Help Building New PC

[Spino]

I'm in a similar boat- building a new PC, (which I haven't done in awhile either) I'm trying to keep my budget much lower... around $800.

Here's what I've come up with- I offer it as help to anyone who's similarly shopping and to put it out there for comment/advice.

Case: Antec SonataII w/ 450W PSU
Mobo: ASUS M2N-E
CPU: AMD64 x2 4400+ EE (Brisbane)
GPU: eVGA 7950GT KO Superclocked 512MB eVGA GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
HD: WD 250GB 16MB, 7200RPM SATA
RAM: 2x1GB

That, plus a few cooling fans and shipping costs comes in almost exactly on my budget. From what I can tell, it should be able to run just about any current game with most or all options turned on and should leave some wiggle room for future upgrades if I want. I do most of my shopping on Mwave.com. Their prices are usually very competitive and I think their website is much easier to navigate than newegg- but maybe that's just my personal preference. I've done business with them many times over the years and never had any issues with returns or purchases. YMMV.

Edit: I'm hoping to swap out the 7950 for a 8800. I see that they now have the 8800's with 320MB instead of the 640MB version for about $90 less. Add to that, a $20 rebate and the 8800 will only cost about $5 more than the 7950... Seems like a no-brainer to me.

That 450W PSU doesn't make me feel very confident with a 7950GT or 8800GTS in the system. You should consider a PSU that is rated at 550-600W or higher and make absolutely sure it has a healthy amount of amperage on the 12V rails (combined the 12V rails shoud add up to 30-40A or better). Also try to get a PSU with a high efficiency rating (80%+) and Active PFC to minimize the damage to your electric bills. Seasonic makes extremely efficient PSUs as does Corsair (rebadged Seasonics rigged for quieter operation).

Yep - and amd/ati is simply outclassed in the graphics card department atm as well

Now that's just not true. AMD/ATI has excellent offerings for the budget to mid ranged segment. The X1950 Pro is hand's down the best card you can buy in the $150-200 range and the X1950XT (256meg version) is the best card in the $200-250 range. However the high end and 'enthusiast' segments are dominated by Nvidia, nothing in AMD/ATI's arsenal comes close to the 8800 series.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Originally Posted by sapi
Yep - and amd/ati is simply outclassed in the graphics card department atm as well

Now that's just not true. AMD/ATI has excellent offerings for the budget to mid ranged segment. The X1950 Pro is hand's down the best card you can buy in the $150-200 range and the X1950XT (256meg version) is the best card in the $200-250 range. However the high end and 'enthusiast' segments are dominated by Nvidia, nothing in AMD/ATI's arsenal comes close to the 8800 series.

Its true if your going for their best. The Core 2 Duo beats anything AMD makes and the same can be said for the 8800 as it compares to ATI.

Im now getting an E6600 with a P5WDH DELUXE/WIFI motherboard ,an 8800gts320 vid card , windows xp pro ,250g hard drive, 2k ram ,tower of my choice with 600w psu and dvd burner with lightscribe for 1285 dollars.

Anyone know of a better deal for that price?

If you have around a thousand dollars to spend I dont see how anyone can go with AMD or ATI.


If you have less then the field is more even or even tilted in AMDs and ATIs favor.