posted
I need a new computer. My current one is dying pretty darn quick. My budget is about $500, give or take a few bucks, and I plan on carrying over my monitor.
What am I looking for? First, the ability to play CS extremely well. Second, the ability to multitask ... on my current machine, if I have open Winamp, a word processor, AIM, and MIE, it just about does a self-destruct on me. I'd also like a DVD/CD-Writer, and the option to make screencaps, but the latter isn't a neccessity.
With this budget, what kind of tower would you build? And this budget has to include everything - HD, RAM, all the stuff that a computer know-nothing like me wouldn't know about.
posted
Well, assuming a US => exchange rate of 1:.76 or so, we get a budget of $660 CDN Here's something close:
quote: Premium Mid Tower Case w/ HEC 300W Power Supply $74.99 AMD Athlon� XP 2500+ Barton @ 333Mhz FSB (Socket A) 512k (Retail Box) w/ Heatsink and Fan $129.99 Heat Sink and Fan included with CPU $0.01 Asus� A7N8X-X, Socket A, NVidia� nFORCE2-400 w/ 8X AGP (ATX) $99.99 512Mb DDR SDRAM Ram Module, PC2700 $99.99 40 GB Maxtor Diamond Max� Plus UDMA-133 7200RPM 2048k 8.5ms OEM $74.99 Panasonic 3� in (1.44Mb) Floppy Disk Drive, Beige $9.99 Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 - 128Mb DDR AGP TV-Out DVI (OEM) $139.99 On-Board PCI Sound built-into motherboard $0.01 On-Board 10/100Mb Lan built-into motherboard $0.01 Sony 52/24/52 CD-RW Drive w/ Burn Proof OEM, Beige $44.99
Total: $670.01
Hmmm, I don't think you're going to be able to get a DVD burner. A DVD burner here is at least $150, and we aren't working with much room to move around.....unless you have a particularly generous definition of playing CS extremely well. Note that thats already a third-party oem non-pro Radeon 9600.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Hmmm, if we go anorexic on most of the core components, we can get the DVD burner requirement, assuming you mean you want to make screenshots from DVDs, and not say from a TV-in card.
quote: Premium Mid Tower Case w/ HEC 300W Power Supply $74.99 AMD Athlon� XP 2000+ @ 266Mhz FSB (Socket A) 256k OEM $99.99 Heat Sink and Fan included with CPU $0.01 Asus� A7N8X-X, Socket A, NVidia� nFORCE2-400 w/ 8X AGP (ATX) $99.99 256Mb DDR SDRAM Ram Module, PC2700 $54.99 40 GB Maxtor Diamond Max� Plus UDMA-133 7200RPM 2048k 8.5ms OEM $74.99 Panasonic 3� in (1.44Mb) Floppy Disk Drive, Beige $9.99 Sapphire Atlantis Radeon� 9200 128Mb DDR Dual-Head AGP Video Card $99.99 On-Board PCI Sound built-into motherboard $0.01 On-Board 10/100Mb Lan built-into motherboard $0.01 Sony DWU14A DVD+/-RW Drive (IDE) OEM, Beige $184.99
Charles Capps
We appreciate your concern. It is noted and stupid.
Member # 9
posted
It would be a lot easier if you didn't intend to game on the system. I spent the past few months gathering parts to rebuild Lobotomy as an Athlon 2200. I ended up spending about $350, but I reused parts, like the CD drive and hard drive.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'm sure it would be easier, but what can I say ... I need to frag people, and I think it would be a lot better for everyone if I had Counter-Strike as a suitable substitute!
posted
You want to get that balance between price and performance. Always by behind the cutting edge. Looking around, the big price jumps seem to be anything above an Athlon XP 2800+. Where I went, the 2200 was about �40, the 2400 �45, the 2600 about �55, the 2800 �65, and the 3000 was �90-odd.
An NForce motherboard, while nice, is a touch overkill, especially if you're going to get a seperate graphics card. Which you are. I've yet to be really convinced that the graphical increase is worth it. But do make sure the motherboard company has some kind of legible web-site, unless you want to trall through a load of Manderin when you want a BIOS update or manual.
With hard drives, the difference between a 40 gig and an 80 gig is minimal - from �35 to �45, so you're spending less than a quarter to double the size, which is much more efficient. The jump to a 120gig though is much costlier.
You need 512mb of RAM. More can come later, if necessary. Just make sure it's PC2700 minimum (although again, the price difference for higher speed DDR RAM is pretty minimal. One or two pound in my experience).
Did you mean you wanted a DVD-writer/CD-writer combo, or a DVD-player/CD-writer? Because the later is a lot cheaper.
Games is also tricky. A 9200 can be picked up pretty cheap, but it isn't a DirectX 9 graphical card. But then, there aren't actually any DX 9 games OUT at the moment, so that's not a big deal. Half Life 2 would still be fine on it, just not amazing. You can always upgrade later, and it's more than enough for Counter Strike.
For a case, look around. As long as it's 300W minimum, you should be fine (I think. I tend to overcompensate in these things, which is why I've ended up with a 450W crazy thing). You might want to look for extra things, like a (ooooh) side window, fans with pointless glowing lights, and so forth. It might make you feel like a man. Or not.
And any DVD player can take screencaps. It's a software thing, not a hardware thing.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
I have said it before, and now, I will say it again. Wattage is not important. Spike suppression is. Fluctuating power output can, at best, reduce the lifespan of the motherboard and everything on it, or, at worst, fry the whole system, so it's better to spend X on a 300W PSU than half of X on a 450W (which you will never tax to the limit with a budget PC anyway).
Registered: Nov 1999
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quote: An NForce motherboard, while nice, is a touch overkill, especially if you're going to get a seperate graphics card. Which you are. I've yet to be really convinced that the graphical increase is worth it.
The point of getting an NForce board isn't the integrated video, in fact I don't believe this $99CDN board has onboard. The point is to get reliability and performance. In any case, at this point in time, both low-end VIA and Nvidia chipset boards cost about the same....I say go with Nvidia.
quote: With hard drives, the difference between a 40 gig and an 80 gig is minimal - from �35 to �45, so you're spending less than a quarter to double the size, which is much more efficient. The jump to a 120gig though is much costlier.
*shrug* You have to cut some corners to get under $660 CDN. I'm assuming he's moving across an existing HD, so 40 + X, where X is the side of his existing HD should be more than enough.
quote: You need 512mb of RAM. More can come later, if necessary. Just make sure it's PC2700 minimum (although again, the price difference for higher speed DDR RAM is pretty minimal. One or two pound in my experience).
Well, its not that it has to be a PC2700 minimum, its just that it has to match the CPU FSB. i.e. PC2100 for a CPU with a 266 FSB PC2700 for a CPU with 333 Anything more with an Athlon is irrelevant unless you want to overclock.
quote: Games is also tricky. A 9200 can be picked up pretty cheap, but it isn't a DirectX 9 graphical card. But then, there aren't actually any DX 9 games OUT at the moment, so that's not a big deal. Half Life 2 would still be fine on it, just not amazing. You can always upgrade later, and it's more than enough for Counter Strike.
*shrug* It doesn't really matter if cards at the 9200 speed level have DX9 in hardware or not. It would be too damn slow either way to use in an actual DX9 game anyways. But its more than enough for Counterstrike, which is just Half Life, which is just Quake 2. Just don't try to load up KOTOR, Morrowind, or something.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Mucus: The point of getting an NForce board isn't the integrated video, in fact I don't believe this $99CDN board has onboard. The point is to get reliability and performance. In any case, at this point in time, both low-end VIA and Nvidia chipset boards cost about the same....I say go with Nvidia.
Where on earth do you get your motherboards? I've seen ones like this for about �35, and (if you really want cheap) ones like this for �22. NVidia ones always seem to be a fair bit more expensive.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
Go for the Barton now. The performance is around the lower edge of par. You don't want to be stuck with another soon-to-be low end computer. And get the 512 MB RAM. It appears to be the dying standard nowadays, and more and more people are investing in 1024 MB. Besides, my brother has 256 MB RAM in a P4 1.6 and the low amount of RAM doesn't help in running WinXP efficiently.
Liam is right. A DVD/CDRW can cost $80 Canadian. That's about $60 US depending on the store you visit. And if you can spare the few bucks, get as much space as you can.
The Sapphire Radeon 9600 seems attractive. There is also a Forsa GeForceFX 5600 going about the same price, but if you're a HL2 fan, go for ATI. Their benchmarks say so.
You also might want to invest in a specialized power supply, maybe from Topower, Antec, Enermax, or Thermaltake. The last thing you want is your Power supply to make your computer a twenty pound paperweight.
You can always buy the DVDRW later. Everyone I know is jumping all over the lowlow prices of DVDRWs, but I'm waiting patiently for not only the price to go lower, but the performance to go up higher (I'm waiting for when DVDRWs are around $100 and can record DVDs in around 5 minutes). That way I can get a very good writer for a cheap price. And then I can record my porn.
whoops I think I revealed a little too much here....
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam:
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: The point of getting an NForce board isn't the integrated video, in fact I don't believe this $99CDN board has onboard. The point is to get reliability and performance. In any case, at this point in time, both low-end VIA and Nvidia chipset boards cost about the same....I say go with Nvidia.
Where on earth do you get your motherboards? I've seen ones like this for about �35, and (if you really want cheap) ones like this for �22. NVidia ones always seem to be a fair bit more expensive.
Mucus is right. Over here, the Asus A7N8X-X (nVidia) is around the same price as the Asus A7V8X-X (VIA). Only a few bucks separate the two, so if one can spare a few extra dollars they can get far superior performance.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Where on earth do you get your motherboards? I've seen ones like this for about �35, and (if you really want cheap) ones like this for �22. NVidia ones always seem to be a fair bit more expensive.
Uh, lets use some math.
With a handy dandy converter, we see that
quote: Live mid-market rates as of 2004.01.30 01:03:13 GMT. 35.00 GBP United Kingdom Pounds = 84.6306 CAD Canada Dollars
quote: ASRock K7VM4 VIA KM400 more info $83 ... ASUS A7N8X-X NVIDIA nForce2-400 more info $98 ... ASUS A7V8X-X VIA KT400 w/ audio more info $81
Thats a whole difference of $10 CDN. Thats like....half a CD...a hefty McDonald's meal or something.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Saltah'na
Chinese Canadian, or 75% Commie Bastard.
Member # 33
posted
There is a place not too far from Canada Computers that has the A7N8X-X selling for $95 and the A7V8X-X for $90. I do a good portion of my computer shopping there although a significant portion of my P4 3.0 came from Canada Computers.
Oh, and where in blazes do you live, Mucus? Because I don't live too far from Pacific Mall.
-------------------- "And slowly, you come to realize, it's all as it should be, you can only do so much. If you're game enough, you could place your trust in me. For the love of life, there's a tradeoff, we could lose it all but we'll go down fighting...." - David Sylvian FreeSpace 2, the greatest space sim of all time, now remastered!
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Sorry, I forgot that you were talking about Canadian dollars. My bad.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by Saltah'na: Oh, and where in blazes do you live, Mucus? Because I don't live too far from Pacific Mall.
Right now, I'm working in Waterloo. During my non-school life, I live in Mississauga. I do get dragged to Pacific Mall every once in a while anyways, seeing as how its one of the largest malls around for legitimate.....and occasionally ilegitimate Chinese goods.
Registered: Mar 1999
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