My frankenputar gaming machine is coming together.

[notfred]

So, I decided Iwanted to be able to play some video games. My Dell 600M laptop isn't particularly suited to it, so I thought I'd put together ag aming rig... as cheap as possible.

I had a case with a motherboard in it from a machine that I parted out a while ago, so I reused that. It has an Epox 8RDA+ board in it, which should be sufficient.

I scavenged a gig of ram from another machine, and traded it for DDR that would work in the epox board on the FS/FT forum.

I pulled a 12x8x40 CD-RW drive out of an old external CD-RW drive that a friend had lying around.

I bought a 40GB HDD from the FS/FT forum for $25. I also got an Athlon XP 2600+ and HSF from the FS/FT forum for $65.

I have a radeon 9100 card I got when it was new that whas been lying around since I parted out my desktop box.

A friend of mine wanted a bigger monitor, so I showed him some cheap listing on craig's list, so he bought one and now he's giving me his old 17" CRT.

As soon as all my packages come in, I'll have a complete working machine with a 2600+ and a gig of ram in it, for less than $100. Not bad. I'll probably upgrade the vid card in the future.

Woohoo for cheapness.

 

[Chode Messiah]

indeed

 

[dugweb]

:thumbsup: i wish i was that resourceful

ive gotta start taking advantage of AT's good tools

 

[Zim Hosein]

Woohoo for cheapness.

Congrats notfred :beer:

Oh, and what games do you plan on playing?

 

[SVT Cobra]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Woohoo for cheapness.

Congrats notfred :beer:

Oh, and what games do you plan on playing?

hopefully not doom 3......lol

are you gonna OC the hell outta it?

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Woohoo for cheapness.

Congrats notfred :beer:

Oh, and what games do you plan on playing?

KOTOR, HL2, Quake 4, Far Cry, possibly WoW.

Yeah, I know I'll need to upgrade the vid card for most of those.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Woohoo for cheapness.

Congrats notfred :beer:

Oh, and what games do you plan on playing?

KOTOR, HL2, Quake 4, Far Cry, possibly WoW.

Yeah, I know I'll need to upgrade the vid card for most of those.

I had a 9100 and went to a 9800 just to be able to play HL2 & Far Cry, so start looking now notfred

 

[Phoenix15]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Woohoo for cheapness.

Congrats notfred :beer:

Oh, and what games do you plan on playing?

KOTOR, HL2, Quake 4, Far Cry, possibly WoW.

Yeah, I know I'll need to upgrade the vid card for most of those.

I had a 9100 and went to a 9800 just to be able to play HL2 & Far Cry, so start looking now notfred

I have a Radeon 9000 in this PC. I play the hell out of Far Cry, Desert Combat, LOTOR etc...

I also have a 3200 with 2 gigs or ram though. I've got my eye on a Leadtek 6800GT soon though.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: Phoenix15

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Woohoo for cheapness.

Congrats notfred :beer:

Oh, and what games do you plan on playing?

KOTOR, HL2, Quake 4, Far Cry, possibly WoW.

Yeah, I know I'll need to upgrade the vid card for most of those.

I had a 9100 and went to a 9800 just to be able to play HL2 & Far Cry, so start looking now notfred

I have a Radeon 9000 in this PC. I play the hell out of Far Cry, Desert Combat, LOTOR etc...

I also have a 3200 with 2 gigs or ram though. I've got my eye on a Leadtek 6800GT soon though.

Hmmm... what resolution and at what settings? Maybe the main bottle next in my rig is the XP1800+

 

[Phoenix15]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: Phoenix15

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: notfred

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Woohoo for cheapness.

Congrats notfred :beer:

Oh, and what games do you plan on playing?

KOTOR, HL2, Quake 4, Far Cry, possibly WoW.

Yeah, I know I'll need to upgrade the vid card for most of those.

I had a 9100 and went to a 9800 just to be able to play HL2 & Far Cry, so start looking now notfred

I have a Radeon 9000 in this PC. I play the hell out of Far Cry, Desert Combat, LOTOR etc...

I also have a 3200 with 2 gigs or ram though. I've got my eye on a Leadtek 6800GT soon though.

Hmmm... what resolution and at what settings? Maybe the main bottle next in my rig is the XP1800+

1024 X 768, 32 bit color. No AA. I don't know what the frame rates were, but it was very playable. Occasionally it will chug in Far Cry on some of the larger outdoor levels.


I've been really suprised by it. I had a Ti4200 and when it died 1-1.5 years ago I just
went to Wal Mart and bought this one to use temporarily. I have used it since. I know I will need a new one for BF2 though, so that's where the 6800GT comes in.

 

[manly]

Besides the eventual upgrade, that's not very different from the Inspiron 600M.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: manly
Besides the eventual upgrade, that's not very different from the Inspiron 600M.

It's got a faster processor, and I can put a better video card in it.