Hey TH,
I've finally got an opportunity to upgrade from a dying Dell Dimension Pentium 4 system, but there's a bit of a catch: I am only limited to a hundred bucks in Amazon gift card money to do it (maybe $10 over off the credit card to cover shipping). As the jump to anything from a P4 will be adequate for me at this point in time, here's what I've narrowed my choices down to and I was wondering which option the members here think I would I be most pleased with to suit my needs and budget limitation.
I've already got a Micro ATX case that I can use, a "hand me down" EVGA GeForce 9800GT 512MB DDR3 PCI Express card that I got from my brother, as well as all the other necessary components to build a PC, except for a PSU. My expectations aren't high: I'm looking to play games from about 2007 and earlier at nice detail settings, probably at a max resolution of 1280 x1024. Some points of reference would be maybe games of the caliber of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and if I can squeeze by, maybe even Modern Warfare 2.
My question to the members is, which one of these configurations would best support the 9800 GT and meet my needs:
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*This mobo: BIOSTAR Biostar Motherboard A780L3G AMD AM3 760G/SB710 DDR3 PCI Express2 SATA2 microATX A780L3G ($44.99 + $5.99shipping (Not an AM3+ board, but it still has some potential for future upgrade avenues)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004GTQEVK/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1309399198&sr=1-3&condition=new
*Coupled with this CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9 GHz 2x1 MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W ADX245OCGQBOX ($49.95 + $4.99shipping)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GLDF58/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=AL1R147NEYJ60
For a grand total of about $110 including shipping.
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Or... This setup:
*This Mobo: Intel Core 2 Quad/Intel G41/A&V&GbE/MATX Motherboard, Retail BOXDG41WV $28.95 + $5.49shipping
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HEGH1W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=A3U94QDZ6BOZGM
*With this CPU: Intel Pentium E6700 Processor 3.20 GHz 2 MB Cache Socket LGA775 $65.00 + $4.99shipping
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003OAL1AG/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1309402324&sr=1-25&condition=used
For a grand total of about $100 flat.
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If I decide I want an overclocking option (which I likely won't), I'd probably take this Intel setup instead:
Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E6600 3.06GHz 1066MHz 2MB LGA775 @ $51.97 + $4.99shipping;
Gigabyte Core 2 Quad/Intel G31/FSB1333/DDR2-800/A&V&GbE/Micro ATX Motherboard GA-G31M-ES2L @ $41.99 + $5.99shipping (I gain overclocking, but lose DDR3 and PCI-e 2.0 support with this one, though) all for about $94.
------------------------------------------------------
Bear in mind, while this is by no means a "beast" solution, I'm coming from a Pentium 4 and I got a lot of games between 2003 and 2007 to catch up on and keep me busy for a little bit.
So... Any tips? Thanks in advance!
I've finally got an opportunity to upgrade from a dying Dell Dimension Pentium 4 system, but there's a bit of a catch: I am only limited to a hundred bucks in Amazon gift card money to do it (maybe $10 over off the credit card to cover shipping). As the jump to anything from a P4 will be adequate for me at this point in time, here's what I've narrowed my choices down to and I was wondering which option the members here think I would I be most pleased with to suit my needs and budget limitation.
I've already got a Micro ATX case that I can use, a "hand me down" EVGA GeForce 9800GT 512MB DDR3 PCI Express card that I got from my brother, as well as all the other necessary components to build a PC, except for a PSU. My expectations aren't high: I'm looking to play games from about 2007 and earlier at nice detail settings, probably at a max resolution of 1280 x1024. Some points of reference would be maybe games of the caliber of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and if I can squeeze by, maybe even Modern Warfare 2.
My question to the members is, which one of these configurations would best support the 9800 GT and meet my needs:
------------------------------------------------------
*This mobo: BIOSTAR Biostar Motherboard A780L3G AMD AM3 760G/SB710 DDR3 PCI Express2 SATA2 microATX A780L3G ($44.99 + $5.99shipping (Not an AM3+ board, but it still has some potential for future upgrade avenues)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B004GTQEVK/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1309399198&sr=1-3&condition=new
*Coupled with this CPU: AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9 GHz 2x1 MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W ADX245OCGQBOX ($49.95 + $4.99shipping)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002GLDF58/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=AL1R147NEYJ60
For a grand total of about $110 including shipping.
------------------------------------------------------
Or... This setup:
*This Mobo: Intel Core 2 Quad/Intel G41/A&V&GbE/MATX Motherboard, Retail BOXDG41WV $28.95 + $5.49shipping
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HEGH1W/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&m=A3U94QDZ6BOZGM
*With this CPU: Intel Pentium E6700 Processor 3.20 GHz 2 MB Cache Socket LGA775 $65.00 + $4.99shipping
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B003OAL1AG/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&qid=1309402324&sr=1-25&condition=used
For a grand total of about $100 flat.
------------------------------------------------------
If I decide I want an overclocking option (which I likely won't), I'd probably take this Intel setup instead:
Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E6600 3.06GHz 1066MHz 2MB LGA775 @ $51.97 + $4.99shipping;
Gigabyte Core 2 Quad/Intel G31/FSB1333/DDR2-800/A&V&GbE/Micro ATX Motherboard GA-G31M-ES2L @ $41.99 + $5.99shipping (I gain overclocking, but lose DDR3 and PCI-e 2.0 support with this one, though) all for about $94.
------------------------------------------------------
Bear in mind, while this is by no means a "beast" solution, I'm coming from a Pentium 4 and I got a lot of games between 2003 and 2007 to catch up on and keep me busy for a little bit.
So... Any tips? Thanks in advance!