Aces21 0 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 (edited) Hey all, I've been looking into getting a real "gaming" computer for a little while. From hours of research hardcore gaming computer run about 3k and up. For a budget computer how do these components stand: Raidmax Scorpio-868 ATX Mid-Tower Case w/420W Power Supply AMD Athlon-64 2800+ Albatron K8X800 Pro 8x AGP Main Board with 5.1 Sound / USB2.0 / LAN 512 MB DDR400 PC-3200 Corsair XMS 120GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive (might bump down to 80gb to save some cash) 52x32x52 CD-RW 16x DVD-ROM 5.1 Surround Sound 600W PMPO Subwoofer Speakers 128MB GeForce FX-5900XT 8X AGP Video Onboard sound (sucks but I want to keep it under $1000) Do you guys think I should add/subtract/tweak for a good set-up. I mainly play GR, AA, but AA plays really crappy on my current rig. Thanks in advance Edited July 24, 2004 by Aces21 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aces21 0 Posted July 24, 2004 Author Share Posted July 24, 2004 Anybody? Please? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 If you bumped the HD down to 80GB you could take the cash from there and put it into a little bit better graphics card. Maybe something with 256MB of memory. Dont forget about cooling. You need some fans to cool that machine down. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
supasniper 0 Posted July 24, 2004 Share Posted July 24, 2004 the saving from moding down to an 80gb hdd is only about $15 at most Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 Swap the 5900XT with a Radeon 9800Pro. For the $200 card range, the 9800Pro wins. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Chef-Scott 0 Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 5.1 Surround Sound 600W PMPO Subwoofer Speakers Umm, not trying to sound like a jerk or anything, but a 600 watt speaker system?? Isn't that a bit of overkill for a computer? Movie theatres don't even have 600 watt sound systems in them. Sounds like to me, that some cash could be saved there. What are you paying for them? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Matt03 0 Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 (edited) That is an extra $15 he wouldn't have. Besides unless he is downloading a lot of media and saving it to his computer you don't really need a 120GB HD. Besides he can always upgrade later. I would downsize the speakers too. My 115W 5.1 setup does the job just fine. I think my speakers were $100 and the sound card was $70. That was 3 or 4 months ago so you may be able to find something similar for around $150 or less. Edited July 25, 2004 by Matt03 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dan 0 Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 5.1 Surround Sound 600W PMPO Subwoofer Speakers Umm, not trying to sound like a jerk or anything, but a 600 watt speaker system?? Isn't that a bit of overkill for a computer? Movie theatres don't even have 600 watt sound systems in them. Sounds like to me, that some cash could be saved there. What are you paying for them? maybe he wants sound better than that of a cinema? Anyway, that 600W means ###### all. Its just a number to make you go ooo wow. The real number that matters is the RMS output (in watts). Cos that 600w is the max figure, how much it can withstand before it melts. The RMS is the actual output. This is a big thing with car speakers especially, ALWAYS try to find the RMS number on the box, but, as always, it comes down to you get what you pay for with sound. In the majority of cases, the more expensive one sounds better. The lack of soundcard is a hinderance for nice sound, but you could always get one later, either by saving or christmas birthdays Honnika Ramadan etc etc But a good set of speakers is a must have in my book. They arent just for the PC, he could plug em into the TV, VCR, DVD player and CD player etc. Also take em to parties, put em in the yard, take em to a mates house etc etc. I also recommend the Radeon 9800pro, its a nice card, the comp i had designed for me had one in it, cept i couldt afford the whole thing, but anyway. With the HDD, the prices dont differ greatly. In my plans, i started with an 80GB, thought hmmm, $(Aus)20 for the 120GB. Then hmmmm, $30 for the 160GB.... How much are you paying for the MotherBoard? Cos i was lookin at an Abit one, with all the fruit, set for an AMD, for $154 Australian. May be worth havin a look. RAM is sweet, i was getting 1gig of that. No Burner? Id recomend getting a DVDROM/CDRW combo, can get them for (again, aussie) $80 or so. Lite-On and Apacer do some for cheap. And i assume your just recyling monitor keyboard and mouse etc?? Otherwise, yeah, lookin sharp. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Aces21 0 Posted July 25, 2004 Author Share Posted July 25, 2004 Well im going off a template for a IBUYPOWER computer IBUYPOWER Look at the Gamer FX set up, thats basically what im going to get. The 600w sound system comes with it so im not going to complain about it I did look at the 9800 pro but I havent seen any benchmarks compairing the two, so I just threw in the 5900XT. Searching for benchmarks right now. @Silent Night The Abit KV8 Pro Via-K8T800 Pro. Its only $20 to $30 US more then the Albatron mobo in my build, but im very cheap and i put the extra money into the Corsair RAM. Thanks for everybody thats helping me out. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crimson 0 Posted July 25, 2004 Share Posted July 25, 2004 CHAINTECH VNF3-250 nForce3 250 chipset. $88. One of the best mobos out there for the AM64s. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CR6 0 Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 120GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive (might bump down to 80gb to save some cash) 52x32x52 CD-RW 16x DVD-ROM 5.1 Surround Sound 600W PMPO Subwoofer Speakers 128MB GeForce FX-5900XT 8X AGP Video Onboard sound (sucks but I want to keep it under $1000) 120 GB is the sweet spot these days for price/performance value for what you pay for hard drives. No harm buying 80 GB if you don't need all that space. The key thing is you buy a hard drive with a 8MB cache Instead of buying 2 optical drives, I have been recommending to a lot of my friends to buy a DVD burner. You can still watch DVDs and burn CDs, but you can also burn DVDs which is something you can't do with your current idea. DVD burners are pretty cheap now too. You do NOT need a 256MB graphics card for at least the next 12-18 months, unless you always plan to play with ansiotropic filtering and anti-aliasing maxed out (which many games turn off by default anyway). The 5900XT is a good value if you like Nvidia, but if you can afford it, the best price/performance value is the Radeon 9800 Pro now. There's no doubt the Radeon 9800 Pro blows away the 5900XT. Onboard sound these days is fine. Most onboard sound you get these days is equivalent to a Soundblaster Live 5.1 card. If you really want good sound, get a mobo with the nForce chipset and nVidia's onboard sound. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ghostie 0 Posted July 26, 2004 Share Posted July 26, 2004 the cheapest computer parts I've found that you can get on the net are at buyextremegear.com I think they are an offshoot of cyberpowerinc. Everyone seems to like newegg and zipzoomfly. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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