Help me Spend 2500 USD

Bushman5

Senior member
May 14, 2005
570
0
0
Its that great time again. UPGRADE TIME.

Ok so my budget is 2500 USD, to spend on

Graphic Card
CPU
Mobo
Power Supply
Ram
Hard Drive
Sound Card
DVD Burner.

I want to OC my cpu as much as possible so i want to get a midrange CPU High end Graphic card, and 2 GB of ram.

Any thanks will be appreciated, i am also gonna start doing research.
 

Dragoon42

Platinum Member
Oct 2, 2000
2,078
0
0
Gfcard - x1950xtx (retail 450?)
Cpu - Conroe e6300 ($200)
Mobo - Gigabyte DS3 ($150)
Memory - 2gb 800mhz Teamgroup ddr2 ($270) (www.tankguys.com)
PSU - OCZ Gamexstream 700w ($150)
Hdd - $100
Sound Card - XB Xifi ($100)
Dvd Drive - BenQ ($30)

Total - $1450

Wait for a sale for dell 30" LCD

I would just get a x1900xtx and put the extra $100 towards the 30" lcd.....
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
240
106
I'll give you the benefit of my life's experience. Spend $1000 and invest $1500! Then do it every year, and when you are my age, you too can retire comfortably. :)
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,986
11
81
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 - $184
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $140
Enhance ENP-5140GH - $56
Shipping from ewiz.com - $12-15

Corsair 2x1GB XMS2 DDR2-800 - $255
Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 512MB - $316, $30 MIR
Samsung Spinpoint T HD400LJ 400GB - $130
NEC ND-3550A - $29
Shipping from newegg.com - $8-12

Western Digital WD740ADFD 74GB - $159, free shipping

Scythe Infinity - $53
Yate Loon D12SL-12 - $4
Shipping from jab-tech.com - $7-10

Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic - $106
Antec SLK3000B - $34
Shipping from provantage.com - ~$27
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
240
106
OK - then spend $1500 and invest $1000. Not quite as good down the road - but still acceptable. :)
 

Bushman5

Senior member
May 14, 2005
570
0
0
why does every 1 reccomend the gigabyte mobo ?

i also already have a nice 2005 fpw
Now that i think about it. is their any 21" monitors that has a better refresh rate
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,986
11
81
Originally posted by: Bushman5
why does every 1 reccomend the gigabyte mobo ?

i also already have a nice 2005 fpw
Now that i think about it. is their any 21" monitors that has a better refresh rate
Because it's stable and overclocks very well.

"Refresh rate" doesn't really apply to LCDs. Are you experiencing motion blur/"ghosting"?
 

DrMeerkat

Junior Member
May 30, 2005
4
0
0
Get the vid card that tickles your fancy as much as your overall budget allows. Branding is more of a near-religious determination that you'll have to make for yourself. If you love ATI stick with ATI.

Don't skimp on the monitor - you have to stare at that mistake for a long time, but at the same time the 30" panels aren't really practical if you're gaming because they are slower panels and the resolution is so blasted high you'll need SLI or crossfire to fill the pixels. Something 20-24" with good ratings from a reputable company - and go wide if you're trendy. Hell, if you already have that dell just get another one or skip that step. The response time on them is still quite good and up to snuff with the current competition.

Also check out the higher end asus boards... they are releasing bios updates recently that may allow you to change the multiplier on your conroe (which is otherwise locked both up and down). And even though I'm an AMD guy generally, I'll give it to the conroe on this one.

A new PSU that is pretty reasonable was just released from Corsair. The Hx520w is modular, has good voltages and a 5 year warranty on it. I have one and it is really a pleasure to build with. It's first-gen, but I trust corsair to back it up.

Speaking of corsair, I can't recommend anyone else for memory, and DDR2-800 at your budget-allowed latency is your best bet. You may even want higher clocked memory if you are specifically going to oc it.

HDDs - the new seagate 7200.10 with perpendicular recording are very nice, quiet, well supported, and get as big as you want them... and really they're not bad on the pricing.

I have to stick with the serial ata plextors on the DVD writer. They haven't let me down yet, and I have had failures too often when I stray from them.
 

Tsuwamono

Senior member
Mar 17, 2006
592
0
0
I havent had a SATA DVD drive yet. does it make a difference or should i just stick with my ATA for now and keep the SATA for my HDs until the prices come down Meerkat?
 

ViviTheMage

Lifer
Dec 12, 2002
36,189
87
91
madgenius.com
just look around these general forums, people have been asking roughly the same question....such as 'RATE MY PC!' or something along those lines.

just remember to get a conroe build :)
 

Bushman5

Senior member
May 14, 2005
570
0
0
i am doing my own research currently, but i know anadtech people usually have the general favourites of the lot of stuff
 

dBTelos

Golden Member
Apr 17, 2006
1,858
0
0
Originally posted by: Howard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 - $184
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $140
Enhance ENP-5140GH - $56
Shipping from ewiz.com - $12-15

Corsair 2x1GB XMS2 DDR2-800 - $255
Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 512MB - $316, $30 MIR
Samsung Spinpoint T HD400LJ 400GB - $130
NEC ND-3550A - $29
Shipping from newegg.com - $8-12

Western Digital WD740ADFD 74GB - $159, free shipping

Scythe Infinity - $53
Yate Loon D12SL-12 - $4
Shipping from jab-tech.com - $7-10

Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic - $106
Antec SLK3000B - $34
Shipping from provantage.com - ~$27

I recommend similar replacing the x1900xt with a 7900GT or GTX. You could change out the Enhance with a Masscool Nextherm also.

Dragoon, 700W is massive, massive, over kill. The OCZ GameXStream is also, sadly, becoming overrated, just slightly that is. I believe the 12V ripple comes out of spec under heavy loads, IIRC.
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,986
11
81
Originally posted by: dBTelos
Originally posted by: Howard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 - $184
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $140
Enhance ENP-5140GH - $56
Shipping from ewiz.com - $12-15

Corsair 2x1GB XMS2 DDR2-800 - $255
Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 512MB - $316, $30 MIR
Samsung Spinpoint T HD400LJ 400GB - $130
NEC ND-3550A - $29
Shipping from newegg.com - $8-12

Western Digital WD740ADFD 74GB - $159, free shipping

Scythe Infinity - $53
Yate Loon D12SL-12 - $4
Shipping from jab-tech.com - $7-10

Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic - $106
Antec SLK3000B - $34
Shipping from provantage.com - ~$27

I recommend similar replacing the x1900xt with a 7900GT or GTX.
I could understand why somebody would want the 7900GT over the X1900XT, but why the GTX?
 

Tsuwamono

Senior member
Mar 17, 2006
592
0
0
Originally posted by: Howard
Originally posted by: dBTelos
Originally posted by: Howard
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 - $184
Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 - $140
Enhance ENP-5140GH - $56
Shipping from ewiz.com - $12-15

Corsair 2x1GB XMS2 DDR2-800 - $255
Sapphire Radeon X1900XT 512MB - $316, $30 MIR
Samsung Spinpoint T HD400LJ 400GB - $130
NEC ND-3550A - $29
Shipping from newegg.com - $8-12

Western Digital WD740ADFD 74GB - $159, free shipping

Scythe Infinity - $53
Yate Loon D12SL-12 - $4
Shipping from jab-tech.com - $7-10

Creative X-Fi XtremeMusic - $106
Antec SLK3000B - $34
Shipping from provantage.com - ~$27

I recommend similar replacing the x1900xt with a 7900GT or GTX.
I could understand why somebody would want the 7900GT over the X1900XT, but why the GTX?


Fanboy? lol. The X1900XTX beats the 7900 GTX i dont see why anyone would pay the same amount almost for no where near the same performance