looking for some general recommendations

[kjensen]

hi all, my current gaming system is getting old and i'd like to build a new rig so i can actually play modern games at more than 10fps (oblivion's really bad like that) and i have some general questions which i would be grateful if anyone could provide some help with. i have just over $2200 saved up just for a new box so that's my budget, though i can always stretch a little. i'd like to build within the next month or month and a half, but with end of semester and finals at uni waiting i'm not really in a hurry.

my biggest question is whether i should spring for g80 now or wait and see what r600 has to offer. i want a dx10 video card, since i upgrade infrequently enough that it would actually see some dx10 gameplay. hopefully. i'm torn between getting a cheap card now (7600gs or something) and spending a bit less on g80/r600 later (competition should drive prices down on at least one) or just shelling out cash that i can barely spare now for an 8800gts.

i'm also wondering if it'll be cheaper to buy stuff before christmas or after christmas, i really haven't watched the parts markets closely enough to know. if i could save some money by just timing my purchases i'd love to do that. i've got my heart set on a dell 2407wfp or similar, so i've been watching lcd prices real close (missed the $550 price the other day though, oh well).

i also have an old non-gaming machine with a failing motherboard (crappy leaking caps) that i'd like to replace. the cpu is socket a, so that would have to be upgraded too, i'm sure, and the video card has failing caps too. does anyone know of a cheap motherboard that would support ddr memory, preferably with an integrated graphics core that outperforms my current geforce fx, that would cost only $200 or so including a new cpu. low power consumption would also be a big benefit since this system stays on 24/7.

thanks for reading and any thoughts are really appreciated.

 

[myocardia]

It's only slightly more than 3 weeks until Black Friday. I wish I had an extra $2200 to spend on black friday this year. And the R600 still won't be out for quite awhile, IIRC. I highly doubt you'd be unhappy with an 8800GTX.

And you don't really need to replace your old motherboard. Just have badcaps.net replace the caps on it, once you've built your new system. They use good caps, and are very reliable. Then, just buy the cheapest PCI video card from newegg for that system, and you'll have spent less than the price of a decent new motherboard. That way, you can spend more money on your new system.

 

[caberguy]

black friday is the day after thanksgiving...

 

[Howard]

Have you given any thought to replacing the caps on the video card? A Sempron and mATX board would certainly cost less than $200.

However, the performance of the integrated video on this board should be similar to, or at least should not be significantly worse than that of the Geforce FX5200.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135209

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=1933&p=27
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2427&p=6

Pair that up with this and you should be good to go, unless you won't be salvaging your old HSF.

 

[kjensen]

Originally posted by: myocardia
It's only slightly more than 3 weeks until Black Friday. I wish I had an extra $2200 to spend on black friday this year. And the R600 still won't be out for quite awhile, IIRC. I highly doubt you'd be unhappy with an 8800GTX.

if you believe the inquirer, dicey at the best of times but all we've really got to go on, r600 should be coming out around the beginning of february. i'd probably build very close to the beginning of january, and going 30 days with a substandard video card really isn't a problem, since even a 7600 will be a nice upgrade from what i have. on my current budget, i really don't think i can afford a gtx. i can cut back in a couple areas (ram especially) or spend some money and get a gts, but a gtx is just out of my budget unless i can find an amazing deal. what'd be really nice is a good deal on the 2407, if i can get that for below $600 then that leaves a bit more money to play with.

one thing that's pretty interesting is evga's step-up program, where i could buy a nice card now and nicer card later. the problem with that is that i'd have to pay the difference between say newegg's 7900 price and evga's retail 8800 price, which is currently $500 for a gts and $650 for a gtx, and those are fairly high prices even for g80.

Originally posted by: myocardia
And you don't really need to replace your old motherboard. Just have badcaps.net replace the caps on it....


Originally posted by: Howard
Have you given any thought to replacing the caps on the video card?

the real problem with going with badcaps or someone else to replace the capacitors is that not only are the caps failing, so are the fans, three little 40mm bastards all slowly and noisily dying. i've oiled them, more than once, and i'm getting sick of it and just want some new, small-fan-less parts.

Originally posted by: Howard
However, the performance of the integrated video on this board should be similar to, or at least should not be significantly worse than that of the Geforce FX5200.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135209

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=1933&p=27
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2427&p=6

Pair that up with this and you should be good to go, unless you won't be salvaging your old HSF.

i think i would need a new hsf (my faithful old thermalright ax-7 probably doesn't fit s754...) but that's only a couple dollars more for a retail box or something really quiet. thanks for the motherboard recommendation, that looks pretty close to what i'd like and is a great starting off point for looking at integrated boards. thanks also for the performance comparison, i have a 5600 not a 5200 so it looks like i'd lose some performance but as i won't be doing any serious gaming on this poor old thing, that's no real concern. i'll have to look in to what i can get for around $100 total, maybe a full-size atx board with cpu and hsf. or even better, a bit more memory...

one question no one's really addressed is whether prices are generally better before or after christmas. i honestly don't know, and i'd like to get the best out of my money.

thanks again myocardia and howard.