Looking for a low-cost build

[Kekvit Irae]

I'm looking to upgrade my machine to play games like Oblivion, Titan Quest, and various others at near-max settings with little performance loss. The problem is that I am limited on my funds; I can only save around $25 USD each week to this task.

Currently I have:

Athlon XP 2500+ processor (running overclocked at 133/x12.5 for 1658 MHz)
1GB DDR SDRAM (two 256m and one 512mb chips)
ASUS A7V600 KT600 motherboard
Sound Blaster Live! Value
ATI Radeon 9550 video card
Windows XP Home

Out of all of these, I have no intention of changing my OS (DAoC will not currently work with Vista), and unless it gains me framerate performance in games, I have no need of a new sound card. I also have no preference in video chips, so please no ATI vs nVidia debates.

Any suggestions? I'd rather have it all under 1000 dollars, preferly around 500 if possible.

[BlackAxe3001]

I have the info already(its at work, I will have it tomorrow) but do you want this system to be upgradeable? I have a sweet system for around $900 or that you can build. I will post the parts list tomorrow.

[Kekvit Irae]

My current build is over three years old, so I'm not really concerned if my new build can or cannot be upgraded. I'm just mostly concerned with playing the current and past games that are giving my current machine headaches, more specifically Oblivion.

[BlackAxe3001]

Alright, I'll post the parts list tomorrow.

[Xiahou]

I built this system recently for around $800. I later decided to get a better power supply (to feed the 8800 monster) and that drove the cost up a bit more though...

I think the only weak spot in that was the CPU, but it's still much faster than what I had previously and I decided to save some money on it since it's likely to be a cheap upgrade to a faster AM2 cpu later once prices fall. Regardless, that might give you some ideas.

[Husar]

Athlon XP 2500+ processor (running overclocked at 133/x12.5 for 1658 MHz)

I had an Athlon XP 2400+ and it ran at 2.0GHz out of the box. You may want to check that again.

[Kekvit Irae]

I had an Athlon XP 2400+ and it ran at 2.0GHz out of the box. You may want to check that again.

[Husar]

Looks a bit underclocked to me, maybe your RAM is only 266MHz, because from what i just found on google, the 2500+ runs at 1.83GHz and has an FSB of 333MHz.
Well, doesn't really matter now that you want a new system anyway, waiting for BalckAxe's suggestion.

[BlackAxe3001]

Sorry for the long delay. RL has been a tad rough today.

Here's the link. I know its a bit higher than what I initially said, but everything is extremely flexible and I picked only the BEST parts for the price. This rig will be extremely overclockable, as it has some of the best ram (Micron D9 chips) and the E4300 is a great overclocker with the DS3 motherboard. This is what I have build for several other people (small differences based on cost) and they love it. The hard drive is the best bang for the buck per performance. The case leaves much to be desired, but that is personal preference anyway. We can discuss changes as needed.


http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...PBWBfjOI7eYmdQ

[Gawain of Orkeny]

, as it has some of the best ram (Micron D9 chips)

Since you only have a 1066 bus isnt anything over 533 overkill?

Also is this whats considered a low price build?
Heck the parts for mine cost about the same as that and Ive got a E6600 and a Asus P5W dh deluxe mobo and an evga superclocked 8800GTS320. Plus Ive got a beautiful Sagitta case. My ram is only 633 however 2g.Also is the E4300 basically the same as the E6300?

[caravel]

Looks a bit underclocked to me, maybe your RAM is only 266MHz, because from what i just found on google, the 2500+ runs at 1.83GHz and has an FSB of 333MHz.
Well, doesn't really matter now that you want a new system anyway, waiting for BalckAxe's suggestion.

Husar is right, that Barton should be running on a 166MHz FSB (DDR 333). The DDR 266 memory is probably what is bringing the bus down to 133MHz, and hence the CPU to that lower speed.

[Kekvit Irae]

Slot 2 and 3 have the same memory chips.