Need help building a gaming computer

[dan2071]

As the title says I'm trying to build a gaming computer, and I need some advice on what you guys would think is best. I'm trying to keep it as cheap as possible but I don't want to short change myself either. So here is what I've got so far:

The only sure thing I have right now is my matrox 120GB 7200rpm hard drive(which I had to fist fight my way through Best Buy at 6 am to get for $50 brand new) The rest is just what I'm leaning towards as of now.

AMD Athlon XP 2500-2800

RADEON 9000 (or higher) 128MB video card, or a Cheaper Ge Force 4 128MB video card

300W case W/fan

PC2700 DDR 256 or 512 MB memory(I'm not sure which, is there a "visible" difference between the two?)

I'll probably pull my sound blaster PCI 128 out of my old PC unless they've gotten a whole lot cheaper.

I'm looking into bare bones systems because I can pull all of the other stuff out of my old PC and I'll be buying everything else off of pricewatch.com, as I'm trying to keep the total cost under $300 (like it will happen) but at least as close as possible.

The big problem for me is Motherboards, I don't know too much about these really so any suggestions would be helpful.

But any advice on anything at all would be greatly appreciated as well.

 

[Cosmic~Fury]

go with:

AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton
ATi Radeon 9600Pro or Nvidia GeForce FX 5600 Ultra (I recommend ATi)
1GB(2x512MB) Kingston HyperX DDR400/PC3200, or to save money, DDR333/PC2700
Get a new soundcard...Creative Labs SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS

and get the mobo after you've decided on the other hardware to find one that will support your hardware decisions. Good brands are Asus, Abit, Gigabyte, MSI, SiS/Via/KT, Soyo, and Shuttle, Epox, and ECS.

 

[Borgmeister]

Well, if u got the cash go the ati, hell go the ati anyways if u want dx9, otherwise u gotta go for the uburkind ti4200 but that is only 8.1 compatible.

As for processor, try and get a 2500 barton core, they knock around for nowt these days and are wonderfully overclockable.

As for a mobo, i have nothing bad to say about the asus a7v8x-x

i know its only the via 400 chipset, but seriuosly u wont find a more serious gamer than me, if u can afford it yeah get the kingston ram, but if the purse is pulling tight get some 2700 or 3200 ddr OEM stuff.


Again back to the cards i personally reccommend HIS(hightech infomation systems) cards, im running a 9800 pro iceq with dhes heat control. its a great overclocker, ive got mine up to 9800 pro xt speeds with ease, but im dubious as to wheter i shud go higher, altho i emailed hightech and they said since the card is desinged for ocing as long as u do it slowly and carefully, u shud be sorted.

 

[Bleep]

If you're going to go with a 9600 series, might as well make it the XT version.

 

[dan2071]

Ok, after doing some more research I have narrowed it down to this setup:

AMD athlon XP 2500+ (barton core) (I got the OEM so I could install a better fan and heat sink, Arctic silver 3 and a cooler master)

Gigabyte SiS 748 Mboard , or an Asus KT400

Either the Gigabyte GeForce fx 5200 or Radeon 9200

and Kreton 512MB DDR400

Now how does that sound? I'm going to OC the procesor and videos card so lots of fans of course too!