new comp on a budget - please help

SnoPromise

I have about $700 to play with, and my laptop is dying. I'm a broke college student who likes to play counterstrike and some other PC games. This is gunna be my first build so any input would really help. Everything except the hard drive is off newegg (i already have one).

Case - XION Black XION II XON-103 Computer Case With Side Panel Window - Retail $45

MoBo - ASUS K8N4-E DELUXE Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $87

Video Card - MSI RX800-TD256E Radeon X800 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail $180

CPU - AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Newcastle 800MHz FSB Socket 754 Processor Model ADA3000BOX - Retail $123

RAM - CORSAIR ValueSelect 512MB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS512MB400 - Retail $40

Monitor - SONY CPD-G220R White 17" CRT Monitor D-Sub - Retail $120

CD/DVD Drive - ASUS Black E-IDE/ATAPI DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Model DRW-1608P2S BK - OEM $42

Total Cost (Adding in a mouse + keyboard + dvds) - $665

deicist

Dump the socket 754 and go for socket 939, 754 is being phased out and 939 is about to drop in price as AMD brings out their next generation socket platform (M2) so if you're on a budget my advice would be to nurse your laptop along for a couple of months and wait for 939 kit to drop. With 939 you also get the option of upgrading at a later date (anything up to the current top end AMD processor) whereas with 754 your only option will be old athlon 64s and current budget 'sempron' processors. Oh, another thing, the later Athlon 64s, which are all socket 939, are better chips than the older ones. A socket 939 'venice' 3000+ will outperform a socket 754 'newcastle' 3000+ despite the same performance rating.

reelbigfish

I'd go with a 6800GS for your video card. It's about the same price, but a little better performance. Evga has one and it's overclocked out of the box.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130267

Its actually $179 and there is a $15 mail in rebate.

If you could, I'd also recommend a gig of RAM. It will really help you out with newer games.

ryko

first of all, ditch the xilcio case and crappy psu...spend a little more for stability and get something decent.

also i am going to go over your budget, but it think in the long run it will be worth it.

here are my choices...please ask if you have any questions.

samsang 17" lcd, blk, 8ms, dvi = $248 (good gaming monitor, space saver for college?)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16824001070

antec sonatta II w/ 450w smart power2.0 = $119 (bare minimum i would choose for stability)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129155

nec 3550-a dvd burner = $44 (probably best burner on the market right now)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827152058

amd a64 3200+ venice, s939, retail w/ hsf = $173 (only thing it's missing is dual-core)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103535

asus a8r-mvp = $111 (great price/performance/features ratio, stable, overclockable)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131584

corsair 1gb pc3200, cl 2.5 = $84 (stable, affordable)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820145440

sapphire x800gto fireblade = $151 (will beat the x800 you posted earlier, highly overclockable, good cooler, affordable)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102660

total = $930 w/ shipping ($682 w/ o 17"lcd)

Leonardo

What is your weekend schedule? If you can spare the time, I recommend you visit CompUSA, Sams Club, and BestBuy. CompUSA sometimes has great weekend sales, even on good monitors. Sams sometimes has very good quality Samsung 17 and 19" LCDs for great prices. (Costco usually carries no-name monitors.) If you have the wheels and the time, also check out OfficeMax and Office Depot. Usually their prices are dismal, but sometimes their sales can be very attractive. Before you look at monitors, ensure you know what your minimum requirements are. For instance, on an LCD for gaming, you'd probably want a minimum response time of 8ms. Some monitors will game will with stated response times of 12ms. Don't rely on me though, as I'm not a gamer. Just make sure before you go window shopping (if you choose to do so) that you know the requirements for all hardware you seek. I venture to say that if you purchase a 17" CRT, you'll be replacing it within months because you won't be able stand it for gaming. That's just not a good decision, in my opinion. If finances dictate that you must buy a CRT, I'd advise looking for specials to get the cheapest 17" CRT you can find, so that you won't have lost too much money when you seek to replace it.

Too bad you don't live near me. I've got a 19" Viewsonic CRT that I'd happily let go to a 'starving student' for really, really cheap.

SnoPromise

ah well, thanks anyway. i'll do what you said and check out stores near here, i'd love to not have to pay shipping. what i'm planning on is buying the crappy monitor now then buying a second one later and using both. my birthdays not too far away so i'll just hold out until then.

SnoPromise

ryko wrote:

sapphire x800gto fireblade = $151 (will beat the x800 you posted earlier, highly overclockable, good cooler, affordable)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102660

So you think I should go with the x800? I don't know much about cards and someone above said the 6800GS was a better choice.

Ideally I'd like to buy half the ram now then upgrade later when I'd had a chance to save. Otherwise seems like sound choices. Too bad about the case. It was pretty XD .

Leonardo

OK, I understand your strategy on the monitor. Makes sense to me. If your wait for cash to buy a good monitor is not too long, then you can save a lot of money by looking for a cheap 17" CRT. They aren't very popular any more, and retailers sell them on probably very low margins.

ryko

x800gto = same as 6800gs...

x800gto fireblade (dual slot cooler) = cheaper than 6800gs for same performance.

JPD252

I just built my first PC also. Now I'm just beginning in PC building and by far am I no expert in components. I bought what I did to save money but still be able to play games and to set myself up for future upgrades such as SLI. I used Pricegrabber.com for all of my shopping. The prices I got were much cheaper than any of the dept. store listed above plus you mentioned Newegg. The only item they were the cheapest on was the EVGA 6800 GS video card I bought. I too was on a budget plus I didn't want to buy extreme top of the line components for my first build.
I settled for (I don't have prices right now.)
Asus a8n-sli premium mobo
AMD athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core
1 GB RAM
Sony DVD/CD-RW (for now....will get DVD burner later.)
EVGA 6800 GS video Card.
I got these items so that I could upgrade piece by piece in the near future. I believe my total was just above $800 for everything not including a keyboard, mouse and monitor.
Oh yeah you said you didn't want to pay shipping, some of the places I purchased from had free S & H and some of them was 2 day FedEX.

Mt_Goat

For a cheap budget monitor to get by with you can go to a Goodwill store or local second hand shop and buy used.

Don't go with a socket 754 system. You can actually buy a decent 939 system for not much more if you pick your parts well.