budget PC

[SrGuapo]

OK, I have been wanting to build myself an awesome gaming PC for the last few months now. I had priced out a kick-ass system (A64 3200+, nForce4 ultra, geForce 6800gt, etc.) for about $1500 (no monitor). Anyway, since I have about $700 now, I thought I should just build a budget PC with that money, then once I am a little more experienced with the whole building/ovewrclocking thing and have some more $$$, build a higher end compy.

I want to reuse as many of the parts I can for my next PC, while staying on a budget (less thn $850, no monitor or software). Here i what I have put together:

Mobo: Soltek "SL-75FRN2" nForce 2 ultra 400 ($75)
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2500+ "Barton" ($86)
RAM: Corsair value select PC3200 2x512 MB ($140)
Video: Radeon 9800 Pro 256-bit (~$200)
HDD: Seagate 160 GB barracuda 7200.7 SATA ($110)
Case: ANTEC sonata w/ 380 Watt PSU ($100)
DVD: NEC 16x dual layer DVD+-RW ($66)
CD: Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW ($24)
Floppy: Samsung 3.5 in internal floppy drive ($7)

Total: $808 (w/out shipping/tax)

All prices are from newegg and in USD. I am hoping on reusing the RAM, HDD, DVD, CD, and Floppy in the future PC.

Basically, I would like to know if there are any changes I should make? Are there any parts I can switch to save money with little penalty? Are there any parts I can upgrade for not too much for a significant benefit? Thanks for the help!

 

[DaveSimmons]

A socket 754 A64 2800+ retail ($120-30) and Chaintech nforce3 mobo ($70-80) would be a big jump in speed for only about $40 more, much faster than an XP 3200+ in games.

With that (or even a 3000+ if prices are good after xmas) you can wait longer to buy the next system, until a couple of revisions of nf4 boards are out. Resale value on the A64 will also be higher when you sell it since it will still be a good budget combo while the XP won't be unless overclocked.

It's hard to recommend the Radeon 9800 Pro at $200 when after-Xmas sales can probably get you a plain 6800 for $250 (see the CompUSA today-only thread in Hot Deals), and very soon the 6600GT should finally get down to $200. Again, either of these would let you keep this system for months longer before "needing" to upgrade to a super-deluxe A64 system.

Of course doing both puts you close to $900, but doing both would give you a massive performance boost.

 

[w00t]

i think the 6600gt would be nice better than 9800pro.

 

[SrGuapo]

I was hoping to build my dream PC in January, but with prices and availabilty of the nForce4 and spike in the A64 prices (and emptiness of my checking acount), I think it is best to wait. I also don't want to mess things up bad and be in the whole more than I need to. I'll be starting college in the fall, so I want to have this next PC built by then. This PC will probably become my brothers when I move out.

Basically, I want a cheap PC that will run today's games (even at low-medium settings) for a few months. I am not very interested in upgrading, though I would like to overclock a bit. If you can come up with an A64 system that is less than $900, I would be glad to check it out. I agree with you on the video card as well. I want a card that has SM 3.0 (I am a game programmer and I am trying to learn SM 3.0 through the REF drivers, which is slow as hell). Thanks for the pointers.

 

[SrGuapo]

Does anyone have any recommendations? I need a cheap system (< $900, hopefully ~800). Should I go with the barton, or should I shell out more for the A64 2800+?

Basically, I want to learn all the basics of building my own PC as well as overclock a bit. I will probably be using it for some graphics programming as well as some gaming (HL2, Doom3, etc.). I don't need to be able to run at high settings or over 1024x768. When I build my next ststem, it will most likely be an A64 with an nForce4 ultra and a 6800gt (unless ATI has some competitive cards by then). We could use this PC around the house anyways, so it won't be a complete waste.

Edit: Also, about the video card. My next PC will be a PCI-e, so this card will not be transferable. I really don't want to sink alot of money into a card that I only will use for a few months, especially if the CPU is going to bottleneck the system alot more.

 

[Doublejr]

I just went from a 2500+ to a 2800+ and at stock speeds the difference is noticable, the axp64 seems a lot snappier. I would recommend the axp64 over the barton. Everything else looks ok

 

[DaveSimmons]

system thread

That thread lists the Chaintech A64 socket 754 motherboard I mentioned, I think the links are to ZZF but newegg.com sells at about the same prices. But other than XP vs. A64 and the 9800 Pro vs. a 6600GT your parts list already looks good.

Like I said above, the A64 and 6600GT could let you wait much longer before upgrading again, and you should get back at least some of the price difference when you sell the parts after that upgrade. In 9 months a used 9800 Pro might sell for $100 while a 6600GT still fetches $125-150.