Building a LOW Budget gaming system

Lateralus · September 25th, 2003, 01:16 PM

My best freind needs a new computer as he has come to my house and fell in love with Nascar 2003.. He has a old gateway that simply want get it done, its a 475mhz pc.
Anyways I'm going to help out and assist him in building one.
For now he just needs a decent system to get him by. He doesnt need to latest and greatest of everything.
Heck I got a 1.2 t-bird, 512ddr ram, and a radeon 7200 (32mb).
I plays the games I play just fine. Sure I might not be able to max the settings out, but i'm not at minimal either.

Anyways this is what I have picked out so far.
Do you see anyway to help me save money. These prices are from newegg and thats the only place I will be shopping from (never let me down and prices are right)
He can reuse most of his old devices, keyboards/writer/monitor and all.

1.Foxconn Super Case Model# PC-146 w/400W Mustang
power Supply -with front USB ports Retail
$27.00
2.Speeze CPU Fan Model 5F263B1M3 for AMD/Intel Socket A/370
$7.00
3. CRUCIAL MICRON 256MB 32x64 PC 2100 DDR RAM - OEM
$44.00
4.Biostar Motherboard for AMD Athlon/Athlon XP/Duron
$55.00 (I have this board and i'm happy with it, simple setup &
were not overclockers)
5.AMD Athlon XP 1700+ Thoroughbred /266 FSB Processor CPU
1700+/ 1.47GHz -OEM
$52.00
6. VGA CHAINTECH Geforce FX 5200 128MB DDR . RETAIL BOX
$69.00

Total comes to $254.00

Again, I am looking for the lowest cost to get him up and running to play games. BUT, I also dont want to buy crap low quality parts that my die quickly.
Any and all suggestions appreciated.

Scott Tiger · September 25th, 2003, 01:26 PM

The specs look nice to me for a low end system. What are you using for an OS though and what size is the hard drive? You can get 40gb hard drives pretty quickly now.

The only thing I'd suspicious of is the PSU in that case. I have nothing to base my suspicions on though so someone else will have to give a better idea on how good they are.

Lateralus · September 25th, 2003, 01:58 PM

Thanks for the reply ST. We will be using Windows XP Pro and a used hard drive i have laying around. He may decide to get a larger hard drive later, but right now he just wants this pc for Nascar 2003 gaming (hes big into the nascar stuff).
As far as that case with the power supply.. afer much searching I found this one to have alot of good reviews along with people saying to have bought 5 or 6 they were so impressed.. Many best bang for buck sayings on it..

magwel · September 25th, 2003, 02:02 PM

what motherboard are you specifically using? Because if it accepts a PC 2700 DDR RAM i would say go for that. It's about the same price as the PC2100 and is faster.

happy hunting

Lateralus · September 25th, 2003, 02:05 PM

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

VaTech · September 25th, 2003, 03:08 PM

Hmmm...I'd go for the faster processor. I can't be that much more.

woodbutcher · September 25th, 2003, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by VaTech
Hmmm...I'd go for the faster processor. I can't be that much more.

I agree, for a mere $11.00 or so more you can step up tp a XP2200.

Also check out the local OM, OD, BB and staples (all done on-line of course) for possable deals on the mem. I don't recall seeing any this last week but you would have to check.

WB

darrelld · September 25th, 2003, 03:56 PM

I would see if you can find a GeForce 4 TI 4200 64 or 128MB would be 10 times the card that 5200 is. Looking at Pticewatch, it seems they can be had for 70 to 80 USD.

DanU · September 25th, 2003, 04:22 PM

My $0.02:

Get the RETAIL Athlon XP 1800+. It's cheaper than the 1700+ OEM and a separate HSF. It's only $4 more dollars and it comes with a heatsink and 3 year warranty AND it is more overclockable. The 1700+ has a higher chance of being a Tbred A, not a Tbred B.

I just noticed that Newegg currently has a bundle special. You can get the Athlon XP 1800+ retail and Biostar M7VIZ mobo for $99. Even more excellent!

You can get Corsair valueram DDR333/PC2700 ram for the one dollar less than the price for the crucial DDR266/PC2100 you were planning to get. There's no reason to get the older stuff, and it will severely limit any future processor upgrades.

thePh@r@oh · September 25th, 2003, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by darrelld
I would see if you can find a GeForce 4 TI 4200 64 or 128MB would be 10 times the card that 5200 is. Looking at Pticewatch, it seems they can be had for 70 to 80 USD.

he only wants to go with newegg and according to some of the aquamark3 benches the FX performs better than the GF4ti i understand that the GPUs on the TIs move faster than the FX but the driver compatibility and DX9 makes it a better card IMO.