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Building New Rig

G

gar3555

Diamond Member
I am looking to put together my first PC from scratch, I have a budget of around $700, give or take about $100, depending on what I want. I have been trying to wade through all the mix of different mobos and cpu's and I can't decide what to get, so I am imploring everyone for there opinion on what rig they would build given that budget. Any and all opinions considered. I want this to be a fairly fast gaming rig. Doesn't need tremendous HD space. Thats about all the specs I have, I'm not too picky.
 
Now, do you want somethng you can upgrade in say 6-12 months (maybe the CPU or VC)? Or is this something that you don't plan on upgrading for at least 2 years?
Also, any plans to OC?
 
OC is something I'd like to do, and as for upgrading, I would say this should last around 1 year, I would like the best I can get for my buck.
 
the 2800+ overclocks very nicely, so does the corsair ram.

then you could jump to a bigger processor later, and a bigger graphics card too.

but this shold run most games really well.
 
thanks, thats the kind of thing I'm looking for, but I don't know about the 9600 pro, I planning on spending around $200 for the video card also what Hard drives would be good for any such systems? I may have to mod my budget to accomodate, but that could be done, may have to eat ramen for a month straight.
 
Antec Sonata case: $100 (currently free shipping at newegg.)
AMD 64 2800+ S754 and DFI LAN party MB: $250
1 GB PC3200 RAM: $140
120GB HD: $80
16X DVDRW: $70
6600GT AGP: $205
Mouse/KB combo: $10-$80 (you get what you pay for)
Speakers: $5-$300+ (you really get what you pay for)

That is over your budget, but that should get you started.
You can go with only 512 MB RAM and a cheaper VC, but your gaming won't be where you want it.
 
yeah 9600 just to keep the costs down. I'm jsut upgrading to a 6600gt in my shuttle. Fits, BARELY. anway, I have a Sapphire 9800pro that i just took out and it worked great for most all games. I tried HL2 demo, doom 3(mid settings), Ut2k4(full settings). all worked extremly well. So, i'd try one of those, it's about 209$ on newegg.com once they get it back in. Like 500 reviews for it or something like that. Overclocks to the 9800xt speeds.(pm, if you might want mine i could cut a few bucks off that budget, works great!🙂
 
Prices from newegg only, you can probably use pricegrabber and find em for cheaper.

$122AMD64-2800 socket 939
$128 CHAINTECH NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU, Model "VNF4/Ultra"
$137 Mushkin Ram, 1GB (2x512)
$99 Antec Sonata Case w/ 380W psu
$188 MSI PCI-E GF6600
$65 Audigy 2 Soundcard
$56 Samsung 80GB HD
$22 Lite-On cd-rw
____

$817

If you went with a socket 754, it would save you about 50 bucks. if you've got it to spend, i wouldnt go cheap on the parts. its like a piece of furniture, its gotta last.
 
Brad, that is looking pretty good there, I may have to splurge a little as I would like to go with a PCI-E mobo. Does the 380W psu with the Antec case work well, or should I look at an upgrade there?
 
Originally posted by: Ike0069
Antec Sonata case: $100 (currently free shipping at newegg.)
AMD 64 2800+ S754 and DFI LAN party MB: $250
1 GB PC3200 RAM: $140
120GB HD: $80
16X DVDRW: $70
6600GT AGP: $205
Mouse/KB combo: $10-$80 (you get what you pay for)
Speakers: $5-$300+ (you really get what you pay for)

That is over your budget, but that should get you started.
You can go with only 512 MB RAM and a cheaper VC, but your gaming won't be where you want it.
Click to expand...

This is a very good layout.

You can go with a Soltek K8AN2E-GR NForce 3 250Gb motherboard and save about $25.00 (instead of the DFI LAN party) The DFI LAN party is a very good board, but for the money the Soltek will do you very good without spending the extra cash.

Hopefully you already have a keyboard and mouse. I would hold off on speakers (or hook you computer up to a home stereo system) for the time being (you can always get one later)






 
drop speakers, drop kb and mouse. use the ones you have in your hands right now. but stay dfi. dfi is a excelent oc mb.
 
Sorry, I never stated, I do have a keyboard, mouse, speakers, and a sub. I just need the actual PC components. I like what has been said so far, I have many new ideas, and nailed down a lot of the details. Just to pose a question, are there any intel based systems out there worth looking at?
 
Originally posted by: gar3555
Just to pose a question, are there any intel based systems out there worth looking at?
Click to expand...
:laugh:


And you said that the only thing you have is the monitor. Why you gotta trick me like that.
 
Originally posted by: mwmorph
drop speakers, drop kb and mouse. use the ones you have in your hands right now. but stay dfi. dfi is a excelent oc mb.
Click to expand...


He's on a budget. Although the DFI is a nice board, the object here is to save money. Even with the Soltek K8AN2E-GR board he's slightly over budget. With the DFI board he's even more over budget. And the only advantage the DFI board has over the Soltek board is that it's better for overclocking (something the op didn't mention he intented to do) The Soltek Board is definately the way to go.

Also, Intel will cost more and deliver less performance.

Here are some comparisons of different CPU's
http://www6.tomshardware.com/c...221/cpu_charts-13.html

My recommendation is:
AMD 64 SOCKET 754 NEWCASTLE $122.00
Soltek K8AN2E-GR $89.00
2 X 512 DDR400 PC3200 VALUE RAM $140.00
160 GIG HD $70.00 (there are hot deals everywhere on Hard Drives lately)
16X DVD R/RW $70.00
CASE + 400WATT PSU $100.00
GeForce 6600GT $200.00

 
Thanks Ike0069

I would like to try, its something I would like to learn, I didn't state it at the top. As for my budget ~$800 is still within my means. I just won't be able to eat anymore, but a computer is worth it...after all it's only food.
 
I got that too

Dear Visitor. The page you requested couldn't be found.

I'll take your word on it, I have always been an AMD fan anyways, I'm just trying to feel out all my options.
 
The NF4 boards should OC well, but that DFI board is one of the best MB's available. Yes it's AGP and S754 only, but for a budget that is way to go IMHO.
 
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