Buying a CPU

Hi there. Lets get a little more info ok?

Just to get started...do you intend to buy a screen as well or do you already have one? Do you want a 17 inch screen(because it saves space) or do you want 19" or more? Do you need to build a complete system for the money (Mouse, keyboard too?)

You can do pretty well on $1000.

One of the most important components you can get will be the video card. Buying a good one will make the gaming an enjoyable experience and will let you enjoy games yet to come. I would like to suggest that you might consider an ATI based 9700 nonpro as the base around which to build your
system. That is on the lower part of the top end cards yet has features that won't be fully exploited till new games come along.

What do you think? Would that be a good starting point?

Then there is the question of the CPU. There seem to be two excellent choices at the present time. Again both at the low end of the top performance range. AMD XP2500+ Bartonand the Intel 2.4C. The 2.4C is more expensive. Both apparently overclock well if you need or eventually want to do that. So you may want to configure two parallel systems with each of these as a core CPU (but the price difference is not that much).

<A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=145175#145175" target="_new">http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=145175#145175</A>

Lets look at two more large monetary considerations:

1) Screen. A good quality screen. You should buy the best you can afford after you have decided on your other components. You should even seriously consider buying a better screen if possible since that is the one component likely to have the longest life.
2) OS - do you need to buy one?


The loving are the daring!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flinx on 07/28/03 05:47 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

www.pricewatch.com so easy and a huge database of parts and stores. Then once you find a good price check the seller at resellerratings.com
also if you wait a month and a half (?) or so the price of cpu's will drop about 30% (at least intel)

First, thank you all three for replying :-)
I already have a screen but i forgot what model but its a viewsonic.. i will update on this
on this 1000$, no mouse, no screen, no OS (but a keyboard yes)
I was checking the price for the 9600 pro, is this card better or not then the 9700 non-pro?

so far what i had figured out about this was that i would get:

AMD Barton 2500+ 333FSB
Asus A7N8x-DX nForce2-ST, AGP8x, A133, S-ATA, i1394,Dual-DDR400, Audio,Dual-Lan, 6USB2
(2) KINGSTON KVR400X64C3/512 512MB 400MHz DDR PC3200 DIMM RAM CL3
WD WESTERN DIGITAL 60GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD600JB (600JB) DRIVE ONLY (8MB) (size isnt much a matter with me)
ANTEC SOHO File ServerTower ATX Case Model SX1040BII with 400 Watt Smart Power
Thermaltake VOLCANO 9
(2) Thermaltake 80X80X25mm FAN, 2 Ball Bearing, 2900+/- 10% RPM, 37CFM Air Flow, with 3pin/4pin adapter. P/N: TT-8025A-2B.
Creative Inspire 6.1 6600 6 Speakers w/subwoofer


and actually i dont mind at all going under the 1000$ bar, just trying to have a good PC that could last a long time... i checked prices at newegg.com btw
Thanks all,
Khanate

I crawl inside

IMO I don't trust refurbished anything.

Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 Atlantis PRO 128MB DDR, DVI/TV-out/CRT AGP for 292$ then? good basis?
so am i missing anything except dvd and cd?

I crawl inside

Looks like your doing great!

What is your total now? And the price of that 9700 nonpro seems a bit high for American $$$. Supplier here in Canada has it at $335 for a Sapphire without packaged games (about $240US) (Don't know if there are more models than the Atlantis) and a 9800pro (retail) is running at $370 US on newegg.

If XP is your operating system consider another 512 of DDR (total 1GB).

Oh yep, floppy drive. That's a few $$$ and don't forget to count taxes.

The loving are the daring!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flinx on 07/28/03 06:57 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

that is a 9700 PRO (does the price makes sound like this?)
and it is 2x512ram, you mean an additional third ram?

I crawl inside

1GB of RAM will be plenty. I have 512MB and it is fine most of the time.

At the 9700Pro you're not on much of a budget anymore.
And if you can get the 9800 pro for $30 or $40 more do that.




The loving are the daring!

You won't need a sound card with this motherboard. It's already got the nVidia Soundstorm built-in.
-Brett

I'll assemble and test a system for you for $100, including shipping. That should actually save you money over buying a prebuilt system. Simply order the parts and have them shipped to me.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

forgot but you can also watch www.slickdeal.net and every other week or so (usually) a deal will come up where you can get a good burner for about $20 after rebates, I got a 52x lite-on for $25 (it's rebadged but I didn't pay shipping and if I have a problem I have a place to return it, curcuit city)


also you'll get a noticable proformance increase if you can get cl2 or cl2.5 ram, it makes a big difference

before reviewing my ram decision here how it looks (changed the 2700 pro for 2800 non pro and saved 32$ ^_^ )

AMD Barton 2500+ 333FSB $91.00
Asus A7N8x-DX nForce2-ST, AGP8x, A133, S-ATA, i1394,Dual-DDR400, Audio,Dual-Lan, 6USB2 $92.00
POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9800SE 128MB DDR DVI/TV-out 8X AGP (Non Pro) $260.00
2xKINGSTON KVR400X64C3/512 512MB 400MHz DDR PC3200 DIMM RAM CL3 91x2=182$
WD WESTERN DIGITAL 80GB 7200RPM EIDE HARD DRIVE MODEL # WD600JB (600JB) - OEM, DRIVE ONLY (8MB)$84.00
Lite On 52x24x52 CDRW Model LTR-52246S OEM $43.99
Creative Labs Inspire 4.1 4400 Speaker $49.00
ANTEC Performance PLUS Model PLUS1080AMG- with Antec Original TRUE 430W P4 Power Supply ATX12V Retail 115$
Thermaltake VOLCANO 9, Copper base inserted, SMART & SILENT $21.99
Thermaltake 80X80X25mm FAN, 2 Ball Bearing, 2900+/- 10% RPM, 37CFM Air Flow, with 3pin/4pin adapter. P/N: TT-8025A-2B. Retail. 10.00$

I crawl inside<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Khanate on 07/28/03 09:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

New Egg has Sapphire 9800 Non Pro for $265 plus free shipping. Check with graphic card forum on the Powercooler. I think they have said to stay away from that vid card.

Hey thanks a lot, you helped me all the way in choosing my stuff, it sounds pretty good and i have finally found where it says Sapphire is good (and only 5$ more) then the bad quality powercolor!
Have a nice day,
Khanate

I crawl inside

i have heard that saphire makes many pcbs for the built by ati cards...i beleive it was in the latest thg gpu round up...

3 386DX-25's...12 volts...glue some ln2 and a wicked amount of overclocking and you get a willamantee minus 36 pins, 33.75 million transistors and a couple hundred mhz...