New mid-end cheap rig

[DeathScytheVT]

Building my girlfriend a new computer, and she's trying to keep the price low (ideally 600-700). Doesnt need to be an ultimate gamer, but be able to handle some pretty well. So far have:

ASUS "A8V Deluxe"
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ socket 939
Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive
Sony Black 52x32x52x16 Combo Drive
Antec Black ATX Mini Tower PC Case with 350W Power Supply, Model "SLK1650B"

Looking to be able to upgrade it fairly easily in the future, so I went with the 939 (brought the price up a lot more than I expected). Looking at ~540 or so with that setup, so trying to see if I can get a vid card for 100-150 or so. I myself run a Radeon 9800 Pro and love it, but that brings the price up a bit more than I wanted. Is the 9600 any good, or should I go NVidia?

Any feedback you could give would be awesome ^_^

 

[nick1985]

if you go with a cheap 754 setup you could save a ton of cash that could be put towards video.

you can get an athlon64 2800 and an epox mobo for about $200 shipped from newegg. this setup with a better video card will kill the 939 setup you picked out for gaming.

 

[DeathScytheVT]

I just thought 939 would be better to go, since all the posts seem to be saying 754 will be phased out. But if 754 will still be ok, I'll check into that too.

 

[nick1985]

deffinately go with 754, since you are on a budget.

 

[Edward Lee]

Originally posted by: nick1985
deffinately go with 754, since you are on a budget.

Agreed.

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Alrighty, thanks. Is the 9600 ok to go for? Or should I aim a bit higher? Still running a little high after getting memory and such

 

[nick1985]

what kind of memory did you pick out? could you do me a favor and list out all the specs and prices for each item? that will give me a better idea of what you have so far and where i can help you save money

 

[NietzscheRCN]

I would stick with the 939 setup. You are correct in the ability to upgrade more and for it to last longer. I work in the computer field and frequently talk with AMD reps about upcoming products and what products will be around longer/are better. As for the vid, I would probably go with an 9600 pro. It is a well made card with good all around performance-especially for the amount of money it costs. You can also clock it to run as fast as the 9600 xt, so there is no need to spend the extra cash on one. Hope this helps.

 

[masshass81]

get the Abit AV8 and A64 3000+ to save yourself about $60 (s939 parts)

EDIT: with a comparable s754 setup, 3000+ and the $80 chaintech mobo, you only save about $40. So if youre budget is very tight then you could shave some cost there, otherwise, I'd go with 939

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Sure thing:

Processor/Mobo (754 setup)
MoBoEPoX "EP-8KDA3J" nForce3-250Gb Chipset Motherboard for AMD Socket 754 CPU
CPUAMD Athlon 64 2800+, 512KB L2 Cache, 64-bit Processor
or with 939:
CPUAMD Athlon 64 3200+, 512KB L2 Cache, Socket 939 64-bit Processor
MoBoASUS "A8V Deluxe" VIA K8T800 Pro Chipset Motherboard For AMD Socket 939 CPU

Case:Antec Black ATX Mini Tower PC Case with 350W Power Supply
Vid Card:POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9600PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP
RAM: Corsair Value Select (Dual Pack) 184 Pin 512MBx2 DDR PC-3200
HDD:Seagate 120GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive

Trying to keep cheap, but also want it to be able to perform well and be able to be easily upgraded in the future (she hates spending money and so would rather just make minor upgrades every so often, instead of replacing the whole thing again). The Video Card's the only one I found on newegg with decent reviews to it (for the 9600 pro anyways).

Any more ideas? ^_^

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Originally posted by: masshass81
get the Abit AV8 and A64 3000+ to save yourself about $60 (s939 parts)

Problem is that the 3000+ that I found was OEM, and by the time I added in a heatsink/fan (though I might be wrong, i'm new to looking for fans and such) it got up to the price of the 3200+

 

[masshass81]

s939 A64 3000+ $156

MSI K8T NEO2-F $98

 

[DeathScytheVT]

Thanks Masshass81!Using that Mobo/Proc brings whole deal to about 700-ish w/o shipping, which might be ok, though I guess I do need to get an OS ~_~

 

[Edward Lee]

I would get a better Graphics Card. You'll notice a bigger difference with a slightly better Graphics Card than a slightly better CPU.