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Building a Gaming PC for under $1500

C

CMorgan

Junior Member
I'm trying to build a decent gaming rig and I have about $1500 to work with. I'd like to get the best bang for my buck and was wondering what everyone would recommend as to the setup. I plan on overclocking to save money and get better performance. I don't want to spend a ton of money on the very latest and greatest parts if I can get slightly poorer performance for a lot less cost. What would you all recommend for processor and motherboard? Should I stick with AMD? Intel? Any advice or experience with components for my system would be greatly appreciated!!!

Here's my plan so far:

Case: Lian Li or Coolermaster
Powersupply: Can't decide (don't know how many watts I should look for)
Motherboard: Can't decide (needs to allow easy overclocking)
Processor: Can't decide (maybe 2ghz Northwood Celeron - read it could hit 3ghz without a whole lot of cooling)
Ram: Can't decide
Cooling: Volcanos?
Hard Drive: Find a ~80gig+ 7200rpm HD cheap after rebate
Video: ATI 9500 pro or 9700tx?
Sound: Integrated or SB 5.1 (not too concerned)
CD: Cheap CDRW after rebate deal

Again, I'd really appreciate any input as to the components for this setup. Thanks!
 
I have heard nothing but good things about the Radeon 9500 Pro from the few I talked to. Crucial makes awesome ram and pc2700 is a good choice if you plan on oc'ing.
 
If you've got $1500 to work with you can easily afford a 9700 Pro vid card (the best). This is what you should get for a gaming PC. They can be had for around $300, maybe less.

I made my gaming rig with a 9700 Pro for under $1000. Link in sig.
 
Used googlegear.com, newegg.com, and svc.com for prices:

Case: Lian Li PC60 $130 - Newegg

Power Supply: ENERMAX EG365P-VE(FC) 350w $52 - Newegg

Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S $125 - Newegg

Processor: AMD ATHLON XP 2400 $137 (good overclocker, people have been very successful with higher
than 13x166 ) - Newegg

Ram: 2x Corsair 256MB DDR433 PC3500 $186 - Googlegear

Heatsink: SLK800 $30 - SVC

Hard Drive: Maxtor 80GB w/ 8MB buffer for $68.53 @ OD this week

Video: FIC ATI 9700 PRO $296 - Newegg

Sound: Integrated SoundStorm Dolby Digital

CD: Lite On 52x24x52 $50 - Newegg

$1075 without shipping costs or fans for case and heatsink. If you want you can change it to a gig of ram (Corsair PC3500 512x2 - $387 instead of $186) and be under $1500

BTW, Welcome to AT Forums
 
Here is a system I have configured at NewEgg shipped cross-country to Maryland (Where I live). This is assuming the $1500 only includes the box itself:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2200+ ($112)
Once you start buying CPUs faster than this, you get very little performance gain for a lot of money.

Motherboard: ABIT NF7-S ($125)
Get with something cheaper if you don't want serial ATA or firewire. I like the EPoX 8RDA+ and ABIT NF7.

Memory: Crucial PC2700 512MB x 2 ($166)
This will allow you to overclock a good amount with your 266MHz FSB CPU, and will leave you an upgrade path should you decide to max out the motherboard further down the line. You can probably even overclock it a good bit past 166MHz; Crucial makes very high quality memory for cheap.

Video: Powercolor Radeon 9700 ($248)
A nice video card that won't eat your wallet for breakfast. When you upgrade your CPU, you will release some untapped potential. You will be able to enable FSAA and AF to your heart's content.

HDD: Western Digital 1200JB ($141)
If you have a high-speed connection, you will fill up that nice new HDD quick. 120GB should give your sufficient room for a lot of movies to go on your system along with the rest of the standard software and data. The 8MB buffer does improve performance noticeably.

CDRW: LiteOn 52x24x52 ($50)
This drive is cheap and relialbe. There isn't much reason to go with any other brand. Yamaha has some compelling features on their drives, but you will have to be willing to pay for those features.

Case: Kingwin KT-436 ($160)
This case is very similar to the Lian Li case, but it doesn't cost quite as much. It cools very efficiently and quietly. It isn't a full tower (Like the Xaser II from Thermaltake), but it does have a removeable motherboard tray to make working on it easier. The recorded sound levels from it were also a solid 3dB less, which is about half the noise.

PSU: Antec Tru380 ($70)
This PSU is a tad expensive, but it will allow you to upgrade a good while into the future without worries of straining the PSU. Buying a cheap PSU is a big nono. My new consulting theory puts a quality PSU near the top of the list. I have come across too many problems related to insufficient power supplies.

Heatsink: Thermalright SK-6+ ($15)
A very nice all-copper heatsink that is a good price. It has a 3-prong clip for secure holding action.

Adaptor + Fan: 60 to 92mm and Panaflo 92mm 56.8CFM ($26)
For ultimate cooling performance without excess noise, a larger fan at lower RPMs is the way to go. Since you are overclocking, this will be a good compromise between price, noise, and heat dissipation.

Total w/shipping: $1151.98

Not too shabby for $350 under budget.


 
You have 1500 dollars and you seriouslily want a Celly 2ghz gimme a break. That chip is terrible even at 3ghz it cant beat a AthlonXP 1700.

Definately all the things mentioned by Bovinicus but I disagree on the mobo. Id say Epox 8RDA+ and either TBred 2100 or barton 2500.
 
Wow! You can get a lot of good stuff with $1500!

Case: Lian Li

Powersupply: Antec or Enermax

Motherboard: For overclocking, Epox 8RDA+ unless you can be assured of getting revision 1.2 of the Abit NF7-S.

Processor: <a target=new class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.excaliberpc.com/product_info.php?cPath=178_186&products_id=1095">AMD Athlon XP 2100+ TBred-B OEM $96
</a>

Ram: *Two* TwinMos 256MB PC3200 memory modules $59x2=$118

Cooling: Thermalright SLK-800 and YS-Tech 80mm x 25mm fan

Hard Drive: Maxtor or WD

Video: ATi 9700 Pro

Sound: Integrated nVidia Audio (It rocks!🙂)

CD: Lite-On

vendor(s): newEgg, excaliberPC, memoryx

With the money left over, you could get Klipsch 4.1 speakers, Pioneer Slot-load DVD drive and some other goodies.
 
Motherboard: For overclocking, Epox 8RDA+ unless you can be assured of getting revision 1.2 of the Abit NF7-S.
Click to expand...

Seems like everyone who ordered the NF7-S from Newegg recently has been getting revision 1.2. Newegg is a very high volume reseller so you can usually expect them to have the most recent revisions.
 
Wow, thanks for all the helpful input!!!

I was looking at overclockers.com and saw that many of the AMD 2100+ Tbred chips that were getting the highest scores used the Epox board. Which board would you all say is better overall? The Epox 8RDA+ or Abit NF7-S (revision 1.2)? Thanks again for any help!

 
From what I've heard the Epox board is great for overclocking.

I'd definitely recommend you go for the 9500pro vs the 9700np/pro, you be saving yourself between $70-100. I'd pick an Antec True Power PS over an Enermax because the Antecs are not only very quiet but also more reliable. Tomshardware recently had a review of a bunch of PS if your interested.

It's probably not worth shelling out any extra money for anything above an Athlon xp 2200+, because the performance gains you'd see wouldn't justify the increased cost.

Also recommend you throw in a DVD player, such as a Lite-On in the mix because if you plan on burning games, sometimes the burn doesn't work in the CDRW.

For a HD I would do either one of two things, either buy a Seagate at Newegg (very quiet drive) or buy a HD such as Maxtor or WD from a retail and save money AR (check out Bensbargains.net).

Finally for a case, you can check out Antec's new Lanboy case which you could get for about $100 shipped. Its Aluminium, has a plexiglass side panel, comes with a quality Antec PS and is a very good looking case imho.
 
Originally posted by: CMorgan
Which board would you all say is better overall? The Epox 8RDA+ or Abit NF7-S (revision 1.2)?
Click to expand...
Both are very good. If there's a possibility of upgrading to a Serial ATA hard drive in the future, get the Abit NF7-S Rev 1.2. You may have to wait in order to get a rev 1.2 though as there are few locations offering a garaunteed 1.2 at current time.
 
Again, thank you for all of the great replies!!!! Here's the order that I just placed at Newegg:

Case: Lian-Li 61USB B2 Black (Qty=1,Price=135.00)
Power Supply: ANTEC TRUEPower 430 ATX (Qty=1,Price=79.99)
Motherboard: EPOX 8RDA+ (Qty=1,Price=112.00)
CPU: AMD 2100+ 1.73 ATHLON XP TBRED (Qty=1,Price=93.00) + (1 Year Warranty $5.00)
Cooling: SLK-800(A) (Qty=1,Price=38.00)
Cooling: Thermaltake SMART CASE FAN II WITH ?COOLMOD? . Variable Fan Speed Control (Qty=1,Price=18.00)
Cooling: ARCTIC SILVER 3 3G CPU THERM PASTE (Qty=1,Price=6.00)
Hard Drive: 120GB WD (Special Edition) 120GB 8MB-CACHE (Qty=1,Price=142.00)
CDRW: 52x24x52 LITE ON LTR52246 BLK (Qty=1,Price=55.00)
Floppy: 1.44MB ALPS DF354H121F BLACK (Qty=1,Price=13.50)

Subtotal:697.49
TAX:.00
Shipping and Handling Charge**:31.25
Total:728.74


Here are my questions..

Does everything look like it will go well together? What about memory? What should I look for? What type of memory, brand, and vendor to choose? I was thinking that 2 sticks of 256mb or 2 sticks of 516mb 3200 would be the way to go but I've read conflicting beliefs as to the effectiveness of dual sticks in a nforce2 board. I'd like to be able to overclock to a nice speed and stay under $150ish for the memory.

As for the video card, I am debating the ATI 9500 pro (don't think I'll be able to find a hackable non-pro anywhere) for around $200 or the ATI 9700 pro for about $300. I don't know if the performance boost is worth $100 (what is it, a couple %?) I'll be keeping my old monitor until I can save up for a really nice 19" crt or LCD.

Any comments, critisicms, etc for the above setup are greatly welcomed. Thanks again!!!
 
I hope your not planning to neglect one of the most important components of any gaming rig: the monitor. Its what you stare out while you're gaming, and speed certainly won't make your gaming experience any better if you're staring at a 15'' CRT. Get something at least 19'' (CRT) or 17'' (LCD) if you want to really enjoy your gaming experience.

Chiz
 
PC2700 memory is fine, but go with high quality memory. If you plan on overclocking heavily then PC3200 may be more appropriate. However, low-latency PC2700 memory will be just as good as high-latency PC3200 memory.

I still stick with my suggestion of the Radeon 9700 non-pro. It will give you a middle ground between the two video cards you can't decide on. It performs quite a bit better than the 9500 Pro. The performance is very close to that of the Radeon 9700 Pro vesrion. 3rd party (Powered by ATi) companies make the cheapest ones.
 
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