700-750 Budget. First Build PC

[Shad]

HDSpecs as follows, critiques are appreciated.




Vid Card

Mobo


Memory

Case

Drives

Drives



I'd like to go up to 2x1g of memory, but I don't want to break my budget. Choose the x850xt because this will be mostly a gaming rig and that card seems to be the best for what I am looking to spend. Any suggestions/changes are welcome.

 

[maxxum]

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice
BIOSTAR TForce6100 Socket 754 NVIDIA GeForce 6100
CORSAIR 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400 Dual Channel Model VS1GBKIT400
WD Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive
eVGA 256-P2-N391-AX Geforce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3
NEC Black IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner Model ND-3550A
Logitech 967496-0403 2-Tone PS/2 RF Wireless Slim Keyboard Mouse
POWMAX CP0327PL-4 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 400W PSU

This is a complete system that came in under 665... If you already have a keyboard/mouse you can add that ammount plus another $65 toward more memory and bigger badder video card. This system however, as is, can just about anything out there now w/o a problem.

 

[FreshMeat]

Here ya go - with 2GB of ram to boot.

Motherboard SUS A8N5X Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Motherboard Price $83.99

Processor AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz HT Socket 939 Price $168

Case Antec LifeStyle SONATA II Piano Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Case 450Watt PSU Price $99.99

Memory CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR400 Price $145.99

Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 SATA 120GB 7200 RPM 8M Price $75

DVD RW NEC Black 16X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW Price$39.75

Video Card XFX 6800 XTreme 256MB PCI Express x16 Price $139

Grand Total $751.72

 

[Anoobis]

I would change the HD you spec'd to either this Seagate. or this Western Digital. They're the newer SATA IIs which should still work with your board even though it is SATA I and they're almost the same price. They should be quite a bit faster that the ATA100 you spec'd.

I don't remember if the X800 series of cards support Shader Model 3.0, which is something you're going to want. If they don't, then I would consider the eVGA 6800GS card MaxxuM spec'd out.

1GB of RAM will still hold you over for now. I'd upgrade this a little later when you have the cash. You could get 2GB later, then eBay the 1 GB you have now (you don't want to run 4 x 512MB). This setup should work quite nicely for the time being. Otherwise the rest of the equipment you spec'd looks good.

 

[Reign_Of_Chaos]

All prices attained from ZipZoomFly.com (Free 2nd Day Shipping on most items listed)

eVGA e-Geforce 7800 GT PCI Express 256MB DDR3 Video Card w/HDTV-Out, Dual DVI & VIVO Retail
Free eVGA 133-K8-NF41 motherboard w/purhcase!
329.99

AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Retail
173.90

GeIL GE1GB3200BDC 1GB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Dual Channel Value Series Memory
89.50

Raidmax Scorpio 868 ATX868WYP Mid Tower Gaming Case Retail
44.99

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic Sound Card Retail
114.99

Total: 753.37

I offer this soluton, for a few reasons. One, AMD is less spendy. AMD is better for gaming. with this AMD package you get a killer SLI Nforce4 Chipset Mobo and one prety heafty Video Card and save a bundle! Now you have the option to double your video down the road with another video card (SLI). And drop the sound card, and you can opt for more RAM, or even faster CPU. (I have this mobo, cpu, and video card myself, as do a few other people i know), and its so solid. Easy to overclock too, if you want that extra boost. /2cents

 

[FreshMeat]

That's a nice deal on the MB/Video card combo.

Missing a couple important things though - need a HD and a DVD drive

 

[Anoobis]

Actually Shad. Substitute this 2GBs of memory instead of what you spec'd, one of the hard drives I spec'd earlier, and either the ATI card you spec'd or the nVidia card MaxxuM spec'd and you'll come in under $700.00. What's the problem????

 

[Reign_Of_Chaos]

Missing a couple important things though - need a HD and a DVD drive

Oops

 

[Anoobis]

UPDATE...UPDATE!!! This card is a STEAL!!!! Act fast!!!

Sapphire X850XT