This Rig Strictly for LAN.

k-

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AMD Athlon 3500+ $125
ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2 Socket AM2 $90
OCZ XTC 1024MB DDR2 800MHz Dual Chen $140 (5-5-5-12, is this good?)
BFG 7900gt OC $280
Antec NSK1300 Desktop Case $104

$739 Canadian Dollars

Fits my budget perfectly. (alraedy have optical drives + HDs)
*Question: this case has 300W included, i was wondering if it will be able to run them all.

Not Bad?? :?: Can't go with Conroe due to the buget build.
 

ArbY

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I would stay away from the OCZ memory as it does have issues in various AM2 motherboards. The problem is being worked on by motherboard manufacturers though ... I'd stick with Corsair for nearly guaranteed compatibility.

If you're planning on OC'ing, get either a 2.0 or 2.4GHz CPU, don't get the inbetween 2.2GHz.
The AMD Athlon 64 3800+ (AM2) is around $145 on Newegg.

From personal experience, the ASUS M2N-E motherboard is great and I'd recommend that over the ASRock. It's $97.99 and it's only pitfall is that it lacks firewire (IEEE1394) support.


If you can't afford the 3800+ CPU, go with either the 3200+ (2.0GHz) or the 3000+ (1.8GHz). Just poking through the Newegg reviews for the 3000+, it seems like it's a very over-clock friendly chip.
 

k-

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nikolokolus

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AMD Athlon 3500+ $125
ASRock AM2NF4G-SATA2 Socket AM2 $90
OCZ XTC 1024MB DDR2 800MHz Dual Chen $140 (5-5-5-12, is this good?)
BFG 7900gt OC $380
Antec NSK1300 Desktop Case $104

$739 Canadian Dollars

Looks decent for a budget build, but the RAM seems a little high in price for only 1gb, and there should be 7900gt's for much cheaper (in the $260 US range).

Fits my budget perfectly. (alraedy have optical drives + HDs)
*Question: this case has 300W included, i was wondering if it will be able to run them all.

That power supply is going to be either "not quite enough" or "just barely", in either case it won't last through another upgrade cycle.

My advice would be to buy a case w/o a power supply and expect to spend a little bit of money ($70 - $100 US) to get a decent 500+ watt PSU (Antec, enermax, Fortron, are all good choices.)
 

ArbY

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By limiting yourself strictly to a "LAN build," you're similarly limiting yourself in terms of what you can buy.

Are you going with the "micro" design simply for portability benefits, or otherwise?
 

nikolokolus

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If you want a little more flexibility and don't mind a slightly larger enclosure there's the antec Lanboy here that would be light (because it's aluminum), but still allow you to get a separate PSU like this one

All told, it might increase your cost just a little bit, but might be a nice balance between footprint and performance.
 

Plekto

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Okay - for pvp gaming, you need QUIET and you also need stable.

Get a good motherboard and a Pentium 805 processor. Dual-core and a bit of overclocking will do wonders. ONLY overclock to 3.4Ghz. You need to keep the fans down to normal noise levels and not overtax the power grid(nothing ruins the evening's fun like a blown breaker).

I suggest Silenx for fans. Antec minitower with a 430-480W Antec PS in it - well worth it. Or get a Lanboy - the thing has nice straps to carry it to and from your events.

As for the memory - just get some standard Crosair or Kingston. You only need 1 gig if someone else is runnign the server. No heriocs either - just standard 800mhz memory.

Lastly - the video card. Okay, here's the real skinny on lan games:
1:use a dedicated gigabit lan card - $30. Built in networking is slow and dodgy on most motherboards.
2:use an audigy soundcard. Even an audigy 1 will suffice. Built-in sound is a crippler.
3:you don't need a very big card. Turn off all of the AA and filtering. Run the game in stock condition, with the highest resolution and refresh rate that you can manage. I even turn off all of the fancy lighting effects and turn the sounds down to low quality. You want maximum speed and resolution and basically nothing else if it drops you below 60fps.

As you can imagine, you don't need a $250 card to do well. A used X850 or 7800 will work just fine for $150 or so.

4:get a pair of good headphones. I recommend the Grado SR-60. Fantastic sound and a godsend in games.
5:No wireless anything. Looks cool, but slow input is a killer. My friend plays with a wireless mouse/kbd combo and I pound on him silly with my $10 optical USB mouse.
 

k-

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I think getting a used x850 is a stupid idea when i can get a 7900gt for $280CAD. and 7800 takes awy moo much energy for its performance.

As i asid before, i want to have a very small case since its very easy to carry around and looks cooler.

also why would get a D805 and OVERCLOCK it in a small case when a UNOVERCLCKED 3500+ performs better, runs cooler and takes less energy.....

My build is $700 which is like a standard budget build and i think it's a pretty good rig for a 700 dollar computer (LAN).
 

Plekto

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Well, the MB/CPU is up for debate - your choice, afterall... but the rest is good advice. You probably could LAN with a $100 used GF6600 just as well. Eye-candy is great, but versus other players, I turn off everything I don't absolutely need. A super-high end card is overkill.

I personally do liek the 805, though, as dual-core is fantastic for LAN games. All the background crap is offloaded.

A small case, though, is trouble. Get the Lanboy. it has carrying straps built in and is only a little heavier. the airflow and reliability is much better, of course, since small cases tend to have severe compromises. They run hotter, have more noise, and almost always have punier power supplies.

Lastly, as for input devices, the best, and what the top player in the world for several years used, is a Kensington trackball.(he used two of them, actually) Pricey, but worth it. http://us.kensington.com/html/2200.html

Now, you don't need a new one - a used older one will work just as well and better than any mouse, once you get used to it. Second best $60 I ever spent on computing(the Grado headphones were #1 - easily 5 times better sound for the money than anything else in their price range)
 

k-

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a Trackball mouse?
I dont think no professional players use it for FPS games like counter-strike 1.6 / cs:s...

i already got a G5 and a mx518 so i think im fine.
 

4745454b

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Time for me to be an ass.....
I noticed that in your first post you said "Not Bad?? " This makes me and others think your looking for opinions your build. After reading this thread, I can tell this is far from the truth. Everytime someone suggests something, you defend your first choice. The best example is when someone tells you AM2 boards are having issues using OCZ ram and you should switch to Corsair. Rather then say thanks for the tip, or I'll look into that, you say
I picked ocz since that was the cheapest ddr2 800.
Who cares how cheap it is if it doesn't work???

Rereading your first post, the only question you ask is
this case has 300W included, i was wondering if it will be able to run them all.
I'm assuming the Antec case comes with an Antec PSU. According to this, http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_techspecs_full.php/masterid=17687408 you need a 350W. I also wouldn't go with an OC version of the 7900GT. While not confirmed, many people are having issues with the OC versions of the 7900GT. My advice, if your willing/able to listen, switch the ram, powersupply, and video card. Crucial/Corsair, 400W or better (stick with name brand) and a normal 7900GT/x1800xt.
 

yourmothersanastronaut

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Avoid the Antec SFF. It sucks for airflow. A much better option is the Ultra MicroFly, which comes with a 400W PSU - which will drive a 7900GT. Ultra's stuff is pretty good. Until the MicroFly came out, the Aspire X-Qpack was the best SFF case available, but now that honor belongs to Ultra.

Ultra
 

k-

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I was actually looking at that and it looks the same as the qpack lol.
I might get that. but its kinda ugly compared to nsk1300.

so that + ultra 500w would porlly cost 140$

Thx.