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Old 2003-12-22, 00:53   Link #1
p3psi
Oscar winning black actor
 
Join Date: Nov 2003
$500 gaming comp, can it be done?

yes, i saw that tech tv one, but thats old, and they suggest that pricewatch.com is the best place to search for parts, but there are alot of crooked dealers on there. Also, im having a hard time getting a good comp for just 500 bucks.

Im taking a whack at building a new custom game comp, with practically no hands on knowledge whats so ever of building one, boy am i smartzor!

ok, i figured the following things im ordering and the cost:

case+480wattPS+case fans+all cables
http://www.str8buy.com/alatxpremblu.html- $85

Motherboard Almost completely lost on this one, all i know is that i need 8xagp, with 3-4 memory slots. and its gonna be an athlon cpu, so socket A, correct? And to save money, intergrated sound and ethernet. I was customizing a comp, on this web site that had ati swap controls and such as customiable options, but dont motherboards come with these already? please help! my pricerange:about $100

ram however, since im not sure on the mother board, i really cant make any choice about ram, but it has to be at least 512mb
so just a guess 2x256mb ddr2700 333mhz, price: about 120

video card I have four diffrent cards to pick, two around the 150-160 range, and two around the 50-60 range. if i run over budget, i will go with the cheaper ones
ATI Radeon 9600-$160
XFX GeForce FX 5600~$110-130
or
XFX GeForce FX 5200-$60
Radeon 9200se~$60
Do you know any better ones for the same price ranges?

Cpu gotta go cheap but fast, so amd athonxp 2800+
price: $120

heat sink+fan+thremal grease+cpu shim thermaltake volcano 7+fan, $50

hard drive 80gb, $60

cd burner 52x $30

Total cost=625~690(with the better video cards $690)
125 bucks off!?!?!??!

now:
1. am i missing anything? besides a monitor, speakers, mouse and keyboard? And im a student so i get the basic software and OS cheap.

2.How can i cut corners so i can get down to or close to 500? of course im probally not gonna get the more expensive videocards, unless you guys suggest something like i dont need 2800+ cpu but more like a 2500+ would do well? in other words, what can i sacrifice to save money, but it wont really displenish my gameing expreince?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, i appreciate those who help.
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