Need Suggestions (newbie here)

[Freedive]

Hi folks,
It was suggested I post this here and not in the video section. After reading through a multitude of posts here through the different forums I have one, learned quite a bit and two, realized I need some help. After my WIN 98SE P2 400 Mhz died about six months ago I put together a new comp for myself not planning to run much more than home essential (Internet, photo editing & printing, basic word/excel/pwrpoint) programs with of course some gaming. The specs are WIN XP Pro/Athlon 2800 Pro 2.8 Ghz/512Mb DDR/Nvidia 5200FX + the assorted DVD-RW/CD-RW drives. Where I failed was realizing that the mother board I purchased although good for the applications I planned for does not have an AGP slot just the PCI, hence cannot upgrade video card. Now that I have a renewed interest in combat flight sims (the new ones are terrific "LOMAC") and have decided to build another one and give this one to my kids (10yr & 13 yrs old). I want to put one together which will enable smooth playing of the more demanding newer games and will handle anything coming out in the near future. Is this possible on a budget of about $1500 +/- ? and could anyone suggest what would be a good system to put together within the budget. My main interest are flight sims but I'm sure I will be trying out some other types also.

Thanks,
Freedive

 

[otispunkmeyer]

1500 should be a nice budget and will get u a computer that will last

for flight sims then, u need a lot of CPU power to deal with physics and such, athlon 64 should be a good bet on that front, also 1 GB of PC3200 ram will suit it nice, and i suggest on the mobo front to go with VIA K8T800 chipset

and on the graphics front.....if ur gonna go with last generation get a 9800pro at least, got ATI for last gen

if u gonna pick up a new card then, (as in this generation...) ATI or Nvidia will do

 

[Illissius]

Will that be including peripherals (monitor, speakers, etc.) or just the box?

 

[Freedive]

Originally posted by: Illissius
Will that be including peripherals (monitor, speakers, etc.) or just the box?

Sorry, the budget is for ther box, I'm set as far as monitor and speakers

Thanks

 

[Illissius]

I'll assume no overclocking...

Asus K8N-E Deluxe or MSI K8N Neo Platinum $160/$130 (former: ZipZoomFly, latter: mostly anywhere)
Athlon 64 3200+ Newcastle (2.2GHz, 512K) Retail $270-80
2x 512MB Crucial PC3200 $150-60
GeForce 6800GT $400 (in stock at evga.com)

That's $1000, add some storage (dunno how much you need), a case, PSU, optical drives, and whatnot.

 

[Freedive]

Originally posted by: Illissius
I'll assume no overclocking...

Asus K8N-E Deluxe or MSI K8N Neo Platinum $160/$130 (former: ZipZoomFly, latter: mostly anywhere)
Athlon 64 3200+ Newcastle (2.2GHz, 512K) Retail $270-80
2x 512MB Crucial PC3200 $150-60
GeForce 6800GT $400 (in stock at evga.com)

That's $1000, add some storage (dunno how much you need), a case, PSU, optical drives, and whatnot.

Thanks Illissus, I'll take note of you suggestion and see what I can find.

Freedive

 

[Tostada]

This really doesn't make sense. If you have a GeForce FX 5200, you have to have an AGP slot.

For what you're talking about, you really can't spend that much more than $1000 without getting into cutting-edge territory where you don't get very much return on your money.

And what do you mean by "already set" for the monitor/keyboard/mouse? Honestly, it would be a crime to spend $1000+ on an Athlon 64 with 1 GB RAM and a 256-bit graphics card and stick it on some old 17" CRT.

$211.00 Socket 754 Athlon 64 3000+ (2.0, 512k) OEM
$29.99 Silent Boost K8 (21 dB) copper
$99.00 Epox 8KDA3J nForce3 250Gb
$195.00 Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro (XT core)
$93.00 160GB ATA Deskstar 7K250, 8MB 4hd 3yr
$174.00 2 x 512MB OCZ DDR400 (PC3200) CL 2.5-3-3-7 2T
$79.99 NEC 2510A 8X DVD-R/+R DL, 32X CDR, black
$79.00 + $15.00 Antec SLK2700-BQE 350W silent
$3.55 + $4.00 24" round 3-head ATA133 cable (clear / copper)

$983.53 delivered

That's a system that would also be good for overclocking. If you're not going to overclock, you might as well save another $34 and get the retail CPU that comes with the heatsink and a pair of $79 Mushkin PC3200 sticks instead of the OCZ.

Feel free to spend $400 on a GeForce 6800 GT, or $185 for a 74GB Raptor or two. I just have a feeling you don't realize what $1000 can get. Unless you're planning on playing FarCry at resolutions over 1024x768, there's no reason to buy a $400 video card, and I doubt you'd ever notice a difference if you spent another $70 on an A64 3200+.

I'm just saying if I had a $1500 budget I'd be building a $1000 system and getting a $500 LCD.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=24-014-043

Most people don't realize how much happier they would be spending more on their monitor and less on the box. The monitor lasts much, much longer than what's in the box, and 90% of the time or more when you're web browsing or whatever, you wouldn't notice the difference between a Pentium III and that Athlon 64. You always look at the monitor, though. At least get a $245 19" Diamondtron CRT to go with the machine.

 

[Tostada]

Not that you'd be wasting money if you actually spent $1500. I'd switch up to a GeForce 6800GT, a pair of Raptor 74's, a Wave Master case and an Enermax Noisetaker PSU.

 

[Freedive]

Originally posted by: Tostada
This really doesn't make sense. If you have a GeForce FX 5200, you have to have an AGP slot.

Yes it's the Chaintech FX5200 for PCI, believe me I wish I was wrong about that. The 5200 is as high as you can go on the PCI video cards.


For what you're talking about, you really can't spend that much more than $1000 without getting into cutting-edge territory where you don't get very much return on your money.

And what do you mean by "already set" for the monitor/keyboard/mouse? Honestly, it would be a crime to spend $1000+ on an Athlon 64 with 1 GB RAM and a 256-bit graphics card and stick it on some old 17" CRT.

$211.00 Socket 754 Athlon 64 3000+ (2.0, 512k) OEM
$29.99 Silent Boost K8 (21 dB) copper
$99.00 Epox 8KDA3J nForce3 250Gb
$195.00 Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro (XT core)
$93.00 160GB ATA Deskstar 7K250, 8MB 4hd 3yr
$174.00 2 x 512MB OCZ DDR400 (PC3200) CL 2.5-3-3-7 2T
$79.99 NEC 2510A 8X DVD-R/+R DL, 32X CDR, black
$79.00 + $15.00 Antec SLK2700-BQE 350W silent
$3.55 + $4.00 24" round 3-head ATA133 cable (clear / copper)

$983.53 delivered

That's a system that would also be good for overclocking. If you're not going to overclock, you might as well save another $34 and get the retail CPU that comes with the heatsink and a pair of $79 Mushkin PC3200 sticks instead of the OCZ.

Feel free to spend $400 on a GeForce 6800 GT, or $185 for a 74GB Raptor or two. I just have a feeling you don't realize what $1000 can get. Unless you're planning on playing FarCry at resolutions over 1024x768, there's no reason to buy a $400 video card, and I doubt you'd ever notice a difference if you spent another $70 on an A64 3200+.

I'm just saying if I had a $1500 budget I'd be building a $1000 system and getting a $500 LCD.
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=24-014-043

Most people don't realize how much happier they would be spending more on their monitor and less on the box. The monitor lasts much, much longer than what's in the box, and 90% of the time or more when you're web browsing or whatever, you wouldn't notice the difference between a Pentium III and that Athlon 64. You always look at the monitor, though. At least get a $245 19" Diamondtron CRT to go with the machine.

You're absolutely right about that, that's why I came looking for help here. I got it wrong the first time around trying to do it myself without seeking any advice. I can put the darn things together with no problem just did'nt know enough about the components I was buying.

You're very perceptive about the CRT, a 17" is exactly what I'm using (Gateway EV700) I guess this needs a change also.

Thanks for the advice on this system this sounds good and leaves enough in the budget for the LCD

Freedive