Building a computer, advice on purchase?

Theenternal

Theenternal

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Well, my amd 1ghz is no longer after 4 years of service :lol: I forsaw the death and have been slowly picking up parts.

As of now I have.

Aspire Dreamer II case with 420 ps (my old case was 7 years old!)
1 gig 2x 512 of the Rosewill 3200 memory that was 29 @ newegg
Geforce 3 ti200

School has me on a very tight budget and I dont want to put any money on the card, but since I will need to replace my computer anyway. (currently on a friends computer) I figure I might as well spend a little more since I only do this every few years. My last computers were

celeron 300 oc'd @464 98-2001
Cyrix pr200 (garbage) 96-98

I am eyeing the Athlong 64 3000+ venice, and may do some very light ocing with this one. Good reviews on the oc, but can't find any reviews for the default speed. All 3000+ reviews I read are for Winchester.

I want to go with the 939 chipset for possible upgrade in the future.

Now Im stuck with what board to go with. I can choose to go cheap and get a cheap board with just the basics but limited future support. (agp) vs pci-e

Or I could go with a pci-e board, however that would mean new video card, which its about time for anyways :(...but more money.

So what do you guys think?

Currently a64 3000 venice $150ish retail at newegg
MotherBoard $75-130 (long spread)
Im eyeing the 6600gt's as they seem to be the best bang for the dollar for increase over my ti200.

But now im looking at about 550 in cost including what I spent on case/ram, which hurts because of my current low price tuition fees here at university of florda :(
 
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any msi or asus mobo would be a good choice...im actually going through the same dilemna right now as im building a new amd64 machine for a friend...

i currently have the msi nforce 4 sli mobo with a 3200+
 
Sounds good I'm currently in the process of saving money to build a comp right now. I'll probabaly spend $700-800 and get a PCI-E board w/ a 3 Gig P4
 
I'm guessing that ram is ddr, so if you do go with a pci-e board there's a good chance that the motherboard would be ddr 2 and you'd have to get different ram.
 
You absolutely must buy a new video card, no doubt about it.

I've also been looking at 6600GT's, they are the best value. You can get a refurb from newegg for under $150.

Which specific motherboard isn't a huge deal unless overclocking is important to you. Look for an Nforce3 chipset and a somewhat reputable manufacturer. Only one on Newegg that I might avoid is ECS.
 
since this is a computer topic. can you replace the mother board + CPU in your computer like a video card?
 
[quote name='2poor']since this is a computer topic. can you replace the mother board + CPU in your computer like a video card?[/QUOTE]

Yes.
 
[quote name='valor19']Yes.[/QUOTE]Sure, that's the short answer, but you need to make sure all your other old components are compatible with your new motherboard, like the RAM, video card slot, etc.
 
Get an Athlon 64 3800+, an Nforce 4 SLI Asus motherboard, a 6800 Ultra, and an LCD screen with 1280x1024 or more and 6ms or less pixel reponse time with DVI connector, a Power supply at least 420W with 12v connector will work ok. Also get a Windows XP64 OEM, and a SATA hard drive w/ 10,000 rpm if possible.
Dvd burner can be picked up very cheap for like $50 you can get a dual layer.

My current rig is
Pentium M 2.6 GHz 2mb Cache = Beats Athlon FX 55
Asus P4p800 SE with CT-479 adapter
BFGtech 6800 Ultra Oc
2 Gig corsair C2 memory
2 x 160GB SATA Seagate hard drives in Raid 0
SGI 1600SW widescreen LCd
 
Get an Apple and stop ruining a good computer with system hogging games. Games belong on a game machine...not a work station....

Do you play with a hammer and nails?
 
[quote name='sark45']Poor deluded console people, they need help.[/QUOTE]


You're right, Doom 3 was worth the millions spend in building a "Next Gen" computer 100's of Thousands did right before it came out....

This is what my roomate said as he was installing Doom 3....

"I'm glad I spent $550.00 on this new graphics card to be able to play this game, I loved the other dooms..."(Install Complete) "What the fuck is this shit? They can invent plasma rifles but not a flashlight holder? Wheres the duct tape? And whats up with one enemy at a time?? Is this Resident Evil 1 or something??"

Yay, I'm soooo sad I wasnt part of that hype machine...

PC games are usually crap, if they're any good...they come to the consoles....

MMO's are great (I play WoW) but sometimes you gotta take the bad with the good... ;-)

Dont bother with PC gaming, if KillZone 2 looks anything like it did in the trailer at release...you'll be pissed you spent 2000.00 on a "Gamer PC"....

Like "Gamers" play PC games anyway.... PC games are for the rich technophiles and business men....real "gamers" play more than 2-3 genres of games...
 
I built my computer for $700-800 3-4 years ago and it can run doom 3 and half-life 2 fairly well albeit not on highest setting but it can still do it fine. My computer parts are 1-2 gen back too. Building a computer is significantly cheaper than buying a copmuter already made for you. My 'gamer' pc is used for much much more than just games though, I run a ton of programs , media, and projects off of it. You don't have to spend $500 on the best card on the market but maybe $100-$200 on a card that used to be $400 a year ago.

I think the PC more of a system that can get my media projects done and also play games and surf the net and do a number of things a console cant. I really don't want a console to replace my PC because I have consoles to play games and that's all.

About Doom III, I just modded the gametype so all my guns to have flashlights on them although that really ruins the intended atmosphere of the game. I do have to say despite my tons of hours spent on halo 2, I will always prefer a mouse and keyboard over a controller.
 
Well, had the items in my cart yesterday, and still stuck at what to do.

If I go the AGP route over PCI-E then for the same amount of money I can either.

Get an Athlon 64 3200+ venice, or go get an Geforce 6800 non ultra, however there is not much of a future for updating this set up as Im stuck with both an agp mb and card.

If I go with the PCI-E I will have room available for improving the system a little so it would most likly last me a little longer. In addition the PCI-E video card would carry over to my next rig if still worth using, and would also let me go SLI if that option became available.

Rundown of the purchase.

Option 1

Athlon 64 3000+ venice
Geforce 6600 GT AGP Leadtek
Gigabyte k8ns motherboard.

(could bump up 200+ mhz or move to 6800 non ultra for the same price as the next set up or save about 50$)

Option 2

Athlon 64 3000+ venice
Geforce 6600GT Leadtek PCI-E
ECS Extreme KN1 motherboard (well reviewed, best option for my budget imo)

thoughts opinions, before I drop 400 for this setup?
 
well they do have som a64 boards with onboard video....

the 6600gt is highly recommended..im trying to get another to run sli

also pci-e video cards are usually cheaper and you can get a decent 6200 for a good price if your on a budget. they have some sub $60 cards at newegg also

i have the msi nforce4 platinum board and its just been amazing. you cant go wrong with msi
 
I would not get 6200 or 6600 both too slow...... 6800 PCI-E or bust. The 6800 Ultra PCI-E is actually more expesive than the AGP version. Almost all socket 939 boards are PCI-E. I only buy Asus and Abit motherboards, i seem to have problems with most other brands.
 
I would not get 6200 or 6600 both too slow...... 6800 PCI-E or bust. The 6800 Ultra PCI-E is actually more expensive than the AGP version. Almost all socket 939 boards are PCI-E. I only buy Asus and Abit motherboards, i seem to have problems with most other brands.
 
Thanks, for the advice guys, I went with the PCI-E decision, I picked up a 6600GT for 140 after a 30$ rebate. And went with a 939 chaintech MB that was well reviewed after a new bio's update. The system runs great and I both the processor and card oc well and are running cool after a long burn in.

The only thing I did not upgrade, which I really need to, are my Hard Drives.

I have an old 30 and 80 gig drive. Both are several years old, (2 meg cache) Im debating if I should purchase some SATA drives or go ide. I know the difference between the two, but for what it will do for me is my question.

My concern for these drives is gaming, would I see a performance increase from the SATA drives, or would I basically get the same results with IDE with the main storage for gaming being the memory. Thanks!
 
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