$400-500 budget for processor, mobo, ram, and vid card
currently i’m running (dont laugh):
AMD Athlon 2200 XP
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
1.2gb ram
dont remember what kind of mobo
creative soundblaster x-fi platinum
250gb and 80gb IDE hdd’s (i’ll probably get 2 SATA hard drives, but dont factor that into the cost right now)
DVD-ROM drive
500W (or 550W, dont remember) power supply
clearly anything i buy will be an upgrade. i’ve been out of the computer hardware loop for so long that i dont know what’s good and what isnt anymore. my only real specification is at least 2 gb of ram. I do engineering stuff (programming, schematics, etc), listen to music, mix audio tracks (via adobe audition and similar), and occasionally play games. I just installed TF2 for the free weekend and my framerate is unbearably low
CPU: E8400 – $189.99
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L – $99.99
RAM: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) – $86.50 (-$20 rebate)
Vid Card: EVGA 8800 GT 512MB – $159.99 (-$20 rebate)
Total: $536.47, below $500 after rebates
alternatives:
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L – $89.99
** P35 chipset is old, the P43 above is new, just recently released.
RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) – $58.00 (-$25 rebate)
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CPU: E8400 – $189.99
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L – $99.99 RAM: Corsair 4GB (2 x 2GB) – $86.50 (-$20 rebate) Vid Card: EVGA 8800 GT 512MB – $159.99 (-$20 rebate) Total: $536.47, below $500 after rebates
alternatives: ** P35 chipset is old, the P43 above is new, just recently released. RAM: Corsair XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) – $58.00 (-$25 rebate) |
The first configuration there would be a phenomenal upgrade from what he’s running now.
yea, if he swapped that gigabyte for a decent mobo it would be pretty good. I’d also look at a diff video card brand. eVGA is pretty bottom-of-the-barrel. XFX is my recommendation. BFGTech is also excellent.
Oh would you cut it out already.
Gigabyte and eVga are consistently highly rated products by pretty much everyone.
I don’t argue against XFX, but it’s crazy to say eVga is junk.
eVga, BFG, XFX are all decent brands. My ATi card was crap, I have had 3 eVGA cards since then, but I’m looking to buy either a BFG or XFX next. IDK, one eVGA card fan crapped out after a year, and my current evga card has a faulty temp. probe after a year. I have had a 7600GT, 8600GT, and 8600GTS.
as i said, its not horrible, but evga is on the low-end of the video card manus.
xfx is mid/high-end, and bfg is high end.
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as i said, its not horrible, but evga is on the low-end of the video card manus.
xfx is mid/high-end, and bfg is high end. |
But all 3 brands have excellent cards. The only thing that scares me about eVga is that I see
where they’ve started putting a 1 year warranty on the lower/mid range cards
like the 8800 that Doom linked.
I wouldn’t touch one of those.
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as i said, its not horrible, but evga is on the low-end of the video card manus.
xfx is mid/high-end, and bfg is high end. |
so something like this?
XFX 8800 GT
and what would you suggest as an alternative to the gigabyte mobo?
I based the EVGA decision because of cost and the dual slot cooler design.
Two of XFX’s 8800GTs has the shitty single slot cooler design, 1 has the Zalman cooler which has lots of complaints (loud as fuck, no ramsinks).
As for BFG’s 8800GTs, the one with the improved cooler is $189.99. The others also have the shitty single slot cooler design.
never did really notice the warranty.
I did change my mind though.
RacerJ,…. if you don’t mind going over a few bucks over budget,.. I recommend this than any EVGA, XFX or BFG.
it is factory overclocked to 660MHz, better cooler design, and comes with a free game.
dual slot, more stream proc., higher clock, better FPS, for $20
Intel brand P43/P45/G45 boards are still making their way to Dell and other OEM manufacturers.
that will make him $50+ over budget + shipping.
I’d do it, but it’s not my budget
it’s called "reference boards". they’ve been doing it for years. manus then copy em and have their own contractor build their own version of it.
Thats why I laugh when some idiot recommends gigabyte or asus… They took the Intel Reference design, and gayed it up a bit.
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it’s called "reference boards". they’ve been doing it for years. manus then copy em and have their own contractor build their own version of it.
Thats why I laugh when some idiot recommends gigabyte or asus… They took the Intel Reference design, and gayed it up a bit. |
so what kinda mobo should i be looking at?
if you want great stability and reliability and don’t care quite so much about overclock (just a few hundred MHz) then Intel P35/Q35 are the best value, right now.
if you want to overclock, then abit allows the most control for that.
but it’s old.
minus well get the new P43/P45/G45 chipsets.
you get PCI-E gen 2, 1600fsb cpu support, new southbridge, and new features as well (e.g. the P43-DS3L has more USB and SATA ports than the P35 version).
price difference isn’t that huge.
newegg doesn’t yet have an Intel P43/45 so I haven’t recommended something they can’t buy
you’d probably recommend this one:
DP43TF – expected retail price is $105.
Other upcoming boards on Intel’s lineup:
DP45SG (ATX) – offers overclocking capabilities, DDR3 , expected retail price is $170.
DG43NB (ATX) – same as DP43TF but with only 2 RAM sockets and onboard video (Intel GMA X4500). expected retail price is $110.
DG45ID (micro-ATX) – for HTPCs, integrated HDMI, average price is $124
DG45FC (mini-ITX) – does not support Core 2 Quads, integrated HDMI, average price is $139
DX48BT2 – $289
yes the DP43TF will most likely be my recommendation once it hits.
DDR3 will eventually be useful (I’m thinking when Nehalem hits and we get integrated triple-channel ddr3 controllers on the cpu core ) But for right now, DDR2 is still the best bang for the buck.
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I based the EVGA decision because of cost and the dual slot cooler design.
Two of XFX’s 8800GTs has the shitty single slot cooler design, 1 has the Zalman cooler which has lots of complaints (loud as fuck, no ramsinks). As for BFG’s 8800GTs, the one with the improved cooler is $189.99. The others also have the shitty single slot cooler design. never did really notice the warranty. I did change my mind though. RacerJ,…. if you don’t mind going over a few bucks over budget,.. I recommend this than any EVGA, XFX or BFG. it is factory overclocked to 660MHz, better cooler design, and comes with a free game. |
I love eVga, I just meant based on the fact that they only have a 1 year warranty, I wouldn’t trust them.
I mean, why start doing that now? My worry is that they’ve gone to some lower standard of manufacturing on some of their cards and they’re worried about warranty costs.
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yes the DP43TF will most likely be my recommendation once it hits.
DDR3 will eventually be useful (I’m thinking when Nehalem hits and we get integrated triple-channel ddr3 controllers on the cpu core ) But for right now, DDR2 is still the best bang for the buck. |
Yep.
Right now, DDR3 is a big waste of money, imo.
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I love eVga, I just meant based on the fact that they only have a 1 year warranty, I wouldn’t trust them.
I mean, why start doing that now? My worry is that they’ve gone to some lower standard of manufacturing on some of their cards and they’re worried about warranty costs. |
kind of research on it a bit:
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EVGA provides a lifetime warranty on retail Graphics Card and Mainboard products purchased on or after June 22, 2005. All EVGA products purchased ON or AFTER November 1, 2006 MUST be registered within 30 days from ORIGINAL DATE OF PURCHASE to receive full lifetime warranty. Lifetime Warranty is for all retail Graphics Card and Mainboard products ending in the part numbers AR, AX, BR, BX, DR, DX, FR, FX, SG, SL, or S2. For additional details of the lifetime warranty and other terms and conditions that apply please visit the following link: |
the card I picked is a TR.
1 + 1 year warranty = initial 1 yr warranty, plus one more year free if you register the card within 30 days.
still not bad imo if the card is cheap.
$69 for 4GB OCZ SLI RAM (after $30 rebate)
(sigh) Maybe I’ll build a new machine when Nehalem comes out…probably sooner, if my old Athlon XP didn’t run EVE Online smoothly at the highest graphics settings…
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