Building New Computer

[DeJaVu1987]

Hi I 've been reading these boards for awhile now & I as just wanting to know your opinion on the best rig for about $700. Oh ya I will be building this in like Septemberor October thanks!!!

 

[DjKlown]

um,.....

Go with a MSI AMD board
a nice amd processor probably at that time a good barton 2800+ should be a good price. and a decent vid card like the radeon 9700 pro. also get about a gig of ram pc2700 should be sufficient and a name brand (enermax and i prefer antec) 400 watt PSU. With the money left over get the stuff that you need or want. Like a case, sound card, floppy drive, dvd/cd-rw drive, mouse and keyboard, speakers, HardDrives or you can just take the stuff from your current computer and just upgrade.

 

[hoserb2000]

Yeah, All that for $700..

What do you plan to use this computer for? Do you have any parts allready that you can use (monitor, keyboard,OS, stuff like that)?

<font color=blue>Let's see, 500 posts a day, each day, for 30 days, and I will have more posts than Crashman!</font color=blue>

 

[vortex]

Sorry for not responding back but I had to create a new account because my hotmail account was disacctivated and I didn't write down the password so I lost the message sent w/ my password. I will be using this computer for gaming and I will be using my old monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, and Windows XP Home for the new computer.

Oh ya if you were wondering the monitor is a 17 inch Sceptre P73 CRT,w/ a Logitech scroll mouse, a Mitsumi keyboard, and 2.1 Midiland MLI-SW190 speakers.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by vortex on 06/18/03 09:08 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Turk]

Hi!

Since you are on a "thight" budget I suggest the following parts from www.newegg.com. I suppose that you are able to put them together yourself.

Asus 48x24x52 CD-RW $37.00
CASE Dynapower Model# METIS 25$
AMD Athlon XP2500+ "Barton" 333FSB $93.00
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB 7200RPM $98.00
Albatron Nforce2 Mobo, Model KM18G PRO $99.99
2X GEIL 256MB PC-2700 MEMORY 2X30$= $60
Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 Atlantis PRO $292.00

-----------------------------------------------
Grand total of:...................... $704.99
(don't forget that the shipping will cost a few bucks)

The CPU is retail and comes with heatsink/fan.
Well there are many things one could discuss, for instance, I choose to spend the money on a good videocard instead of a faster CPU since I belive that this gives better longetivety. Especially for a gaming system. If you wan't to save some money on my suggested rig, go for a smaller HD, a ordinary CD/DVD-Rom (non burner). Don't buy less than a total 512 MB and 2 sticks of memory since thats required for the dualchannelddr (much better speed) to work. Don't forget to buy/reuse a FLOPPYDRIVE, its unfortunately a must have.

Mobo: the reason I choose this mobo is that it incorporates the outstanding Nforce2 APU soundsystem: Nforge! Belive me, it's very very good and you don't need a seperate soundcard with it. Check this THG article for more info:

http://www6.tomshardware.com/game/20030405/index.html

Beware that not all Nforce2 boards has this, instead many uses a cheap solution like the inferior realtek 650 soundchip. Another good board that has the Nforge sound is the famous ASUS A7N8X Deluxe. Basically if buying a Nforce2 board, you should make shure it has the MPC-T southbridge!

Also if you can muster some more cash, try getting a case with more power (PSU). Although I think that 300W is enough you might wan't to be on the safe side of things and get 350W.

Anyway GL

TURK

PS why a AMD rig? Read THIS link fore more on that:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=665271#665271

 

[xeenrecoil]

Heya Vortex;

Well my friend i would suggest you wait and see, Intel will be unveiling their new P4 line at 0.09 micron with improved Hyperthreading and DDR-II support. Speed is the key and Dual Channel DDR is the way to go, if you want monster performance spend the extra bucks on the Core, you cant build a solid foundation on sand, and you might as well do it right if your gonna do it at all.

Buy a motherboard with as much intergrated hardware as is available, EXCEPT video card you do not want a board with onboard video they are a joke. I would suggest an Asus, Gigabyte or MSI, however A-open has been making a comback as of late and the quality of the motherboards have improved markedly.

Dont buy a cheap Computer core then be dissapointed with how slow it is, its not worth the heart ache, do it right.

I hope i have been helpfull.

XeeN

 

[NurseMSIC]

Whilst i will always build my own too (and my mum's, my dad's, my brother's.....), i have to acknowledge that there are a number of on-line shops that sell REALLY good value, well built base units, with profit margins around 2% or something crazy like that.
In the UK alot of the larger, well known companies sell Windows Xp pre-installed but a good number also sell without anything pre-installed, no mice, keyboards etc, just what you want.
Which country are you in, and i could do a search and post links.

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=18108" target="_new">My <font color=orange>Editing</font color=orange> & <font color=green>Gaming</font color=green> Machine</A>

 

[hoserb2000]

But building it is half the fun! Really, it's not that hard.

Also, I need to be the devil and tell him about the Intel side of the fence. The new 2.4ghz "800" mhz FSB Northwood C's are becoming very affordable, and worth looking at.

The worst mistake you can make is not doing enough research on what you're thinking about....google.com!

<font color=blue>Let's see, 500 posts a day, each day, for 30 days, and I will have more posts than Crashman!</font color=blue>

 

[vortex]

What do you think of this for the setup?

Motherboard:Leadtek K7NCR18D-Pro Nforce2-ST
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=Leadtek+K7NCR18D $92
Case:Just4PC Mid Tower Case w/ 425 Watt Power Supply
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=B452-1105 $60
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2700 or 2800 $127/$170
Memory:Kingston 512MB PC2700DDR333 184Pin DIMM CL2.5 $59
Hard Drive:Western Digital 80GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache $80
CD Recorder:Mitsumi 54x32x54x $45
DVD Drive: Lite On 16x/48x $33
Vidieo Card: ATI Radeon 9700np/Pro $205/$273
Floppy Drive:Mitsumi D359M3 1.44MB 3.5inch $7
Total $708/$819

P.S.Do you think the price on the 9700 Pro will come down to about $200 and the XP 2800 to about $130 by then???

 

[Prof133]

* Get two memory modules that you may benefit from Dual DDR.

* User feedback on the Epox 8RDA+ motherboard has been positive here. Despite its low price it does indeed utilize the nVidia APU (Great Audio).

<b><font color=blue>Logic over all.</font color=blue></b>