Tom's Hardware > Forum > Homebuilt Systems > General Homebuilt > $800 Gaming Machine
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Briguy131   03-22-2006 at 02:48:13 PM

My friend would like me to build him a computer for $800 that would be able to play Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and maybe Battlefield 2. This is what I came up with:

ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail: $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz HT 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor: $212
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103539

Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 Dual-Channel Memory w/Heat Spreader Retail: $91
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80097-16

eVGA 256-P2-N563-AX Geforce 7900GT CO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card: $319
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130281

I would like to give him the option to go duel-core, and 2GB (4 x 512MB) of memory in the future. Let me know what you would do differently.

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doolittle   03-22-2006 at 04:43:32 PM
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Sounds like an $800 gaming upgrade, not a whole lot of room for a power supply - the popular Fortron 450W should be within the $800 limit.

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Fungalberry   03-22-2006 at 08:17:25 PM
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That looks great! Nice rig for the price. One suggestion: go for a stick of A-Data 1GB RAM instead of Corsair. In my experiance it is more reliable and doesn't require as many RMAs. My computer costs about $700 more and really isn't that much different from that rig you're building there...

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Briguy131   03-22-2006 at 10:59:06 PM
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What type of A-Data memory are you using? The fastest ones on Newegg that I could find were CAS 2.5 for a 512 stick.

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doolittle   03-23-2006 at 02:25:34 AM
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I was checking out the Crucial Technology Ballistix 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400@2-2-2 for $105 seems like a killer deal for a few extra bux...

Reply to doolittle
shadowduck   03-23-2006 at 03:38:30 AM
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Quote :

My friend would like me to build him a computer for $800 that would be able to play Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, and maybe Battlefield 2. This is what I came up with:

ASUS A8N-SLI Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail: $115
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131524

AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz HT 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 Processor: $212
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819103539

Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2 1GB DDR400 XMS3200 Dual-Channel Memory w/Heat Spreader Retail: $91
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80097-16

eVGA 256-P2-N563-AX Geforce 7900GT CO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card: $319
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130281

I would like to give him the option to go duel-core, and 2GB (4 x 512MB) of
memory in the future. Let me know what you would do differently.



Not a bad system, but unless you need onboard IEEE 1394, you really dont need and SLI motherboard as the 7900GT is better than most 6xxx SLI solutions. Change out the motherboard for the Asus A8N-E for $94 and save a little more.

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steveosazninvazn   03-23-2006 at 05:32:19 AM
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Looks great, but what about a sound card (Optional), hard drive (Most definitely NOT Optional) and a case (Again, NOT Optional)

Reply to steveosazninvazn
Briguy131   03-23-2006 at 02:27:14 PM
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Quote :

Looks great, but what about a sound card (Optional), hard drive (Most definitely NOT Optional) and a case (Again, NOT Optional)


As far as the Case/Power Supply/CD-ROM/Hard-Drive, it’s all covered. The main reason that I posted was to get your input on the core components, and I thank you all for your advice.

I'm going to use the onboard audio, because he is not the kind of person that cares about sound quality. I heard that the performance gains for having a dedicated card were not that great, anyway he can always upgrade to it.

And a case is optional, just not recommended. lol

Quote :

Not a bad system, but unless you need onboard IEEE 1394, you really dont need and SLI motherboard as the 7900GT is better than most 6xxx SLI solutions. Change out the motherboard for the Asus A8N-E for $94 and save a little more.


Also, the reason I was going with a SLI motherboard is because I wanted to give him the option of SLI-accelerated physics in the future.

Another question I have is if it is possible to run 4 x 512Mb duel-channel? I also heard that running 4 sticks of ram would bump it back down to regular single-channel, I don’t know if this has been fixed, or if it was ever really a problem but I was just wondering.

Also thanks for the other ram option doolittle, I'll defiantly consider it.

Reply to Briguy131
oenomel   03-24-2006 at 06:56:33 AM
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Go with 2 x 1gb
If you use all 4 slots it gets kicked down to ddr333

Also BF2 should like the extra gig

Reply to oenomel
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