recommendations... $ - top priority

[dornick]

In June I'll be headed back to the US from Spain and will take our current comp with me. So I have to piece together a cheap something for my dad who will be staying here. Basically all I need are the "core" parts: proc, MB, RAM, and vid card.

The only reason I'm asking you guys instead of throwing together some word-processing machine is cuz my dad will be bringing it back in July and so I would like it to be semi-decent (i.e. could play at least some modern games, HL2 would be a good standard)

So right now I'm leaning towards a Athlon XP setup, although I don't know which model is most economical, with an nForce 2 board, most likely. But I'd really like to hear what you guys suggest. remember, most bang for the buck.

 

[Emultra]

A64 2800+, ValueRam and GF6600?

 

[Wicked2010]

Any nForce 3 board (socket 939) that is cheap... the Gigabyte is great and under $100.

Go with the A64 3000+ -- about $150

And the 6600 GT vid card as Emultra pointed out...it's about $179 right now... and will run HL2 great.

And Corsair ValueRAM is around $108 right now... DIRT CHEAP!!!

 

[sangyup81]

Speed for speed, the Athlon64 or Socket754 Sempron will beat the living daylights out of an AthlonXP.

And since all Athlon64s and s754 Semprons are easily overclockable over 2.2ghz, you're throwing your money away on a socket A setup.

Sempron 2600+ (s754, 90nm) $79.99 shipped
Mobile Athlon XP 2600+, 45 Watt $95 shipped

Don't throw your money away.

 

[dornick]

Appreciate all the suggestions. Unfortunately, they'll still way too expensive. While I wouldn't hesitate to go with the 6600, there is no way my dad will pay that much for the card. Same with the A64; I would pick it in an instant but too expensive.

To put things in perspective, I'm probably looking at getting those four things for sub 300, possibly 400. I would try to overclock it so I like the Sempron idea. As for the memory, I'd just grab 512 of whatever cheap stuff. And when I say run HL2, I'm not discounting at 800x600 at super low texture quality in DirectX 7

 

[dornick]

Okay, here's what I've come up with:

Sempron 2800+
Epox 8kda3i
512mb Kingston ValueRam
Ati 9550

Any comments? changes?

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: Wicked2010
Any nForce 3 board (socket 939) that is cheap... the Gigabyte is great and under $100.

Go with the A64 3000+ -- about $150

And the 6600 GT vid card as Emultra pointed out...it's about $179 right now... and will run HL2 great.

And Corsair ValueRAM is around $108 right now... DIRT CHEAP!!!

THat card and an nforce 3 mobo don't work together as one is pcie and the other agp. nforce4 is a better deal, 10 bucks more mobo, 30-40 less graphics, better chipset.

Why not nforce4 and pci-express 6600gt?
3000+ 939 Winchester
Gigabyte GA-K8NF-9 nForce4
MSI 6600gt
Total ~360

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: dornick
Okay, here's what I've come up with:

Sempron 2800+
Epox 8kda3i
512mb Kingston ValueRam
Ati 9550

Any comments? changes?

Sounds pretty good. Corsair makes some quality ram at about the same pricepoint too, it might be worth checking out the price.

Make sure you check newegg and zip zoom fly to see who has the best price. (There are other places too of course )

 

[dornick]

Funny... the proc and mb are pretty much what AT recommends in the new article