Gaming Performance 650 (cpu/mobo,ram,vid)

[Czarles]

I'm looking at the best performance possible on a 650 dollar rig.

my current speculative build from 2 months ago is as follows

Athlon 64 3200+
1 Gig of ram (PC3200 if other parts are alittle cheaper maybe PC4000)
A8N-E
7900 GT KO

Overall the games I will play are most likely Doom 3, HL 2, Oblivion, Fear, AoE 3, and any other game that sounds fun.

I have an archaic HP A4033A monitor so I'm not going to go over 1600X1200.

I plan on buying it in the next few weeks.

Looking at buying the cheapest name brand 400-600(watt) (50) dollar power supply... So gonna spend 50 on that....

Is there any way I get get a better computer for any less?

I am thinking of OC'in alittle also...

Thanks.

Edit: Added (watt) and (50) so no more confusion, sneeze made me mess up.

 

[guyinyourattic37]

Looking at buying the cheapest name brand 400-600 dollar power supply... So gonna spend 50 on that....

Thanks.

OMG are you really going to spend 400-600 dollars on a PS?
or do u mean 400-600 watts?

 

[The_Prophecy]

you won't need anything higher than 500W for this set up. might be able to get away with 400 even.... but i'd say at least 450 to be safe.

 

[Czarles]

yeah watts...

Most people say what you do prophecy... But ya know what.... For 50 dollars buying a name brand power supply (you know them tagan,sparkle,antec,ect...).

Enough about the power supply, I need suggestions on the system...

Can I get better performance for the price? Or is that as good as it gets ? :-|



And so that nobody in the future makes the same correction as you I'm gonna edit my first post because alot of people will just point that out and leave, adding posts but wasting space.

 

[sandmannight]

If your gonna OC you could save a little cash and get a 3000+

 

[The_Prophecy]

only a $25 difference at Newegg between the 3200+ and the 3000+.... IMO it would be worth going with the 3200+ and OC'ing that....

 

[sandmannight]

only a $25 difference at Newegg between the 3200+ and the 3000+.... IMO it would be worth going with the 3200+ and OC'ing that....

True...Also for a PSU I would go with the Antex Smartpower 500Watt PSU for 68 bucks great deal from one of the best PSU dealers.

 

[The_Abyss]

You should aim for 2gb RAM - it will make a big difference if you game at 1600 x 1200.

Do NOT skimp on the PSU. It is better to go for lower power (as long as it is adequate) and choose a good brand rather thana high watt no-name that can fail and wreck your entire system. But I think you know this already.

 

[Czarles]

My saved shopping cart...
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free Shipping***
$95.99
Sparkle Power ATX-400PN-B204 400 Watts ATX12V 2.01 Switching Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
$49.99
eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT KO PCI Express 256MB GDDR3 Video Card w/DVI-I & HDTV Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$289.99
Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU Pure Copper CPU Cooler Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$31.50
Kingston KVR400X64C3A/1G 1GB DDR400 PC3200 Memory Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$83.99
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$135.00


Subtotal $686.46

..

 

[ThE_FraNchisE]

on the vid card get the xfx 7900 GT extreme....it is much better than the KO version...read all the reviews for both products and the 7900 GT extreme volt mods beautifully

 

[The_Prophecy]

My saved shopping cart...
Asus A8N-E nForce4 Ultra Athlon 64(FX) Skt939 DDR ATX Motherboard w/Audio, Gigabit LAN, RAID/Serial ATA Retail ***Free Shipping***
$95.99
Sparkle Power ATX-400PN-B204 400 Watts ATX12V 2.01 Switching Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
$49.99
eVGA e-GeForce 7900 GT KO PCI Express 256MB GDDR3 Video Card w/DVI-I & HDTV Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$289.99
Zalman CNPS7000B-ALCU Pure Copper CPU Cooler Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$31.50
Kingston KVR400X64C3A/1G 1GB DDR400 PC3200 Memory Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$83.99
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor (Venice) Socket 939 Retail ***Free Shipping*** 1
$135.00


Subtotal $686.46

..

Here are the changes I would make:

Power Supply: Antec Smart Power 2.0 SP-400

Haetsink: Zalman CNPS9500 - Note: This isn't a necessary change unless you are going to be overclocking. If you won't be OC'ing, then the stock cooler should be fine.... you won't need the Zalman CNPS7000B

RAM: OCZ Value Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) DDR400 - If you are going to do some overclocking, then go for this set: OCZ EL Platinum Rev.2 1GB (2 x 512MB)

 

[doolittle]

Sparkle Power ATX-400PN-B204 400 Watts ATX12V 2.01 Switching Power Supply Retail ***Free Shipping***
$49.99

Excellent choice, but ewiz has the best deal on that one

Sparkle ATX-400PN-B204 400W $37 shipped

IMO better then the Antec SP-400

 

[Czarles]

A64 3200+ $135 naked zzf $155 w/fan monarch
2gb ram 3200 $162 4000 $170 zzf
A8N-E $97 zzf
7900GT KO $270 zzf
Sparkle 400W $42 ewiz

$734 Total

If there is anywhere to get something at a cheaper price or better for same Please send me that way.

newegg requires a 3 digit number on the back of the card, and my debit doesn't have one, and I don't feel like running in cirlces so I can be a newegg person of questionable value.

How can i tell if my processor has a heatsink/fan with it.... Amd's site is sorta neked, and most sites with lower prices don't have much info up....
ADA3200BPBOX ?

edit: pricegrabber says ADA3200BPBOX comes with heatsink and fan so...

 

[angry_ducky]

Get this power supply.

 

[Czarles]

I hope you used newegg just for referencing purposes....

I guess maybe that one might work...

Except, I can't buy it by tonight so the mail in rebate is useless giving me a 90 dollar powersupply....

Shipping at neweggblows.

 

[DDay629]

It got a lot better recently. It was a lot worse before last week. Now they realize that each different thing in your order is going in one box, not a seperate box for each, which lowered prices.

DDay

 

[Czarles]

Well mostly what I mean by that is that it isn't free....

I have never ordered from them because I don't feel like running around talking to my debit card people to see what my 3 digit code on the back of my card is just to buy from them... Normaly there are 3 other places with prices within 5 dollars (and alot of times somone is cheaper).

 

[Czarles]

I have my money now, so yippy.
Just to go over it one more time (looking if you see lower prices)


989 64 3200+ $135 ZZF
A8N-E $97 ZZF
2GB PC4000 $170 ZZF
7900 GT KO $270 ZZF

And I'm looking for the cheapest name brand Power supply (do retail thermaltake psu's suck? their prices are alittle lower.)

Can you just swap in a hard drive from a dead computer (motherboard) to a new computer? Or will windows xp cry, call me a polygimist and make me buy a new os?

Once in awhile you find a os for "teachers or students" for draticly cheaper prices.... Even if I am going to college I'm not supposed to buy that am I?



(what lower price finding sites should I use, the toms guide thingy off to the right and Pricewatch are currently what I use.)