Build a cheap gaming rig

[starvinmarvin]

Hi. Have acquired a GF4 Ti4200. Would like to build a really cheap but decent-performing machine for gaming. Have zero experience in building one. Sam's Club has an interesting kit for sale for $199. It's from CPU Builders (Stratitec, Inc.)and they have pre-assembled by mounting the motherboard in the case with power supply, and also supply a low-end graphics card, keyboard and mouse, and an AMD approved heatsink/fan. You then buy a cpu up to Athlon 2100+, a hard drive, CD or DVD, and DDR 2100 RAM (or regular PC133 SDRAM). There's a manual with photos, and 1-yr. warranty with 24/7 tech support. The case has 300-watt AMD-approved power supply with fan, and a case fan, too. Motherboard is an ECS K7S5A. It doesn't overclock much but it's so cheap I could buy the Athlon XP 2100+ instead of a slower one, you see ? Anyhow, what does anyone think about this approach for a guy who is all thumbs and just wants a cheap rig for gaming ?

Regards

 

[o1die]

Newegg.com has a selection of maxtop cases for $35-49 with 350 watt power supplies that worked fine for me. They have the xp1600 cpu for about $54 which has been overclocking well for many. A shuttle ak35gt2 or abit kx7-333 both have more overclocking features than the ecs, for only a few dollars more. Read the recent article from Tom's staff about building your own pc. Many boards come with backplates that are easy to install. Once you position the mobo and determine where to mount the stand-offs, the rest is pretty basic.

 

[halkebul]

Kids at www.amamax.com offer a good AMD athlon xp barebone configurator. I was able to assemble this system using this configurator:
AMD Athlon XP 1600+ CPU
GIGABYTE GA-7VTXE+ Motherboard w/ audio
256MB DDR Memory
VTech 2107K Computer Case
300W power supply
Cooler Master cpu cooler
Western Digital 40GB 7200RPM hard drive
Mitsumi Floppy disk drive
Artec DVD drive
Generic PCI network card
aopen Modem
Microsoft Keyboard & mouse
windows xp home edition

pre-assembled & Operating system installed for $312

Just add speakers, Monitor and graphics card(you've mentioned that you already have this, a geforce4 ti 4200) and you're good to go!

"Who drunk my apple juice?!"

 

[halkebul]

if ya decide to assemble the system yourself, I agree with o1die.

"Who drunk my apple juice?!"

 

[Spitfire_x86]

My recommendations: (newegg price)

Athlon XP 1600+ $54
Volcano 7 Cooler $15
256 MB Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 DDR RAM $63
MSI KT3 Ultra2 mobo $79
Maxtor Diamond Max Plus D740X 40 GB 7200 rpm, ATA-133 HDD $78
LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM $39
Any good brand 350W power supply

Costs $318 (Without power supply, fdd, lan card, modem, case, keyboard, mouse)

<b><font color=red> Long live piracy! </font color=red></b>

 

[ejsmith2]

The specs between a 350w psu and a 300w psu are all on the 12v rail. Which doesn't help out a goddamn thing on the mainboard.

Uhhhhh. Unless you're using a p4. I have no idea what it uses 12v for.

Other than that, I'll go with Spitfire. That Liteon and Maxtor are good.

For $63 buxx (plus s/h), you can get PC3200 instead. Actually, the Kingston PC3200 runs about $67. And a couple of the KT400 mainboards go for $89.

You can go up to an XP1700 before the price/performance really skyrockets.

Buy a case locally. You'll pay just as much for the s/h as you would local sales tax.

And if you get a PowMax (which is just a Leadman line), you can get a 400w psu for something right around $20 plus s/h.

Lan cardz go for $15, a winmodem that will work under windows or linux runs about $15 (Lucent), and the keyboard/mouse I'd just get down at a local store.

I dunno 'bout anyone else. I don't use my floppy anymore. I'll make a floppy 'image', and burn off a boot cd, if I absolutely need a floppy.


Athlon XP 1600+ $54
Some nappy little cooler $10
256 MB Kingston PC3200 CL2.5 DDR RAM $67
Gigabyte 7vax mobo $89
Maxtor Diamond Max Plus D740X 40 GB 7200 rpm, ATA-133 HDD $78
LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM $39
A Geforce4 ti4200 64meg $120
A 19" flatscreen trinitron monitor $250
About 4 good 80mm case fanz $20
Some Dremel cuttoff disks $5
A Powmax 400W power supply
A mid tower steel case $20

A big bottle of Jim Bean $20
A free weekend $Priceless


Place where you could possibly skimp:

A KT133a mainboard $55
128meg of PC2100 $25
A shadow mask 17" montior that will do 1024x768@75hz $130
Two 80mm case fans $5
A roll of duct tape $2
A Powmax 300w psu $15
The nappiest little cooler you can find but still kicks ass $3
Mandrake Linux 9.0a-RC3 $1

( in other words, exactly what you'll get with the Sam's system)


P4's @ 3600Mhz ()wNz J00 4LL!!!!!!

 

[Spitfire_x86]

KT400 and AGP 8X is worthless. KT400 have 0 percent performance improvernt over KT333. With current cpus, AGP 8X will not bring any performance boost. Moreover, GeForce4 Ti4200 has no AGP 8X support.

MSI KT3 Ultra2 is rock solid and MSI mobos are more reliable than Gigabyte.

Samsung PC2700 CL2.5 is little more expensive than Kingston PC2100 CL2.5 . PC3200 is not the thing to go for. Like KT400 it has no performance improvement over PC2700. And if he uses two memory modules, PC3200 will convert to PC2700. I case of 3 modules PC3200 will be PC2100.

If he can spend extra $5, Volcano 7 is the cooler to go for rather than some $10 nappy little cooler

For monitor he can go for ViewSonic G90F (19"). $259 at newegg. Can display 1600x1200 @ 77 Hz.

An off topic question: How you create floppy image?

<b><font color=red> Long live piracy! </font color=red></b>

 

[ejsmith2]

The KT400 gives you a little upgrade buffer. It's not like it's more than $5 more than the KT333's, anyway.

And where've you read that "giga" bites? Dude, point me out here.

There's a few places where the PC3200 jumps over PC2700. But you have to tweak the game to take advantage of it. SO....

If you tell UT2k3 to use 140meg of memory, you will see a performance boost. But the precache time will take longer.

And yes, that's the drawback on the PC3200. One stick on that mainboard is it.

Dude, have you priced memory (other than pricewatch) this week? I've seen Kingston PC2100 256meg going for $61 with shipping. I've seen generic PC3200 without a heat sink going for $63, and Samsung 256meg PC3200 with a heat sink for $68.

If you are using silicone gel, you're not going to be overclocking much. And, at lest here in the states, you *have* to order that special dow-corning silicone that was in the reviews. Sooo, that nappy little cooler isn't going to do any worse than that Volcano7 with comez either with a thermal pad or silicone blister.

Yes, you can get a G90F. Shipping on that runs $25, minimum. I bought a generic KDS (Envision) that will do 16x12@75hz, locally, for $250 and some change; including 8% sales tax.

There's a program I use. I think it's winimage5.0. You can take a load of filez, order them up, and make a .img or .imz file. You just load that into Nero, and burn it as a bootable .iso.

Did that with me ME and 98se disks. Actually, i think the boot disk I burned for 98 was the Me one. =)

P4's @ 3600Mhz ()wNz J00 4LL!!!!!!

 

[starvinmarvin]

Thanks to all who gave advice here. You've given me lots to think about. Guess the ECS-based $199 special is a little lacking by current standards, but it sure is attractive to someone who has never even successfully changed a spark plug !!

 

[ejsmith2]

If you actually built that computer with the exact same parts, you'd save like $25. But they get those part in volume, so they are actually making about $50 off you for each computer.

If you want something fast, then by all means get it. But, it will more than likely be a disposable computer.

You'll be able to cannabilize some of the parts, though, if you start having problems. The processor and video card will probably still be good. It's just that the memory and the mainboard will be totally harsh. I wouldn't be surprised if you plugged in that Ti4200, and then had a *whole* bunch of problems getting it to work. Or things just seemed to BSOD on you regularly.

Dell computers are like this. Or at least, they were.

You'd have to find out if the bios is proprietary on the Sam's one. If you can't upgrade directly from the manufacturer's web page, then you *really* don't want that part. Or at least, that's how I feel after owning two Dell computerz...


P4's @ 3600Mhz ()wNz J00 4LL!!!!!!