Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 1135
Joined: June 2003
Posted: April 03 2006,12:25
My girl needs a desk top comp.
naturally the best cheap stuff out there.
I have a raedon 9800 pro video card and 3 sticks of ram (1 gig each) 1GB 128Mx64 PC2700 184-pin DDRam(true 333mhz) ----------------------------------------------------------- what is needed is:
A CASE (something cheap) don't need anything fancy, most likely I can do this myself just looking for input POWER SUPPLY going with Wilders last suggest and getting something in the 450w range MOTHERBOARD the main reason i need help. Need something that will work with what I already have. PROCESSOR a good one HARD DRIVES I have tried getting a 200gig one for myself, but I am as yet to have access to it fully (*only using 137 gigs of it now *) She does game, but no shooters. Guild wars so far, and those genre games. She does graphic stuff with Photoshop / flash/ Adobe creative suite (she is an art student and a damn good one) needs to also do 3d modelling stuffs (I'm sure that the video card can handle it correct?)
any suggestions would be vastly helpful for me.
price range 400 - 600 bucks. needed to get : monitor case motherboard powersupply ethernet card for internet / network hard drive or two also need a copy of winXP and cd key *wink, wink* and all neccessary cords for the inside.
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 2509
Joined: June 2003
Posted: April 04 2006,03:04
for the Girlfriend HUH? APG card. Hmm.
do what i do for my wife.. build your self a new one and rob a part or two, and give her the old one. it's not a hard sell when you say you get this FINE machine right here... LMFAO. works for me... this is USD. just for you bro.. seeing for Gfriend..
case, power, mobo, cpu... $200.00 with rebate. they are pretty good with rebates.. if you follow rules.. this is cheap.. if you like that Intel sh!t...lol
these are just a sample of cheap.. don't matter who you buy from... but in your case go bare bones system. they do get better, with diff items and packages. some throw in vid card instead of cpu.
if you search the barebones system.. you can narrow it down at the bottom of page ( intel, AMD, socket, 64 or 64x2 OS non OS
I hate to say it but this looks like the best bang foe the cheepest buck. MSI board! Here..
Group: Super Administrators
Posts: 4153
Joined: June 2003
Posted: April 04 2006,15:16
Quote (raven @ April 03 2006,12:25)
My girl needs a desk top comp.
naturally the best cheap stuff out there.
I have a raedon 9800 pro video card and 3 sticks of ram (1 gig each) 1GB 128Mx64 PC2700 184-pin DDRam(true 333mhz) ----------------------------------------------------------- what is needed is:
A CASE (something cheap) don't need anything fancy, most likely I can do this myself just looking for input POWER SUPPLY going with Wilders last suggest and getting something in the 450w range MOTHERBOARD the main reason i need help. Need something that will work with what I already have. PROCESSOR a good one HARD DRIVES I have tried getting a 200gig one for myself, but I am as yet to have access to it fully (*only using 137 gigs of it now *) She does game, but no shooters. Guild wars so far, and those genre games. She does graphic stuff with Photoshop / flash/ Adobe creative suite (she is an art student and a damn good one) needs to also do 3d modelling stuffs (I'm sure that the video card can handle it correct?)
any suggestions would be vastly helpful for me.
price range 400 - 600 bucks. needed to get : monitor case motherboard powersupply ethernet card for internet / network hard drive or two also need a copy of winXP and cd key *wink, wink* and all neccessary cords for the inside.
thanks in advance rAveN
So far I like' slatts suggestion for the AMD64 3400+ combo:
for $249. Mind you this has a mail in rebate. It takes about 2 months to get back somtimes more! You might be able to go more cheap with an AMD64 2800+ processor instead of a 3400. I will have to look myself for anything more cheap and better. As far as brand, I have experience with 3 MSI boards myself and they have all been positive.
As far as HD, bestbuy and compusa has a good sale these past weeks on HD. I like Seagate the best. WD only for their raptor drive. So look for any seagate within your price range that's on sale. they are the most reliable consumer drive you can buy these days.
Graphics, your 9800 should be good for most things, but it really depends on what's the need. these newer generation games really require current generation video card to really shine. As far as flash, and 3D modelling it all really depends on what workload, and what's needed by class and homework. If she want to render pixar quality work, you're going to have to get something more professional. Otherwise if simple models, 9800 should do.
For power supply, I like Ultra brand so far. Tigerdirect currently sell Ultra's for the cheapest out there. I got a 500W for less than $40USD after rebate.
If you dont really care for the looks, any case would do, get the cheapest ATX case you can find.
I understand your budget is 200-600. Just be careful. In the end you get what you paid for. If you need to cut corners, they them in non-important factors to you. Especially if $600 includes a monitor + keyboard + mouse. A good mobo+cpu combo will cost you about $300 already. $100 for P/S (then apply rebate -$50 = $50); and you're at $350 easily, and with a cheap case around $50 and you got $400. You still need a HD and a monitor and have to pay shipping. Your local bestbuy, or compusa may sell cheap CRT monitors. Flat panel will cost you a lot more.
Yuo may just pull $600 if you're lucky after it's all delivered and paid for.
Sound Card: 3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard (prefer Creative Lab Soundblaster type card if can be found in a good bargain)
Speakers: 600W PMPO 3 PCS Super Bass Subwoofer Speaker System
Network Card: Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100)
I'm not going to put a price on this, because I know it's too expensive now. Just thought I would post this and get some input.
thanks rAveN
it is a wee bit of a pain in the ass... but. i don't know about Asus boards (never had any luck with them and i find them to be a bit price'y your choice..he he)
any how pick a mobo you want. get to the manufactures web sites, and make sure they have 64-bit drivers for them. may not seem inportant right now if your going to use a 32bit OS. BUT some day you may want to convert over..(trust me it's worth it). some sites will have a section on what is 64 bit ready.. like MSI for example i was there yesterday as i have misplaced my 64 bit driver disk i had made before i built my machine. (had to re-install sound driver for Vista. only one that didn't roll over??) they have a list of boards that have no 64 bit drivers as of yet. a list that does.. and a list of boards they are going to write for.. and last a list they say forget it!
my advise is do some homework first before you grab a board.
one of the biggest complaints out there for peps running Windows XP-64 bit is the lack of drivers for add on cards and boards.. Vista doesn't have any as of yet. except the ones from Microsoft.. i have a default windows driver for my SLI cards. doesn't look all that great if you ask me.. but that is all i can get as of now.. have to live with it for now... as for OS and key.. that is a whole new post on what Microsoft has done to prevent you from doing this...lol.
*)
You might be able to go more cheap with an AMD64 2800+ processor instead of a 3400. I will have to look myself for anything more cheap and better. As far as brand, I have experience with 3 MSI boards myself and they have all been positive. 
