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Cheapest A64 system... suggestions

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yo4444

Member
Joined
May 24, 2004
I have a customer build that requires an A64 system for as cheap as possible, still able to run todays game/ possibly tomorrows as well. He will do no overclocking, and is not an avid gamer, but needs something mediocre for his kis gaming. Don't need to run games on high settings..

This is what I have for an outline so far..
socket 754 cpu and board.. cheaper than 939

gig gskill 3200 or so at $75 shipped

Sapphire 9550? its about $60 shipped and has dx9. Iv'e heard its a good budget card

Cheesy case and 400 watt psu.. sparkle or something

80-120 gig ide 8M cache

He wants dvd burner, so maybe cheap one at about 55 shipped.

Any suggestions? specifics?
 
First of all I'd get a 9500Pro, not 9550.
Second, this will depend on whether the guy will want to upgrade later on, or will he just get a new system? Because if there's a chance he'll want to upgrade it'd be a very good idea to go for a s939 system.
 
He wants a cheap system, might even wanna get him a sempron for below $100 and a 9500. get him value ram, not the expensive gskill tccd
 
9500Pro? Your joking right.

Theres no way in hell your gonna find a store selling those surely.

2800+ Newcastle and Chaintech NF3, cheap and still good.
 
Smokey21 said:
9500Pro? Your joking right.

Theres no way in hell your gonna find a store selling those surely.

2800+ Newcastle and Chaintech NF3, cheap and still good.

9500pro's are still around. Maybe not in retail stores, but they are easy to find on ebay or the classified section here.

Just a simple search on ebay and look how many lol...

9500pro's
 
well i think you could get a cheap 939 try the 3000 64 with a cheap gigabyte nf3 don't get that darn g skill you ain't overclocking, leave that to someone who needs it (theres a shortage) try the mushkin value ram its cheap and reliable with the vid card its really up to you, 9550 is good, but you can get a 5500 too. then again radeon 9 series chips are better than nvidia (sorry nvidia fans, don't worry 6 series is kicking ati's behind right now
 
Fireball_dbz said:
well i think you could get a cheap 939 try the 3000 64 with a cheap gigabyte nf3 don't get that darn g skill you ain't overclocking, leave that to someone who needs it (theres a shortage) try the mushkin value ram its cheap and reliable with the vid card its really up to you, 9550 is good, but you can get a 5500 too. then again radeon 9 series chips are better than nvidia (sorry nvidia fans, don't worry 6 series is kicking ati's behind right now


the g.skill hes refering too isnt for overclocking
 
hawtrawkr said:
the g.skill hes refering too isnt for overclocking
ah now ic theres this gskill for $69 at newegg, yah i guess you can go for that its cheap and has tight timings... but corsair value select is cheaper, i guarantee you, theres a cheaper brand, one of the generic rams... pc club has lots of those..
 
i would go with this:
3000+ winnie and the epox board, total is 270 ish
i would just get him a 9600XT, the 9500pro is a well regard card and it's close to the 9600XT but are you willing to buy from ebay? you can get the XT for about 130 from bestbuy rite now. Personaly i think it's a bit overprice, but it's a nice card, or you can just jump to the 6600GT.
Get the cosair value if you don't OC. but for a good setup, i would just do this. 250 X 9 and set the ram on the 4:5 ratio, most if not all 3000+ winnie will do this speed. You hear alot of stuff that's bad about winnie, but the reality is most of us wants 2.7 ghz, i'm sure your friend will hit 2.2~ ghz no problem.
Get the cosair value ram, they hit tight timing for the rated speed.
The super flower 520 watt for 40 bucks shipped at directron is a nice PSU, it has fan speed controler, 520 watt, and it's made by TTGI, not as good as fortron but it'll hold it's own, especially at 520watt compare to a 400 watt. Plus you won't get a 400 watt fotron for 40 buck shipped.
 
Overclocker550 said:
He wants a cheap system, might even wanna get him a sempron for below $100 and a 9500. get him value ram, not the expensive gskill tccd
The gskill was $75.00 shipped, wasn't the tccd.
 
Fireball_dbz said:
ah now ic theres this gskill for $69 at newegg, yah i guess you can go for that its cheap and has tight timings... but corsair value select is cheaper, i guarantee you, theres a cheaper brand, one of the generic rams... pc club has lots of those..
The cheaper corsair was cas3, the cas 2 corsair was more expensive.. that was my factor in choosing the gskill.
 
warlock110 said:
i would go with this:
3000+ winnie and the epox board, total is 270 ish
i would just get him a 9600XT, the 9500pro is a well regard card and it's close to the 9600XT but are you willing to buy from ebay? you can get the XT for about 130 from bestbuy rite now. Personaly i think it's a bit overprice, but it's a nice card, or you can just jump to the 6600GT.
Get the cosair value if you don't OC. but for a good setup, i would just do this. 250 X 9 and set the ram on the 4:5 ratio, most if not all 3000+ winnie will do this speed. You hear alot of stuff that's bad about winnie, but the reality is most of us wants 2.7 ghz, i'm sure your friend will hit 2.2~ ghz no problem.
Get the cosair value ram, they hit tight timing for the rated speed.
The super flower 520 watt for 40 bucks shipped at directron is a nice PSU, it has fan speed controler, 520 watt, and it's made by TTGI, not as good as fortron but it'll hold it's own, especially at 520watt compare to a 400 watt. Plus you won't get a 400 watt fotron for 40 buck shipped.
He will do NO overclocking, and just wants enough video to let his kids play up to date games with mid settings or so. It's more for an AVG. user, little internet, home business, perhaps a little inventory control, picture editing, and kids gaming a bit.

Futre upgradability IS an issue, but pricing is as well, so he will forgo the upgradability for a good reduction in price. His original range was aroung $500.00( I suggested socket a sempron for that range) and I am now trying to find something CHEAP in a64 for price comparison.
Perhaps I'll give him a decent 939 comparison as well, but I don't think it'll fly despite the futureproof issue.
 
Get a sempron 2800+ and a refurbished socket 754 nforce3 250 board from newegg. I got it and it is very cheap and very effective.
 
Fireball_dbz said:
well he said he wants to keep it for a while didn't he, like a future proof system so i think a sempron won't really cut it....

Well yeah but some Semprons are socket 754 so he can always upgrade to a A64 later. From what you describe I'd just make him a Socket A combo. It sounds like he wants cheap more than anything else.

What kind of system is he upgrading from anyway?
 
I would personally get a cheap Gigabyte s939 mobo and a 3000+ winchester
this will give him a much better upgrade path in the future, and not cost too much.
 
Well to tell you the truth, there is some light at the end of the tunnel, the new A64 Mobiles will soon be released, so s754 will still have some upgrade path ahead of it, but it'll be reserved to motherboards that can run mobile A64s. For boards that can't s754 is at the end of its life, as only AMD Semprons and A64 mobiles will be using this platform.
 
Skeen said:
Well yeah but some Semprons are socket 754 so he can always upgrade to a A64 later. From what you describe I'd just make him a Socket A combo. It sounds like he wants cheap more than anything else.

What kind of system is he upgrading from anyway?

you actually make sense, if he wants it cheap, fast and cool, why don't he just try a socket A system, get a 2500 and oc it 3200 or more, that will cost him less......
 
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