Seeking Building advice with $500-700 Budget

[Junin]

I'm looking to build a new computer with $500-700. I'm particularly interested in the Intel Core 2 Duo. This will be a gaming machine.

I need some input on the best bang for my buck at this budget.

** There are some parts that I will NOT need **

I will not need the following:
A sound card
A new hard disk
Keyboard/monitor/mouse/speakers, etc

Thanks.

 

[Kromis]

Ahh yes! A thread that I need that I don't have to post! I have given up my AMD dream (for now) and also want a budget comp. Sorry if I'm thread jacking but I seek the aid of this thread!

 

[secretanchitman]

C2D E6300
asrock mobo (775 whatever its called)
2x512MB ddr400 memory (or ddr2 if you want)
fortron psu (400-450w)
case - your choice
windows xp?

that should be the lowdown.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
C2D E6300
asrock mobo (775 whatever its called)
2x512MB ddr400 memory (or ddr2 if you want)
fortron psu (400-450w)
case - your choice
windows xp?

that should be the lowdown.

Yep, the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA is the cheap way to get into a Core 2 Duo. You can re-use your old DDR and AGP videocard too as this motherboard lets you use DDR or DDR2 AND your choice of AGP or PCI-E videocards(although the PCI-E is limited to x4 but a x16 card will still run fine in it).

I went with this ASRock 775Dual-VSTA(Vista ready is what the VSTA stands for) and an E6400 with my old Corsair 2 x 512mb XMS DDR and my X850XT AGP and it was around $300 for the whole upgrade. It would be even less now as I did my upgrade at the end of August.

I am very pleased with the performance. I do a lot of encoding and this saves me lots of time. It also sped up all my games. Best $300 upgrade on a system I ever spent.

 

[Kromis]

Originally posted by: Beachboy

Originally posted by: secretanchitman
C2D E6300
asrock mobo (775 whatever its called)
2x512MB ddr400 memory (or ddr2 if you want)
fortron psu (400-450w)
case - your choice
windows xp?

that should be the lowdown.

Yep, the ASRock 775Dual-VSTA is the cheap way to get into a Core 2 Duo. You can re-use your old DDR and AGP videocard too as this motherboard lets you use DDR or DDR2 AND your choice of AGP or PCI-E videocards(although the PCI-E is limited to x4 but a x16 card will still run fine in it).

I went with this ASRock 775Dual-VSTA(Vista ready is what the VSTA stands for) and an E6400 with my old Corsair 2 x 512mb XMS DDR and my X850XT AGP and it was around $300 for the whole upgrade. It would be even less now as I did my upgrade at the end of August.

I am very pleased with the performance. I do a lot of encoding and this saves me lots of time. It also sped up all my games. Best $300 upgrade on a system I ever spent.

Whoa! Should I be worried about that?

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Kromis
Whoa! Should I be worried about that?

Apparently the board has problems with newer cards due to the lack of bandwidth. Also, the Anandtech article said they never quite 'trusted' it with their x1900xt, due to power delivery issues.

Remember you are getting a very cheap setup here. The board has been designed down to a price, with a requirement to include all the legacy slots and connectors, so parts of the board are bound to be of inferior design with inferior parts.

I would personally recommend you aim lower in terms of processor/platform and make sure you get the graphics subsystem right. This is a gaming machine after all. A nice reliable AMD board, fast single core processor, a nice power supply, and an x1900xt/7900gtx will provide a great gaming experience.

 

[Kromis]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Kromis
Whoa! Should I be worried about that?

Apparently the board has problems with newer cards due to the lack of bandwidth. Also, the Anandtech article said they never quite 'trusted' it with their x1900xt, due to power delivery issues.

Remember you are getting a very cheap setup here. The board has been designed down to a price, with a requirement to include all the legacy slots and connectors, so parts of the board are bound to be of inferior design with inferior parts.

I would personally recommend you aim lower in terms of processor/platform and make sure you get the graphics subsystem right. This is a gaming machine after all. A nice reliable AMD board, fast single core processor, a nice power supply, and an x1900xt/7900gtx will provide a great gaming experience.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: Atheus

Originally posted by: Kromis
Whoa! Should I be worried about that?

Apparently the board has problems with newer cards due to the lack of bandwidth. Also, the Anandtech article said they never quite 'trusted' it with their x1900xt, due to power delivery issues.

Remember you are getting a very cheap setup here. The board has been designed down to a price, with a requirement to include all the legacy slots and connectors, so parts of the board are bound to be of inferior design with inferior parts.

I would personally recommend you aim lower in terms of processor/platform and make sure you get the graphics subsystem right. This is a gaming machine after all. A nice reliable AMD board, fast single core processor, a nice power supply, and an x1900xt/7900gtx will provide a great gaming experience.

This Anandtech article on this motherboard suggests that the penalty for x4 versus x16 is roughly 5%. LINK

And why would anyone want to aim for a slower cpu on a gaming system? My E6400 system with an X850XT AGP is plenty fast... more than fast enough to run all the graphical goodies and still be competitive in a FPS online match. Videogames rely on more than just the videocard.

Besides, the original poster asked about a cheap Core 2 Duo system... not a cheap slower AMD setup.:laugh:

 

[Kromis]

According to TechReport (I don't have the link though, I can't find the article ), they made a guide for a cheap Core 2 Duo system not too long ago and they mentioned this Foxconn motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813186102

Would that be a suitable substitution for that Asrock board?

I think this is the article.
http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q3/foxconn-gigabyte-p965/index.x?pg=1

 

[Atheus]

Originally posted by: Beachboy
This Anandtech article on this motherboard suggests that the penalty for x4 versus x16 is roughly 5%. LINK

Where? The only 5% figure I found stated that the PCI-E on this board is 5% slower than the AGP 8x (!) not PCI-E x16.

Originally posted by: Beachboy
And why would anyone want to aim for a slower cpu on a gaming system?

Because the graphics card is much more important. Duh.

My E6400 system with an X850XT AGP is plenty fast... more than fast enough to run all the graphical goodies and still be competitive in a FPS online match.

A midrange single core Athlon 64 with an x1900xt would destroy your system in games, even though the processor is far inferior.

Modern games are GPU limited.

 

[Junin]

I think I've actually to decided to expand my budget to $1000 and pick up a few more quality parts to last me through another 3 year computer life-span.

Any suggestions on a motherboard for the Core 2 Duo E6400? Something under $140 would fit in nicely.

How many watts am I looking for in a PSU these days? With the core2duo and a Radeon 1900xt (as these are what I am looking into).

Just kind of rambling here. Any thoughts on anything are appreciated.

 

[kuqdew]

400 wats