Friend is building a comp, need some help

heinz256

Senior member
Nov 13, 2004
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So my friend in Ottawa is trying to build a gaming rig for under $900 and he is getting it built from www.oemexpress.com . Here are some parts i suggested for him so far

Power Supply/ Case Antec Performance II SX1040BII blk 400W 119.99
Optical Drive LG 12X Super Multi DVD+-RW 99.99
Floppy Drive Mitsumi 1.44Mb 3.5" Black Floppy Drive 22.99
Hard Drive Western Digital 80Gb 7200rpm 8MB Cache 89.99
Mouse and Keyboard Logitech Cordless MX Duo KeyBoard&Mouse 79.99
Motherboard Asus P4P800 SE Intel 865PE+ Aud/Lan/SATA 129.99
Memory CORSAIR TwinX ValueSelect 2x256 PC3200C3 179.99
Processor Intel Pentium 4 3.0E Ghz 1M CACHE 800FSB 249.99
Video Card ATI/Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 256M Bulk 139.99

Total 1112.91

My question is if this is a good setup and how can i make it under $900 without lowering the performance that much. Thanks
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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How about get a fluid-bearing hard drive (WD JB's are usually ball-bearing and may turn noisy) and bail that cordless mouse &amp; keyboard for something less expensive. If he's a gamer then an Athlon64 might be a good alternative to the hot, slow P4 3.0E.

Might want to get WindowsXP too? ;)
 

xSnowblindx

Member
Sep 21, 2004
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1) Have you checked out prices at newegg? I suggest newegg highly.

2) That RAM looks expensive..

3) If you're going for a budget computer, let alone any computer, AMD is a better choice.

4) That video card isn't worth getting in 256MB i don't believe. I think it's a slow card and you'd to better going with a high end 128MB.

Hope that helped.
 

DangerAardvark

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2004
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Yeah, that RAM is WAY too expensive, especially for "ValueRAM". My suggestion is take some money off the PSU and Keyboard and put it into a 9800 Pro. Or, you can get a 9600 XT for that price. Also, you shouldn't be paying more than 1$ per gig for a HDD. Actually, everything on there is overpriced, but I guess hes paying to have it put together too so...

Edit: Oh crap, forgot to read... Ottowa is in Canada isn't it? Actually, even when I converted it to American, it's still overpriced.
 

Gurck

Banned
Mar 16, 2004
12,963
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A64 > P4, and 256mb of ram on that card is a marketing tool and won't help its speed at all, though it may harm it if, like many older generation 256mb cards, it's cheaper, slower ram than on the 128mb version. If you save enough switching CPUs, get a 128mb 9800pro with the 256bit memory interface. Only other thing is the memory, I'd suggest value ram, a gb if you can swing it. I have that case and cordless kb/mouse combo, both are very nice.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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BTW guys, notice his friend is in Ottawa. Those prices are sure to be Canadian dollars.
 

heinz256

Senior member
Nov 13, 2004
228
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thanks guys, so far i've changed the mobo to an (Asus K8V-X KT800) and CPU to a athlon64 3000 and also the keyboard and mouse to microsoft mulitmedia keyboard and optical mouse. Would there be a big difference with a athlon64 2800 rather than the 3000? Im thinking of going with a stick of 512 mb corsair ram and then telling him to get a video card from futureshop or bestbuy since it'll be cheaper