Best CPU, Motherboard, and graphics card for under $500

Clinging to that GB of DDR RAM really limits your options... I'd say ditch that requirement and ask again.

I currently have:

Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 Motherboard
Pentium 4 2.6 gHz Northwood
1gb Corsair XMS pc3200
120 gb Seagate 7200 HD
GeForce 7800GS 256mb


I know that holding on to my memory limits options, but if I can I would like to use it. I am thinking that a 939 pin Athlon 64 is going to be the best for the money with perhaps a BFG 7950 GT?

IMHO I would just goto Newegg.com search through countless reviews of 939 boards, AMD X2's or FX's, and some 7 series cards for the answer your looking for.

You can still get good performing hardware for what you plan to spend so long as you are not trying to break any records.

I could easily find a decent set-up for under $500. Especially since 939 is falling to the way side.

I pimp a Sandy and I'd say that as far as single core cpus are concerned thats a great one.

Overclocks well too.

But you may find yourself in trouble when trying to locate a retailer that still has those in stock. AMD stopped producing them and people quickly became aware that the retailers FX-57 just wasn't worth the $800 CAD price tag anymore when you could snag their $170CAD 3700+ and achieve the same performance.

Goodluck and godspeed.

Yup...so does Newegg.com for $89.00.

Do you guys think the 7950gt will do fine...or is there an ATI card that would do better for the same price of about $270

i wouldnt buy the 7950 only because the DX10 cards are out and you could buy a cheap DX9 until the 10's get cheaper

We now know who the professional shopper is in this thread lol


I would just add a HSF Artic Freezer Pro. Last one I bought from Neweeg was just under $30 and does a great job!

The reason I am doing this now is becuase my MB fried. All things concidered, I won't be going for a DX10 card for quite some time. I finally decided to go with the following:

EVGA 7950 GT KO 512 mb
A64 3700+ San Diego 1 MB Cache
Biostar TForce4 SLI NF4 SLI 939


I think that should handle the games that I like to play (CS: Source, Quake 4, BF 2142) and do it with much higher framerate that I get now.

Thanks for the help guys.

I would suggest going with a motherboard that you can upgrade on further in the coming year or two. If you give up a little of your Graphics power, you can go with an AMD 64 X2 chip. This will give you a motherboard that can take a faster processor later, and you can always buy a faster Graphics card later as well. Take a look at this list:


ECS NFORCE4M-A (V3.0) Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: NFORCE4M-A (V3.0)
Item #: N82E16813135028
$55.99

XFX PVT73GUGE3 GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
Model #: PVT73GUGE3
Item #: N82E16814150186
$137.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Windsor 2.0GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADA3800CUBOX - Retail
Model #: ADA3800CUBOX
Item #: N82E16819103735
$148.00

OCZ 1GB (2 x 512MB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ2P8001GK - Retail
Model #: OCZ2P8001GK
Item #: N82E16820227082
$124.99

Subtotal: $466.97

That particular graphics card should do well for you. Looking at tests, in Prey at 1280x1024 with 4x AntiAliasing and max details you still get over 30 frames per second. This card would hold you until you can spend more later. More importantly, you can upgrade your processor later when prices fall even more. Think of the Multiprocessing capabilities you'd gain with the better processor.

There's still a little left over to go with a better motherboard or whatever.

Just my thoughts.

Where in the world do you see an X1950 XT that would fit into my budget? From what I can tell, they are all ~$400+

Newegg... $269

Ok then: Retail