Need help, again. Haha.

[Nasareth]

Ok, I've got a quote on a good comp, but unfortunately it's about 400$ cdn out of my price range. I'm going to list the components and hope somebody here can downgrade some of them (or upgrade if really needed, im not sure about the mobo to be honest) and get it within my price range:

CPU: AMD Athlon XP 2600+

Memory : 2x Corsair 512mb pc32000

HD: Western Digital Caviar 80mb w/8meg cache 7200rpm

Case: Turbo Gamer X-Pider 420watt LEDfans

Video: Ati Radeon 9800 pro 128mb

Mobo: SOLTEK 75FRN2-L NFORCE2 SOCKETA DUAL DDR AGP8X 5PCI ATA133 SOUND LAN

DVD: Liteon 16x

[powdahound]

You could get a 9700 pro and just get a normal case to save a little money. Would be good if you posted prices as well so we can check those out...

[Daleon]

This is what I priced him out:

89 - blue case http://www.buyxtremegear.com/bluturcasxpi.html
47 - blue cdrw http://www.buyxtremegear.com/48xcdrwblu.html
12 - blue floppy http://www.buyxtremegear.com/mitfdblu.html
12 - blue kb http://www.buyxtremegear.com/kbblu.html
365 - 9800 Pro 128 http://www.buyxtremegear.com/9800pro128.html
198 - 2x512 pc3200 http://www.buyxtremegear.com/cor3200512.html
---
716

103 - 2600/333 retail http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/Produc...ctCode=80173-R
119 - abit nfs-7 mb http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=240109
88 - WD 8meg 80gig http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/Produc...=101206-315002
---
1026

The case is actually about the best deal there. If you need to drop about $400 cdn, about $250 US?, hmm. I hate to drop the 9800 Pro. The 9700 Pro performance wise is fine, I just think its a buggy chip/board. Mine locked quite a bit, as have tons of ppl here and others I hear about all the time. The 9800 Pro, rock rock rock solid, never locks. But I don't see pulling $250 from anywhere else. You can save about $100 by dropping down to a cheaper board, Epox 8RDA+. Some cheaper ram, TwinMos Windbond pc2700, and a XP2500.

If your gonna drop the video... suggest getting something that will get the job done for now and then make it your first upgrade priority as soon as you can. There are some 9700 Pro's going for close to $200 these days, if you can get that I guess you should go for it. If not, a 9500/9600 Pro.

[Nasareth]

How does a Asus GeForce4 Ti4800SE sound for a vid card?

[Prowler]

Originally posted by Nasareth
How does a Asus GeForce4 Ti4800SE sound for a vid card?

Very nice card. IF you have the money the 5900 Ultra is out., but the 4800 will play PS very well.

[Daleon]

You know I am not totally sure where the 4800 stacks up against the 4600. It should be better, but I've never really look at the specs that close. But many places sell them cheaper than 4600's... maybe just b/c its newer I don't know. But if its close to 4600, and its 8x, it should play fairly well.

[Jounar]

Memory : 2x Corsair 512mb pc32000 - this is the one to skimp on I reckon. Unless your going to overclock like mad, go for the cheeper DDR ram like TwinMOS or even unbranded for the time being. Never skimp on a mainboard as it always comes back to haunt you.

Case would be another option if you are going to build the pc yourself. You could get a cheep case for the time being and then the one you want later.

I would if in your shoes, cut down on the ram and case, as all the other parts will make a serious difference to your gaming where the case and ram will not be noticable at all.

[Daleon]

Did you check that case Jounar? Its $89 for a gorgeous painted case, side panel, 4 led fans, 420 watt psu, etc. It don't get much better than that. Even a cheap pos case with anything near a 420 watt psu is going to cost close to $65-70 and prolly won't have near the fans and defintely look anywhere near as good. If I hadn't paid $200 for a Thermaltake Xaser III V2000A case just recently I would be all over one of these things.

As for RAM, I really hate buying cheap junk. Your better off buying 512 of good stuff, and another 512 later. But you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Jounar]

Dont get me wrong I understand the deal he is getting but he seemed to want advice on what to cut out to save cash while causing as little performance loss to his system as a whole.

The was I see it, a kick ass system in a crap case is still a kick as if ugly system and a cool case with crap system in it, is only cool untill you turn it on.

Good ram is all well and good but will not effect how his system runs PS, it will just give nicer benchmark results.

Just my two cents.

[Agathon]

Hello,

Asking to lower that price by even 200 dollars is asking for a lot my friend! hehehe You have some really good prices researched there, and I doubt you'll be able to do much better. Everything listed is going to be pretty standard price wise without major decreases in quality. What machine do you use now? I'd recommend foregoing the fancy case personally and using your existing CDROM, case, and Floppy drive. Upgrade your power supply though, but not having to buy a new cdrom, case, and floppy will save you close to 150 right there. When it comes to gaming, don't get sucked into the pretty and fancy when your budget cannot afford it. ;-) I'd rather get a fast uber machine that is ugly as sin than a junky machine that is pretty.

Is this an option for you? When you get extra money later on, you can always upgrade your case and stuff. It is just a thought though...

For example:

60 - Decent 400+W Power Supply
365 - 9800 Pro 128 http://www.buyxtremegear.com/9800pro128.html
198 - 2x512 pc3200 http://www.buyxtremegear.com/cor3200512.html
103 - 2600/333 retail http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/Produ...uctCode=80173-R
119 - abit nfs-7 mb http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/Produ...ductCode=240109
88 - WD 8meg 80gig http://www.googlegear.com/jsp/Produ...e=101206-315002
---
total = 933

8-)