I plan on building a new gaming system within the next month. I have about $2,200 to spend for it. Any good advice on what to invest in? I need it future proofed as much as possible cause I don't plan on getting another computer for many years. I saw some good prebuilt systems for sale at Cyberpower Inc. for excellent prices. Any thoughts about that company and their gaming systems?
building a new gaming system, need advice.
- Thread starter rbanas3
- Start date
Do you plan on building it or buying it?
Cyberpower is ok. I like ABS.
By future proofing do you mean being able to upgrade or it being good enough from the start to make it through a few generations of applications?
Do you need monitor, keyboard etc.?
Cyberpower is ok. I like ABS.
By future proofing do you mean being able to upgrade or it being good enough from the start to make it through a few generations of applications?
Do you need monitor, keyboard etc.?
pretty much getting through a few generations of apps. I would like to build my own. I think that would be fun. I've had to computers from ABS. They are good but I found Cyberpower to be much cheaper for a comparable system.
Whats your budget minus the monitor and keyboard. Are you getting a 20"lcd and a dinove keyboard? That can take a bite out of a budget.
Monitor will be a 19 inch viewsonic or the best 19 for the money, and a Logitech Mx Duo Elite keyboard and mouse. Windows XP home ed.
What I would do with $2200
Antec Performance Plus Case, Model
LUS1080AMG
ABIT K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU, Model "KV8-MAX3" -or- ABIT 875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "IC7-Max3
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1MB L2 Cache - or - Intel Pentium 4/ 3.2C GHz 800MHz FSB
Kingston HyperX (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 -or- ecc for the 64
ATI RADEON 9800XT Video Card, 256MB DDR
Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive,
Lite On Black 52x32x52 CD-RW Drive
NEC 4x DVD +RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-1300A/BLACK w/SW
ViewSonic G90F 19" PerfectFlat CRT Monitor
Logitech Cordless MX Duo
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Antec Performance Plus Case, Model
LUS1080AMGABIT K8T800 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU, Model "KV8-MAX3" -or- ABIT 875P Chipset Motherboard for Intel Socket 478 CPU, Model "IC7-Max3
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1MB L2 Cache - or - Intel Pentium 4/ 3.2C GHz 800MHz FSB
Kingston HyperX (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3200 -or- ecc for the 64
ATI RADEON 9800XT Video Card, 256MB DDR
Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM SATA Hard Drive,
Lite On Black 52x32x52 CD-RW Drive
NEC 4x DVD +RW/-RW Drive, Model ND-1300A/BLACK w/SW
ViewSonic G90F 19" PerfectFlat CRT Monitor
Logitech Cordless MX Duo
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Cerb
Elite Member
- Aug 26, 2000
- 17,484
- 33
- 86
-A64 3200+
-ECS SIS mobo (NForce has some problems still, VIA is good, but SiS beats them both in gaming performance, and I've had great experiences with SiS-based Athlon boards, mainly the K7S5A (rev 1, 3, and 5, AKA Pro) and L7S7A2). Unfortunately the one Newegg has is not the most fully featured. If you want more in that, go with VIA, like the Asus KV8 Deluxe.
-2x512MB Kreton PC3200. Yeah, big name brand, huh? I got Centon a good while back, this stuff has the same logo on the sticker (found this after I got this Kreton), it worked overclocked and with tight timings, and so does the current Kreton 512MB stick I have (and that I got from newegg). It's also the cheapest CL2.5. So that's cheap 256MB PC2100 that ran at 166MHz 2-2-2-7 for 18 months (and still works fine, just not being used), and now cheap 512MB PC3200 that runs at 220MHz 2-2-2-10 just fine.
However, if you want HyperX or XMS, go for it. While there isn't that much difference, given prices now, I can't say it won't be worth the money.
-Maxtor 160GB SATA HD. 3-yr warranty, great price, performance even w/ the new Seagates, almost as quiet.
-Black DVD/DCRW combo (Samsung).
-Tyan 9800 Pro
Right now, from Newegg, that comes to $1217
No floppy or OS. You might want to gcheck out case-mod.com or SVC for nice socket-754 heatsinks and fans as well (Newegg only has the most basic selection).
Even with a nice LCD, that leaves room to play in. Going with a 9800 XT Radeon is not a good idea. An Athlon FX 51 wouldn't be a bad way to go, but you'd have to change the RAM to registered, costing a bit more as well, and the differences are not really noticeable. Not bad, but I doubt you'll notice, and the extra $300 could get you a nice piece of an upgrade in a year or so, and you won't be left with a socket940 mob & registered RAM. Overclocking, also, will result in about linear gains for the CPU. If you can, I say get it like this, stash the leftover $300-700 and put it towards the next upgrade. You can spend that money here, but it will be a 10% performance gain at the most, and won't really change the life span of the PC.
-ECS SIS mobo (NForce has some problems still, VIA is good, but SiS beats them both in gaming performance, and I've had great experiences with SiS-based Athlon boards, mainly the K7S5A (rev 1, 3, and 5, AKA Pro) and L7S7A2). Unfortunately the one Newegg has is not the most fully featured. If you want more in that, go with VIA, like the Asus KV8 Deluxe.
-2x512MB Kreton PC3200. Yeah, big name brand, huh? I got Centon a good while back, this stuff has the same logo on the sticker (found this after I got this Kreton), it worked overclocked and with tight timings, and so does the current Kreton 512MB stick I have (and that I got from newegg). It's also the cheapest CL2.5. So that's cheap 256MB PC2100 that ran at 166MHz 2-2-2-7 for 18 months (and still works fine, just not being used), and now cheap 512MB PC3200 that runs at 220MHz 2-2-2-10 just fine.
However, if you want HyperX or XMS, go for it. While there isn't that much difference, given prices now, I can't say it won't be worth the money.
-Maxtor 160GB SATA HD. 3-yr warranty, great price, performance even w/ the new Seagates, almost as quiet.
-Black DVD/DCRW combo (Samsung).
-Tyan 9800 Pro
Right now, from Newegg, that comes to $1217
No floppy or OS. You might want to gcheck out case-mod.com or SVC for nice socket-754 heatsinks and fans as well (Newegg only has the most basic selection).
Even with a nice LCD, that leaves room to play in. Going with a 9800 XT Radeon is not a good idea. An Athlon FX 51 wouldn't be a bad way to go, but you'd have to change the RAM to registered, costing a bit more as well, and the differences are not really noticeable. Not bad, but I doubt you'll notice, and the extra $300 could get you a nice piece of an upgrade in a year or so, and you won't be left with a socket940 mob & registered RAM. Overclocking, also, will result in about linear gains for the CPU. If you can, I say get it like this, stash the leftover $300-700 and put it towards the next upgrade. You can spend that money here, but it will be a 10% performance gain at the most, and won't really change the life span of the PC.
If he is going to build now and has the money the9800XT is an excellent choice. It has alread been shown that the next generation of games will stress current video cards and may in fact benefit from the added ram. He may not have the money in the future. As for the LCD he said he wants a gaming system. That leaves only 16ms panels. So he would have to go smaller than his desired size with a 17" panel and pay $500 or drop a $1000 on a dell 20"lcd
If you want a gaming computer to last for many years you might want to consider waiting a couple of months. The new next generation video cards from ATI and Nvidia will be out soon and should be quite a bit faster than even the 9800XT (though no one knows for sure yet). Just look at the people who bought a Radeon 9700 Pro when it came out a year and a half ago and was the first card in a new generation. That card is still pretty fast by current standards.
Regs
Lifer
- Aug 9, 2002
- 16,665
- 21
- 81
fred, the only thing I would disagree with you on is the Abit motherboard. It's lacking a little in performance from others and offers a smaller package of goodies. I would get the MCI, Gigabyte, Sis 775's (which are not out yet), or even the most expensive at all of them, Asus's KT800's.
Budmantom
Lifer
- Aug 17, 2002
- 13,103
- 1
- 81
A64 3000+
1gb DDR3200
9800NP
z-560's
Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM SATA w/8mb cache X2
ABIT K8T800
Audigy 2
Nice chair
Give this system a year after that buy an A64 3400+(or better) and a 9800XT (or better) sell the 3000+/9800.
This is a high end system on a budget.
1gb DDR3200
9800NP
z-560's
Maxtor 120GB 7200RPM SATA w/8mb cache X2
ABIT K8T800
Audigy 2
Nice chair
Give this system a year after that buy an A64 3400+(or better) and a 9800XT (or better) sell the 3000+/9800.
This is a high end system on a budget.
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