Need help picking Video card, Case, Ram

[leegroves]

I'm building my sister a computer for her. She is on a very tight budget though ($200 +-). She wants to be able to do the usual plus play the Sims 2 and Uru (sequel to mist?).

I'm donating her my XP 2500 Barton, Asus A7N8X-E mobo, P.S., CD drive

She still needs:
Case
Video Card
Ram


Video Card Something? About $75 or less that can play the Sims 2 well... is it possible?


Case $50-70 (shipped)... she wants it too look cool, must have window ( a new p.s would be a plus but not neccasary)

Ram OCZ value $50 flat 2X256 DDR 400

Any suggestions/comments greatly appreciated

 

[imported_rod]

Hmmm.... Case is a personal choice. My local computer shop has a generic one, with a pink alien face on the front. It looks cool, and girlie... I dunno where you'de get one from though...

Graphics Card: A Radeon 9800Pro would be good, but in that price range, you're probably looking at something more like a Radeon 9600XT. What's the minimum requirements for Sims2?

RAM: Seems a good choice. If she's not much of a gamer, 512MB should be alright.


Hope that's helped a bit.
RoD

 

[DaFOBulous1]

CASE: I would actually get any generic case and help her mod it. Add some "red/pink" case fans. Add maybe a window mod. It isn't really too hard at all.

GRAPHICS CARD: A 9800 PRO is MORE than enough. If you budget is > $200, I would actually downgrade to a cheaper card of Nvidia/ATI sorts. If Sims 2 is what she plays, almost any card will do. I remember my friend's 5200 was good enough.

RAM: I think for lower/mid-range gaming, RAM is more important. I say spend the extra $20-$30 bucks and get her a gig of Kingston ValueRam at the online stores.

What hard drive is she using?

Im actually using my build my sister.

Specs are similar to yours except:
3200+ Barton engineering sample, SLK-800A
9800 pro r360 core, Artic Silencer, ramsinks
2X256 Geil Golden Dragon PC3500, 512 Geil Golden Dragon PC3200, red LEDs

It has 4 case fans 2 purple and 1 blue, one no LED. It has a color LED fan controller which I highly suggest for the extra "coolness" she might want. I have the one SVC is selling for $5. As well as 2 optical drives, one I got for free and the other for $10 shipped, (48X and 16X DVD)

It is a bit of a overkill for her as people can say it's a pretty nice gaming rig but Im hoping this will take her throughout her college years and at the same time be able to play some Doom3 at Ultra High settings. The build cost me about $450 for everything including the case I didn't use for 2 years and whatnot, and the little extra things I added.