Building a LOW Budget gaming system

AnakiMana · September 25th, 2003, 05:26 PM

The FX 5200 is much slower than the GF4 Ti4200! Isn't it? The 5200 is like an "MX" budget version of the FX.

I also HIGHLY suggest getting a retail CPU. The fan that comes with it is **extremely** quiet and guaranteed to be sufficient. Other inexpensive heatsinks are hit and miss... you just never know with the cheap ones.

Lateralus · September 25th, 2003, 05:48 PM

Thanks all.. You have given me alot to think about. Although we want a LOW budget system, we can spend a tad bit more. The XP2200 would be well worth all more bucks. I may look into getting a better video card to, not much more though.
We had disagreements no the video cards.
Which is better for gaming, the GeForce 4 TI 4200 64 or 128MB or the 5200

DanU · September 25th, 2003, 09:27 PM

For current DX8 games, definitely the GF4 4200 Ti.

See here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030714/index.html

MitaDC · September 25th, 2003, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by AnakiMana
I also HIGHLY suggest getting a retail CPU. The fan that comes with it is **extremely** quiet and guaranteed to be sufficient. Other inexpensive heatsinks are hit and miss... you just never know with the cheap ones.

Yup. Cooling is ok. I had a 2000xp and the stock HSF let my cpu run at about 140-145F....VERY HOT....but as long as your room is cool and your case has good cooling it will be fine. make sure u get good thermal compound.....I like AS3. If u still don't want retail I recommend Zalman for quietness and good cooling too. Also I like Volcano 11+ but it's kinda noisy but good cooling

Juan Sanchez · September 25th, 2003, 11:27 PM

Forget nVidia as a Graphics card just go to newegg and get the radeon 9600NP for $118. It'll perform close to the TI4600 and FX5600 in current games and smoke them in DX9 games.

shawshank62 · September 25th, 2003, 11:30 PM

dont expect to overclock with that card for $118, doesnt even have a fan on it.

RamonGTP · September 25th, 2003, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Lateralus
Sorry bout that.. Motherboards a Biostar VIA KT400 Model# M7VIT PRO
I have had mine for about 6 months or so and its been rock solid.
I previously had a Epox 8k7a and it always gave me trouble and sure wasnt even close to being "rock solid". The biostar has no overclocking ability, but I did need that. If I want it to be faster I will just by faster components.. I never understand overclocking.

Once I asked that question and one refered to is much like these rice rocket spunked up cars on the road these days..
I look at this way.. Why pay 20,000 for a toyota and put 10 or 20 more thousand beefing it up.. Hell, go ahead and get you a corvette or a mustang 5.0 if you really wanna go fast.. and its less work. Anyways, I'm rambling... sorry

The difference between overclocking and spending money to make a car faster is that overclocking doesn't cost you money, you just change settings on the board... In your friend case, since he's on a tight budget, and since you're getting a processor known to be a good overclocker, you should MOST DEFINATLY overclock. If you want a budget gaming system, ditch that board, and get a board with overclocking abilities and run that 1700+ at 166 FSB with some PC2700 memory. Also, that card won't cut it, i think even a Radeon 8500 outperforms it.

Oh, almost forgot... Mustangs are slow... I'll put my money on a Toyota Supra TT against a 5.slow anyday. I'll also bet you I can get a Supra into the 11s a whole lot easier than you can get that stang there.

twiztidtruckie · September 25th, 2003, 11:47 PM

Truckies Suggestion:

NEWEGG.com Items:

~Koala Case (with window/neon/450watt PSU) 47$ shipped
~K7S5A Pro Board (4xusb/4x agpslot/and more) 47$ shipped
~AMD XP 2400+ CPU with heat sink and fan 82$ shipped

EBAY Shops:

~Lite-On CD-RW Drive 52x32x52 34$ shipped
~WD HD 40GB 7200 2mb 42$ shipped
~GF4 Video Card (agp) 38$ shipped
~pc2700 256mb DDR (1-stick) generic brand 32$ shipped

Total for complete system (minus keyboard/mouse/monitor)

$322 After shipping expenses

Would make a great gaming machine...I have the exact machine dedicated for just gaming (DEUS EX/HL/TFC/CS/and more)

Cant do much better preformance wise with these prices...If your building it yourself you can save a bundle....all the prices include fast shipping (usps priority).

Check it out...worth the time...trust me....I love mine.

PS: If you need any help on parts suggestions or other things...feel free to PM me.

Truckie

Juan Sanchez · September 25th, 2003, 11:58 PM

Ok, let me see If I can help your friend build a cheap system using new egg.

CASE: Pro Source 606Lunaw/300watt psu ($37 after shipping)
RAM: Geil PC2700 256 MB ($44)
MoBo:Chaintech 7INL1-Summit Nforce 2 400 ULTRA ($68)
Proc: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ w/HSF($56)
Vidcard:Saphire 9100 128MB DDR ($75)

Total Cost: $280

I take it he's gonna reuse his old drives(HDD DVD,CDRW,Floppy) this is a great build right here and thanks to the Nforce2 ULTRA MoBo he can upgrade it to up to a 3200+ later on if he chooses to. Also with that ram(and MoBo), if you dare jump into the relm of OCing it'll run well if you decide to run that 1800+ on a 333FSB or later on get another stick and run Dual Channel. Anyway hope I've been of some assistance, BTW sorry for suggesting that 9600, it seems a litte out of your buds pricerange, but the 9100 will run circles around that 5200 and should perform about even to a 4200 with ATI's latest drivers.

Peace out

Juan Sanchez · September 26th, 2003, 12:08 AM

Hell my Honda and I have eaten many a Mustang GT this past summer, ah the memories

http://www.techimo.com/photo/data/50...Civic.jpg?4920