I have a dilemma. As a knowledgable but inexperienced Pc enthusiast. I have always wanted to ascend from this 2.4Ghz Celeron Dell POS to a decent gaming PC. I'm not looking for speakers/screen... etc. I have all that and then some. I have about $500.00 that may not even exist(stingy parents). I have a system thrown together already but I'm not sure. I don't want to shoot for 60 FPS on F.E.A.R. in 1600 x 1200 or anything... just wanna play Farcry and Half-Life 2. Here's what I got so far. http://www.newegg.com/product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103606&CMP=OTC http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820161626 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130260 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813190002 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822135106 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827131417 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811190010 Like I said... don't wanna blow away the competition. Just wanna get reasonably good frames on some newer games. This would be my first custom build. I am nevertheless intimately familiar with the insides of computers after countless tinkerings with every PC I have ever owned. I am also computer literate so don't be afraid to use a few big words when helping me. Thanks in advance for your trouble.
If I were you I would spend an extra $25 and jump up to a 6600GT. If you can swing it also look for a good quality power supply.
Hey, how's this?... 256MB version is a ways up there and I'm pretty much locked to that $500 thing. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127147R About the PSU... Hows this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817154013 dunno... server grade...
A few things: 1. I've not heard of Allied, so I'd be a bit wary unless you can get someone's opinion 2. a 6600GT will stnd you in far better stead 3. If you can stomach it, a Socket 939 option will be better too. I'm aware that you're capped to $500 but 754 is rapidly becoming extinct as far as performance goes.
Ok, I really appreciate your comment, but unfortunately juat one person can't really speak volumes about a brand. We've got one argument for, but without any form of unanimity we can't really say yes or no.
OK about the PSU. I've got a buddy who builds his own computers and he says that Allied is okay... And yes I agree on the 6600GT. It would put me in a far better position. I looked at a review for that particular one and found it to perform marginally better than other ones like it. About the motherboard/processor bit. I AM aware of the advantage of Socket 939(particularly expansion possibilities) but I AM also short on cash. The 754 is fine for me. I might not be able to run an Athlon FX-57 or anything(dunno if that's Socket 939...) but I can still upgrade to a 3500+ or so. According to Tomshardware.com the 3000+ venice core out performs the 3.2GHz P4 EE which is good enough for me. About the video card though... will the lower memory truly cripple me at all? I heard most of todays most graphically intensive games use at most 50MB of texture memory. So tell me if I might be happier with the 256 regular or the 128 GT?
With a GPU in the range of the 6600GT, 128MB is more than adequate. In reality, the performance of the card underneath will be more of a problem before not having enough memory. If you can find an A64 3000+ in 754, great, but go with the best you can get, because Socket 754 will be reserved for purely budget systems once Socket AM2 arrives (The next generation of Socket 940 which new processors will be built on - A64 3500,3800,4000 X2 4200,4400,4800,5000)
I see what you mean. Maybe I'll take that into account for future upgrades as I expand. Maybe switch everything over to a new Mobo later? I know the industry grows fast so even if you were a multimillionaire you would never have the most up to date computer. I guess you are right about the 6600GT. I think it's more than enough. Well, I guess that wraps it up. I'm pretty happy with the system laid out before me. I'll keep watching this thread if you guys wanna add anything else. I'll probably be able to weasel this rig out of my parental units in about 3 weeks or so. Thanks everyone for the input.
You're welcome. The Sempron will eventually move to the Socket AM2 platform, so 754's future looks a little bleak. If you were a millionaire, you could have the most up to date computer, but you'd be swapping components every week!
Never mind. As long as there isn't any more of it. By the way, about socket 754 and 939, the current processors available where I am for those sockets are: 754: Sempron64 2800+, Sempron64 3000+, Sempron64 3100+, Sempron64 3300+, Sempron64 3400+, Athlon64 2800+, Athlon64 3000+, Athlon64 3200+ 939: Athlon64 3200+, Athlon64 3500+, Athlon64 3700+, Athlon64 3800+, Athlon64 4000+, plus of course the FX-55, FX-57 and the X2 series At present, it looks like the sempron range is your limit for Socket 754...
Most of your choicew I like for your desired needs even though I would still have gotten a 939 pin motherboard such as Asrock which supports both SLI and AGP graphic cards, I definitely wouldn't get that cheap case/psu combo though. Ok I know that you don't want the most stable psu or flashy case but you could go to your local independent computer store and get a similar case and atleast save 15.99 in shipping. Personally I would not spend almost as much on shipping as I did for the case too. Plus with that case I shows that it has a side window but when you scroll down and read the specs it says that it doesn't have one so I would be leary of that. Other than that I would get everything you said. But if you just want to enjoy your gaming then and not much else then why not get 512mb of DDR-3200 Ram such as OCZ Value Series(N82E16820227037) for 38.99 and then if you wish to add more later when you have more money then do so. Plus that graphic card you chose is great but you don't want the best gaming system right? You just want to enjoy yourself and get decent frame rates right? How about Sapphire Radeon X1300 256mb ddr 128bit PCI express-16 (Newegg item# N82E16814102001) for 84.00 and 4.75 shipping. Get great performance. Has core clock speed of 450 and Memory of 500mhz, Shader Model 3.0 support, Open GL 1.5, Direct X9, and is slim so to improve air flow. Plus you would save about 20 dollars.
