$2,500 on a gaming computer

Hey guys. I am looking at purchasing a brand new gaming computer. I am looking to spend about 2,500 (without a monitor). I was looking at AMD 64 FX, Radon 9800 XT, and 1 gig of ram. Some sites I was looking at are:

his is what I am looking at right now:

http://www.ibuypower.com/confirm/c [...] mer-fx.htm
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BOARD: [Athlon-64-FX] ASUS SK8N nForce-3 Chipset w/USB 2.0, LAN, 5.1 AUDIO, FireWire-1394 8X AGP
CABLE: ----- OPTIONAL -----
CAMERA: ----- OPTIONAL -----
CARD_MEDIA: [FREE!!!] INTERNAL 6-IN-1 FLASH MEDIA CARD READER/WRITER
CARD_MEDIA_COLOR: SILVER COLOR
CAS: RAIDMAX 8-BAY ALUMINUM TOWER CASE + 420 WATT POWER + WINDOW (+ 99)
CASCOLOR: BLACK COLOR
CAS_1: <font color=blue> SOUND ACTIVED NEON LIGHT
CAS_2: [SPECIAL !!!] UPGRADE TO 420 WATT POWER SUPPLY (+ 19)
CAS_3: ----- OPTIONAL -----
CAS_3_COLOR: SILVER COLOR
CAS_4: ----- OPTIONAL -----
CAS_4_COLOR: SILVER COLOR
CD: 16X DVD-ROM
CDCOLOR: SILVER COLOR
CDRW: 52x24x52 CD-RW DRIVE
CDRWCOLOR: SILVER COLOR
CPU: [Athlon-64-FX] AMD ATHLON-64 FX-51 CPU w/ HYPER TRANSPORT TECHNOLOGY (+ 1699)
EAR: ----- OPTIONAL -----
FAN: Thermaltake CoolMod Color LED Light CPU Fan and Heatsink (+ 29)
FDD: MITSUMI 1.44 MB FLOPPY DRIVE
FDDCOLOR: SILVER COLOR
HDD: 120 GB 7200 RPM ULTRA ATA-100 HARD DRIVE
HDD2: ----- OPTIONAL -----
IDE: ----- OPTIONAL -----
IEEE1394: ----- OPTIONAL -----
KB: [SILVER] COMBO: MULTI-MEDIA / INTERNET KEYBOARD + INTERNET MOUSE
MEMORY: [Athlon-64-FX] 1024MB [512MB x2] DUAL CHANNEL DDR-400 REGISTERED PC3200 MEMORY (+ 186)
MODEM: ----- OPTIONAL -----
MONITOR: ----- OPTIONAL -----
MONITOR_LCD: ----- OPTIONAL -----
MOUSE: ----- OPTIONAL -----
NETWORK: 10/100 NETWORK LAN ONBOARD
NETWORK_1: ----- OPTIONAL -----
NETWORK_2: NETGEAR 802.11B 11MBPS USB ADAPTER MA101 (+ 59)
OS: NONE- PRE-FORMATTED HARD DRIVE ONLY
PNT: ----- OPTIONAL -----
PNT_CABLE: ----- OPTIONAL -----
RAID: ----- OPTIONAL -----
RAID2: ----- OPTIONAL -----
RUSH: NO, SHIP OUT IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
SCANNER: ----- OPTIONAL -----
SOFT1: ----- OPTIONAL -----
SOFT2: ----- OPTIONAL -----
SOFT3: ----- OPTIONAL -----
SOUND: 3D WAVE STEREO SOUND ONBOARD
SPEAKER: <font color=black> LOGITECH Z-640 5.1 SURROUND SPEAKERS + SUBWOOFER
Submit: Add to Cart
Subtotal: 2350.00
Subtotal1: 2350.00
TV_TUNER: ----- OPTIONAL -----
USB: STANDARD 2x USB 2.0 PORTS
VIDEO: [New !!!] ** 8X AGP ** ATI RADEON 9800-XT 256MB W/ DVI + TV OUT (+ 259)
WARRANTY: STANDARD WARRANTY PLUS FREE 1 YEAR iCARE DELUXE ONSITE SERVICE
ZIP: ----- OPTIONAL -----
ZIPCOLOR: SILVER COLOR
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That is a total of only: 2350.00 (for top of the line AMD 64 FX, Radon 9800 XT, Surround Sound, 1 meg of DDR 400 Ram.....
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Let me know what you think

Should I got with AMD FX? P4EE? P4 3.2?

I am going to be using the computer for all types of gaming, and top end gaming (Doom3, HL2,). I like to play with max options when possible.

Why not get a DVD burner? Money seems to be no problem to you. You can get a Plextor 8x dual format DVD recorder instead of CD-RW

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Hey! I remember you! Don't you owe me some money from a couple of years ago? It's been a while, but I think you wanted to buy a new gefore 3 or something......Anyway's, send some of that money over here and pay up.

Error: Keyboard not attached. Press F1 to continue

The Athlon 64 3400+ is about to be released (if not already). It should be about as fast as the FX, have a better upgrade path and will be cheaper (and with cheaper memory). That's what I would look at if I had money to burn and a few weeks to wait. If not, I'm sure you'll be happy with the FX.

Two minor comments; why not get a SATA HD instead of a ATA100 ? And I would also vote for a DVD+-RW. If this doesnt fit in the budget, get a slightly cheaper non-XT videocard or go from the FX to a A64. I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy the ability to burn DVD's much more than a few unnoticeable percent of performance.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =

DO NOT purchase from IBUYPOWER. Very bad business practices. At least that was my opinion of them. Personally, I speak english, and that seems to be a huge problem with them. Secondly, unless you live way out, you probably have a mom and pop PC shop near you. Search all of these options first. Would almost guarantee you get as good a deal, maybe better, then anywhere else. Plus it's always nice to be close to purchase place. They will respond much better if you have problems. Just make sure you don't purchase from a large chain store.

Now for the 64 bit question, I am sure the Athalons are perfectly fine, but no 64 bit operating system to take advantage of this. So if you want to buy for high end now, go with the P4 3.2 If you want to buy for the future, buy lower end motherboard that supports 800fsb, and lowest cost 800 fsb processor, high end everything else, and save the left over money for the future. Intel should have something out in plenty of time for 64 bit OS. Mom and Pop will gladly change your motherboard and processor for you then. And sometimes (like my situation) Mom and Pop will do this work for free.

Hope this helped


No Overclocking Required.

>Now for the 64 bit question, I am sure the Athalons are
>perfectly fine, but no 64 bit operating system to take
>advantage of this. So if you want to buy for high end now,
>go with the P4 3.2

This just makes <b>zero</b> sense. If you don't think he'll need/want to run 64 bit apps under a 64 bit OS, well then let him run 32 bit XP on his A64. Its not like those chips don't work in 32 bit mode.. why would he need a P4 for that ? doh..

>f you want to buy for the future, buy lower end motherboard
>that supports 800fsb, and lowest cost 800 fsb processor,
>high end everything else, and save the left over money for
>the future. Intel should have something out in plenty of
>time for 64 bit OS

Again, 0/10 for logic. If he wants to spend $2500 on a computer to be ready for "the 64 bit future", why the hell NOT get a Athlon 64/FX ? Since even prescott will move to socket 775 and 1066 FSB, its more than unlikely any possible future 64 bit x86 core from intel will work on his MB.

= The views stated herein are my personal views, and not necessarily the views of my wife. =