[ucfswimmer]

Going to be putting together a system for a friend of mine, he's on a budget of $700. He's a pretty big gamer, probably not into overclocking yet, but the potential is there. This is the system that I recommended to him...does anyone have any other suggestions? I'd be much obliged. =)


CPU: Athlon XP 1800 (prolly going to use a speeze superrock HSF, he doesnt want his comp too loud...ugh)

MEM: Samsung 1x512MB PC2700

MOBO: Gigabyte 7VRXP (USB 2.0 is good, he prolly won't use the RAID, but it's there..the creative 128 on-board audio and NIC are nice features, and it does have some decent overclocking options..nothing crazy, but he doesn't need much at first since he isnt even into it yet. Stability-wise it has received good reviews, and performance-wise as well.)

HDD: IBM 1x80GB 120GXP (good performance, low cost, and supposedly these are more reliable than the 60GXP)

OPTICAL: Lite-On 40x12x48 CD-RW (good performance/cost ratio)

VIDEO: undecided as yet...what do you guys think? 64MB GF2 Ti for around $60-$70...or do you think he should for a 64MB GF4 Ti4200 (gonne abe around $170ish)

CASE/PSU: still to be decided by him...ill make sure he picks out something decent though.


What do you guys think about all that? Thanks for all replies...

~jeff~


edit: forgot to mention that with all of this stuff just mentioned it going to be right around $500 ± $25...the only 2 things not included is the vid card and case...so he's got about $200 t play with between the two...so it's going to be a cheap case/good vid card or decent case/decent vid card...unless you guys can think of something else.

[nikhsub1]

First I would go with an XP 1600, the new steppings are awesome, you can just run the FSB at like 165-170 without unlocking, and, you can save a few bucks too. I would get good cooling, get him an AX-7 ($28) and a 40-50CFM 80mm fan (@$10). I would avoid IBM and go for an 80 GB D740X Maxtor. Should be around the same price. PSU - I'd get a 400W Antec, should be cheap. Other than that, looks good!

[stool]

As he isn't into OC'ing, go for the fastest CPU affordable within the price constraints. For the rest, as he's a gamer, cheap case, good PSU, GF4-Ti4200. I stress a good PSU because its the foundation of a stable system.

[rogerdugans]

Originally posted by stool
As he isn't into OC'ing, go for the fastest CPU affordable within the price constraints. For the rest, as he's a gamer, cheap case, good PSU, GF4-Ti4200. I stress a good PSU because its the foundation of a stable system.

Agreed: build the system around the purpose its for.

Gaming system:
**needs primo video- probably the most expensive part of the system!
**Fast cpu- this doesn't need to be THE FASTEST for gaming, but faster IS better: bang for the buck comes in here (not up on current prices..) if an XP2000 is $180 and an 1800 is $140, the boost is probably NOT worth it- spend it on video or ram.
**Fast memory, plenty of it.
**fast disk drive and cd: another spot where speed is VITAL for top-notch gaming; load games and levels FASTER, less chance of stutter while reading cd, etc

And no matter HOW good the rest of the system is: if the power supply isn't up to the task, it will suck. Get a good one.

[David]

Why the PC2700 RAM? You aren't going to OC so why run the RAM and FSB asynchronously? Just get some good PC2100.

[ucfswimmer]

ok, how about opting for the "built by" ati radeon 8500le, then flashing it with the retail bios? newegg is selling them right now for $99, i figure that that is definately going to be the best bang for the buck...still keeping it low but it's going to be strong enough for most games and at least its got a programmable pixel shader.


as far as the pc2700 goes, well its out now and its right around the same price for the pc2100...so why opt to go lower? i know its not a huge performance increase, but for a decent mobo with the features that the gigabyte has, RAID, USB 2.0, SOUND and NIC, again it's the best bang fore the buck i've seen..and besides..the 1.1 revision of the gigabyte board has a 1/5 divider, so im going to try and run the fsb at 166 if possible...i know the hard drive should handle it from reports ive gotten saying its gone as high as 170, but we'll see...

prolly going to go with an enermax 365W PSU as that'll be enough for him for now and i like their dual fans...as for the case, like i said..thats going to be up to him

as for the processor...well its either $80 for an oem athlon xp 1600...or $120 for an oem athlon xp 1800 (gonna be another $20 jump to the 1900, so thats prolly not gonna be worth it)...i know that both have been overclocking well..but again seeing as how hes really not into it, what do you guys think? be safe and stable high, or gamble with going with the 1600 and hoping it'll OC to 1800 speeds with a 166fsb??

thanks again guys

~jeff~

[Krusty]

if he's on a tight budget, I don't really see why you are looking at geforce cards for a big gamer. Go for price there and get him an 8500. It's a helluva lot better than the gf2 you were looking at.

[VNg7353752]

The plan sounds alright! Get GeForce 4 TI4200 with no dvi and TV out (only $154 @ newegg.com). Since he's a gamer, he doesn't need all those extra video's out and LCD (Yikes! Very expensive). I believe ti4200 is better than ATI 8500 and they almost cost the same price.