so right now she has a 6 year old dell which struggles to even play the first sims. i just wanna build a cheap rig for her so it's playable and a tad faster... i was wondering what mobo/cpu combination i should get... i was looking @ the abit nf7-m cause it has a gf4 MX intergrated in it, is this enough? what suggestions does people have here for me? thanks. and it would also be great if the board has a built on modem too, she still uses dial up. thanks in advance guys!
need help building cheap rig!
- Thread starter blipblop
- Start date
do not get onboard video if you plan on playing games. i'd suggest a athlon-xp 2800, 512mb ram, at least a radeon 9700 pro (sims 2). my 9600 struggles in sims 2.
The onboard GF4 MX should be plenty for Sims. Biostar or Shuttle makes cheap versions, $50-$60. Put a Duron 1.6GHz on it and put the fsb at 166MHz, easy 2GHz.
You will have an 8X AGP slot to upgrade later.
If you are handy with small work you can even connect the last L2 bridge and enable the full 256K cache for a true thoroughbred. Dirt cheap 2600+ 333MHz DDR performance.
You will have an 8X AGP slot to upgrade later.
If you are handy with small work you can even connect the last L2 bridge and enable the full 256K cache for a true thoroughbred. Dirt cheap 2600+ 333MHz DDR performance.
Surprizingly, sims 2 is pretty demanding out of your system. Esp if you want to run with the eye candy and high resolution you would at least need a 9600 xt and a pretty fast cpu. Else if you dont care about that, i have friends who have the game and are running on their laptops with intergrated video and like p4 2.6 it runs fine but there are parts where its sluggish and that i think is at the lowest resolution. So its realy your choice how you want to play the game
dont use an 8500 or 9100 or similar... at the lowest graphics settings (except a 1024x768 res), The card can barely render two people in an average size house at the same time... sounds kinda like a marriage gone bad... 
I would recommend=
nf7-s
2500
512 ram
dencent low end GFx card, nothing over $100. [l]http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProductResult.asp?Submit=Go&Range=1&DEPA=0&bop=and&description=9600&InnerCata=48[/l]
nf7-s
2500
512 ram
dencent low end GFx card, nothing over $100. [l]http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProductResult.asp?Submit=Go&Range=1&DEPA=0&bop=and&description=9600&InnerCata=48[/l]
Are you serious? I've got a GF MX4000 right now and Sims2 plays perfectly smooth in medium high graphics settings under 1024 res. I'm thinking about exchaning the MX4K for a 9600 and I find it really hard to believe it struggles when mine does not.
wow, that helps alot thanks, i mean she'll prolli only want to play @ 800x 600... what are the rest of your specs for your compputer? thanks a lot.
It's a GeForce4 MX4000 128MB 8xAGP on a P4 2.0GHz, 512MB PC2100 RAM, 30GB UIDE HD
It's mostly a matter of finding the right drivers. It stuttured pretty bad until I went to the v66.72 NVidia drivers.
Well, I built this rig for my sister recently and Sims 2 plays very smoothly
Athlon XP 2600+
2x256 Corsair value pc-3200
Abit NF7-M
The onboard GeForce MX graphics should be more than enough for anything else your sister plays (assuming she doesnt play games like Far Cry or Doom3. There are other nForce2 IGP mobos out there for even cheaper.. take a look at the BioStar M7NCG 400 at Newegg for under $70. If I had done more research back then and found the BioStar, I would have gotten it instead of the more expensive NF7-M.
Athlon XP 2600+
2x256 Corsair value pc-3200
Abit NF7-M
The onboard GeForce MX graphics should be more than enough for anything else your sister plays (assuming she doesnt play games like Far Cry or Doom3
. There are other nForce2 IGP mobos out there for even cheaper.. take a look at the BioStar M7NCG 400 at Newegg for under $70. If I had done more research back then and found the BioStar, I would have gotten it instead of the more expensive NF7-M.here's what i've decided...
i'm getting the outpost.com deal
mobo/cpu : Athlon XP 2700+ and the ECS N2U400-A mobo [they're bundled for 99 bucks, but backordered]
ram : 2 x 256mb pc3200 [generic stuff] 72 bucks
case: midatx [55 bucks] with 300-350watt PSU
Video Card: ???? help here.. i was thinking of a budget card... maybe a 9600, or since you said sims 2 plays on a gf4 mx... maybe something along that range... i'm not that quite sure about the lower end/sorta budget cards. thanks. remember, THE SIMS 2 @ like 800x600...
i'm getting the outpost.com deal
mobo/cpu : Athlon XP 2700+ and the ECS N2U400-A mobo [they're bundled for 99 bucks, but backordered]
ram : 2 x 256mb pc3200 [generic stuff] 72 bucks
case: midatx [55 bucks] with 300-350watt PSU
Video Card: ???? help here.. i was thinking of a budget card... maybe a 9600, or since you said sims 2 plays on a gf4 mx... maybe something along that range... i'm not that quite sure about the lower end/sorta budget cards. thanks. remember, THE SIMS 2 @ like 800x600...
your sister doesnt need anything more than onboard nForce graphics to run Sims 2, esp at 800x600 since my sister play it on 1024x768 very smoothly.
RAM: Corsair value 512mb pc-3200 at Newegg $76 (a lot better than generic memory)
graphics card: Radeon 9200se 128mb $47 shipped even better than the onboard graphics on the nForce IGP mobos
spend the extra $50 on a 9600 pro or something similar. 9200se is absolute crap. your graphics will lag when there are a lot of sims.
I just personally see no way Sims2 will lag on a 9200SE, even with a houseload of Sims. I've got a massive house, loaded with objects, and had a party with about six guests and it never stuttured with my archaic GF4 MX4000. If it stutters with a 9200SE, somethings not right.
Yeah Sims two. Just tested out my sister's system. Its set at 800x600 (sorry, thought it was 102x768), settings are all on medium and it runs fine, I could see how it could get a but choppy when there are a lot of sims in one house (10+), but it would not render it unplayable. Other than that its runs fine with lots of furniture. As for 1024x768, I I could see how it would be choppy, but remeber, I only set the onboard gfx to have only 32meg shared while the 9200se has 128meg dedicated. But for what its worth, with a G4 MX w/ 32megs of memory, it runs fine at 800x600 with medium detail settings and medium sound quality.
If you can spring for the 9600, then you could run it on high detail at 1024x768. But if you can't afford it, the 9200 will definitely be able to do the job at 800x600.
If you can spring for the 9600, then you could run it on high detail at 1024x768. But if you can't afford it, the 9200 will definitely be able to do the job at 800x600.
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