My m8 has this as his budget but wants to be able to play games (ATI 700 Not copeing)
He has
1800+
30GB HDD
Combi Drive
Case
Enermax 350W PSU
Usable
What could he get thanks in advance
My m8 has this as his budget but wants to be able to play games (ATI 700 Not copeing)
He has
1800+
30GB HDD
Combi Drive
Case
Enermax 350W PSU
Usable
What could he get thanks in advance
What games he want to play and What motherboard and amount of memory does he have?
TiG
i'd get...R9700 non pro, 1 256mb stick of corsair 3200, and a NF7 rev 2 (not S) ...use the rest tilll he can afford upgrades...
£250 and his mother board is PC133 so not realy any good hes wanting to play newer games like Jedi knight 2 and if posible HL2 on min settings hes low on budget so realy wanna help him thanks
XP1800 Pally or Tbred?
Abit NF7 V2.0 - 68,93 inc. VAT (komplett)
2x Crucial PC3200 - £39.94 each (free delivery from crucial iirc)
Sapphire Radeon 9500 Atlantis 128MB - 114.34 inc VAT (komplett)
Total = 270.61 inc VAT, shipping, etc.
20 squid over the limit, but worth it imo. Others will probably give better suggestions, so don't listen to me
Maxtor 80Gb 7200rpm 2mb cache - 60.69 inc. VAT
Asus V9180 GeForce4 MX440-8X 64MB 40.02 inc. VAT
Abit NF7 V2.0 - 68,93 inc. VAT (komplett)
2x Crucial PC3200 - £39.94 each (free delivery from crucial iirc)
Total = 257.85 inc VAT inc Shipping
I have that graphics card in my media pc. Although it's not a 9800 pro, it still does the trick, and it played counterstrike nicely at 800x600 on Direct3d settings.
If he says he wants 8Mb cache on the hdd, kick him
Or you could use the same as Theo said above, but with the NF7-M which has onboard GF4mx and ditch the graphics card.
Seriously XP1800+ is plenty enough for gaming so long as you have at least a GF4TI4200. The PC133 isn't as limiting as you think, you're probably 10% slower than using DDR. If gaming's important don't touch a GF4MX, GF-FX5200 though poor is miles better but for under £100 the 4200 128MB is a real bargain only lacking high AA+AF and DX9 abilities which he's unlikely to be too worried about. £60 for the HD and £90 for the 4200 and that leaves £100 but he may find that's all the boost he needs. He could buy a Rad9600PRO or GF-FX5600ultra (rev2 flipchip) if he wants a DX9 ready card (ie wants to keep the card for 2 years or so) but it will cost £40-60 more on the price of the gfx card.
An XP1800+ PC133 GF4TI4200 will easily kill an XP2800+ PC3200 nForce2 GF4MX in practically EVERY game. I would advise upgrading the CPU, mobo and RAM in the near future but don't skimp on the gfx card in doing it if games are your thing!
If you get a mobo and RAM now then I'd suggest Crucial's 256MB PC3200 for £40 (free P&P). For the mobo the SiS746FX is a real bargain at £38.50 (www.dabs.com) it lacks 400FSB, multiplier adjustment but is only 5-8% slower than the expensive nForce2 with Dual Channel DDR. If you want 400FSB ability then the SiS748 fit the bill for £45 or KT600 for £46 (again Dabs), KT600 may even come with multiplier adjustment.
You want multiplier adjustment and ideally CPU/core voltage adjustment to help o/c, or more correctly run the cheap TbredB or Barton at the speeds they are capable of. If you have a mobo without mult adjustment then the likes of an XP2100+ fit in nicely as the default 13x multiplier should allow you to hit XP2700+ 333FSB speed which is nice for £50. Of course it makes sense to keep the XP1800+ for now but thinking of the future and all. If this is all a bit technical I'm rec'ing to definitely get 256MB PC3200 (ideally Crucial) £40 and then for the mobo you can get SiS746FX as a great cheapo option or else SiS748 or KT600 for their 400FSB support and still cheap cost. If you can find a bargain nForce2 mobo cool, lacking Dual Channel is no big thing just rem to buy only 1 RAM stick.
You can get the RAM and mobo for well under the £100 you'd have spare and then you can add a TbredB or Barton later and run them around XP2700+ to 3200+ speed with little effort (and £65-90 cost inc HSF).
dont get a g4MX....
get a cheapo 4Ti; when on offer/refurb you can get em for under £50 and make the MX look like utter rubbish
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