gamer on a budget

[FrotacularFrank]

Hey there fellow tomshardware forum users!

I'm currently in a dilema... A couple of weeks back I made an error that forced me to take in my hands an ASrocK motherboard. More specificaly an AM2NF6G-VSTA. It's an "ok" board I guess... most of the stuff on it is onboard but it is rather stable and since I'm not a huge fan of overclocking, would probably be a good start for a cheap gaming rig. Basicly what I had in mind was to take my old Sound blaster live! from my previous computer, buy 1 gig of ram a 4200 dual core Athlon and run it on the onboard video for a little while. Then later buy another gig of ram, run it in dual channel and buy either a 7900GS GC or anything descent that will be available down the line... Would that be wise for a gaming rig? Or should I wait to have enough money to get myself a descent Core2Duo with a good and sturdy Asus MOBO... any comments on this will be appreciated, I thank you all in advance.

 

[novak]

It can go both ways, it's more opinoin, the 4200+ is a good cpu but I just upgraded from my ancient P4 3.0 to an E6400 Core 2 Duo and this new pc is a dream machine I love it, it's fast and with my 7900GT I am maxed out on every game I play still getting 50 - 70fps or more.

It's more up to you but yeah my friend has a 4200 and it's a nice cpu, both cpu's would be a good choice, wait and see if you get some extra pocket cash down the line somewhere and see what happens

 

[akhilles]

It's up to you if you want to upgrade incrementally or do a major one.

I agree. I was hooked on the old driving games I tried out recently on my new c2d rig. No stuttering (seems to be an NF chipset + GF video issue) except 2 pretictable ones before a huge crash or when turning into a corner of a pool of water in Xpand Rally which used to stutter every few seconds to the end in every race on my old s939 NF4 rig. Same 7900gt. 2 gigs. Same xp. Heck, I left my antivirus on while gaming this time. Speaking of which, I'm gonna play the hell out of it.

 

[FrotacularFrank]

Well now, after much deliberation I've decided to keep my Athlon 2600xp for now, get myself a 7600GS GC with a better power supply and a gaming mouse. Wait till I get enough money and get myself the computer of my dreams in about 1 year. Thanks to everyone... huh.... both you guys for your thoughs on the subject