Decisions, decisions...

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

Stryker

Baseband Member
Messages
42
I didn't anticipate having to build my own computer - really, I didn't.

I had the computer I'm typing this on built by someone who works for the IT department at a fairly important company, but it looks like everything I said went in one ear and out the other.
When the computer started freezing at random intervals (without giving the blue screen of death) more and more frequently, I called a local computer company and had one of their techies come over to take a look at my machine. Much to my chagrin, it turned out that something very, very bad happened to my motherboard because of the complete lack of ventilation in the case. Someone who knew the guy who built my case told me to quit fussing about it and just swap in a new HD - what, so it could burn out again? Yeah right...

So I've got to get a new machine so's I can go to some LAN parties when I head back to college, but like most college students...I'm on a budget. A budget of around $600, to be precise. $600 for a brand-name PC will get you an outdated processor, a dinosaur of a video card, and maybe a single microscopic fan to cool the chunky beige case - and that's if you're lucky. So rather than paying up the ass for everything and getting some tech support to go with my financial hell, I figured I'd skimp out on the opportunity since most of it's useless and/or outsourced anyway. And building my own computer doesn't sound that bad, since I get to make sure what it gets made with.

Me: "Hey. My computer's freezing at random intervals, and - gah, it just froze again."

Tech Support Guy: "Mmmm...kay. Try turning off the power and turning it back on. See what that does."

Me: "Turn it off? Well, dawg-gone, there's my problem right there! Hell, I just done been staring at the screen and waitin' fer it to melt!"

I've done a lot of reviewing and a lot of looking around. Not just a lot, but A LOT. But despite all that, when all's said and done I'm only moderately technologically literate. On the grand scale of things, I fall right in the middle between the clueless twip who thinks Celeron is a type of vegetable and the lords of the keyboard who know and see all (in binary vision).

So...I've got a partial list of components ready for this new gaming machine. I'd like your opinions on what I've already got planned out and I'd appreciate some suggestions on what I haven't decided on.

Case: Undecided. Currently considering either the NZXT Nemesis Elite (heard nothing but mixed reviews) and the steel Aspire X-Navigator (heard no reviews). I'm definitely looking for a case that comes with a power supply good enough so that I won't have to buy a better one.
Processor: Athlon 64 3000+, Venice core. Can't wait to see how it overclocks.
Motherboard: Chaintech VNF4 ULTRA ZENITH VE. No, I'm not buying a good DFI board, because they're too expensive. This one has a good price-tag on it and I've heard a lot of VERY nice reviews on it.
HD: OEM Hitachi 120 Gigabyte SATA II HD, 7200 RPM w/8 MB cache
Optical Drives: Covered. I can salvage the ones I already have.
Sound: Covered. I can salvage what I've got, and the mobos today come with on-board audio that's allegedly pretty good.
Video: I keep hearing people throwing around the 6600 GT's name over and over, but it's just too much money. I've currently got a Radeon 9600 XT, and it's not all that bad for what I do. I saw a 256 meg Radeon X700 pro for around $105 and a 128 meg X600 XT for $89, so I'll probably shoot for one of the two.
Memory: Undecided except for the fact that I'm looking for 512 MBs...2x 256 sticks. I'm really not up to speed with memory right now. What's a good brand? What's a good price? Is value memory really all that bad?

Any help would be most appreciated...!
 
noooooo do not buy any x600 or x700 if u like ati soo much just get a 9800 pro and by the way its not the memory that counts its the speed i have 128mb gddr3 and it will kill that x600 or 700 with 512mb of ddr either keep the card u got or get a 9800 pro and for memory doesnt relally matter unless u overclock u dont sound like the guy to overclock so some nice value ram will corsair or something along those lines and 1 gig is quite inexpensive now a days so just shoot for a gig its like 70$ at newegg no problemeverything else im not gonna argue about but there ya go
 
6600 gt with 256 cause the 128 is just a waste of your money, as said by someone else while i was looking for my graphics card, ended up with a 9800 pro. blah.

the case the aspire X naviagor i heard was good, usually I SAY USUALLY! the psu that comes with the case are ...bad quality, they die esaily and just you need to replace them in under a year. THATS USUALLY as read in reviews and reviews and multiple forums. GET A NEW PSU. but if your on a budget ill stick with the psu that comes with the case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...manufactory=1998&bop=and&srchInDesc=navigator

navigators are quite expensive. i was looking at the dreamer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144026
with a 420 watt psu which is sustential. or however you spell it

im about to build my own computer and im putting the vencice 3000+ core in mines WAH HOOO cant wait

good choice

MOBO MOBO MOBO
how about a 130 dollar mobo eh?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811144026
im getting this to expensive, i need to know your price range for each idtem you know


if your going to be gaming ill go with 1 gig
C
CORSAIR VALUESELECT RAM FOR ONLY 78 DOLLARS AT NEWEGG!!!
too bad the sale is over and now its 82 dollars

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440


good brand for ram..hmmm OCZ? MUSHIKIN? CORSAIR? KINGSTON? i dunno im really new to ram to

the speed would probably be pc3200(ddr 400)


uh i know this isnt helping you but its not helopign you
 
Well, since you are on a budget (I have been to college and I know what thats like), I will try to put something together that will be nice, fast, stable and cheap!

I would keep that 9600XT. Its a good card. Not the best, but a good enough card when on a budget:)

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $77
I recommend this because I own one very similar to it, and I think its a great mobo. IMO, its one thing to give advice on things that you hear or read but another to give suggestions based on first hand experience. This mobo will OC a little bit, but nothing crazy like a DFI. Another highlight of this mobo is that it uses the NForce3 chipset. The NF3 chipset performs well and uses AGP cards.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail $146
A good performing CPU that runs nice and cool (due to being of the Venice-Core assortment).

RAM: pqi TURBO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail $83.00
This stuff is super cheap, yet will let you get out some decent overclocks out of it, with the Gigabyte mobo. I know that you asked for 512MB, but this stuff is so cheap that you might as well go ahead and get 1GB. 1GB vs 512MB performancewise is noticable.

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -OEM $83.00
Proven to be very reliable and with good performance. Again I can speak from experience on this one.

Case: It's really up to you. Get a PSU that is around 400W. Perhaps a little more W if it is a no-name PSU, just to be safe. Get a case that has at 2 rear fan slots, and anything up and above that is extra, but nice.

EDIT: I forgot to total:D With a nice case, it would turn out to be around $450
 
no hold up get an nforce 4 board and thats all ill add for now and the 6600gt is a very good card i have heard not a bad review from that thing till now and i have about 500 posts here so i think i would no n00bz0r
 
Elbatrop1 said:
Post count is no real indication of experience or knowledge.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

@Timmer
No offense, but I constantly see you just stream through replies so nearly every thread's "last reply" was made by you. But often your reply often opens more questions than giving answers and is actually very empty.
Don't post for the sake of posting. I find it very unnecessary.

As for a PSU, that Rosewill 550w seems to be very popular, but I haven't heard too many good things about Rosewill. Then again, it probably won't take that much power for that system.
 
Elbatrop1 said:
Well, since you are on a budget (I have been to college and I know what thats like), I will try to put something together that will be nice, fast, stable and cheap!

I would keep that 9600XT. Its a good card. Not the best, but a good enough card when on a budget:)

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-K8NSC-939 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $77
I recommend this because I own one very similar to it, and I think its a great mobo. IMO, its one thing to give advice on things that you hear or read but another to give suggestions based on first hand experience. This mobo will OC a little bit, but nothing crazy like a DFI. Another highlight of this mobo is that it uses the NForce3 chipset. The NF3 chipset performs well and uses AGP cards.

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice 1GHz FSB 512KB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - Retail $146
A good performing CPU that runs nice and cool (due to being of the Venice-Core assortment).

RAM: pqi TURBO 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit System Memory - Retail $83.00
This stuff is super cheap, yet will let you get out some decent overclocks out of it, with the Gigabyte mobo. I know that you asked for 512MB, but this stuff is so cheap that you might as well go ahead and get 1GB. 1GB vs 512MB performancewise is noticable.

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA NCQ 3.5" Serial ATA150 Hard Drive -OEM $83.00
Proven to be very reliable and with good performance. Again I can speak from experience on this one.

Case: It's really up to you. Get a PSU that is around 400W. Perhaps a little more W if it is a no-name PSU, just to be safe. Get a case that has at 2 rear fan slots, and anything up and above that is extra, but nice.

EDIT: I forgot to total:D With a nice case, it would turn out to be around $450
Click to expand...


your copying my system almost!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

B
Multiple Seagate External Drives Not Working(Windows+Mac)
Replies
2
Views
410
Joe C
Joe C
S
Would it benefit me joining Discord chat groups?
Replies
0
Views
868
Scissorman
S
R
gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H boot loop power issues , and no display
Replies
5
Views
1K
ripo66
R
M
How to couple Desktop Gaming PC to Laptop for Streaming?
Replies
0
Views
530
motaro38
M
R
Dell 8950 psu noisy fan replacement
Replies
0
Views
307
raverx3m
R
Back
Top Bottom