Building a New Comp...Need help

[MrNarccisus]

This is my first posting.... My budget is around $500-600 and I would like to build a new comp. I was wondering if anyone can help me put it together. The only thing Im looking to get is : video card, motherboard & cpu combo, and DDR RAM.

Any recommendation? such as what kind/brand to get on each... try to keep in mind that $500-600 is the budget.

This is solely for game playing ie. HL2, Command & Conquer Generals, etc....

I was thinking of either the 9500/9600/9700 pro or non pro... with a CPU w/ 800 mhz FSB, and 1 gb or ram. Does having the right motherboard makes any difference? Can you give me specifics such as the namebrand/models of the followings configurations that you guys came up with? (ie. Powercolor 9600 Pro 256mb , Sapphire 9500 pro 128mb, etc.)... I think i might be willing to trade CPU power for more GPU power... but I would like to hear your guy's 2 cents to help me make my final decison. I use the www.pricewatch.com to seach and compare my prices so if you guys could recommend some links to cheaper places... please by all means help... I dont want to blow all my money on a comp that i might need to upgrade yet again soon.

 

[Walleye]

not for the price you're asking.

 

[MrNarccisus]

the specs that i have right now for my comp are :

Pent 4 1.4 ghz
512 Rambus PC800
some kind of a-bit motherboard
ati 7200
2 x 80 gig hd
2 opitical drive

any suggestion on what to do with $500-600 for upgrade(s)?

should I just spend the bulk of it on just a new video card and mem? or just replace the CPU and motherboard? im all opens to suggestions... just need to change something to go make it faster.....

I would also like to learn how to over clock without frying any of the hardware.

 

[EeyoreX]

I can offer my opinions on a few components, assuming you are not opposed to AMD, if so, let my ramblings serve as a bump (I don't use Intel, so I can't recommend Intel products, due to lack of specific knowledge). I would start with an nForce2 motherboard and some flavor of the Barton. 2500+ is fairly inexpensive, and, if you are into it, is a good overclocker (so I keep reading here. I run stock, if a 2800+ Barton isn't fast enough for me, I need help ). I can't really recommend a brand other than MSI for an nFoce2 board, since I have not used others. I see many others have success with variants of the A7N8X by Asus. Basically, I think any nForce2 board is about the same, the difference is in whatever features a company adds. There are several for around $100. If you are overclocking, go with some PC3200 RAM. If you have no desire to overclock, PC2700 would be just fine, as that would run in sync with your CPUs FSB (unless you opted for a 400 MHz FSB Barton, like the 3000+ or 3200+, then PC3200 for a 1:1 ratio). Video card recomendations you should get from someone other than me. I just recently upgraded to GeForce4, and that suits me fine for the things I do and limited games I play. The motherboard, CPU and RAM I recommended would be about $300 (assuming 512MB RAM, 1GB shouldn't be too much more), leaving you with the rest to buy a high powered GPU.

Just my 0.02.

\Dan

 

[Walleye]

if the mobo is stable, dont bother changing it. i'd reccommend a vid card change. 9600 is a good choice.

other than that, you aint got much reason to change. if you wanted to, i suppose you could up to a 2400-2500+ AMD platform, get a 9700 PRO, some nice mobo, and dual channel DDR ram, but honestly, what you got is fine.

 

[Nebor]

I'm all for stoning this guy. This is like, a 5 times a day thread.

 

[Corporate Thug]

2500+ : $90
8rda+ : $80
512 buffalo pc3200: $90
Radeon 9800 Non pro: $250

keep the harddrives obviously

 

[MaDDaWg1018]

lol, spending just as much on the video card as the rest of the computer? =p

heh, personally, i'd go with the 9600 pro...especially the sapphire one i saw on bensbargains for around 144 (something like that, it was pretty cheap)