Alright! Gimme suggestions! Tax season is coming.

[o_broodingdude]

My budget is $550.

Current specs:

AMD64 4000+ (San Diego) Socket 939
1GB OCZ Platinum RAM (Dual Channel, PC3200)
MSI Neo4-F Mobo (using on board sound)
WD 20GB (PATA), WD 40GB 10k (SATA) HDD's
Asus DVD drive
MSI Dragonwriter 42x Burner
XFX Geforce 6600GT 128mb
Crappy KDS analog monitor
PSU needs to be replaced (dying on intensive graphic apps [HL2, WoW])


Specifics: I want a bit more out of my system. I know I'm gonna snag another half gig of RAM, and a new PSU. My neighbor's spotting me a new tower as I crushed the front of my current with my fist. (Enraged at the damn thing blowing a raspberry at me when I start a game and giving the BsoD, then rebooting... or just freezing...). Can I fit a good gaming monitor in that budget? How about a new vid card? I really don't give a crap about storage atm. It's been enough for me. I have over 30gb empty. I don't do digital editing or any of that weird stuff.


Your thoughts.

[o_duffmanhb]

yeah i just ordered a new graphics card for my old computer off of newegg.

195 - shipping got me a clock speed of 500, 512 ram and DX10 capable.

you should buy all your crap there... sooo cheap

[o_broodingdude]

Originally Posted by DuffmanHB

yeah i just ordered a new graphics card for my old computer off of newegg.

195 - shipping got me a clock speed of 500, 512 ram and DX10 capable.

you should buy all your crap there... sooo cheap

I plan on it. I've always followed reccomendations from other members of this forum...

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Hm.. someone said something about rich kids and their rich toys..

Hmm..

[o_broodingdude]

Originally Posted by theres *nothing* here

Hm.. someone said something about rich kids and their rich toys..

Hmm..

Tax return = rich kid with rich toys? Join the workforce, son. This is once a year.

[Circuitous]

He's thinking of the thread with that spoiled bitch, probably.

[o_broodingdude]

Still no suggestions from anyone? What, you all butthurt that I put a few people on ignore?

[Circuitous]

It's entirely possible they haven't been to this thread yet.

[o_zsilver_fox]

Originally Posted by Circuitous

It's entirely possible they haven't been to this thread yet.

LIES!

postCount++;

[o_unknownfigure]

So, those are your current specs, and you want to upgrade with $550? That's good. At first I thought that was your budget for a new computer. The only thing that would be holding you back in terms of upgrading would be your motherboard, it being Socket 939 if I'm correct. Still, that socket does provide the majority of the upgrading options, just not the best ones (C2D)



You have one PCI-Express x16 slot, so you cannot get either of the Nvidia GeForce 8800 series cards (as they use two slots, if memory serves) so let me suggest some good cards for you and your budget.

GeForce 7600GT - About $130, eVGA brand, off newegg. This is perhaps one of the best bang-for-your-buck cards. It offers excellent performance with eyecandy in nearly all games, with a smooth framerate (Even the power-hungry Oblivion) It's not the best out there, and for about $50-$150 more, you can get better performance. Marginally better, so it's worth considering to go higher.


ATi Radeon X1950Pro - About $200, generally the budget card of choice amongst enthusiast gamers. Like the 7600GT, it can handle the latest graphics applications, with HDR, AA, etc. But, this card will pump out higher framerates, with higher settings, at, usually, higher resolutions.

For the sake of conserving the budget, I will not list anything more expensive than that. Not like you'll need any more graphics power for awhile, atleast in my opinion. (Note: Others you may consider are cards like the 7900GT and the X1900XT, if you are willing to spend more on a graphics card.)




Given your current CPU, and your options, I don't believe you'll have any big benefit from upgrading your CPU. If you do want to upgrade it, however, you'll find the AMD Athlon X2 4400+ 2.2 GHz to be within your budget. How it will compare to your current card, however, I'm uncertain. But I suggest you don't upgrade your CPU.


I couldn't find OCZ Platinum RAM in PC 3200, but you can snag a gig of OCZ Value for $99.




Power supply (If you want) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817189008 (I HATE talking about power, though... I don't know why.)



But it seems you really, really need a new monitor. I've never gone the way of LCD, preferring to stick it out with my old CRT til the very end, but I do have experience with LCD's. So, due to the scarcity of CRT's these days, I'll only list possible LCD's you may take into consideration. (I will not go above $300 for a monitor, so you can have atleast $200 left over for your other most needed upgrade: the video card.)




For a monitor, one of the best choices would be the one that follows. At a nice 19" screen, a response time of 2ms, a contrast ratio of 2000:1, and the pixel pitch of which I already forgot, you might be totally digging the Samsung 931C (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001085) Not way over budget, either.

Another alright one is : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824005075 . Specs are good looking, and the reviews aren't terrible.



Stopping here, as I forgot that I was playing Gears before I got on to check mail...

[o_skanky butterpuss]

^ what he said ^

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Ah, I'm sorry mister..

I just forgot how silly it was to make baseless accusations. My apologies if I had burst your pompous bubble.

Of course, you probably weren't saying that about anyone in particular. But, just to let you know, I'm in no way rich at all. I was just a bit irked that you would include me in there, and I wanted to annoy/point that out to ya. You didn't like that either huh? But other than that, no harm done!

[o_speed-king]

Buy a 1 gb ram Gfx card Probably aint the best you can get compared too 2 sli cards ... but still .. could kick ass

[o_broodingdude]

Originally Posted by theres *nothing* here

Ah, I'm sorry mister..

I just forgot how silly it was to make baseless accusations. My apologies if I had burst your pompous bubble.

Of course, you probably weren't saying that about anyone in particular. But, just to let you know, I'm in no way rich at all. I was just a bit irked that you would include me in there, and I wanted to annoy/point that out to ya. You didn't like that either huh? But other than that, no harm done!

Any other implausible defamatory crapola? I'd think that we've both been around long enough to know that I'm never a pompous ass like quite a few people here on this board. Usually I'm seen as a "lightning rod of hate" around here because people seem to think I'm an easy target. I've given pretty much nothing but respect and I've gotten a lot of grief for it. Some of us here only live to grief others. As there are no real consequences to how a person uses the internet, people can be just as vindictive and assinine as they wish.

My only defense is that if you can:
1. Afford to have a 'gaming computer'
2. Afford to go snowboarding (equipment + passes = pretty expensive)
3. Afford to go other places to snowboard

All those in conjunction I consider you rich. I'd never be able to afford all those at once. I'd have to have one or the other. I can afford skeet shooting because I have social connections to do so (father owns a sporting goods store).

[o_broodingdude]

I'm going with these:
Vid: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814143070
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16817182027
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16820141413
Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16824001090

Criticize, advise, suggest please. I'm inviting opinions on these!

[o_sta_sirtiger]

I dunno, but I wouldn't trust a Rosewill power supply! Remember, you should spent some basic amount of money on the PSU because if it fails, say good bye to your entire system. That card should be good, hope you enjoy. As for the LCD, I guess that's good, though I would get something bigger and with more ms / contrast ration (but this is your budget, so it ain't bad at all either!). My close friend maintains an awesome page dedicated to great PSU's check it out
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...hreadid=427508
rotNdude 4 life - check out the passing PSU list! Pick any that you need according to the WATTS and you're ready to go.

[o_psycnet]

Monitor: 2 ms GTG is pretty awesome for gaming, can't ask for better really. High brightness (300 cd/m^2) but with a lower contrast ratio, though all rating for contrast vary. Your color just won't be as vivid and will have slightly lower sharpness. Good deal though.

RAM: Kingston Value RAM is pretty lousy (bad latency timings, no heatsinks) but does the trick for cheap, as long as you don't try to overvolt them. I would recommend something at the same price like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146846 which is only one stick, but leaves more room for upgrades, because you can buy a second stick (which will run in DC with the first) at a later date.

PSU: I like it, despite what SirTiger thinks. It's a great deal on a moderate brand for a 550v with all the modern features (4/8 pin CPU power heads, PCI-e head, 20+4 Main power) you need to run everything from the older 989 style boards to todays 965 quadcore boards. Lots of headroom for the future, good deal. PSUs rarely fail, contrary to what the chicken littles might say.

Vid: 7900GS is a great card at a great price. 256mb of VRAM and you could find yourself reaching to have texture room later on. Cough up another 80 bucks and you could have a snazzy 512mb 7950GT which is a better card still at a reasonable price (that will last you longer as well)

[o_theres *nothing* here]

Originally Posted by broodingdude

Any other implausible defamatory crapola? I'd think that we've both been around long enough to know that I'm never a pompous ass like quite a few people here on this board. Usually I'm seen as a "lightning rod of hate" around here because people seem to think I'm an easy target. I've given pretty much nothing but respect and I've gotten a lot of grief for it. Some of us here only live to grief others. As there are no real consequences to how a person uses the internet, people can be just as vindictive and assinine as they wish.

My only defense is that if you can:
1. Afford to have a 'gaming computer'
2. Afford to go snowboarding (equipment + passes = pretty expensive)
3. Afford to go other places to snowboard

All those in conjunction I consider you rich. I'd never be able to afford all those at once. I'd have to have one or the other. I can afford skeet shooting because I have social connections to do so (father owns a sporting goods store).

*cough*

Well, good sir, I know what rich means. Lemme see if I qualify.

1. I can't actually afford a gaming computer, nor do I have one. Wanna know what I have?
2. The gear I've been looking for, was all secondhand. Secondly, if I wanted to buy half decent stuff, furthest I would've gone into was $160. And why would I even bother to buy secondhand? Because I'm BROKE okay?
3. I live close to the mountains. A day pass costs $25. I stay from morning till night, and squeeze every last drop out of it. That being said, I only go at least once a year.

$75 once a year is kind of pricey even by me. The gear saves me the rent already. But I still try to do it, because it's something I love to do. I save up. Gee, how did you think I do it?

[o_broodingdude]

Originally Posted by PsYcNeT

RAM: Kingston Value RAM is pretty lousy (bad latency timings, no heatsinks) but does the trick for cheap, as long as you don't try to overvolt them. I would recommend something at the same price like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146846 which is only one stick, but leaves more room for upgrades, because you can buy a second stick (which will run in DC with the first) at a later date.

I have to go with 2 sticks of RAM because my mobo only supports 1, 2 or 4 sticks of RAM. I already have 2. Maybe I can find this in 2x256mb?

[o_unknownfigure]

Stop argueing about who you THINK has more money. It's stupid. And why do either of you give a shit?




I approve of the chosen GPU, PSU, and RAM above. However, the only thing I would push on is getting a monitor with a better contrast ratio, but that monitor is also decent. You just aren't going to have a crisper picture.