new budget computer....maybe

[X24]

Ok, i might.....MIGHT....just get a new computer for gaming.
My parents are supplying some money becuase they want a new computer, and if i can find a good one, or maybe even build one if i am confident enough, then it will be a gaming one.

I have also looked at ibuypower and cyberpowersystems

Any suggestions? any parts suggestions if i have to build one?

 

[NeuromancerWGDD'U]

What's the budget? What kind of games do you want to play? AMD or Intel? We'll need a bit more info...

 

[X24]

Ok, Farcry, ut 2004 maybe 2007 if my graphics card will hold up to it, half life 2 maybe
so some of the newer ones, like an X700 should work perfect (my gaming laptop is getting either a 256mb X700 or 128mb 6600)
Amd is prefured, but not required.
hdd space i think should be around 160gb

budget-limited, $800 or less without moniter, the cheaper the better though.

 

[XHotxEx791]

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Socket 939 Processor-146
Arctic SIlver Premium Photosynthetic Silver Thermal Compound Arctic Silver 5-8
DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard-135
OCZ Enhanced Latency 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Copper Heatspreader Model OCZ4001024ELDC-K-128
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 ST380817AS 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive-62
NEC Beige IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3520A BG-41
Microsoft Windows XP Home w/Service Pack 2-92
Mitsumi USB2.0 Digital Card Reader/Writer W/FD INTERNAL, Model FA404A/404M-20
eVGA 6600GT 128MB DDR3/PCI-E/TV-Out/Dual-DVI-169
ENERMAX Whisper II EG465P-VE FMA(24) ATX12V 460W Power Supply-76
Total $877.



Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive-123
COOLER MASTER KHC-L91-U2 92mm Ball Cooling Fan/Heatsink-44
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Gamer Edition-113

These last 3 items are something you might want to look into when you have more money.


Everything is in that list, unless you need a monitor, speakers, keyboard/mouse. Which if you already have a computer, you can re-use.
ROger

 

[Georgous]

This is my suggestion: go to your local computer store and look for parts that roughly match these descriptions:
* The cheapest case/power supply combo you can find
* An HDD of about 80Gb (I personally have trouble filling my 40Gb one, but I don't download a lot)
* A motherboard with built in sound and ethernet
* A processor with a speed of at least 2-3GHz (Make sure it fits the motherboard)
* Some RAM sticks totalling 256-512Mb (Make sure they fit the motherboard)
* And the best video card your parents will let you buy.

Unless you aren't allowed to do so, steal the optical drives from your old computer and use them. You might be able to use the old computer's case too.

Tell us how you went when you've bought it

Edit: I'm Australian, so I don't know what the prices are like in your country. See how you go with my advice.

 

[Platinum]

I actually just configured a computer like 5 minutes ago. It's under $1,000 before shipping and tax, but here are the specs and links for the products:

Case http://www.xoxide.com/nzxt-nemesis-elite-case-black.html $109.99
PSU http://www.xoxide.com/twv480.html $84.99
DVD/CD Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827135033 $52.99
Mobo + CPU http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1428524&CatId=1235 $348.99
Hard Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822144391 $125.00
Memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145505 $88.50
Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102361 $188.00

Total: $998.46

Details

Case

NZXT Nemesis Elite Gaming Case - Black​

PSU

Thermaltake Pure Power 480W PSU with Wattage Viewer​

DVD/CD Burner

ASUS Black IDE DVD Burner Model DRW-1608P - OEM
WRITE Speed
DVD+R: 16x
DVD+RW: 8x
DVD-R: 16x
DVD-RW: 6x
CD-R: 40x
CD-RW: 24x
DVD+R DL: 6x
DVD-R DL : 6x
READ Speed
DVD-ROM :16x
CD-ROM: 40x​

Mobo + CPU

Gigabyte 8I848P-G Intel Socket 478 ATX MotherBoard and an Intel Pentium 4 3.40GHz Processor​

Hard Drive

Western Digital Caviar SE 300GB 3.5" IDE Ultra ATA100 Hard Drive - OEM​

Memory

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM System Memory - Retail​

Video Card

ATI 100-435105 Radeon 9800PRO 256MB 256-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail​

Other stuff like cables, floppy, I just pull out of my old system to use. Those are my basic parts that I'm going to use. Maybe an upgrade, depending on how much money I actually have.

 

[Cloud]

You could also get one of the cheap AMD 64 e machines, and buy a good video card..it might be easier that way since you don't need to build your own...(sometimes you end up don't know what to do with new computer parts)

 

[Geoff]

.

I have also looked at ibuypower and cyberpowersystems

My parents bought our computer from cyberpowersystems, they have good choices, good prices, although whenwe got it there was a problem with the motherboard. You should build your own.

 

[Modoman]

you may not want to buy a socket 478, because they are being phased out, and it will be hard to find a replacement mobo in a few months... i dunno, just my experience from tryin to find a replacement board

 

[X24]

OK, thank u very much, i was looking at somebody else's setup and they are getting it almost like i like it, except they have a 10000 rpm drive and a worse video card then i want, so if i switch it with a 7200 drive and a better card it should be within budget

 

[elmarcorulz]

dont, as previously suggested, get the cheapest case/PSU combo. this will almost certainly completely mess up your whole set up. you can buy a cheap case if you want, although a gaming one with lots of fan spaces would be preffered. and look for a PSU with a minimum of 24A on the 12V rail. although more would be safer. if its going to be a gaming rig then you would want to go with AMD over intel. a 10000rpm drive is unneccessary, a big sata 7200rpm would be sufficient.

 

[alanuofm]

try looking for parts at newegg and zipzoomfly and compare the prices. sometimes shipping can make a big difference too.
XHotxEx791 has a pretty good setup. prolly can get rid of the card reader and windows (if you already have windows on your current computer), and get corsair value ram. then you can get a better video card. i suggest the geforce 6800 which should drop in price within the next few months because the 7800 just came out.

 

[Georgous]

dont, as previously suggested, get the cheapest case/PSU combo. this will almost certainly completely mess up your whole set up. you can buy a cheap case if you want, although a gaming one with lots of fan spaces would be preffered. and look for a PSU with a minimum of 24A on the 12V rail. although more would be safer.

I don't play a lot of games, but my family and freinds do and they don't have any problems with a cheap case/PSU combo. Personally, I think good cooling and power supply are over appreciated in home PCs.

 

[X24]

OK, my parents will put down up to like $650 if it comes with a moniter......but they said they don't want me building it myself........so i'm stuck with having to get it from cyberpowersystem.com
Ohwell, it should still be easy to upgrade which i should gain experience from!

 

[elmarcorulz]

I don't play a lot of games, but my family and freinds do and they don't have any problems with a cheap case/PSU combo. Personally, I think good cooling and power supply are over appreciated in home PCs.

trust me, you ask anybody on here and they'll tell you not to get a cheap case/psu combo. for more info readPSU 101

 

[XHotxEx791]

suggest you get the t6522
Emachines
AMD AThlon 64 3500+ (2.2Ghz, 2200MHZ)
1GB PC3200 RAM
200GB Hard Drive
DL DVD+_RW Burner
Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition with tv tuner/remote
ATI 200M GFX with avilable PCI-Express (x16) slot
17"CRT screen
Canon Pixma iP1600 printer
avilable at circuit city after rebates for $699

Upgrade the psu, which the motherboard isn't proprietary. ANd gfx card. There you go. Or stick with what you have and just grab a 6600gt. Some ppl in other forums have done that without problems. (PSU is powerful enough).
ROger

 

[alanuofm]

never liked emachines. much rather go with a dell

 

[X24]

LOL, Xhot, this cr@ppy computer i am on right now is an emachines. But that actually sounds pretty nice......i wonder if it has an extra hard drive slot thingy.....?
I know that i can get them talked into that, but idk if they'd like me shoving a new graphics card in it, ohwell, they don't HAVE to know about it. Also, i wouldn't have to do that right away either, maybe finish another pc project first then shove in a new hard drive if i can and a 6600gt or X800 in........or something different, idk.

 

[diduknowthat]

ok, I love doing this. Here's what I think you should get.

CPU/Motherboard: Asus A8N-SLI/AMD Athlon 64 3200 939pin CPU--$330 ( http://www.smksuperstore.com/catalog/viewitem.asp?ID=13380)
Heatsink/thermal paste: Ultra Fan-Heatsink with Copper Core/Arctic Silver Alumina--$35 (http://www.smksuperstore.com/catalog/viewitem.asp?ID=13380)
RAM: Ramses 1GB PC3200 400MHz DDR (no name brand)--$63 ( http://www.buyaib.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2074)
HD: Magnetic Data Technology - SATA 80GB 8MB--$53 ( http://3btech.net/whlamadate80.html)
Videocard: ASUS Geforce 6800GT 128MB AGP--$280 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121177&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=Video+Cards)
Drives: SONY 16X DVD-ROM--$26 ( http://www.3gplaza.com/estore/control/Computer3G/productdetails?id=18679&srccode=PW)
Case/psu: Xoxide X-Static Case - Black/Turbolink 350 watt psu--$40 (http://xoxide.com/x-static-case-black.html)

Total: $827
Sure they're all now name brands but if you don't overclock the comp it should hold up.

 

[X24]

IDK, i kinda wanted a dvd rw, and a bigger hard drive, and that emachines looks good with its tv tuner in it.