need help with building a gaming system

[girlstellmelies]

i got some comission money and i used it to buy some stuff for a computer im building ...

i dont really do much... just a bit of counterstrike and just general use...



but so far the components i have are

128 mb 8500 LE ati radeo video card
santa cruz sound card
yamaha tss-1 speaker system
linksys lan card

im looking for a low cost way but i wanan take advantage of the components i bought... im looking to spend like couple hundred and most likely some sorta AMD processor...

i need some recomendations and detail descriptions

sorry guys im all new to this...

[kjg]

Welcome to TechIMO.

To help you further we are going to need a little more info. How much exactly are you willing to spend? And are the above the only components you have?

Cos you still need: monitor, case, psu, OS, mobbo+cpu, keyboard+mouse and all of the other inside bits.
Do you have any of the above that can be reused?
Also are you in america or europe etc. as this will affect where you buy and how much it will cost.

[girlstellmelies]

well im looking for a

motherboard
cpu
memory

the rest i have keyboard,mouse blah blah

umm far as how much up to around 350$

[KenKun]

I recommend the following:

*AMD XP1800+ (or faster)
XP1800+ is really a nice CPU, but if you can afford for more then you will get more speed ... this is actually your decision
I have XP1900+ and running it at XP2000+ speed, very pleased with it.

*Tt Volcano7+ Heat Sink with AS3 or thermal paste
This V7+ is a high quality HS, it should keep your CPU cool and stable all of the time, especially if used with AS3 .. also, it will give you a better chance of success incase you wanted to OC your puppy.
Ps. avoid the thermal gummy pad.

*VIA KT333 chipset based MoBo (I prefer Epox, Asus and Soyo)
KT333 chipset supports 166MHz FSB, which gives you better chance in taking the Max out of your CPU during OCing it, without the fear that the MoBo might bottle-neck you.
Or! you can run the chipset and memory at 166MHz while the CPU AGP and PCI are running at the normal default speeds, if you don`t want to risk OCing them.

*PC2700 DDR RAM 256MB at least (Made by Crucial, Kingston or Corsair)
PC2700 which runs at 166MHz ... nothing to add here just make sure not to buy cheapo non-brand memory so you save yourself big headaches.

*350Watts~ PSU (Enermax Aopen or Antec)
The power supply is a main factor in keeping your system, in general, stable. So make you sure you get a good one with enough power (The power usage depends a lot on the CPU that you will pick and whether you`ll OC or not, beside how many parts you`re going to add).

If you have other questions, please feel free to ask.
Welcome to TechIMO
Regards

[kjg]

Well from a quick look on www.newegg.com you could get:

GigaByte - Ga 7vrx $80
Amd Xp2000 $95
Crucial 256mb pc2700 $85
Thermaltake Volcano 7 $15

For a grand total: $275

With the remainder you could get another 256ram or go for the Xp2200 ($150).
This was a quick search on newegg so someone will probably find better but this would suite you well for counter strike.
But newegg only delivers to the USA, so it might no work.

[kjg]

Great Minds eh KenKun!

[VaTech]

Good choice kjg although I would look locally for memory. You can get it cheaper with rebates sometimes.

[Redwolf]

Remeber crucial ships 2nd day for free when RAM shopping.

I suggest www.pricewatch.com .

A few of the places here are shoddy, but you can use the best pricewatch companion to root them out: www.resellerratings.com

Also run by the TechIMO guys FYI

I'd also suggest an OS of either Windows XP pro or Windows 2000 pro.

If you don't wanna spend $200 on one of them, check out ebay. People there are selling OEM copies for $20 and less due to a slight Microsoft loophole (and it's all legit),

[Bob The Great]

Do you have a case with a PSU that will work with that speed AthlonXP? You'll probably need 300watt or so. If not your going to need to add $50-100 depending on how cool you like your case to look.

[girlstellmelies]

i need some recommendations for a case and power supply with prices would be great....