11-10-2009, 07:50 PM
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#1
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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building minimal gaming pc would like some help
Hey, I'm looking to build a new pc, I live at home with my family so they're going to be using it also, but im the only gamer. So I was looking to just build one thats very minimal, I don't need to play the games at max settings and have 300 FPS or anything. I want it to be cheap too, if possible less than $300. Currently im using:
Win XP
Machspeed X-Caliber PT88BS PRO Socket 775 mobo
Intel P4 3.20ghz processor
2gb ddr ram
Geforce 7600gs 512mb AGP vidcard
i have 2 ide harddrives and 1 SATA? (i think it is called, i purchased it recently and it wasnt the same type as the other two.)
I recently bought that Borderlands game and went to start it up at my normal resolution of 1440x900 but my computer just couldn't handle it. So i'm playing it with all the settings low, and effects off, and at 800x600 reso. So i want to build something that would be able to handle this game at maybe medium settings and my normal resolution. I asked some other people and someone said if I'm looking for a cheap replacement go for "C2D 3.0ghz and a Geforce 8800GTS". The video card seems kind of expensive tho. But my motherboard only supports up to Pentium 4's, so I'm going to need a new one. I was thinking maybe getting a mobo that will last me a while in up-to-date technology wise and maybe a good not recent cpu, and in a couple years upgrade the cpu to something better.
So the only thing i really want to upgrade is the mobo, cpu and vid card. I want to be able to use my old case, and have the HDD's work with it. the ram im not too worried about they seem pretty cheap now, but if possible would like to be able to use my old ones.
A lot of this stuff i'm not too familiar with tho. So I was looking for a little more in-depth help. This is the first PC i'm going to attempt to build so. Any help, i would greatly appreciate it. And if you need any more details on my computer let me know. Thanks!
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11-10-2009, 08:38 PM
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#2
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Member (7 bit)
Join Date: May 2009
Location: MN
Posts: 102
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I don't think you could stick a C2D in that motherboard without definately chaning the FSB from 1066/1333 --> 800
but if you went with a Pentium Dual Core E5300 it'd already be 800mghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116074
I upgraded from a P4 3ghz with hyperthreading to that processor and it was quite nice, but of course not the BIGGEST boost possible as in i7/i5 or C2Q but was surely beneficial in some games that take some form of an advantage of multicore processors. But the biggest factor here isn't the processor but the graphics card. The 8800GTS would most likely be a Very nice upgrade 
__________________
Mine:
E5300 @ 2.93ghz
EVGA 9800GT
4GB OCZ @ 889mghz
Gigabyte G31M-ES2L
500W CoolerMaster
Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium
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11-10-2009, 09:11 PM
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#3
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryuk999
I don't think you could stick a C2D in that motherboard without definately chaning the FSB from 1066/1333 --> 800
but if you went with a Pentium Dual Core E5300 it'd already be 800mghz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116074
I upgraded from a P4 3ghz with hyperthreading to that processor and it was quite nice, but of course not the BIGGEST boost possible as in i7/i5 or C2Q but was surely beneficial in some games that take some form of an advantage of multicore processors. But the biggest factor here isn't the processor but the graphics card. The 8800GTS would most likely be a Very nice upgrade |
would that processor work with my motherboard? someone said only Pentium 4's would work. so i took that as i couldn't put in a dual core. And I was just going to upgrade my vid card but someone said with my processor it would just "bottleneck" it. |
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11-10-2009, 09:22 PM
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#4
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Member (7 bit)
Join Date: May 2009
Location: MN
Posts: 102
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well they both are socket 775 so I guess the type of memory is the reason why the PDC won't work? <-- lol not 100% sure on that.
Even so, you could upgrade your graphics card to atleast a 8600GS for about $65 - $55
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11-10-2009, 09:45 PM
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#5
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,220
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What brand/model of power supply do you currently have?
Regarding processor upgrade, socket 775 is quite tricky since cpu support depended a lot on the chipset and bios.
I would recommend going with a dual-core Athlon II processor and motherboard since they provide a good boost of performance over what you have, are inexpensive and have lots of room for upgrading. You'll also need to get DDR2 ram since DDR1 isn't supported. For video card, a HD4670 would work very well, and a good power supply should be had as well so that everything works together and so you have room for upgrades later. An overall parts list like this should work:
GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128376
$74.99
SAPPHIRE 100255HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102820
$64.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008
$49.99
Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148163
$42.99
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103688
$60.99
Subtotal: $293.95
__________________
Main Rig: Core 2 Quad Q9550 (Undervolted) | Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme w/ Scythe S-FLEX 120mm Med. Flow & AS5 | 2 x 2GB Mushkin HP2 PC2-6400 | Visiontek 512MB HD4870 | MSI P45 Platinum (GreenPower Enabled) | WD 640GB AAKS in Thermaltake iCage | LG 22X DVD+/-RW | X-Fi XtremeAudio | D-Link DWA-552 | Corsair TX 750W | Coolermaster Cosmos 1000 | Windows 7 | LG Flatron L246WH-BN
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11-10-2009, 09:46 PM
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#6
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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im not sure, the specs say
CPU Support:Support LGA 775 processor for Intel PentiumÒ 4 (mPGA478) LGA 775 processor
and i would like to upgrade my motherboard, processor and vid card. Just so it'll be pretty decent and play most of the newer games with out vid lag.
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11-10-2009, 09:49 PM
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#7
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11
What brand/model of power supply do you currently have?
Regarding processor upgrade, socket 775 is quite tricky since cpu support depended a lot on the chipset and bios.
I would recommend going with a dual-core Athlon II processor and motherboard since they provide a good boost of performance over what you have, are inexpensive and have lots of room for upgrading. You'll also need to get DDR2 ram since DDR1 isn't supported. For video card, a HD4670 would work very well, and a good power supply should be had as well so that everything works together and so you have room for upgrades later. An overall parts list like this should work:
GIGABYTE GA-MA770-UD3 AM2+/AM2 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128376
$74.99
SAPPHIRE 100255HDMI Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102820
$64.99
CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139008
$49.99
Crucial 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model CT2KIT12864AA800
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148163
$42.99
AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADX240OCGQBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103688
$60.99
Subtotal: $293.95 |
thank you for the detailed list!
my power supply is fairly new. i think last year my old one burnt out. so i got a new one. its a Cooler Master 500w ATX 12V V2.01
edit: forgot to say. Will my HDD and heatsink fan work with the amd board? i know nothing about them, ive always had intels. |
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11-10-2009, 09:52 PM
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#8
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,220
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lexilust
thank you for the detailed list!
my power supply is fairly new. i think last year my old one burnt out. so i got a new one. its a Cooler Master 500w ATX 12V V2.01
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That should work fine. You can take out the power supply from the list above then and either keep the price lower or upgrade some of the parts. Regarding your hard drives, if you also have an IDE optical drive, you will not be able to have both IDE hard drives and the optical drive working at the same time (because most motherboards only have on ide port which can work with up to 2 devices at a time). |
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11-10-2009, 10:11 PM
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#9
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Masaki 7-11
That should work fine. You can take out the power supply from the list above then and either keep the price lower or upgrade some of the parts. Regarding your hard drives, if you also have an IDE optical drive, you will not be able to have both IDE hard drives and the optical drive working at the same time (because most motherboards only have on ide port which can work with up to 2 devices at a time).
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So what you're saying is i can only have 2 IDE types connected? Because we have a DVD r/rw and a CD r/rw connected and then 2 HDDs all bye IDE. But we never use the CD r/rw and the one HDD is a 20gb from like 8 years ago that i installed ubuntu onto to play around with. So i could get rid of them.
So then i'll be able to have the one HDD and DVD r/rw and my SATA HDD? |
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11-10-2009, 10:35 PM
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#10
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Member (12 bit)
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,220
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lexilust
So what you're saying is i can only have 2 IDE types connected? Because we have a DVD r/rw and a CD r/rw connected and then 2 HDDs all bye IDE. But we never use the CD r/rw and the one HDD is a 20gb from like 8 years ago that i installed ubuntu onto to play around with. So i could get rid of them.
So then i'll be able to have the one HDD and DVD r/rw and my SATA HDD?
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According to what you said, you're best option would be to run the one IDE HDD (as a master drive), your IDE DVD+/-RW (as a slave drive) and your SATA HDD. |
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11-11-2009, 01:51 PM
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#12
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glc
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ah thank you. i would stick with an intel board and processor because that's all i've ever had and known, but i think i want to try the AMD board and cpu.
and i have another question. how hard is it to put it all together? I've taken out and put in a motherboard before, The graphics card. Ram. Harddrives and CD drives. But never the processor and fan. I've been looking up videos and it looks pretty easy. So i think im going to give it a shot. I only need the thermal grease. And do i really need the wrist strap to protect it from the static? |
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11-11-2009, 01:58 PM
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#13
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Forum Administrator
Staff
Premiere Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 26,021
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The heatsink will come with thermal material preapplied. All you have to do is install the CPU, heatsink, and ram on the board with it out of the case, then it goes together just like you are used to. Follow this procedure before installing the board in the case:
http://www.pcmech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132409
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11-11-2009, 02:03 PM
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#14
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glc
The heatsink will come with thermal material preapplied. All you have to do is install the CPU, heatsink, and ram on the board with it out of the case, then it goes together just like you are used to. Follow this procedure before installing the board in the case:
http://www.pcmech.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132409 |
oh thank you very much! |
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11-11-2009, 11:45 PM
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#15
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Nov 2009
Posts: 13
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thanks all for the suggestions and help. I just placed my order for everything. I can't wait for it to get here. I got to play Borderlands for 3 minutes before it crashed this time, yay!
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