PC Building Challenge

[vanquished]

I started a thread like this on another site before they banned me.
My friend wants a decent gaming computer, and he does not have alot of money.
My challenge to you is to build a moderate gaming pc for 700 dollars or less.

He does not need a monitor, a keyboard, a mouse. etc.... And he doesn't need a big HDD, A Good Soundcard, A cool case, etc....
He needs a good Gpu, and a good Cpu, you can even skimp on the ram since he can upgrade it later.

Good Luck
Thanks Alot
- JAck

 

[4W4K3]

Wait, do you mean build it...and then just give it to him? A PC is not a necessity, unless this kid is starving or needs medical attention, he can bite the bullet and work for money.

My PC will be less than $700...(sig) do I win?

 

[vanquished]

By not a lot of money i mean hes lazy and he wont even ask for the money, im really taking it into my own hands because hes an idiot and keeps saying he wants one. I meant like configure it online and then he could buy it himself.....
Also he comes from a rich town so it is a neccessity to him. and me and everyone. anyways......

 

[4W4K3]

Oh, so just a spec list then. Well a rig similiar to the one in my sig would be a decent gaming computer, you just have to get a case, PSU, OS, optical drive. That should put it right around $700 I think.

Opteron 144 - $150
DFI Mobo - $95
6600GT - $130
1GB Ram - $120
80GB HDD - $50
Case and PSU - $75
OS - $75
Optical drive - $40
Total = $735

Of course with the holdiay's there are bound to be deals/rebates...so I think it's doable. Cut down on the RAM (maybe 512MB ValueRAM) and it'll probably be more like $670.

 

[vanquished]

I like you rlists, although i think i would substitute the amd 64 3200+ for the opteron, its around the same price.
thanks alot, i will show him this.
As for all the people who are only participating in the poll, i would really love to hear from you.
- Jack

 

[vanquished]

I would certainly put the money in the bank, then in like 15 years take it out after a cd and you could buy everyone even nicer things, and youself as well, and still keep alot of it in the bank. Am i right?
Come one guys think harder about the future.
Invest!
- jack

 

[4W4K3]

Well, consider the 3200+ has only 512kb L2 cache, and the Opteron 144 has 1MB L2 cache. This can make for a vast improvement in performance, for almost the exact same price. That's one of the main reasons I went with the Opteron, plus they overclock well.

 

[vanquished]

Alright alright, i see your point,how long has the opteron been around?
Im just used to the amd 64,
I have an amd 64 3200 in my laptop and an amd 64 x2 4600 in my desktop so....
but i like the better cache.
which do u think is better for gaming?
- Jack

 

[vanquished]

Your such a good person Don't Hack Hehe.
- Jack

 

[4W4K3]

Opteron's aren't too old, but they won't survive until 07' (as I don't think any current processors will.) They are essentially rebadged SanDiego's, just somewhat diffent (i couldn't tell you how) and they overclock better. CAYBE steppings are AWESOME, but have since been discontinued. You can still easily get ~2.8GHz though with the current steppings.

For gaming I'd say they are pretty much equal, the extra cache makes a difference of course but not a HUGE one. I think you will see it better used for multi-tasking I think. Since they are so close in price, that's why I recommend them. It's pretty much a free upgrade in L2 cache.

 

[vanquished]

Then its confirmed, you've sold me. for the same price as the amd 64 ill tell him to get the opteron. Ill assemble everything for him as he knows very little about the computers themselves, he just wants to walk around and shoot people.
- Jack
would it make sense to get less ram and a smaller Hdd, i mean would you save enough money for it to be worth it.
My friend just has a problem spending big amounts of money at one time. As for spending small amounts (100 dollar) at different times, he seems to always get the money.

i have a question for you though. how do you get it to say your pc specs at the bottom of your posts every time?
- Jack

 

[vanquished]

you know what really pissed me off?
I used to be a member or Pc- Mech with a lot of posts, then out of the blue i get banned because i said if you suck with computers get a dell. They said it was discouraging to "newbies".

I mean come on.....
- Jack

 

[vanquished]

By the way i think i figured out my previous question. Do you simpply put it in your signature, the pc specs?

- Jack

 

[4W4K3]

Well, the smaller the HDD the less space obviously. If he has huge collections of movies, pictures, games, etc. then a smaller HDD might not be good. However if he is more like my mom who doesn't save alot of stuff besides documents and word files, a 40GB drive should be fine for a good long time.

512MB PC3200 ValueRAM is cheap, but still OK for gaming. If he's looking for a POWERFUL computer he has to buckle down and spend more of course, but this is more of a decent/budget gaming rig. 512MB should be enough for intense gaming, just don't expect 2 second loading for games, or being able to run 17 applications at once lol.

You can setup your "Signature" in your User CP panel. It's on the left side of the screen in there. Just trype in what you want, and Preview it to make sure it looks OK. It'll follow you around after that at the bottom of your posts

 

[vanquished]

WHOA!!!!
LOOK at howmany people have viewed this thread. I guess its popular eh?
Too bad none of them will actually input anything to the discussion.
- Jack

 

[4W4K3]

lol they are just shy i guess.

I chose to put it in the bank, so I could invest most of it, and spend some of it.

I'd never buy an overly expensive car, maybe jsut a "new" $30K car if Iever felt like it, but not likely. A boat...never, not even if i could. Perhaps some for charity, however I find sending them used clothes and the like is better, I've been doing that for years. Of course I'd buy my GF some nice presents, help my parents pay off this new house sooner, give my sister some moving out money, and help my GF's mom with her bills a bit. I'd buy myself a new PC, and a decent/used sports car I could work on for fun. Rest I'd save.

 

[vanquished]

I have another friend who wants a computer so i configured this for him what do you guys think?

Qty Unit Price

101571 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $109.99

246498 DFI NF4 SLI INFINITY nForce4 SLI Athlon 64(FX)/Sempron Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $120.95

321037 XFX PVT42GUAD7 GeForce 6800 GS PCI Express 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out & DVI Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $219.99

80098-35 Corsair VS1GB533D2 1GB DDR2-533 PC2-4200 Value Select Memory Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $69.90

80721-5 AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $283.00

Subtotal $803.83

ATRIX CSCI-L8013-C43 Black/Silver Zinc plated treatment, S.E.C.C. steel sheeting FCC class CB&CE approved ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply - Retail

So what do you all think?
- Jack

* Note! Subtotal provided does not include any tax or shipping fees that may apply.

 

[vanquished]

Yah you and i made the same decision to save it.
- Jack

 

[shupola]

I would certainly put the money in the bank, then in like 15 years take it out after a cd and you could buy everyone even nicer things, and youself as well, and still keep alot of it in the bank. Am i right?
Come one guys think harder about the future.
Invest!
- jack

well, think about this.........you would have to compare the rate of inflation to the rate of interest over the 15 year period......you could actually be losing money in a way if inflation was greater than interest. it would still be a lot of money nevertheless. and with the gas prices the way they are now, just wait 15 years.

 

[4W4K3]

I have another friend who wants a computer so i configured this for him what do you guys think?

Qty Unit Price

101571 Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 ST3250823AS 250GB Serial ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive w/8MB Buffer ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $109.99

246498 DFI NF4 SLI INFINITY nForce4 SLI Athlon 64(FX)/Sempron Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $120.95

321037 XFX PVT42GUAD7 GeForce 6800 GS PCI Express 256MB DDR Video Card w/TV-Out & DVI Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $219.99

80098-35 Corsair VS1GB533D2 1GB DDR2-533 PC2-4200 Value Select Memory Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $69.90

80721-5 AMD Athlon 64 3800+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Retail ***Free 2nd Day*** 1 $283.00

Subtotal $803.83

ATRIX CSCI-L8013-C43 Black/Silver Zinc plated treatment, S.E.C.C. steel sheeting FCC class CB&CE approved ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 480W Power Supply - Retail

So what do you all think?
- Jack

* Note! Subtotal provided does not include any tax or shipping fees that may apply.

DDR2 is only for Intel's currently, you'll have to pick different standard DDR RAM for that rig.

An SLi board isn't necessary unless he has 2 video cards, so you can save some money nd jsut get a standard DFI non-SLi board with 1 PCI-E 16X slot in it.

If he doesn't have an operating system he'll have to buy one of course. Otherwise I think it looks pretty good.