Hey,
I'm in the market to buy a new comp and i want something not too
shabby but i don't have a ton of cash, basically itd be awesome to
get some opinions on companies, graphics cards, processor, memory,
the whole shabang Basically im a newb when it comes to names and
stuff but Radeon? Nvidea? x600 ? what?? is it definitely the best to
custom build, like should i buy from a company (dell, hp) or just go
to local comp shop and have one built, which is better? Any tips u
can give would rock.
The hot setup for low bucks believe or not is a Pent 805D.
For the last year or more AMDs have been preferred but things are
really fluid now. INTEL as various people have posted is coming out
with Conroes this month which are if the initial hype comes true,
faster than the AMDs. The new AM2s by AMD are said to have little
performance gain compared to a comparable AMD 64 chip. So both seem
like they will be discounted this month --- the AM2s and regular
X2s/single core AMDs.
In addition INTEL came out with a super budget dual core chip the 805D
based on their older technology and selling at a real low price to
begin with. This will probably be even more discounted when Conroe
comes out and AMD starts slashing their prices. The thing about the
PENT 805D is though its based on the older Pent technology it does use
DDR2 which is better to get since AMD is switching over too on their
new AMD2s. And the 805D is super cheap even now and OCs like crazy.
People are saying easily around 3.3-3.5 which makes it equal to more
expensive AMD dual cores and many are pushing it even higher with
water cooling up to 4 gigs which makes it equal to the highest end
AMDs. Toms hardware has an article --- the $750 game machine using
some cheap DIY water cooling soilution etc pushing it up to 4 gig I
think.
If I were building one Id get the Pent 805D though things are fluid
like I said and AMD will be lowering prices this month so it all
depends on relative pricing. Regardless of that --- the Pent is a dual
core and does use DDR2 which will be more usable in future systems and
DDR2 is getting cheap now. If you hate OCing that might be a factor if
you can get an AMD cheap enough after price cuts maybe this month.
If you get a 3200 or higher AMD than itll be decent. You should get a
better CPU than that with price cuts this month on AMDs.
That way you will have more money for a graphics card which is the
crucial thing. Try to get at least 1 gig of memory for your system.
Graphics card I would try to get a 1900XT if you cant a 1800XT or
7900GT would be fabulous. The next lower rung would be a 7600GT. I
wouldnt get anything lower than that.
Even if you do get a hot card now though DX10 which looks like it will
be a bug leap forward, might be out next year so youll have to buy
another card anyway.
You can get cheap cases and there are sales on PSes and HDs all the
time. Even a PATA HD is OK for games. There have been several sales
this week for 39-49 and some SATAs for 59 or so.
I think Radio Shack is having a rebate sale on a PS for 10 bucks.
