Looking to replace my current computer...

[bluebones]

My current set-up:
CPU: AMD Athlon XP, 1833 MHz (11 x 167) 2500+
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
RAM: 1280 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9600 / X1050 Series Secondary (128 MB)
Hard Drive: Barracuda 7200.7 SATA 80013 (80 gig SCSI)


It appears that on my current set up, my PSU is dying andmy Video Card won't cut it with games like BF2142. It'll play them, on very low settings, but with occassional hiccups. I'm looking to buy a new gaming rig, but I have to be fiscal. I'm looking to salvage my RAM and Hard Drive hopefully. Also, with Vista being out right now, and me getting it being a very real possibility, it would probably be dumb to not build something compatible with it.

So I'm looking for a new PSU, CPU, mobo, and video card, essentially. I'm not very versed in hardware, either. I'm looking to buy parts from NewEgg, and avoiding the 1,000 dollar peak.

Also, me being a complete novice to putting together computers, should I try to look through some instructions and put it together myself, or should I just haul it up to the local computer scamming depot that'll charge me 150 bucks to wire it together?

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

I hate to burst your bubble, but you have DDR when the standard is DDR2, and SCSI when the standard is SATA, so it's probably a good idea to replace them now. Fortunately for you, $1,000 is more than enough to do that. Try this setup (from Newegg):

Core 2 Duo E4300
Gigabyte GA-945P-S3
320GB Seagate 7200.10 SATA/3.0
2GB (2x1GB) Wintec AMPO DDR2-800
FSP Group AX500-PN PSU
eVGA 256-P2-N740-LR 8500GT 256MB

Also, if you live near a Fry's B&M, I'd go with this PSU.

Good luck!

 

[fredhe12]

I agree. No reason to hold on to any of what you have currently. Still with a $1000, you could do a lot!

 

[bluebones]

Well I'v added the items you'v highlighted to a wishlist and it comes to less than 500 dollars. However, I don't think this is quite the rig for me though. 75 bucks for a video card seems unreliably cheap. Don't you have to dish out like 200 bucks for a good video card nowadays?

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Originally posted by: bluebones
Well I'v added the items you'v highlighted to a wishlist and it comes to less than 500 dollars. However, I don't think this is quite the rig for me though. 75 bucks for a video card seems unreliably cheap. Don't you have to dish out like 200 bucks for a good video card nowadays?

That depends on what you mean by "good." I'm not a gamer, so I really don't know at what point the price-performance ratio begins to skew wildly. As CPUs go, I'd choose between the E4300 and E6320, depending on how much you want to spend.

Honestly, though, there are so many other things, even within the PC world, you can spend money on, that I think it's a bad idea to max out your budget just to get a little more speed. If you truly have $1,000 to blow, and this only comes to $500 or $600, then I'd start thinking about things like a UPS, another hard disk for RAID 1, and maybe a nice widescreen LCD.

 

[fredhe12]

$200 will get a nice mid level card currently. Heck, even bumping it to $125 will get you a decent card. I think you've got some room to really max it all out before you hit $1K.

 

[bluebones]

I'll keep this handy, but I keep hearing of some price drop on the 22nd. No clue what it is but it sounds like something worth waiting for.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

The price drop affects the quad-cores mostly. I'm not sure how far (if at all) the E4300 and E6320 will drop.

 

[Sinn707]

Hi, if you decide to wait for the price cut just a week more you can get the following system for your budget:

COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 $45
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3R $130
Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 $186
XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W $50
Patriot 2GB RAM DDR800 4-4-4-12 $85 (ar)
EVGA 8800 GTS $260
Seagate 320GB $80

That's $836.

This is going to be quite an upgrade from what you currently have,
Best of luck.