New Budget Rig

[AMD_Man]

I'm helping my friend build a new budget rig. He wants a system for $800CDN (~$550US). He also wants to play the casual game. The hardest parts to pick are the RAM, CPU and Motherboard. Clearly, for the CPU, AMD is the way to go for its price. Now, I'm currently considering either the Athlon XP 2400+ or Athlon XP 2500+. For RAM, I have the option between Samsung and KingMax RAM. Is dual channel that important? Is DDR400 for a 266MHz or 333MHz FSB Athlon XP necessary? As for motherboard...KT333, KT400, KT400A, NForce2? In his budget the Geforce4 MX440 is the only reasonable option. I'm considering the EVGA GF4MX440 for him. Of course, there are two ways to make a system, either one that focuses on CPU performance for 2D apps, or GPU performance for 3D games. Now, I doubt he'll be playing much more than CS, though.

Intelligence is not merely the wealth of knowledge but the sum of perception, wisdom, and knowledge.

 

[Guest]

Im not that much into AMD but as you said its clearly yhte way to go if you want good performance for this price...I would suggest goin with a nForce2 board since these perform the best for AMD and I think you should go with and intergrated graphic card(Since in the nforce2 I beleive the integrated graphic is some sort of G4mx440). Getting a board with integrated sound/vid/lan will save a lot of money. Dual channel will give you more perfomance and 2 sticks dont cost much more than one so I'd say you should go with 2. also check the price diff between 266 and 333 they are pretty marginal.

 

[markgun]

Personally, I'd go for the Epox 8RGA+ with dual channel memory for any tight budget system. It has integrated GF4MX and with dual channel memory it falls between a GF4MX420 and GF4MX440. It also has the MCP-T Southbridge. It costs around $100 USD.

<b>Qui habet aures audiendi audiat</b>

 

[AMD_Man]

Im not that much into AMD but as you said its clearly yhte way to go if you want good performance for this price...I would suggest goin with a nForce2 board since these perform the best for AMD and I think you should go with and intergrated graphic card(Since in the nforce2 I beleive the integrated graphic is some sort of G4mx440). Getting a board with integrated sound/vid/lan will save a lot of money. Dual channel will give you more perfomance and 2 sticks dont cost much more than one so I'd say you should go with 2. also check the price diff between 266 and 333 they are pretty marginal.

Thanks for your response. I told my friend about the integrated NForce2 graphics and he didn't like the idea of using main RAM for graphics. Now, the Athlon XP 2400+ is on a 266MHz FSB. Therefore I would assume you'd only need DDR266 and anything faster wouldn't provide a significant improvement. The Athlon XP 2500+ runs on a 333MHz FSB. Therefore, it's best companion would probably be DDR333. How big a performance improvement is there between the Athlon XP 2400+ and 2500+? Does the 2500+ use less power because it's clocked lower? Is it cooler? He's only going to be using a stock cooler and a generic 300W PSU. I need to make sure the system uses as little power as possible as well.

Intelligence is not merely the wealth of knowledge but the sum of perception, wisdom, and knowledge.

 

[shadus]

If you don't wanna go amd... this is sbout the right price range i believe... these prices have went down since I put this togeather, so it's actually a bit cheaper, im just feeling to lazy to update the prices and total presently.

Motherboard - Asus P4P800 (Non-VM, Non Deluxe) - 108.00
Processor - Intel 2.4C 800 MHZ FSB - 172.00
Ram1 - Corsair CMX256A-3200C2 - 60.00
Ram2 - Corsair CMX256A-3200C2 - 60.00
Video Card - ATI 9500 128mb 8xAGP - 134.00
Hard Disk - Western Digital WD800JB 80GB 8MB 7200RPM - 82.00
Speakers - Juster 5d-107 7Pcs - 34.00
Case - Raidmax Model 208 10 Bay 350W PS - 43.00
CD-RW - Lite-On 52x24x52x - 40.00
Floppy - Teac 1.44 Floppy Drive - 12.00
Sound - Creative Audigy2 Non-Platinum - 70.00
KB/M - Logitech Optical Desktop KB/M - 28.00
Total - $843.00 Inc/S&H

Shadus

 

[AMD_Man]

If you don't wanna go amd... this is sbout the right price range i believe... these prices have went down since I put this togeather, so it's actually a bit cheaper, im just feeling to lazy to update the prices and total presently.

Thanks but I said $800CDN not US. That's $550 US. Also, he doesn't need speakers, mouse/keyboard.

Intelligence is not merely the wealth of knowledge but the sum of perception, wisdom, and knowledge.

 

[pIII_Man]

i second the 8rga+...i would also say go for pc2700 memory and the 2400+...set the fsb to 166mhz and use stock multi...you should have a nice and quick 2400 for minimal price...and no voltage or extra cooling should be necissary...

i think you are in value select ram terrirory

geil makes good cheep memory so they are worth a look

3 386DX-25's...12 volts...glue some ln2 and a wicked amount of overclocking and you get a willamantee minus 36 pins, 33.75 million transistors and a couple hundred mhz... 😎

 

[pIII_Man]

here goes these are new egg prices..so may be just a bit more in canada

1x ANTEC SOLUTION SERIES MODEL SLK3700AMB w/ANTEC SMART POWER 350W P4/AMD POWER SUPPLY ATX12V - RETAIL $68.00

1x Lite On 52x32x52x Beige Color CDRW Drive LTR-52327S - OEM $44.99

3x Thermaltake SMART FAN. Variable Fan Speed Control, by temperature sensor $23.97 (for all 3)

1x Maxtor 80GB 7200RPM Hard Drive Model # 6Y080L0 - OEM, DRIVE ONLY $74.00

2x GeIL Golden Dragon DDR 256MB 400MHz Model GD3200-256 Retail $100.00 (for both sticks combined)

1x Epox Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# EP-8RGA+ $103.00

1x AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ "Barton" 333 FSB PROCESSOR CPU- RETAIL $92.00

1x Thermalright SLK-800-U ( Heatsink ONLY ). All Copper heat spread. New Version $42.99

1x floppy generic (new egg's site got slow so i did not feel like finding this) about $8

total 553.95

alot of things can be omited if you are not going to overclock...but you could really take this cpu far with the setup above...




3 386DX-25's...12 volts...glue some ln2 and a wicked amount of overclocking and you get a willamantee minus 36 pins, 33.75 million transistors and a couple hundred mhz... 😎

 

[NateKingCole]

Alright Canadian Prices from <A HREF="http://www.anitec.ca" target="_new">www.anitec.ca</A>

Asus A7N8X nForce2 AMD with Audio/ Lan 146$
AMD Athlon XP2500+ (1.83GHz) Barton 333FSB Retail 129$
Asus V9180 GF4 MX440-8X AGP w/DVI, TV out Retail 105$
2x Infineon DDR333(PC2700) 256MB RAM 120$
Liteon 52x32x52x CDRW Drive w/software OEM 60$
Antec SLK3700 Mid Tower case w/Antec 350watts P/S Retail 110$
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 80G 7200RPM ATA100 OEM 103$
Panasonic 1.44 floppy 12$

total 787$

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by NateKingCole on 07/30/03 05:34 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Starion15]

I dont how much the G4 MX440 is/was going to cost, but I'd think the Radeon 8500le (in my opinion) would be a better choice. It smokes the 440 in most (all?) benchmarks, and it cost $65 from Newegg. Thats the 64mb version, but I dont think a 128mb on a MX440 would do much for you anyway.

 

[shadus]

To early for me to be alive don't mind the monkey in the corner!

Shadus