrade I know...money not there at the moment....but it is quite competent at HL2 medium-high settings at 1024x768...

My advice to you would be to get either an Althlon xp or sempron upgrade but stay on the socket A...also get more RAM....bump it up to 1GB and spend the rest on a GFX card such as 9800pro....

 

[Kriz]

Splurge a little more than 500, and you could get a very nice gaming rig capable of playing the newest games at nearly the highest settings.

Case: http://www.newehttp://www.newe...description=11-144-022

This particular case has a lot of features that would cost much more with other companies, but its not some sort of shoddy imitation.

http://sharkyextreme.com/guide...BG/article.php/3435541

These guys have very good things to say about it

Also, note that it comes in serveral colors. I just had the link to the green one handy(it may also be the cheapest one; the colors of that line are priced differently for some reason).

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=13-130-463&depa=0

Its got a ton of stuff integrated, so you wont have to worry about sound cards, ethernet cards, or even firewire. Socket 939, and 4 ram slots. Quite adequately future proofed. Hell, its even got RAID.

for the cpu:

http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=19-103-499&depa=0

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ 1.8GHz, 512KB L2 Cache 939-Pin 64-bit Processor - OEM

AMD 64 bit processors are the CPUs to be buying right now. This one easily overclocked to match the power of the next model up, or even more if you want to get into overclocking.

http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=35-118-112&depa=0

ZALMAN CNPS7000B-AlCu Aluminum + Copper CPU Cooler

A CPU cooler. Very good one. Perfect for overclocking

Ram: http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=20-146-299&depa=0

Good ram, Mushkin. Two sticks for dual channel.

Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=22-148-019&depa=0

SATA and an 8mb buffer for speed. Seagate is very reputable. Even has a 5 year warrenty.

DVD burner:

http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=27-152-035&depa=0

NEC 16X Double Layer DVD±RW Drive, Black, Model ND-3520A BK, OEM

Best value DVD burner you can get. Has all the speed and features of the pricier burners, but its very affordable. I just got the 3500A (they just replaced that with this one), and I love it.

Video card:

http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=14-130-220&depa=0

EVGA nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, AGP 8X

The 6600 GT is the midrange card to buy these days. You'll be able to run all the latest games on nearly the highest settings. EVGA is just one of many brands that make it, but its competitively priced, and its available right now.

Subtotal »

$779.80 + Shipping

$500 is still too low for a decent gaming rig. But $800 is enough.

A few years ago, you couldn't get a gaming machine for under $1500. So, at least there's progress.

 

[dennisjai215]

bleh guys.. im not a newb lol i just wanted a whole new comp..
let me make it more clear.. i have an amd mobile xp 2400+ @ 2.4ghz i just wanted another computer all together and give this to my sister...

and 800 isnt a lil more than what i said 500$.. thats more than a 1.5 increase, if i wanted a 800$ computer i wouldnt have to ask you guys to help me look out for parts

thanks for trying anyways