Cant decide.

[blue-lynx]

I have assembled my AMD budget build with the following specs (below).

CPU - Athlon X2 - 5000+ (black edition)
RAM - Corsair XMS2 PC-6400 DDR2-800 2 x 1GB
HDD - Seagate Barracuda - 250GB 16MB cache
ODD - Samsung SH-S223Q - Black DVD+RW
PSU - Thermaltake TR2 W0070 430W ATX12V V1.3
CASE-Coolermaster Elite RC-330 ATX

Total- $265.43 (without motherboard/videocard)



I am a casual gamer who doesnt play fps-intensive games. The system will be used to help me get around the net, ms-office and msn/chat etc.

To save money...

1) Should I get a motherboard ($70)that just supports the regular pci-x16 slot and an asus 8800gs ($86.00)?

2) Should I get the 780G/790G mobo instead? (then I cant get a videocard as its past my budget)? ($80 - $150)

If i decide to go with #2 (onboard 3200/3300), would I be able to play games with MAX settings from the website Adventure Gamers ?

The typical system requirements for my games range between these and a little higher

Windows XP/Vista
1.5 GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent
256 MB RAM
16x CD-ROM dirve
128 MB DirectX 9-compatible 3d video card with 2.0 Shader support
DirectX 9-compatible sound card
2 GB hard drive space



so what should i do?

 

[Poizen22]

i would get a 790g mobo oc your proc and oc your onboard gpu ask vern he knows alot about it and yes should be enought to plkay yoru games on that site fro mwhat i saw.

 

[veg1992]

There is no 790g... only 790gx or 790fx or 790x...

Well you don't need to get one with an onboard GPU, but getting a 790x or 780g board is a good way to save some cash on the build, but make sure you know that some of the 780g's are not compatible with the higher end 125 TDP+ Phenom's, I'm not entirely sure about how demanding these games are... you could get away with an HD 3200 overclocked @ 700mhz and its pretty good (8500gt level)

My recommendation is get any 780g or 790x board, then get an HD 4670

 

[blue-lynx]

What do you think of this?

ASUS GeForce 8800GS 550MHZ 384MB 1.6GHZ DDR3 Dual DVI-I HDTV Out DIRECTX10 PCI-E Video Card - $86.10

and

ASUS M2N-MX SE Plus mATX AM2+ GE6100-NF430 1PCI-E16 2PCI SATA2 RAID Video Sound LAN Motherboard $49.88


this way I can have a videocard that plays those games well plus a motherboard that will easily get the X2 cpu to work with this card and the rest of the specs?

All for $401.41 !

 

[veg1992]

That board is so cheap...

Newegg.com - ECS A780GM-A AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - AMD Motherboards

Maybe see if you have budget room for that?