Cheap new PC with a little under the hood?

M

Munkeymobile

Geek Trainee
Hello all, you've all been so helpful in the past so I'm back again. One day I might be able to help someone...

Anywhoo my 6 year old comp died recently (wouldn't post, just turned fans), turned out it was bulged/leaked capacitors. Anyway this was our "2nd" computer so I'm looking at a budget replacement. It'd be used for some games, office and internet.

AMD has served me well in the past so I'm leaning more towards that. No plans to OC although I am thinking of building it myself - thats as brave as I am.

I don't have a particular preference for brands apart from me knowing a little more about some that i mention (they're available at nearby stores).

prices are in aussie dollars (.9 USD)

What I'm thinking of is:
Asus M2N-MX $59 or Asus M2N-X $79 (maybe want something low-price with 2 IDE slots so i can use my old optical drives?)
Any AMD X2 low-mid choice (4000+ = $72, 4800+ $106)
Generic 1gb ram $30 (got a quote today for Apacer 2x1gb DDR800 for $65 which sounded ok)
Asus/Gigabyte 7300GT $71 (don't really need dx10)
WD 160GB SATA = $65
Shaw Beige Case w/ 550W psu = $29 (heard these are bad so might pay more for better psu)

total = $330-$430

From the old set-up i have 2 IDE drives (DVD and CD-RW) that I can use, and also the old case with a psu (dont know what power). Assuming it's an average psu I suspect that the above set up might be ok with it?

Our other compy has a AMD X2 3800, 7600gt and Gigabyte M55Sli-S4 MB so although I havent been 100% happy with the 7600gt I would consider getting another so i can swap to Sli one day if I wanted (7600gt seems harder to find locally retail though). I'm happy for that set-up to stay #1 so something lower won't be too bad.

Anywhoo - any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
so are you going to be using the 7600gt in this computer? if not then i would recommend the 8600gt. its only around $100 usd and is a great card
 
If I can find one at a decent price I'll go with a 7600gt (I've heard they aren't far behind the 8600gt). If I can't find one I might just go with the 7300gt or 7600gs - it seems they are in that range (such as hd2400pro/xt, 8400gs, even the 8500gt). What about the hd2600pro?

By the way I'm gonna use my old case but replace the Task PSU with a Thermaltake Tr2 430W.
 
well if youre going to be doing that i would go with and of the nvidia 8 series cards, like the 8400gs. i personally prefer nvidia over ati. but if you can, try to upgrade that psu just a little, that one should be fine, but just in case you make any future upgrades, its useful to have a bit more power. and the 7600 is certainly a good card, but dont expect to be running any very graphics intensive games on it
 
I'd take a 7600 over an 8400GS ANYDAY. If you don't plan on playing anything horribly intense the 7 series is the way to go. I would stay away from the 8 series cards unless it's an 8800 GT/GTS. I would definately stick with a 7600-7950. The 7950s are actually quite good performers and you should be able to find them cheap. Unless playing back HD video is a biggie for you stay away from the 8600 cards, PLEASE.

I also have a question on your setup. Says you're going for one of the low level 64 X2s. Does that mean you plan to overclock? Or just run at stock speeds? If you plan yo overclock I would recommend changing your socket to a 775 and getting an E21xx proc. They are better performers and overclockers and cost less. The only problem with that is that the newer chipsets don't really have two IDE ports, as almost everyone has switched over to SATA HDDs. If you have got two HDDs and two optical drives you can get a 775 board with an older chipset (say VIA or something.)
 
i stand by what i said, but people all have different opinions on it. my advice, try to see them both (7600, 8series) in action, and make your decision based off that
 
Just because it is a higher number doesn't mean it is faster/better in anyway. It just means it is built off a type of architecture, and although there may be some amazing cards out of the series, there can also be paperweights.
 
7600GS's are good, never mind GT's, stick with the GT mate, I have a GS and I am totally impressed with it's overclockablility, this is in my other rig by the way... Here : It is an ASUS N7600GS with 256MB of VRAM, stock speeds are 400/800, got them to 520/1240 --- 100% stable, actually Isn't far off the GT.
 
gazaway said:
Just because it is a higher number doesn't mean it is faster/better in anyway. It just means it is built off a type of architecture, and although there may be some amazing cards out of the series, there can also be paperweights.
Click to expand...

yeah i know that, but the 8600s actually arent bad for the price. the 7600 is a good card though.
 
Thanks for the replies all.

An update on my plans - thinking of a Gigabyte M68SM-S2 board now. It has 4 SATA and 4 ram slots, so its definitely worth the extra $17 compared to the asus m2n-mx se.

Another thing is that I'll initially set it up to run off the on board graphics processor, as games aren't so vital at the moment. Once everything is set up I can search around to find the right card at the right price. I've read that the 8400gs and 8500 perform a bit below even the 7600gt (although the 8400 is closer to 7300gt in price). At this stage I'm still keen on another 7600gt so i have the option of reusing it later for sli. Games will not be any more demanding than what is running on my current set up which is using a 7600gt.

Does anyone know about the asus M2N-V or the M2N-VMX? I've seen these advertised locally at good prices for me, but I haven't been able to find out anything about them from even the asus website. Reckon its a typo?

No plans at this stage to overclock, but I'll get 2gb 800mhz ram - which I'm told is better suited to overclocking than 667mhz but at the same price here - so i'll be equipped in that sense if I wanna OC down the track. My priority is smooth operation rather than ultra speed so once I get everything running well I don't wanna fiddle.
 
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