03-05-2005, 04:55 AM
(This post was last modified: 03-05-2005, 05:20 AM by Concillian.)
$1500 sans monitor is a pretty killer system. You could be pretty well off with only $1000 buying parts on your own.
I would go with:
AMD64 s939 3000+ ~$160
nForce4 motherboard ~$100-150
ATi PCIe x800XL ~$300
Seagate 160GB HD ~$100
1GB value PC3200 ~$130
Case + PS ~$100
Mouse ~$50
Keyboard ~$30
DVD-ROM/CDRW ~$50
Comes to around $1100 and has some pretty nice components. Those prices are just general estimates, some are high-ish, and some are close, just giving an idea.
If you're not terribly into games, you can scale back to a 6600GT for closer to $200, this is still enough to run WoW very well at 1280x1024 with all the goodies. The x800XL is MSRP for $300, and you can get that in brick and mortar stores, but online resellers are charging well over that, this is one case where it makes sense to buy it at Fry's or CompUSA. CPU can go higher, but there's really no reason to.
For gaming, generally video card is the limiting factor rather than CPU, so if going for stock systems from HP or Dell and the like, look for the cheapest system that has an acceptable video card for your needs. Avoid "gaming systems" as these are generally full of crap nobody really needs, and a regular desktop system with an optional video card upgrade is usually 95% the performance for hundreds less than the "gaming systems" cost.
If gaming, and going for value, unfortunately you have to dissect the video card market, which is probably the most confusing of anything in the PC industry.
Given that you are the type to not upgrade very frequently, I would definitely tend towards a PCIe solution instead of an AGP solution, as I doubt there will be much AGP support at all in the coming year, and since the release of the 6600GT and x800XL, there are some pretty good values on video cards for PCIe, both of those are better values than what you can get for AGP at their price points.
In general, the A64 systems are a little better value if buying parts seperately, though the pricing now is a lot closer than it used to be. Truthfully, I doubt you'd notice a difference between the Intel and AMD64 solutions. If gaming, you should go with the best video card you can get before worrying about processor. The BASE model processors offered now (AMD64 2800+/AMD64 3000+/Intel 2.8GHz) are enough to be able to run all current games at acceptable speeds at any resolution.
Online resellers I've had personal and positive experience with:
www.newegg.com
www.monarchcomputers.com
www.mwave.com
www.zipzoomfly.com
I would go with:
AMD64 s939 3000+ ~$160
nForce4 motherboard ~$100-150
ATi PCIe x800XL ~$300
Seagate 160GB HD ~$100
1GB value PC3200 ~$130
Case + PS ~$100
Mouse ~$50
Keyboard ~$30
DVD-ROM/CDRW ~$50
Comes to around $1100 and has some pretty nice components. Those prices are just general estimates, some are high-ish, and some are close, just giving an idea.
If you're not terribly into games, you can scale back to a 6600GT for closer to $200, this is still enough to run WoW very well at 1280x1024 with all the goodies. The x800XL is MSRP for $300, and you can get that in brick and mortar stores, but online resellers are charging well over that, this is one case where it makes sense to buy it at Fry's or CompUSA. CPU can go higher, but there's really no reason to.
For gaming, generally video card is the limiting factor rather than CPU, so if going for stock systems from HP or Dell and the like, look for the cheapest system that has an acceptable video card for your needs. Avoid "gaming systems" as these are generally full of crap nobody really needs, and a regular desktop system with an optional video card upgrade is usually 95% the performance for hundreds less than the "gaming systems" cost.
If gaming, and going for value, unfortunately you have to dissect the video card market, which is probably the most confusing of anything in the PC industry.
Given that you are the type to not upgrade very frequently, I would definitely tend towards a PCIe solution instead of an AGP solution, as I doubt there will be much AGP support at all in the coming year, and since the release of the 6600GT and x800XL, there are some pretty good values on video cards for PCIe, both of those are better values than what you can get for AGP at their price points.
In general, the A64 systems are a little better value if buying parts seperately, though the pricing now is a lot closer than it used to be. Truthfully, I doubt you'd notice a difference between the Intel and AMD64 solutions. If gaming, you should go with the best video card you can get before worrying about processor. The BASE model processors offered now (AMD64 2800+/AMD64 3000+/Intel 2.8GHz) are enough to be able to run all current games at acceptable speeds at any resolution.
Online resellers I've had personal and positive experience with:
www.newegg.com
www.monarchcomputers.com
www.mwave.com
www.zipzoomfly.com
Conc / Concillian -- Vintage player of many games. Deadly leader of the All Pally Team (or was it Death leader?)
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.
Terenas WoW player... while we waited for Diablo III.
And it came... and it went... and I played Hearthstone longer than Diablo III.