$550 build...please suggestions!!

mrgeorgedude

mrgeorgedude

New Member
im looking at my first builld cuz my computer is a crappy win98 and i spend more time waiting for loads then actually doing stuff...

anyways a had a few things...

for a processor i want something half decent that can play games (like halo and CSS and the sims 2...nothing TOO new but still games around the 2005-2004 time period) hopefully an athlon cuz i hear theyre good and everone here has them :D

for the RAM sticks i want 1gb...nothing else matters other than if theyre med quality

A cd AND dvd drive (only plays DVD's i dont care about burning)

i already think i want a video card i saw on another thread...either a RadeonX800GT 256 OR i wanted a GeForce 6600GT (whats recomeded for the price)

The hard drive can be 60 or 80 gigs, not to much

I really like an xion case i saw so thats choosen (its an ATX)

for the Motherboard, i have absolutly no idea whats good, ill only overclock if i NEED to so probly not way decent overall



Im not sure if i missed anything so if i did, help me find a good deal of it. Please help with suggestions and keep the price around 550:D
 
I think we're in the same boat. I've had the same 733Mhz comp for 6 years now and plan on building one to play games decently. This is what I plan on buying for mine. The total cost including shipping will be around $586. The prices below are all from chiefvalue.com except for the case w/ power supply. I'll be getting that from directron.com. If you went the newegg.com route, you would pretty much be paying about the same thing.

I know this is over your $550 budget, but I've done quite a bit of research and for me, these components for my budget seem to be about the best way to go, and I figured this might be a good base for you to work from in cutting costs. I realize I only have 512MB of ram on here, and both of us will want 1GB total, so figure that in too.

In cutting costs, some decent ways to go might be downgrading to just a cd/rw drive, although I don't know what you want in that area. Also, a less expensive case w/power supply might work too....I'd look at Antec's line. They seem to be one of the select few that include reliable power supplies with their cases. Good luck :)


$158.79/FreeSH AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3200BPBOX - Retail

$83.99/FreeSH ASUS A8N-VM CSM Socket 939 NVIDIA GeForce 6150 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

$42.49/$5.00SH LITE-ON Black ATAPI/E-IDE DVD Burner Model SHW-160P6S - Retail

$8.99/$5.00SH NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" Internal Floppy Drive - OEM

$55.29/FreeSH Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM

$43.39/FreeSH Kingston ValueRAM 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model KVR400X64C3A/512 - Retail

$77.99/$4.00SH eVGA 256-P2-N363-TX Geforce 6600LE 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

$86.99/not sure - SH Black Antec Solution Super Mid-Tower ATX Case SLK3800B, w/ 400W SmartPower 2.0 PSU, 120mm Fan, USB2.0
 
the above setup is nice, although the motherboard has onboard video and since ur buying a better vid card thats not needed so i suggest a different motherboard maybe the DFI Nf4 ultra infinity, as it is great for overclocking and your venice core cpu will overclock like a beast combined with that board.
 
Remember, this guy has a budget of around $550, if not exactly or under that. I could easily recommend better motherboards, let alone other components than I have....but BUDGET is the key-word here.

If I could spend $200 more on my own system, not very many of my components I listed would stay the same. As far as what I've heard, the ASUS motherboard is a great solid mobo for the price. If he was to upgrade to the DFI mobo you mentioned, at $130 he would be have to sacrifice quite a bit in at least 1-2 component areas, if not more. Most likely, the upgrade in the motherboard would not even come close to the negatives in downgrading his other stuff. The onboard video included on the Asus board means nothing to me personally, it just happens to be included on what seems to be one of the most reliable mobos w/ the features I need at the price I'm willing to pay for one.

On another note, I believe the Asus mobo I mentioned doesn't overclock all that well, so if he wants to overclock his comp well, that probably wouldn't be the right choice.
 
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(quote- Trizoy) "my suggestions would be get some more money, as you get what you pay for."

Obviously, to build a better computer (unless you have the best computer ever made), get some more money. Unfortunately for some of us, money doesn't grow on trees and we aren't willing to save for X amount of time for a better comp.

For what he wants, and to primarily game decently (not well, but "decently")...$550 should easily cover that.
 
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