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Hardware question:
Nerdtendo
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I came across this on EBWF.
To me, I see big numbers, it looks good for the price. But than again, I know pretty little about hardware. I'm not sure if the particular brand is shitty, or what.
I've been wanting to get a new PC together for awhile now. And something like this looks like a really solid start. I could toss my current hard drive and video card into it, than nab a decent sound card, trade those pieces out one at a time.
So, that's my question. Good deal for a slim budget?
To me, I see big numbers, it looks good for the price. But than again, I know pretty little about hardware. I'm not sure if the particular brand is shitty, or what.
I've been wanting to get a new PC together for awhile now. And something like this looks like a really solid start. I could toss my current hard drive and video card into it, than nab a decent sound card, trade those pieces out one at a time.
So, that's my question. Good deal for a slim budget?
Nerdtendo on
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A few caveats:
-30 bucks of the savings is in a rebate. That's like pretend monopoly money that might someday turn into real money, remember that
-Intel has released a new processor architecture since then. But I assume that you aren't going for the new hotness at this point.
-Remember to buy a cooling fan/heatsink (usually come together) since this doesn't come with one. Don't spring for the expensive thermal goo. It's a pain in the ass and you don't need it if you aren't OCing
I'd say that with something resembling a modern graphics card (nvidia 6x00 or better) this will be quite capable of all your normal computer needs as well as run HL2 era games on pretty good settings.
That's basically what I'm going for, a solid budget PC.
I own a seven year old PC right now, and the fan is burnt out on it. Great excuse to upgrade, even if a new fan is 20 bucks. I'm not looking for space-age technology here. My current computer chokes on HL2 as it is. If a new box could even barely run Crysis on the lower settings at a 30 fps trot, I'd be ecstatic if I'm paying around 500-600 for it.
If I toss my old GeForce 4 and hard drive into the new shell, I could probably snag the final few necessary bits for around another 150, and get it up and running. Then switching out the video card later wouldn't be a big deal. The hard drive I have is a little small for a current drive at 120 gigs, but I'm not a video/music whore, so that extra 20 gigs won't get sucked up.
So, if I'm right, assuming I've already got a working vid card, hard drive, monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse... I'm still looking at a CPU fan, sound card (nothing fancy, just functional), DVD-ROM drive (mine sounds a bit iffy, but it works), and an ethernet card. About 120-150 or so.
So, assuming no rebate arrives, and my estimates are right, ~315 to start, plus a ~100 video card a bit later? Total of ~435?
The motherboard will have a fairly decent onboard sound. Certainly good enough for the mid range consumer.
Buy the parts seperately will get you a lot more room to breath, as well as a better PC in the first place.
e.g.
SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD321KJ 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$69.99
Foxconn A7GM-S AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$69.99
XFX PVT96GYDF4 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported
$139.99
A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory
$41.99
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Brisbane 2.9GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5600DOBOX
$103.00
Subtotal: $424.96
Just add in a case/DVD and PSU which shouldn't come to more than $100 and you'll have what is pretty much a high-end machine.
edit: changed mobo.
Similarly, you can get by using the onboard and your old DVD/HDD, and just add to that when you've got the money.
A "dead end motherboard" isn't all that bad for $150, but yeah if you are going to need a new graphics card anyway then just build from scratch.
I'm not sure about compatibility issues at all. I mean, I'm pretty sure that a hard drive is a hard drive, but whether the newer mother boards could support such an old video card or not... I'm not sure of.
That's what I would like though, assuming it's plausible. Something I could put together now, and toss some of my old stuff into, just to get it up and running. Then I could switch out the dated stuff later. I'm also not opposed to purchasing a refurbished PC if it means shaving off some of the price. Money is definitely an issue.
My immediate budget is about 300-400 dollars. I know it's not much, but I was hoping that I could do what I mentioned. Get a box with some basic stuff in it, and expand from there. Since I won't be requiring a monitor at all, that's a large chunk of cash on it's own.
For only $15 more though, the OP could get a C2D E4500 in the same setup (Pentium D 940 is listed for $99 at that site, C2D E4500 is $115). I'm pretty sure that would outperform the Pentium D while consuming less power and generating less heat. Or there's the Athlon you linked, which is the same price as the Pentium D, but would also offer much better performance. In any event, there's really no good reason to go with a Pentium D right now.
As for graphics card, if the OP's current one isn't PCI-E, just figure out how much you're willing to spend on a card, and let Tom's Hardware tell you which card is the best in that price range. The XFX card you linked is a pretty good deal, though, Tom lists the 9600GT and Radeon 3870 as the best buys in the $150-175 range.
The motherboard looks solid, really the main concern I'd have would be the case and power supply, seeing as they're fairly off-brand. Sure, they could work fine, but one bad power supply experience can really leave you with a sour taste in your mouth, as well as dead components.
Your current HDD should suffice for the moment -- you'll have to reactivate Windows provided it doesn't freak out (which it sometimes does when swapping hardware), and after that, you should be set to go.
The aforementioned XFX card is good, I also recommend BFG and EVGA. Each of these manufacturers has a variety of GeForce 9600GT for around $150, which is more than likely the card you'll want -- great performance, excellent price. I have one myself, absolutely love it.
Edit: What's in your current system?
I'm not sure about all of the specifics, but off the top of my head:
-1.3 gig processor (Intel P4 IIRC, apparently it has some sort of shitty propriety with a particular type of RAM)
-256 mb RAM (I priced another chip that would work with the processor, a 256 chip was around 120 bucks as of January this year)
-GeForce 4 ti4600
-Soundblaster Value LIVE (I believe is the name)
So, yeah, just about anything nowadays will blow this out of the water, assuming I don't purchase it from someone in a back alley.
If your system has RDRAM, I'm going to be flabbergast. Only RDRAM was so expensive, and so hard to find.
The videocard, as previously mentioned, isn't worth anything right now. The soundcard could be serviceable, manytimes such old soundcards are more capable than onboard sound, but your mileage may vary.
So, the hard drive, and that's about it?
Still, I can shave 100 bucks off with just that.
Forgot to mention, you should be able to keep using your CD drive as well. Unless you're into an orgy of DVD/HD/Blu-Ray/Dual-Layer burning, your old one should suffice.
So, assuming you already have a mouse and keyboard, if you buy that barebones (the Core 2 Duo one pointed out by vonPoon), and a videocard (the aforementioned GeForce 9600GT or comparable), then you'll have a functional, modern PC.
I'll probably resurrect this thread later, if not just create a new one, when I've got the money in the bank.
And yes, RDRAM, that's it. Didn't know it at the time of purchase.