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Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:50 pm
by TPRJones
So the last time I seriously looked at computer parts EIDE and AGP were still the standard. I'm way behind. I'm tyring to put together a "reasonable" gaming rig (able to handle MMOGs without hicupping, don't care about high-performance FPS games) for under $400 if I can. Below is what I've selected so far. I'm wondering if I've made reasonable selections here, or if there are any parts that are farther behind the curve than others (or any I've picked that are overkill compared to the rest, but that's unlikely).
ASUS A8V-XE Socket 939 VIA K8T890 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
AMD Athlon 64 4000+ San Diego 2.4GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor - OEM
COOLER MASTER RR-CCX-W9U1-GP 90mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail
PNY OPTIMA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail
SAPPHIRE 100195L Radeon X1650 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 20X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
Also, note to self, don't forget: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
So, any thoughts? Anything I've forgotten? I've already got a power supply, case, keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc.
Edited By TPRJones on 1187052672
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:54 pm
by GORDON
That seems well below mid-range.... you ought to at least aim for mid-range.
Every month in PC Gamer magazine they have parts list for a high end, mid-range, and low end gaming systems, costing $3000+, $1200ish, and $700-, respectively. Y'ought to find those lists.
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:59 pm
by TPRJones
That bad? Really? And it's a quantum leap beyond what I'm using now, so I thought it was reasonably good. Heh. 
I'll check that out, thanks.
Posted: Mon Aug 13, 2007 9:59 pm
by GORDON
I might scan the page in this month's pc gamer if my wife ever gets off the system the scanner is attached to.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 7:01 am
by Cakedaddy
I'm not an ATI guru, but you might want to make sure you can't get a better video card. There's some pretty good GeForce cards in that price range.
And in my opinion, it looks like you are building about a 2.5 year old PC.
But like Gordon said, you might get a better bang for your buck if you add a few dollars to it. Especially since today's MMO's are all about graphics and appearance.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:07 am
by Leisher
Ditto what Cake said about the video card.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 8:27 am
by Paul
I know nothing about hardware anymore.
However, if I was going to build one I'd find the MMOG with the highest recommended settings, and made sure that I exceeded that.
Up until a few days ago, all my online gaming (poker) has been on an ancient Dell Latitude. It has no CDROM, an 4 GB HD, came with Win95 (Win2k now), and has 32MB of RAM. I assume the processor is around 200MHz.
Now I'm living the good life on an 800MHz Inspiron with 256MB and a 40 GB HD.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:20 am
by TPRJones
Sadly, the $400 is a pretty hard limit. If I wait a couple of months I might be able to make it $430. Remember, I work for a community college, so I'm not exactly rolling in cash.
My current (six year old) system is much like your Inspiron, Paul. More hard-drive space, twice the memory, and I've overclocked it to just over 900MHz, but it's getting so that even some flash games are dragging down the frame rate too much to be playable so it's time to see what I can move to next.
Cake & Leisher: What about the vid card should I look to improve in a different model? The core clock? The memory clock? The memory size? Something else? I'm not sure which of these things is most important when comparing vid cards. Back in my day the way to tell which vid card was better was by looking to see which one was able to do those fancy new 3D modeling whatsits.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 10:59 am
by TheCatt
Yeah, for $400 I dont see how far you can really go.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:01 am
by Paul
My home PC is 700MHz (512MB RAM). Whenever I get around to it I'll be replacing it with a 1.8Ghz machine that someone abandoned because they didn't want to pay for a new hard drive.
I just don't do much on the 'puters, so I have no need to upgrade. Heck, I don't even run anti viruses on them.
Posted: Tue Aug 14, 2007 11:27 am
by Malcolm
Yea, I might be a-spendin' a grand or two when it comes time to build the beast I'm planning on.
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 2:27 am
by Cakedaddy
www.tomshardware.com
THere's a video card chart that compares tons of cards. Look at the chart, then check the prices of the cards. Move up or down the chart accordingly until you find the card that gives the best frame rates at your price range. That's what I do anyways.
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:02 am
by Malcolm
I find that, in general, tomshardware.com kicks ass.
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 9:06 am
by TheCatt
Malcolm wrote:I find that, in general, tomshardware.com kicks ass.
Does that mean you like it, or that it sucks less than other things?
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:22 am
by Malcolm
TheCatt wrote:Malcolm wrote:I find that, in general, tomshardware.com kicks ass.
Does that mean you like it, or that it sucks less than other things?
If you really want to split hairs, the latter.
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 10:52 am
by TPRJones
Cakedaddy wrote:www.tomshardware.com
THere's a video card chart that compares tons of cards. Look at the chart, then check the prices of the cards. Move up or down the chart accordingly until you find the card that gives the best frame rates at your price range. That's what I do anyways.
Ooo, that is all kinds of awesome! Thank you!
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:19 pm
by GORDON
Here's that PC Gamer list I mentioned. Since I was scanning other stuff today, too.
Posted: Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:47 pm
by TPRJones
Excellent, thanks! I've got a case, so I think I can actually swing the Entry Level system, which is so much better than what I have now that it'll be good enough for awhile.
Posted: Thu Sep 06, 2007 1:26 pm
by TPRJones
I couldn't quite swing the right prices, so I had to skimp a little here and there. For example I couldn't afford to go with the ASUS mobo because I couldn't also afford a video card, so instead I found a decent mobo with on-board video that is at least better than what I have now, and will last me long enough to get a vid card in a few months. Anyway, here's the list:
GIGABYTE AM2 mobo w/on-board HDMI video
Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz AM2 CPU
CORSAIR XMS2 2GB DDR2-800 SDRAM
Western Digital 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s HD
ASUS 18X DVD+/-R Burner SATA w/ LightScribe
Edited By TPRJones on 1189099672