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Building A Pc

1211 Views 11 Replies 7 Participants Last post by compilerxp, Sep 26, 2003

JTF

Discussion Starter · Sep 26, 2003

I am interested in building a pc instead of just buying one off the shelf. I live in Canada and found a web site:
http://www.ncix.com/pcbuilder/ if some one could help take a look at this link and let me know what you think as far as following the steps on the site to build a site. My budget is $1,200-$1,500 a pc for gaming such as command and conquer generals and general internet surfing with the option of going highspeed for my internet connection. Thankyou for taking the time to help, I am not sure if I should go with a Intel; AMD etc for the base processor.

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suesman

· #2 · Sep 26, 2003

Doesn't look bad to me at all. They have a nice selection of available componants and the prices don't seem to bad either. Are you planning to build it yourself or have them do it for you?

Try to take into consideration any parts you can rob from the system you have now. Keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. etc. Unless of course you want new ones.

Another very important thing. If you buy an Operating System with this, make sure they give the original cd with it. If they won't do that, then don't buy it from them. Get it somewhere else.

I would also suggest that you get at aleast 512megs of ram, being that you want this for a gaming box. Also most of those machines have subpar video cards, but again they offer nice upgrades. You should get at least a GeForce FX 5600 or an ATI 9600.

Of course these are just suggestions. It ultimately up to you.

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JTF

Discussion Starter · #3 · Sep 26, 2003

Heres one I selected:
AMD Athlon XP System

CPU- Athlon XP 2200+
CPU Cooler- Coolermaster DP6-6131C-0C
Motherboard- Asus A7V333
Memory -512MB Corsair XMS2700
Graphics -64MB GeForce4 Ti 4200 (29.42 drivers)
Hard Drive -40GB Western Digital WDD400BB, 7200RPM
Optical Storage- Toshiba SD-R1202 DVD-ROM/CD-RW Drive
Floppy -3.5" generic
Audio- Audigy OEM
Keyboard- Microsoft Internet Keyboard
Mouse -Logitech Optical
Case/PS- Antec SX630II
Operating System- Windows XP Home

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suesman

· #4 · Sep 26, 2003

I believe you'll be most happy with that.

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McTimson

· #5 · Sep 26, 2003

If you're going to be gaming, I'd say you should upgrade that 64MB video card to a 128MB version of the same card. It doesn't cost much more, and it'll be well wiorth it.

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PCMan78

· #6 · Sep 26, 2003

True, 128. If possible, try to upgrade to a Ti4600 or Geforce 5200 Ultra Series at least. Those cards are much faster than the Ti4200 series. The price is not very much different either.

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Chris A

· #7 · Sep 26, 2003

Just curious what are you running for a computer now. I went from a overclocked Celeron @ 850MHZ to a 2.8 P4C and I lost a pair of socks when I first fired up windows...

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StillLearnin'

· #8 · Sep 26, 2003

From:

http://www.ncix.com/pcbuilder/index.php?action=config&id=1154215&platformid=1000

PC Builder Quotation # 1154215
Category Image Item Description In Stock QTY Price Ext. Price
Case ANTEC SX1000II CHASSIS 4X5.25 6X3.5 BEIGE NO P/S W/ FRONT USB
(SX1000II) (sku: 9033) YES 1 $83.00 $83.00
Processor AMD ATHLON XP 2500+ 512K 333FSB SOCKET A BARTON RETAIL BOX 3YR MFR WARRANTY
(AXDA2500BOX) (sku: 9132) YES 1 $140.22 $140.22
Motherboard ASUS A7V8X-X KT400 SOCKETA DDR AGP8X 6PCI USB2.0 ATA133 SOUND LAN
(A7V8X-X/LAN-UAYZ) (sku: 9652) YES 1 $97.58 $97.58
Memory OCZ DUAL CHANNEL OPTIMIZED 2X256MB DDR PC3200 CAS2 W/ COPPER HEAT SPREADER
(OCZ400512ELDC-K) (sku: 9476) YES 1 $202.72 $202.72
IDE Hard Drives MAXTOR 80GB 7200RPM 8MB 8.5MS ATA133 OEM QUIET *1YEAR WARRANTY*
(6Y080P0) (sku: 9304) YES 1 $120.35 $120.35
Floppy 1.44 MB High Density Floppy Drive
(FD144) (sku: 1712) YES 1 $12.82 $12.83
Video Card ATI RADEON 9600 PRO 128MB AGP VGA DVI W/ TV OUT RETAIL BOX
(100-437003) (sku: 9702) YES 1 $254.82 $254.82
DVD-ROM LITEON 16X DVD-ROM INT E-IDE OEM W/ SW DVD PLAYER
(LTD-163-OEM) (sku: 6987) YES 1 $50.96 $50.96
Power Supply ANTEC TRUEPOWER 430W ATX12V PS/2 SIZE 2 FANS LOW NOISE
(TRUE430) (sku: 8727) YES 1 $112.83 $112.83
CD Writers LITEON 52X32X52 ATAPI IDE CD-REWRITER SMART-BURN RETAIL W/ SOFTWARE
(LTR-52327S) (sku: 10006) YES 1 $65.14 $65.15
Keyboard No Keyboard (sku: 2863) NO 1 $0.00 $0.00
Speaker No Speaker (sku: 2860) NO 1 $0.00 $0.00
Optional Fans ANTEC 80MM BRUSHLESS DC FAN KIT
(SMALL FAN) (sku: 8861) YES 1 $9.66 $9.66
Operating System MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL OEM (WITH SYSTEM ONLY)
(E85-01011OEM) (sku: 6527) YES 1 $206.64 $206.64
Full assembly and testing of the system. $50.00
YOUR TOTAL
All quoted prices are in CANADIAN DOLLARS
$1,406.74

Get your speakers(Logitech 640s), keyboard, mouse locally. Stay AWAY from WinXP HOME. The 2500+ Barton has a 512 cache compared to the 2200+ at 256 cache. The Maxtor hdd is 8MB cache AND ATA133! The ATI 9600Pro is unbeatable for the money and WAAAAY better than a 4200. This system will leave the other one in the dust!

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JTF

Discussion Starter · #9 · Sep 26, 2003

Currently have a Cyrix 233MHz, nice system stilllearnin and within budget. Its hard to know what to choose as you can see from the site with so many components in each cat.

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· #10 · Sep 26, 2003

lol JTF i think you might need a cdrom!!!!!

possibly a burner!

and i think you should stick to 64MB GeForce4 Ti 4200

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StillLearnin'

· #11 · Sep 26, 2003

This is an quality, stable system that can do(and more) what you want. Forget the 4200 in a system like this. It would be a bottleneck because of it's outdated architecture, plus it's not(and NEVER will be) a DX9 videocard. It's an insult to anything but upgrading lower end systems. We have hundreds of these systems in use and they are WAY more than what the average person will ever need! It's nice to be in the comfort zone, though. When the newer technology starts hitting the market, the "cheap" system prices are going to start disappearing. Memory along with other components are already rising in price.

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compilerxp

· #12 · Sep 26, 2003

Originally posted by JTF:
Heres one I selected:
CPU- Athlon XP 2200+
CPU Cooler- Coolermaster DP6-6131C-0C
Motherboard- Asus A7V333
Graphics -64MB GeForce4 Ti 4200 (29.42 drivers)
Hard Drive -40GB Western Digital WDD400BB, 7200RPM
Operating System- Windows XP Home

With your budget, you went with quite an OLD system, the motherboard was on the market almost 2 years ago...

Go with StillLearnin's LINK for the system... but...

Look at all their cases, they have quite a few to choose from. Thermaltake (with lights), Chieftec, Coolermasterm LianLi are the top models. That's a preference...

And I'd go with the Nforce version of the ASUS board. I have both worked with both boards, and I say... the ASUS A7N8x is a LOT NICER than my A7V8x. (Come one Learning... Nforce boards are better performance boards on the market). Look into those two things... Logitech makes some killer speakers.

Considering WHAT they are charging for the Ti4200 up there, GET THE ATI 9600PRO that Learning suggested. It'll smoke it... and cost you less! Shesh, the ATI9600Pro is faster than the fx5900 in some games.

PCMAN: 128mb Ti4200s are usually slower and don't gain much in performance over the 64mb version since the GPU isn't fast enough to actually need the RAM. The GeForce 5600 is still rated slower than the Ti4200, so how is the 5200Ultra supposed to be better? The only time the 5600 plain is faster is in FSAA/AA turned on - and on both cards - its useless for gaming with modern titles.

I get 100fps in UT, and about 40~70fps in UT2003 with my "lttle" 64mb Ti4200. If I had the ATI9600, I'd get even higher with more details.

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