Alright, I've been weighting getting an Xbox 360 or buying a new PC in some time now. For the last while, I had settled for the 360 because it was a faster buy for me and I badly wanted to play Elder Scrolls IV (and on my 46" hdtv) but seeing as Elder Scrolls just got pushed back to February-April 2006, I will have time to buy up a new computer.

Now, what I want, is a computer that will nicely run the next gen games like Oblivion, Gothic 3, etc. Of course, on the other hand, I don't have 2000 or 3000 dollars to spend on a computer.

So can anyone suggest me a system/video card/etc. that would be powerful, yet affordable? (Please don't just answer with a Dell Box# wtvr. I'm not going to order a already built computer. I have one dude that gets me real good prices on parts so he'll build it for me. I trust his skills for building it, but I don't trust his knowledge. (He's built me computer techs in the past that just didn't cut it for me.)

(oh and doN't start saying BUY A XBOX!!!!!!!!!! or I hate xbox! Or yea, play on PC! I don't want to hear anything abou PC vs Console, thats not what this thread is about.)

Basicly, I just want some good specs to work from!

Asus A8N motherboard (~$100)
Best processor on the price curve: Athlon 64 3700+, maybe 4000+ (make sure it's a San Diego core, it has more cache). These can both be overclocked to FX-55 speeds if you know what you're doing. (~$235-$340)
1 GB of RAM, I suggest 2x 512 MB PC3200 Corsair Value (~$74)
GeForce 7800 GT is a pretty good buy on the higher end (~$350)
Plus whatever sound card. A8N has an integrated AC97 so you might not even need one.

That's $759, before HDs, optical drives and the case. Pretty cheap and it's a beefy enough system to keep you going for a long time.


This is pretty similar to my system except I have a RAID array and a X1800 XL.

Is that AGP or PCI Xpress? (mainly because if its agp I can keep my 1.5 GB ram)

And as for soundcard, i have an Audigy 2 so I'm good on that.

If your current PC can still soldier on for awhile, get an Xbox if you really want one. Then, in summer 06 build a PC that will be quite a bit more awesome than the Xbox.

Oy, it can soldier on I guess, but frankly its having a hard time running Quake 4 and thats more or less next gen. I really don't xpect my comp to run something like oblivion

I'm not sure of the detail but its something like a

Motherboard's some nvidia i bought 2 years or so ago
Athlon 2,6 ghz
1.5 GB ram
Audigy 2
Radeon 9600 128mb

Are you sure you have a FX-55?

Switch your Radeon with a Geforce 6800GT (or an Ultra, if you wish) and your system will be fine for another half year. If you want something stronger, you have to switch mainboards, as the newer graphiccards are mostly PCI-X. General system performance doesn't matter much for games, at the moment. That might change with more complex physics and KI, but not too soon.

Jon, I don't think so... bought it 2 years back. I could be wrong with its speed too. I don't know much about Computer techs. I'm a graphic designer heheh.

About PCI-X, I was told I'd have to change the memory and processor if i wanted to switch to it.

As for the Athlon, I'll check it out when i get home tonight

Well, it isn't directly linked, but there is no board out there I know of with PCI-X and a socket A (i guess you have an Athlon XP). The RAM banks shouldn't be a problem (they will certainly work, but may not be optimal).

Athlon XP sounds very familiar so I'm pretty convinced thats what I do have.

Your RAM will be compatible, it just won't be as speedy.

If you want to see your system specs, go to start>run>dxdiag

If it asks anything, hit No (it'll just slow the process down otherwise).

The first page, once it's done scanning, should have a basic breakdown of your system specs.

Just throwing this comment out here while I'm in the middle of reformatting/reinstalling: PCI-X and PCI-E are different things; PCI-X is (basically) a 48-bit version of normal PCI - all devices are on the same bus but they have more bandwidth. PCI-X is only ever found on server mainboards and even then it's not terribly common. I've never heard of a desktop machine that had PCI-X.

PCI-E (PCI-Express) is a totally new and vastly better architecture that gives a separate channel to each device, eliminating crosstalking, noise and reduces errors caused by misbehaving devices.

Yes, I meant PCI-E (Express)

We'll need more information about your computer in order to tell you what you can salvage.

Certainly the optical and hard drives, plus your sound card. The motherboard, processor and video card will all have to go if you're switching.

If you have an Athlon XP 2600+, chances are fairly good that you also have a nforce2, 8x AGP and PC3200 (400 MHz). PC3200 is still the current state-of-the-art for DDR - anything faster is only useful for overclocking. Even running at low speeds, you will be able to keep your RAM - it might just be a bit slow. The Athlon 64 has an integrated memory controller that can run at a different clock rate than the front side bus as well.

I strongly suggest following the system I laid out for you in my first post. And yes, it's PCI-Express.

Oh.

Incidentally, if you intend on going with a X1800 (like I did) you might as well just piff your soundcard in the trash, because apparently Creative drivers actively seek out and disable advanced video cards.

In all honesty I think the main thing holding the system back is the graphics card, you've got plenty of RAM, motherboard isn't that old, sound card is good and the processor, although starting to show its age, shoud be ok and have a bit of room for overclocking if you really need to.

Personally I'd just replace the graphics card to either a X800/X850 or 6800gt/ultra tweak the processor a little and wait till the new year/beginning of summer for the next AMD processors to start coming out.

I've had my system for nearly 3 and a half years, all I've done to it is to update the graphics card, overclock the processor and add more RAM, I can play everything I want at virtually maxed out settings.

Quake 4 is bad for you because 1) you have an ATI card and 2) its a relatively old card.

Psst... I'm looking at upgrading too... here's what I have so far:

- 1.8GHz processor
- 512mb RAM
- GeForce FX 5200 128mb

Gonna get 1GB more of RAM, and gonna get a new video card.

Now, I have a large chunk of change I can spend, so what is the best video card I can get that won't get bottlenecked by my CPU (or do I not need to be concerned about that?)

Oh yeah, no PCI-e for me. I'll probably go AGP.

[QUOTE=The Mega-ZZTer]Psst... I'm looking at upgrading too... here's what I have so far:

- 1.8GHz processor
- 512mb RAM
- GeForce FX 5200 128mb

Gonna get 1GB more of RAM, and gonna get a new video card.

Now, I have a large chunk of change I can spend, so what is the best video card I can get that won't get bottlenecked by my CPU (or do I not need to be concerned about that?)

Oh yeah, no PCI-e for me. I'll probably go AGP.[/QUOTE]

You'll get bottlenecked by your CPU with damn near anything.

Yep. 1.8 Ghz isn't going to get the job done for much longer. I'm talking months at best.

Alright after running DxDiag I found out that I have a

AMD Athlon XP 2500+, MMX, 3dNow, ~ 1.8 GHz
1536 MB RAM
RADEON 9600 128MB


So I'm guessing just buying an AGP version of the 6800 GT (which i can get rather cheap) wouldn,t cut it because of my processor speed?

The 2500+ is a bit on the low side of things, yeah. Pretty much no matter what you got from the last generation, you'd still be CPU-bound.

Alright so the system I'm looking at right now is :

Asus A8N motherboard (with SLI)
Athlon 64 3500+
1 GB of RAM, 2x 512 MB PC3200 Kingston (less expensive than Corsair Value and from any benchmark tests I've seen they are just about as effective)
GeForce 6800 GT with the possibility of adding a second one in SLI eventually as prices drop.

The reason I'm going for a 3500+ and a 6800 GT rather than those you suggested are because my dad will be selling me these rather cheap as he will look into buying bigger and badder. I on the other hand don't have the financial possibilities to do that. Cept sell my body on cold evenings, but thats not to my best interest.

With the lowered prices I'll get from my father, this computer will come to me around 1000$ CAN (thats including the new box and power supply needed for PCI-E systems).

Keep in mind that I am living in Quebec (Canada) and that sadly, not only do I pay more because of the CAN money conversion, but also because bloody canadian distributors seem to keep more money than americans. The proof is that the 7800 GT is about 250$ more expensive than it is in the US.

Blame Canada. :p

Oops I forgot to mention that with a 3700+ and a 7800GT, the computer would cost anywhere from 300 to 500 more $.

The thing is, the 3700+ has double the L2 cache than the 3500+ does. You'd be MUCH better off with the 3700+ in the long run.

But if that's all you can afford :/

*nods* Thats true, but is it worth paying 200$ more?

What about the video card does that sound good? I've been looking at benchmark tests a lot since I posted this thread and I feel it would be quite acceptable, and a great improvement from my Radeon 9600 XT (128mb) nonetheless.

I have a BFG 6800GT and it serves me well. (Max settings in HL2, CS:S, Doom3, etc, at 1280x1024)

As for the other core, I'd say yes, for these reasons:

L2 Cache. It's amazing how this speeds a CPU up. (It's the reason Celerons are so freakin slow, they have VERY small cache)

New Memory Controller. The older cores in the 3500+ do not have the better memory controllers in them, which results in slower memory access.

It's more overclockable, you can take a 3700+ and make it into a comparable FX chip (which is double the money). Can't do that with a 3500+. (The reason is the chip process is smaller than the older cores, and it runs at a lower voltage)

*nods* Point taken and noted. I think I'll opt for that. (As for hard drives and optical drives, I'm just gonna stick to the ones I already got. They are more than decent. Harddrives might not be high end (maxtor 140 gig master and maxtor 20 gig slave) but I'll live with it. I can't afford to change everything... yet. hehe

Over the next year I'll update everything though, including computer screen (right now its a bigass 19" that takes up my whole desk.) I'm gonna look into some 12 or 16 millisecond lcd monitors. My dad has a great 20" LCD sonicview and games play more than wonderfully on there. Of course he payed some 800$ can for it righ when it came out.

Another question, what do you guys me precisely by the San Diego core on the 3700+?

Because the San Diego core is the one with more cache.

You want more cache.

The 3700+ comes in three different cores: Clawhammer, the oldest and also the largest chip (produces more heat); Venice, the same die size but half as much cache as the San Diego; and the San Diego, which is the exact same processor used to make the ridiculously expensive FX-series only clocked lower.

Hmmm, hopefully I can get my hands on a San Diego then. I'm already emailing/calling a few distributors see what they have, and if they can get me a San Diego.

Blech, how lovely, I get responses like "We can never be sure. AMD sends whatever they will."

Pfffft.

Edit : PFFTTT x2000

Damn I hate being in Canada lol. Seems I can't even be sure what core I'm buying. And thats any seller/distributor I ask.

I'm not all that big on ****ing gamble 300+ dollars for a stinking CPU. sigh.

That's completely unacceptable. My grandma works with many distributors here.

Would you like me to get you a price quote on the 3700+? She can probably buy it and have it sent to you.

That's completely unacceptable. My grandma works with many distributors here. If they pulled that crap here, they'd be in serious trouble.

She said she'll look into what she can do for you (she doesn't normally ship to Canada).

Hmmm yea can you check into that for me please (and maybe the shipping cost to quebec, canada)

There is no big rush, I have a dept to finish paying before I go out and buy the components, but I should ready in two or three weeks most likely.