My soon to be new pc,

[Holmes_Fans]

Tell me what I could change around for the better value. I want to be to play this game as well as others at a good level.


Thermaltake Swing VB6000SWS Silver 0.8 mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
$68.99

ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
$154.99

eVGA 256-P2-N553-AX Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
$169.99

Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply - Retail
$69.99

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 2000MHz HT Socket 939 Processor Model ADA3500BPBOX - Retail
$109.00

CORSAIR ValueSelect 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System Memory Model VS1GB400C3 - Retail
$82.99


Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JS 120GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
$58.99


SONY 16X DVD

[ctjoyce]

So your budget is $900 give or take correct?

Well I'm guessing that your also going to need an XP CD, so now we are down to $800. Well I'll site you something a bit more pleasing for the same amount of cash.

Useing the same Case, mobo, PSU, and SATA drive. Those are all good.

CPU: AMD 3700+

RAM: OCZ EL 1GB

DVD Drive: Samgsung DV+/-R

GPU: eVGA 7900GT

Now that pushes $100 over budget, so technically you could stay with the 7600 or the 7800 and keep to the $900.

However the system I just quoted will suit your needs much better than the one you picked out. The PSU may need changeing, but I'll look deeper into that later. Basically your biggest flaw was your choice of CPU. When you first build getting a good Mobo and CPU are key. Everything else is upgradable for "cheap" but the mobo and CPU are the base for everything else.

Cheers
Cameron

[Holmes_Fans]

Don't need to worry about a XP CD, and my budget is around $1,000. Unless my brother changed something on the wish list that list I put should be around $750. Not sure if he would want to spend another $100 on just the cpu.

I don't really need a top of the line highest FPS you can fo machine. Just enough to be able to run the game smoothly with decent graphics.

Only games I will be playing will be like Battlefield, the sims 2, MS FS and I might venture into WoW or Lineage.

[ctjoyce]

The reason for the more expensive processer is because of the 1MB L2 Cache. This helps tremendously with multitasking and gaming. It ts worth the extra $60. Trust me.

Cheers
Cameron

[NicksFXHouse]

If you guys want to fly FS9 and FSX... ya better put the money into the processor and the video card

If you dont, it will be money out the door

[ctjoyce]

Now that I'm home I can put out a full winded reply.

Nick said it in short, but I'm going to say it again. The processer and motherboard are the two most vital componants in the computer. A 3500+ is barely worth the money now, and in the future wouln't be worth it at all. A starting point would be the 3700+. Good clock speed, 1MB of L2 cache, and a San Dieago core. Good for gaming, great for clocking. Its well worth any extra money you would spend. However another thing to concider is that 939 is a dieing socket. Building an AM2 rig or waiting for conroe is going to be your best bet for longevity of your system.

Cheers
Cameron