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Building a Budget Gaming Rig
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Posted by: Cinderno4
I realize I haven't included a case or any optical/floppy drives because I plan on using my current ones. Keep in mind, this is a budget gaming pc. I'm trying to keep the price around or under $900. For that reason, I'm also using on-board audio.
1) One of my concerns right now are incompatability issues between the power supply and the motherboard. This stems from a review on newegg that says "If you dont have a power supply that is 480 watts and a NATIVE 24pin, not a 20-24pin convo, you have a toss up whether the board will work or not. The engineers that designed it even admit a 600 watt psu that isnt native 24 wont work." The cheap (but promising-looking) power supply I picked out for $34 has under its specs: Main Connector = 20+4-Pin. Maybe someone could clear this up for me?
2) Something else I was wondering about is whether or not that is a good deal on video cards. I'm having a hard time finding much information on modern video cards and I've not read much on them for a year or so. If you have any recommendations as far as cards, I'd gladly listen.
3) I'm open to any suggestions. 
I've been looking over parts for a time now, and here's what I have thus far:
$101 Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16822144417
$125 DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16813136152
$219 ASUS EAX850PRO/HTVD/256 Radeon X850PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814121534
$34 COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS-430-PMSR/P ATX12V Max: 400W, Peak: 430W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16817171007
$80 GeIL Value 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Kit System Memory Model GE1GB3200BDC - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16820144310
$233 AMD Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3700BNBOX - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16819103539
$87 tax & shipping
$879 total
I appreciate any suggestions and criticism that I know I'll get from you all.
Posted by: matt.modica
I think you will definatley have sufficent hard disk space and RAM.
Posted by: goranpaa
Lol! It is almost a pity, to call this a "budget gaming rig". At least if you look at it performance wice.
And you have picked nice stuff.
The only "But" would be the PSU maybe.
Here is one Tagan 450 W PSU, that I think you will find better.
ePOWER Puma II EP-450XP-P2B ATX12V 450W Power Supply 100-120V AC/200-240V AC UL, CE, CB, FCC - Retail $46.50. newegg.
Brand ePOWER
Model EP-450XP-P2B
Series Puma II
SPEC
Type ATX12V
Maximum Power 450W
Fans 2
PFC No
Main Connector 20+4-Pin
Dual +12V No
Over Voltage Protection YES
Overload Protection YES
Input Voltage 100-120V AC/200-240V AC
Input Frequency Range 50/60Hz
Input Current 10A/6A
Output +3.3V@26A, +5V@45A, +12V@28A, -5V@0.8A, -12V@1A, +5VSB@2.5A
Approvals UL, CE, CB, FCC
Features
Features 20 pins + 4 pins ATX12V, 2 SATA built in, 23Dba @ 60% Loa
This could also be an alternative:
ASPIRE ATX-CW500WP4 ATX 500W Power Supply 115/230 V UL, CSA, TUV, CE - Retail $39.99
Specifications
Model
Brand ASPIRE
Model ATX-CW500WP4
SPEC
Type ATX
Maximum Power 500W
Fans 2
PFC No
Main Connector 24-Pin
Dual +12V Yes
Power Good Signal 100-500ms
Hold-up Time >10ms at full load
Efficiency > 70% under max range load
Over Voltage Protection YES
Overload Protection YES
Input Voltage 115/230 V
Input Frequency Range 50/60Hz
Input Current 12A @ 115AC, 6A @ 230AC
Output +3.3V@17A, +5V@25A, +12V1@16A, +12V2@18A, -5V@0.5A, -12V@0.8A, +5VSB@3.0A
MTBF 100,000 Hours
Approvals UL, CSA, TUV, CE
Features
Features 1x 20/24pin Main Power, 1x ATX12V 4pin(P4), 6x Peripheral, 2x Floppy, 2x SATA
About the ATX connectors: AMD use 24 Pin ATX and Intel 20 Pins. so if you get that Tagan PSU ?
Then you will be needing this ATX converter 20 to 24 pin:
ASPIRE 20 pin to 24 pin ATX Power Supply Converter Model CVT2024 - Retail $3.75 (See picture).
The Aspire allready got 24 pin ATX.
Posted by: Cinderno4
Ah, thanks for the clarification on that. Added that Aspire to my shopping cart. The machine looks pretty tight now. Any graphics gurus have anything to add regarding video cards?
Posted by: thtadthtshldntb
I have that mobo, this rig is built with it (and it is not a gaming rig btw, I am only a casual gamer now). I love. For the price I paid (back when it first came out, I got it in a combo deal with processor, case and 1 ram chip for under 500. The total separate would have been about 700).
Anyway, it is a good mobo, but I recommend updating the bios right away and when you install windows, if you get any glitches, remember to A) install the Sata/raid drivers from floppy during install B) turn off all the emulation, you know load this or that into high memory. With 32 bit XP or Linux it disables all that legacy stuff anyway c) DO NOT INSTALL THE INVIDIA FIREWALL. Though it works well, its part in hardware and part in software, it worked too well. It completely denied me net access no matter what I did, even if I disabled it. The DFI tech told me to uninstall the drivers and install the latest without that.
As to video card, if you are going ATI wait and see what the low and midlevel cards do. The x1200 series and x1600 I think, prices will drop and perform will improve.
Posted by: goranpaa
The X 1800 is an interesting card but exspensive. the X1300, is about the X700, and X 1600 is about X 800, I think. But that X850Pro is a great card. For that price, I doubt you will find anything better.
And if you should consider the X 1800? Then I think you also should take a look at the new Geforce 7800GTX 500mb. But as said horribly expensive cards.
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