Tryin to build a millionare board for 'college grad' prices

[kaptin]

Ok folks, it's been awhile since i've posted in Tomz forumz, and so long that the last time i was lookin at upgrading, the product has gone 'out of style'

What would you guys recommend to me for a cheap gamming rig on these components::

MOBO - able to go with below, ABit, Asus, or MSI if possible...
AMD 64
PCI-e 16x Radeon, at least 256 on board GDDR3


memory is already picked out ( 2GB Corsair XMS PC3200)
and i'd like to stay around the $800 mark

lookin for comments and thanks!

 

[The_Prophecy]

Mobo: Asus A8N-E

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+

Video: Sapphire Radeon X1900XT

 

[BUFF]

3500+ is sensible since the price drops as you get the 11 multi for little extra.

I would suggest the Abit KN8 series (basic, Ultra or SLI) instead of the Asus but either will be fine.

Don't skimp on a PSU particularly if you go for an X1900XT.

 

[pengwin]

Mobo: Asus A8N-E

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3500+

Video: Sapphire Radeon X1900XT

there is nooo way you can squeese a 1900 series into an 800 dollar build.

1900 series comes in @ 330 dollars + 200 bucks for RAM + 90 for mobo + a good PSU to power that X1900XT and a decent case + Hard drives.


I dont see how u can do that under 800 dollars. if its gonna be under 800 ur gonna have to get an X1800GTO or a 7600GT

 

[Darkfire001]

You can grab an eVga 7600GT for $130 after rebate which is a superb deal and woul nicely complement the system, not sure if its worth over 2 1/2 times the price for a X1900XT, more so with the price range he's looking at.

 

[The_Prophecy]

My bad.... for some odd reason I thought he already had the hard drive and the rest of the components except the core of the rig.....

In that case, a 7600GT would be the way to go.

 

[kaptin]

my appoligies, i didn't mention the fact that i have everything else, this isn't a full rebuild, more just an upgrade....already have a good case, HDD, CD/DVD roms and a 450w PSU (came with case, so it's poopy..but works) basicly just need the brains and brawns:

mobo
chip
vid
--ram, already selected....

the Asus looks pretty good, what are the converses on it being OC friendly? As for that, i was looking at a lower grade Sapphire card, the X850XT 256mb....which would be better bang for buck?

 

[Hazik]

my appoligies, i didn't mention the fact that i have everything else, this isn't a full rebuild, more just an upgrade....already have a good case, HDD, CD/DVD roms and a 450w PSU (came with case, so it's poopy..but works) basicly just need the brains and brawns:

mobo
chip
vid
--ram, already selected....

the Asus looks pretty good, what are the converses on it being OC friendly? As for that, i was looking at a lower grade Sapphire card, the X850XT 256mb....which would be better bang for buck?

A 7600gt would be better then the 850XT and it supports sm3 but you should get a 1800xt or a 1900xt or even a 7900gt and if you havent got the ram yet get a am2 setup and ddr2 800 ram with timings 4 4 4 12

 

[The_Prophecy]

my appoligies, i didn't mention the fact that i have everything else, this isn't a full rebuild, more just an upgrade....already have a good case, HDD, CD/DVD roms and a 450w PSU (came with case, so it's poopy..but works) basicly just need the brains and brawns:

mobo
chip
vid
--ram, already selected....

the Asus looks pretty good, what are the converses on it being OC friendly? As for that, i was looking at a lower grade Sapphire card, the X850XT 256mb....which would be better bang for buck?

In that case, I stand by my earlier recommendation.

 

[BeAuMaN]

Remember because of the Intel Conroe release coming up, AMD is gonna cut prices on their processors... might wanna be a bit patient and wait a tad long for a price drop, if you wanna save more money.

 

[GameReplays_Hobo_]

thats for dual cores only.





i just sold 2gb of xms on craigslist, great stuff

 

[Fagaru]

get an x1800xt 256mb or an x1900xt and an amd athlon x2 3800 in 2 weeks..and get a psu.. because itl be a power eating beast...and ur psu is "poopy" so yeah get like an antec psu, good luck