Opinions

[gadgeteer99]

Case + Power Supply:
http://www.dynexproducts.com/p-276-dynex-atx-mid-tower-case-black.aspx

Motherboard:
http://www.buy.com/prod/msi-k9n4-sli-f-desktop-board-athlon-64-x2-dual-core-athlon-64-sempron/q/loc/101/203878820.html

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773

Ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231085

Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822135106

Optical Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151145R

Video Card:
Undecided as of yet



I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions/opinions about this setup. I want to play Oblivion with the setting on max at 1024x768....so a video card that would allow me to do that would be perfect.

[Alaron]

Welcome to PCM.

What is your budget for this system?

I have few suggestions. First, the power supply in that case is not going to be quality. You'll need to replace it. Check out this thread for information: http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=131195

Check out the Asus M2N-E motherboard instead. MSI is 'ok' but Asus is top quality. Also, stick with Newegg only, Buy.com has a bad reputation.

Bump up the hard drive to one with a 16MB cache. The 250-320GB size is the sweet spot for size/price ratio right now.

Go with a Retail LiteOn SATA Burner instead.

For the video card, the Geforce 8600GT is a good card for the price. We recommend eVGA brand.

[gadgeteer99]

haha, your pic makes me feel like I'm talking to Tycho.....anyway....

My budget has changed a bunch of times but it's definitely a sub-$1000 dollar system. I should've mentioned it but I already bought the motherboard.

I just updated the list with a new hard drive....and a new optical drive....those were cheap upgrades and are a lot better....should have researched more on my part.

The way I'm buying/building is a component or two with every paycheck (I'm 17 and work at Papa Murphys). I get ~$300 but I have to pay for my car and money that I owe my dad. I still end up with around $175 that I can spend so I'll get the processor next then the hard drive, ram, and optical drive at the same time after that.

[gadgeteer99]

Intel:
Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131187
Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029&Tpk=6750

AMD:
Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131022
Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103773

Either:
Case + Power Supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115029&Tpk=6750 (not included in price)
Ram:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231085
Hard Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136074
Optical Drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106057
Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130086


Total:
Intel:
$656.42 after shipping
AMD:
$601.88 after shipping




I think I might go the Intel route instead. Also, seeing as DirectX 10 isn't used hardly at all yet and not on any of the games I plan on playing...would a similarly priced DirectX 9 card give me better performance?

[Alaron]

I fixed some of your links.

I'd stick with the Intel route. It offers a lot of performance.

I'd stick with the 8600GTS. It is a good mid-range card right now, and it gives you the DX10 capability. The DX10 games are coming very soon. A few have already arrived (Bioshock).

Here is the optical you need, it shows Nero software included: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106072

I'd also go with 2GB of RAM, since RAM is inexpensive right now.

[Katreat]

The X1950XT is a great performer if you are more interested in performance now and not too worried about 10x games.

SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

At $170 it is a great deal. However, as Alaron has said 10x games are actually beginning to appear. They will be backward compatable with 9x cards for quite a while so its is just what you prefer. If you could wait an extra week and swing a 8800xts 320mb card in your budget you would have the best of both worlds.

Kat

[gadgeteer99]

Intel was what i was thinking....I'll more than likely look into overclocking as well.

and I think I will just save up and get the 8800 gts...I assume EVGA is recommended?


thanks for the help

[LeftyAce]

Yes, eVGA is our recommendation. They make the prototype boards for nVidia, so they're the closest to an 'nvidia made board' you're going to get.

Since you're going Intel get the ASUS P5K motherboard and an e6600 or e6750 processor. You might do some searching about which Core2Duo CPUs overclock the best, since you're interested in that.

corsair XMS2 ram is recommended for overclocking. The exact speed you need will depend on which CPU you choose.