Help with a cheap gaming config

[deadseasquirrel]

I'm going to be using the 6-months financing, so it'll need to go through Newegg.

This system will be for my son, who is 9, and will replace his current machine-- AXP 1700+ (@2.2ghz), 1gb ram pc2700, 6600gt agp. That machine will go to his little sister, as well as take over as the 3rd LAN gaming rig (replacing the dinosaur 1.2ghz Tualatin and 5900ultra).

I will not need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, harddrive, or software. Just a case, PSU, mobo, RAM, GPU, CPU, and a DVD drive.

I slapped this together quickly a few mins ago:
Rosewill Case.......$40
Enermax PSU.......$70
ASUS mobo.......$86
PQI 1GB ram.......$92
7600gt pci-e.......$130 AR
A64 3000+.......$65
NEC DVD/RW.......$29
Total $512 (+~$40 for shipping)

I hate going s939, but this isn't a performance machine by any means. In fact, his current AXP is doing him fine... it's the tualatin machine that's kicking the bucket and I'm not in a position to pass my A64 setup down and build me a new C2D or AM2 just yet (and likely won't be for over a year). It will also give me a s939 machine to pass down parts to as I upgrade pieces of mine in the future (right now, all the current 3 are on completely different platforms).

Anyone else have any good ideas for some cheap builds similar to the above (either cheaper and just as good, or significantly better and around the same cost)?

 

[trOver]

if you hate skt 939, y not go am2??? its not that much more, and u get a whole lot more performance, exp. if u get ddr2 ram

 

[deadseasquirrel]

I don't hate s939... I hate the idea of buying a socket that is EOL. I disagree that AM2 would offer any performance advantage, though it would have the future upgradeability that the s939 lacks. However, I look at it this way-- I built the machine he's using now back in '02 with an AXP 1700+ because it was the low-end and I could upgrade to, say, a 3000+ XP in the future. I never did. It was never worth it for what the machine was used for. I feel the same way now with this build.

I am, however, considering grabbing an X2 3800+ for me and passing him down my 3000+. But that jumps the price up a good $85, and the X2 wouldn't do much for me with regards to gaming, and would only help me out with the occasional video encode. So, I'm not sure it's worth it ATM.

 

[acegazda]

Originally posted by: trOver
if you hate skt 939, y not go am2??? its not that much more, and u get a whole lot more performance, exp. if u get ddr2 ram

not exactly true. The cpu performance with s939 is the same, only with ddr2-800 will you see a big difference.

 

[Pabster]

Not. AM2+DDR2 is about 5% or less performance increase.

 

[bamacre]

You could save some money by using this case/psu...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129012

 

[savvy]

Indeed. 939 is fine.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: bamacre
You could save some money by using this case/psu...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129012

NE has some nice looking cases with PSUs included. And I do like Antecs. Have 2 here right now-- a P160 and a SX630. The 630 came with a 330w PSU which seems to have done fine over the years. But I've become leary of cases with PSUs lately. With power requirements going sky-high for GPUs, and the fact that no other component besides a PSU goes bad and begins a jihad on the rest of the system, I wanted to make sure I got a good PSU. That's one component I am willing to push the budget up for (which is why I'm over $500 currently).