$160 + PII = Uber budget gaming comp?

[Shannon]

Nononono. dont get a sempron 2500+. www.tigerdirect.com has lots of deals with Athlon XP 3000+'s and cheap motherboards. I built a friends computer with one of those deals, and he plays Counter strike source no problem with a 9600XT.


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1225673&CatId=0

theres on deal.

But if you get a Socket A now you can't really upgrade much later. With a 754 board you could still go up to a signifigantly higher CPU without having to change the board later on.

 

[Flanker]

Did you guys not read his post or what? Hes trying to run it on a 2800 Sempron S754...768meg of ram and a 6600GT whould run it fine no problem. My sister can run BF2 w/ a gig of ram, 2500+ AthlonXP and a Radeon9000. If its done right you could do it. If you live anywhere near a FRYs electronics they got a good holiday deal for a 3500+ and ecs mobo combo s754 (i blieve) for 199. Thats a **** good deal. BTW why are you paying half when its his system?

Thank you. Yes, absolutely correct. Thats a Heluva good value. And Havok, you obviously understimate the power of the Sempron 64s. I got a Sempron 64 3000+ for a friend's system. Its 1.8GHz and I was able to overclock it to 2.8GHz on STOCK air cooling. Then he had a freakin FX-55, same performance as my processor at 2.7GHz. I'm sorry we all don't have the money to get FX-57s or Opteron 154s.

MK97, I've gotta say you know quite a lot You've avoided most major mistakes people make while building/upgrading a PC, nice job. I'm especially impressed that you actually chose a Micro-ATX motherboard To answer your question, the Sempron 2800+ will be a minor improvement, and will almost definately help in overclocking, and personally I would go with it, since 1.4GHz is a bit too low for my blood (then again, I run at 2.7GHz so...hehe). Performance-wise, it would probably be the same, but I would bet on the 2800+ overclocking higher. See if you can get the $15 more before you buy. On a side note, nice job on selecting the Sempon 64, most people don't even know they exist.

So let me recap, Sempron 64 2500+ @ 2.2GHz (Shoudn't be too hard), 768MB RAM, and in the future, a 6660GT. If your friend had exactly those specs, he would be running Doom 3 on Medium . To compare the processor, it would be better than an Athlon 64 3200+. Kind of like a Athlon 64 3350+, lol.

Excellent choice on the Power Supply. Make sure that your old case can have the old motherboard removed. Some manufacturers like Dell fuse the motherboard to the case, making it impossible to remove. Also, the power supply might not fit in a Micro-ATX case.

My only recommendation (besides the 2800+) would be to get a $24 Mid-Tower case;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811154017

And a ATX motherboard;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813190002

Thats the only one with PCI-E under $59. If you can go AGP. (its a budget system, after all);
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813128259

Otherwise, good going.

 

[Shannon]

Thank you. Yes, absolutely correct. Thats a Heluva good value. And Havok, you obviously understimate the power of the Sempron 64s. I got a Sempron 64 3000+ for a friend's system. Its 1.8GHz and I was able to overclock it to 2.8GHz on STOCK air cooling. Then he had a freakin FX-55, same performance as my processor at 2.7GHz. I'm sorry we all don't have the money to get FX-57s or Opteron 154s.

Hmm. I'm not an overclocker, but maybe I should start.

 

[Flanker]

PM me if you decide to overclock. I've got some awesome overclocking guides that taught me overclocking.

 

[Mk97]

But if you get a Socket A now you can't really upgrade much later. With a 754 board you could still go up to a signifigantly higher CPU without having to change the board later on.

Exactly what I was going for.

I'm making it so he can upgrade to a little higher cpu and get a PCI E gfx card down the road. I thought about getting a whole socket A system and tossing in an agp card like the 9200 I have, but after comparing my machine to what I'll probably be getting him, it actually came out over mine.


My current specs:
Generic compaq crap
P4 2.4
640mb ram
Radeon 9200 w/ 128mb
total of 200gb HD's
prett much all of it's crap generic stuff cept for a seagate HD

Specs for my friend's comp:
Biostar G6100 s754 mobo
Sempron64 2500+
640mb ram (after onboard GFX is given 128mb)
Old 6gb seagate HD, 20Gb Maxtor (when I find it)
old TDK CD burner
ThermalTake 430watt psu (looks safe, on sale, not running demanding parts so I think it's ok)
Old PII case

I'm paying for half because he'll pay me back and he wants it now, and I'd like to try building a uber budget machine before I build my uber budget workstation

EDIT: didn't see the last couple of posts, thanks for calling me informed haha. I watched my 'techie' friend buy my other friend a $1700 gaming computer only to find out that he coulda bought much better parts for the 1700. After that I decided I might as well learn as much as I can about computers and be frugal as ****.

Ya, I'm bout to go see if I can't scrounge up 15 freakin bucks :/ I'd do it but I'm also buying my new comps psu with out of pocket $$$ while I wait to get the rest of the computer at the end of the month
I'll PM u in just a moment I'm going to try to oc his sempron and later my opty but don't know where to start.

 

[PP Mguire]

Thank you. Yes, absolutely correct. Thats a Heluva good value. And Havok, you obviously understimate the power of the Sempron 64s. I got a Sempron 64 3000+ for a friend's system. Its 1.8GHz and I was able to overclock it to 2.8GHz on STOCK air cooling. Then he had a freakin FX-55, same performance as my processor at 2.7GHz. I'm sorry we all don't have the money to get FX-57s or Opteron 154s.

:amazed: Im glad you agree cause it makes sense. Its a budget system after all and w/ a Sempron@2.8 and a 6600GT he should play ALL those games high.

 

[septoid2]

if you're gonna get the integrated graphics solution you should really go for the 6150 with the nforce430 chipset. its helluva lot better then the 6100+410 chipset.

 

[Mk97]

Yes, but it's not avalibe for s754. I would go s939 w/ a ~$90 mobo, and a OEM Athlon s939 proc (~$120) But I'm stuck on that **** thing called a budget... It's fine tho, considering he'll upgrade video in a year and he really only wants to play Source/UT04/QIV.

I'm going to order the stuff tomorrow (convinced my dad to let us)
Final specs being orderd
Sempron64 2800+
Biostar G6100 mobo
512mb ram
Tt 430 watt psu

I think he's going to try to buy a DVD Burner with best buy giftcards, sadly the cheapest they have is ~$65 for a 'Dynex'. Never heard of them and it sounds like a cheap brand. I'll try to get him to just buy a OEM from newegg..

 

[PcMe]

Okay I'm not saying it's a very bad psu, but I do question it's power. If you look at the output, it only gives out 18amps on the 12v rail
+12V@18A
Usually you would want around 26 or so, mine has 34 and I'm running the system in my sig flawlessly.
I'd say maybe save up for a fortron 400w/450w for like 40-50$ if you can. If not, I don't know what's going to end up happening with this psu.

 

[Mk97]

ya, I know... it was one of those hrmmm guess I'll try it kinda things...

If it can run that mobo, an OC'd sempron, a dvdburner, one, maybe 2 HDs and at most a 6800 and not fry anything it'll be ok. I figured a thermal take is better than an even more no name brand psu.

Hmmm.. any suggestions on a psu that's $40 or less? I'd love if it had at least one sata connecter, and maybe a pcie connecter... I really don't know psu's so I could use some help w/ that.