budget gamer pc

[Xenon14]

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Sorry, but that is not a "budget" computer. You could get nearly indistinguishable performance for $400 with a 2500 Barton, Shuttle NF2400U MB, 512 PC3200, 40GB HD, and 9700 (or something similar).

Absolutely correct. I might be biased, but that's the route I took, awesome performance for very cheap, and i'm not even overclocking it. And if you insist on spending as much money as you proposed, get an AMD 64 3000+ system... it'll be similar price (maybe even cheaper than your p4 setup) and it will KILL the p4 2.6 & 2.8.

 

[axemanxt40]

Originally posted by: Vonkhan

ATX 500W Power Supply Tower ATX Aluminum Case............................$42

this worries me

I agree, cheap power = bad...1 for that setup you don't need 500 watts...so since your on a budget get an Antec tru430 for about the same price, or cough up a few bucks more and give yourself some more headroom and get the Antec tru480

 

[mikesphat]

Originally posted by: billywiggins
Here is a link to TechTv's 'The Screen Savers' Budget Gaming Box for $408.

I find it funny Patrick is going against what most of you are saying...he's recommending a 17$ Powmax case w/400 watt psu. How could Pat be so careless as to endanger the life of his viewer's components by okaying this el cheapo case and psu?

Aren't you ppl appalled?

 

[cloud171]

Originally posted by: Xenon14

Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Sorry, but that is not a "budget" computer. You could get nearly indistinguishable performance for $400 with a 2500 Barton, Shuttle NF2400U MB, 512 PC3200, 40GB HD, and 9700 (or something similar).

Absolutely correct. I might be biased, but that's the route I took, awesome performance for very cheap, and i'm not even overclocking it. And if you insist on spending as much money as you proposed, get an AMD 64 3000+ system... it'll be similar price (maybe even cheaper than your p4 setup) and it will KILL the p4 2.6 & 2.8.

well it is the first time I built a pc and the gaming pcs ive are like $1500 and above so thought $800 is pretty low for it, and my parents are paying for it so im trying to spend as close to the 800 budget, what would you suggest for the motherboard for a Athlon 64 to keep it within my budget? I was planning to go with mik3y's suggetsions but an athlon 64 does sound pretty tempting..

 

[cloud171]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
get the athlon 2500 and clock it to 3200 ($80)

get the albatron kx600 mobo, its a tad bit old, but is very comparable to the abit nf7 ($59)

get the radeon 9800 pro 128mb ddr ($209)

get the Corsair Value Select Dual Channel Kit 184 Pin 1G(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 ($164)

get the ANTEC Solution Series Super Mid Tower Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "SLK3700AMB" ($60)

and the harddrive u listed. these prices are from newegg.com. i dont recommend u get things from pricewatch.com, cuz if items are that cheap, then there is likely sumthing wrong wtih it. trust me, i've orderd tons of stuff from there, and all the items i got from it are crap. to clock the cpu to 3200 with the motherboard i listed above, all you have to do is set the fsb to 200, and then when u reboot, the comp is automatically set to 3200+. the price should total up to about $705. it will also be much better then the items you listed, regarding to the p4 and the ram.

nvm about the athlon 64, im just going to take mik3y suggetions. The comp i have decided is the same as above except i changed my hard drive to a Seagate 200GB 7200RPM for $149 since the none of the dealers had good reseller ratings, so brings my total around $722. Now for my last 2 questions for good would I need like a better heat sink or a extra fan if I overclock the amd? and what other small things would I need to get to complete this computer such as wires, etc?

 

[Mloot]

I haven't checked the price difference between the two, but if you are going to overclock you might want to choose the mobile Athlon 2500+ over the desktop 2500+. The newer desktop 2500's are mutliplier locked, and you will likely have a better chance of hitting 3200+ (or more) speeds with an unlocked mobile chip.

 

[cloud171]

Are there any performance loss compared to the desktop version? or is it just a lower voltage?

 

[Davegod]

there might be, since the normal FSB for a 2500+ is 333 whereas the mobile version is 266FSB. So I was told on here anyway 🙂

 

[Atlantean]

Looks good except for the cheap psu... I would not trust my comp with a cheap psu. I spent $100 and got a vantec stealth 520 watts.