Inexperienced college student craving knowledge and help.

[jordo_99]

ok here's what i came up with

and the problems w/ the other builds

first one:
do NOT get a 7300 card. they are horrible. get a 6600, 6800 or 7600. they're all better.

2nd one: the cpu and ram are a lot more than you will need for a long time and conroes are only worth the money if you wanna OC them anyways. (go w/ one gig of ram and upgrade later to 2 gigs for 100 more if you want)

also the video card isn't nearly good enough for that build.

ok here's the one i made for you:

i didn't pick out a case for you cuz that's something you should pick out. and also don't just go w/ what i recommend. i don't know EXACTLY what you want in this system...when actually you probably don't either or else you'd already be building it. i'd say just show your neighbor these lists and have him/her tell you what they think.

CPU: AM2 Athlon X2 3800 ($152)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103735

MOBO: ASUS M2N-E Socket AM2 ($93)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131022

PSU: Antec TruepowerII 550W ($80)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103931

RAM: CORSAIR XMS2 512MB 240-Pin DDR2 800 ($62 but get 2 totalling $124)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145567

GPU: eVga 7600Gt KO ($160)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130017

Hard Drive: Western Digital 250Gb Sata 2 ($78)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144701

CD/DVD: Lite-on CD/DVD burner ($33)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822144701

all of that totals $720 w/o shipping (to nebraska it would've been $13 more)

again that doesn't include a case, monitor, OS or keyboard/mouse but if you just read reviews on cases you'll do fine if you follow ones w/ good reviews and keyboard/mouse combos the same.

hope that helps. any other ?'s PM me and i'll try and answer asap.

 

[Mattf]

I am deeply in debt.

I looked up the system requirements for Half Life 2, and they seem low. The processors being suggested should be able to run it, but what about the video cards?

Thanks again,
Matt

 

[moisiss]

Take a look at...

www.sharkeyextreme.com

Every couple of months they run an article on building a "value gaming" PC. These articles are extremely helpful and tell which components to buy for 2 complete systems, one Intel based and one AMD based (then you can decide which platform you want). All "value" systems that they build are targeted around the $1000 mark, but you can reduce this price by cutting some corners here and there (like the case you get, keyboard, mouse, etc.). Once you know what parts you want to get, you can look them up on Pricewatch.com to find the best price.

Other than that, read ALOT and figure out which specs you think will best fit your needs (i.e try to make as few uniformed decisions as possible).

This is what I did for my first build and it worked out great! I was able to build one of sharkey's value gaming PC's for around $500... which was about half of what Dell was asking for a comparable machine at the time... but I didn't buy a monitor or software. I also happened upon a PC Magazine article that gave step by step instructions on how to put all of the parts together and that, combined with my motherboards manual, was enough info to get it built and running!

Good luck!