Death of a computer + Building one
- Thread starter SimpleMinded
- Start date
My advice would be a Geforce 6600GT, it's a solid card within your price range.
It's possible to find a 7600 GS for $150.
SimpleMinded
Vault Fossil
When I bought the parts to my computer (see page 1 of thread), the 7600 GT was around 170 and the 7600 GS could be found anywhere from 100 to 150 (and one had it about 110 with AoE 3 if you're interested in that 
). The GT has been pretty good so far, we don't have any games to push our computer to the limit but Far Cry runs smooth as butter at the high settings (thanks to Sua ).
Can't recommend parts but I can give you prices on parts (god bless newegg and fatwallet's forums)
). The GT has been pretty good so far, we don't have any games to push our computer to the limit but Far Cry runs smooth as butter at the high settings (thanks to Sua ). Can't recommend parts but I can give you prices on parts (god bless newegg and fatwallet's forums)
You were talking previoulsy about video cards.There is a new card called Geforce 7950GX2 Dual processor(it is 2 video cards 7900 GTX)1 gb of memory GDDR3,it has 2 cards in the same board...Its awesome,i already tested a few,i never saw graphics like that,i recommend it,2 processors of 500mhz(clock)and 1.2GHZ and uses only 1 PCI-E slot.
Probably too much for most of us,but i just posted it for you to that there are a few SLI video cards that are 2 in 1,so no need to buy 2 video cards...
Probably too much for most of us,but i just posted it for you to that there are a few SLI video cards that are 2 in 1,so no need to buy 2 video cards...
Hahaha, I found an opened MSI 6600gt for $83. That's almost too good to pass up.
I'm looking at the following:
the 7600
the x800
the 6600
Comments? Concerns?
Also, I found a Diamond card. I didn't even know they still made graphics cards! (my first computer rocked a Viper v550, so I've got a special place in my heart for them).
I'm looking at the following:
the 7600
the x800
the 6600
Comments? Concerns?
Also, I found a Diamond card. I didn't even know they still made graphics cards! (my first computer rocked a Viper v550, so I've got a special place in my heart for them).
I'd buy the Gigabyte GF 7600GS. Hell, I'd buy two of those and create a modest SLI setup.
I would buy radeon x800 GTO as it has 256 bit memory bus width, 4 pipelines to unclock (for the total of 16), and HUGE overclocking potential.
When it comes to CPU I recommend Athlon Venice , you can oc it by 40% and it's rather cheap.
Mobo - Abit or DFI lan party
Memories - the best are from Hynix or Corsair, be aware to choose the ones with the lowest timings and copper radiators
and do not forget about good PSU
Tagan or Chieftec ~ 450 W will do
When it comes to CPU I recommend Athlon Venice , you can oc it by 40% and it's rather cheap.
Mobo - Abit or DFI lan party
Memories - the best are from Hynix or Corsair, be aware to choose the ones with the lowest timings and copper radiators
and do not forget about good PSU
Tagan or Chieftec ~ 450 W will do
Asus has some good, cheap motherboards as well.Xellos said:
Pft, memory isn't that important. It certainly should be the lowest on the list of possible performance-increases.
450W? Way too much, that's pretty much the maximum you can get PSU-wise. 350W should do just fine.
And I doubt Pajari will want to be overclocking, so giving him advice based on that is silly.
I payed almost 150$ for a 6600 with 256 ram (AGP tho') two months ago. 
Xellos said:
I don't do overclocking. I am partial to Radeons, though, because they used to be cheaper and offer better performance than Nvidia. I don't know if that's changed, but the 7600 looks like a fantastic deal.
I was thinking a Manila, 3000+ 64-bit. AM2 socket and it's right in the price range I'm looking for.
I've heard good things about Asus, I've use Gigabyte for several years, and MSI works flawlessly in my parent's rig. So I'm pretty impartial when it comes to motherboards. Mostly I shop for price and features and ignore the brand unless it's something I've never heard of before.
Memory is pretty much an economy of scale now. Also, Hynix is run by incompetent morons that get massive subsidies to keep afloat.
And plus, my dad works for Micron, so having anything but Crucial is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN.
I bought a case & psu combo three years ago for about $35 with shipping. The psu is 300 watt, I think, and it hasn't failed me once. So...
never post graphics card names without their relevant suffixes. it makes baby jesus cry...Pajari said:
i wouldnt go under a 7600GT if you got a choice. but it all comes down to budget ofc.
thats never a certainty, Xellos. (both unlocking & oc)Xellos said:
once again, thats NEVER a certainty. and 40% on average? hah, right...Xellos said:
you also seem to forget that for decent overclocking you need higher end gear. mobo, memory, cooling, psu,... this is all over the relative pricerange that Pajari is looking at. a basic 10% OC shouldnt be a prob, granted.
also, why go with venice if you can have an AM2 mobo & cpu for the exact same price. the s939 socket is dead. AM2 offers upgradability.
the best arent corsair, hynix, pqi, geil, ocz or whatever. it's certain series & certain chips/pcb's you have to look for, not brandnames...Sander said:
and yes Sander, in the budget range of Pajari, memory isnt that important on the performance scale. (although he shouldnt buy crap either :p)
450W is becoming pretty mainstream Sander. it allows for future upgrades as well.Sander said:
anyhow, a vanilla 350W will have big trouble pulling an SLI setup (if he intends to upgrade to it later on)
a standard 450W should do. it can be less if you go with quality PSU's.
and relative top range atm is 600W atm Sander, not 450W.
(side note: this year they are also going to commercialise 1000W atx/btx psu's btw, although i doubt you'll see those often. i suppose they're aiming for the quad SLI setups & stuff... overkill2k6)
3 years is a long time on the pc marketPajari said:
anyhow, higher capacity PSU's really arent that expensive (unless you go for the high end quality PSU's)
Not that much, though. It's being phased out already, IIRC.SuAside said:
I am talking from a perspective of a couple of months, which was the last time I did some good research, to be honest.
But still, 350W should pretty much be enough for anything not involving SLI. And I generally dislike SLI.
As far as I'm concerned it depended on the core, r430 (let out by mistake) has 99% chance of unblocking pipelines but has low oc freqs, while r480 has lower chance of unblocking but everyone who I know (from the person with x800 gto) raised the freqs by ~25 %SuAside said:
Obviously the problem is that r430 and r480 do not handle pixel and vertex shader 3.0
Agree , still corsair and hynix are brands with good reputation from which you can expect solid productsSuAside said:
SuAside said:
I work on abit an7 with sempron (low batch , bad production time) 1,5Ghz@2.0Ghz with voltage decreased to 1,5V, stable as hell, and it even started up on 2,3Ghz. My whole cooling stuff costed about 50$. I do not want to argue but IMO most AMD CPU's for s939 will do ~30% oc without a prob and It would be cheaper to do so
Here's the Wishlist that I'm planning on buying later tonight, unless the hardware gurus of NMA decree to the contrary.
oink? whatcha talking about? AM2 isnt being phased out :sSander said:
euhmPajari said:
why buy an el cheapo micro atx ECS mobo with integrated graphics?
by doing so, you are kinda limiting your possibilities hard... ECS doesnt aim for performance or gaming, they go for cheapest & integrated solutions.
it'd be a waste not to pick an SLI enabled mobo Pajari, even if you dont want to go to SLI right away, at least keep the possibility open.
i beg of you, buy a normal ATX mobo thats SLI compatible, from a normal respectable brand. (unless ofc your case is µATX)
in essence, what are these cards? they are batches of chips that failed testing for the bigger brother (with all pipelines enabled). so they contain up to 4 broken pipelines or a temperature problem on high clock.Xellos said:
that is how those chips came into existance. however, demand is greater than the failed batches, so they put healthy chips in there as well.
in the end it remains a lotery...
and how does a Sempron relate to a Venice or an AM2? they are far from being the same. why do you even mention that?Xellos said:
yes amd usually overclocks well, but do you think he'll spend 50$ on cooling if he chooses an el cheapo micro atx ECS mobo (which probably wont OC for shit)?
phat chance...