buget gaming build

impreza

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I'm looking at building a buget gaming pc how does this look?

http://www.atech.co.nz/cart.aspx

AMD Athlon64x2 3600+ 2Ghz Socket AM2 CPU $134nzd
Asus M2N-MX Socket AM2 mATX motherboard $133nzd
512Mb DDR2-667 Generic PC2-5300 240pin RAM $57nzd x2

htye are in new zealand $$ I'm thinking of upgrading my gpu soon which is a 7800gt so I though I could use that
 

miribus

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The link doesn't work, it would only work for you since it's in your browser's cache. Just list the components and price point.
Specifically, what video card?
I wouldn't worry so much about the speed of the memory 667 is ok, unless 800 isn't that much more. Try to get 2gb of ram. 2gb of 667 > 1gb of 800.
 

miribus

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If we were talking about core 2 then yea the memory speed would not matter much but AM2's are very sensitive when it comes to ram speed and anything less than ddr2 800 will kill its performance. A 939 chip with the same rating as an AM2 chip will actually run faster unless the AM2 is running ddr2 800 then they perform similarly.

True, but I think the amount of memory would offset the speed
 

will14

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You can get 2gb of ddr800 cas 4 ram such as my geil for at least as low as $129 off new egg(oh maybe not in NZ). RAM is cheeeep right now. I'd get a gb or 2 of ddr800.
 

miribus

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Let me clarify that.
I mean the relative performance gain would be better, though still bottlenecked, with the larger capacity.
I'd also oc the ram a bit, loosen the timings. It couldn't hurt to at least investigate the DDR800 prices though.
 

dobby

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yeah, what games do you intend to run, it should play most modern games, but pushing luck with next years

dont rely ob motherboard gpu, get a 8500 - they are very cheap and support direct x 10
 

avarice

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budgets are good - just do not go cheep on important things such as a case with good airflow (many good inexpensive models out there) and power supplies. Big suggestion is not to get a bundle but to purchase separately.

Read the PSU 101 thread in the forum, and discover what you need.

Also, try to ensure a fairly good path for upgrades if possible.


Cheers.
 

impreza

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my current system is a amd 4200x2 with 2gb ddr444 and a 7800gt which I was thinging of using for the new one when I upgrade the gpu, the system would be used for lan games and wouldn't be my main system.
Do all curent am2 board support the quad core for upgrading later?
 

miribus

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my current system is a amd 4200x2 with 2gb ddr444 and a 7800gt which I was thinging of using for the new one when I upgrade the gpu, the system would be used for lan games and wouldn't be my main system.
Do all curent am2 board support the quad core for upgrading later?

Thats a good question. I dont think there is a guarantee of quad compatibility,but one might think AM2 was planned for such and just require a bios upgrade. Personally i have my doubts.

Actually there are two Budapest cores, one dual and one quad coming out for AM2. So, socket compatibility is certain, chipset... who knows, it's probably a case by case basis but given the fact they are releasing their own chipset now, I would hazard a guess that the AMD (ATI) chipsets will support it soon. There are other reasons I believe this that I technically can't say.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/NVIDIA-Prepares-MCP72-Chipset-for-AMD-Quad-Cores-46631.shtml
 

Slobogob

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Do all curent am2 board support the quad core for upgrading later?
Thats a good question. I dont think there is a guarantee of quad compatibility,but one might think AM2 was planned for such and just require a bios upgrade. Personally i have my doubts.

I still remember the VIA debacle involving the VIA K8T890. It was advertised as being dual core compatible. VIA even claimed to have the first dual core compatible chipset. Yeah, right... VIA.
Then there was the issue with those nforce (500 series, i think) boards and the Pentium D 820. Another dual core compatible board that wasn´t really compatible.

Now what does that mean? It means that, even if a manufacturer states explicitly that the producut is supported, it has a high probability of actually working - but nothing is certain.

Another consideration is, how much time will pass between the first purchase and the upgrade? If it´s close to two years, it might be a better option to upgrade the motherboard together with the CPU.

Just my thoughts.