My Computer Specs

Devil21

Ok, I'm building my own computer with help from my friend but I'm buying the parts and everything and also remember this is in Canadian dollars so don't be alarmed at the prices. Iv'e done a lot of shopping around and the cheapest parts I found were at Canadacomputers.com This site from what Ive heard is very reliable and always in stock. Anyway, I was just wondering about one main thing. My Monitor. Iv'e got all the other parts and found the recommended. Even though I haven't picked out a RAM yet I kno i'll spend under 100$. Iv'e got about 200$ to spend on my RAM and monitor(17 inch). Here are my specs:

Processor:
- AMD Athlon 64 3200+ / 512KB Cache / 1600MHz FSB / Socket 754 / Processor with Fan ($237)
Motherboard:
- ASUS K8N-E Deluxe NIVDIA nForce3 250Gb w/ 8-ch Sound ($155)

Case:
-Kingwin MTX425SW Mutant X Case Silver w/ 420W PSU ($85) (Look Around)
Optical/Floppy Drive:
- LG 52X CD-RW/16X DVD-ROM Combo Black (OEM) ($52) (Look Around)
-Sony 1.44 MB Floppy Disk Drive ($15)
Hard Drive:
- Western Digital 80GB w/ 8MB cache (OEM) ($79)

RAM (Memory):
Under 100$
Video Card:
-MSI GeForce FX5900XT-VTD128 VIVO 128MB DDR ($248) (Look Around)
Monitor:
- (Look Around)
Sound Card:
- Creative Sound Blaster Live! X-Gamer 5.1 ($36)
Speakers:
- Altec Lansing 121 ($33)So now all i'm basiclly asking is what monitor should I get? And yes, I will be gaming on this machine.

Faint

I can't recommend a monitor but,

Get a 200 gig harddrive. http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-140-151&depa=0

1 gig of ram
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-141-306&depa=0

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Free Portable Video Player! Contact me through pm if you need help.

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.2Ghz
512MB of Ram
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU 64mb
Realtek AC'97 Audio
WinXP Home

Games playing : None. (WoW soon)
Games BetaTesting : None.

Balter

Personally i own a 17 inch NEC LCD monitor (liquid crystal diode) and i like it for world of warcraft and medal of honour. good quality too, 4 years + i've had it, and not one problem. also, i would look at BenQ. i hear the monitors are very good and the price is too.

mAtT

Devil21

1. Why the heck do I need a 200GB Hard Drive?

2. Why is that RAM so expensive?

Elapsed

For $248 you can get a much better graphics card. Try a 6600 GT: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-206&depa=0. It will own the 5900XT and it's cheaper!

RAM, just get 1 gig (2x512) of whatever, it doesn't really matter that much since you're not going for the top of the line. Crucial, OCZ, Corsair, Mushkin and Kingston are some of the more popular brands.

And 80 gigs of hard drive space? It depends on how many music/video/picture files you have and games you have or plan to buy. Games these days take a lot of space and if you plan on buying a lot of new upcoming ones, I think you may eventually be squeezed for space with only 80 gigs. Hard drives are fairly cheap, the cost of going for 80 gig to 120 isn't that much. I would recommend going with more.

I bought my computer a year and a half ago with an 80 gig hard drive. I thought it would be enough. I was worng, I'm now living life on the edge. I keep having to delete older games and demos I haven't played in a while. It's kind of annoying, I'm used to being to just leave everything but if you don't mind doing that go ahead.

Faint

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Originally posted by Devil21
1. Why the heck do I need a 200GB Hard Drive?
2. Why is that RAM so expensive?

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1. You'll find it useful. If you download stuff get it. It fills up fast. Also when hd standards go up you'll be ahead.

2. Because it's high quality. Here's some cheaper stuff.
http://store.yahoo.com/ms4me/oem1gb10trpc.html

---------------------------

Free Portable Video Player! Contact me through pm if you need help.

AMD Athlon XP 3000+ 2.2Ghz
512MB of Ram
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX Integrated GPU 64mb
Realtek AC'97 Audio
WinXP Home

Games playing : None. (WoW soon)
Games BetaTesting : None.

Smelly_Armor

Devil21, seeing you don’t have many posts under your belt I take it your a pretty new member to mmorpg.com so welcome.

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Everyone that are linking to newegg.com, just so you know, Devil21 is from <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Canada(I’m assuming this since you mentioned Canadian $$$), and newegg doesn’t deliver to Canada. Neither does zipzoomfly. I’ve got a friend that lives an hour outside of Regina in Saskatchewan, and he buys most of his stuff from NCIX.com. I’ve also helped him find a dealer here in the US that ships to Canada and Internationally from California, eWIZ.com. He finds them useful for parts that aren’t available in Canada yet or are in short supply. In the recommendations and advice I am about to give, I am assuming you will be using this pc for gaming and general pc use.

 

The system you have going is looking good and will be nice and fast. I would recommend not worrying about getting a sound card, unless you are doing some special media editing and encoding or just want the added features, because the onboard sound on that board is actually very good. The $36 you would save would be better put towards your monitor and ram. The speakers you picked out are 2.1 speakers anyway and you would not see any benefits in the sound with the soundcard and those Altec Lansing 121s.

 

As far as your hard drive is concerned, no you probably don’t need a 200gb hd. A lot of people recommend huge hard drives when what you really should think about is a back up drive. The only thing I would recommend you get is another 80gb hd as a backup drive and where you would keep pictures, music, and other personal and important files. The other hd would be for your o/s, system and gaming files. If your budget doesn’t allow for this, then that is kewl as you can back up essential files on cds for right now, and then plop in a second hd on down the road.

 

The ram Faint linked to is registered ram and is not needed for a socket754 system. Socket939 and 754 systems can use non registered ram. Socket940 requires registered, ecc ram. That ram is also only DDR333, PC2700 ram. I would recommend getting DDR400, PC3200 ram. There are several different manufacturers and ram models to choose from with different cas latency timings. You are only going to be able to afford 512mb of ram to start off, especially with the budget you are on. You could add another 512 later, which I recommend if you are using Windows XP as a O/S, and it just helps in gaming and using applications that are ram “hungry” like photoshop. NCIX has 512mb sticks of Kingston PC3200 ram for $105.91 CAD, http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=13212&vpn=KVR400X64C3A/512&manufacture=Kingston. eWIZ has the same ram for  $96.97, but I don’t know if that would save you any by the time you paid any the taxes and shipping, http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=D512M400KI&c=pw.You’ll have to check into that. Kingston Value Ram series is not the fastest ram out there, and it isn’t overclocker’s ram either. It is good performing and stable ram though, and is probably the best you can get for the money you’ve allotted to spend on memory. If the KVR is not available at NCIX, you could go with either 512mb of Samsung PC3200 for $91.63 CAD, http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=9545&vpn=SAMSUNG3200-512M&manufacture=Samsung or 512mb of Infineon PC3200 for $91.63 CAD as well, http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=10132&vpn=INFINEON3200-512&manufacture=RAM. I’ve used both in budget minded builds, and though it is not fancy, it is also stable and reliable ram when you don’t have much $$$ to spend.

 

Monitor wise, your budget cuts out LCD, and finding a new CRT for around $100 CAD is going to be tough especially one that performs well. If you get rid of the sound card, that would give you $136 to spend. When it comes to CRT, I usually stick with NEC and Samsung. If you can find a good, used or a refurb one, that might be the way to go. Maybe you can find someone that has a sale going on. You really don’t want to skimp on your monitor as it is a major part of the experience when gaming and working you’re your desktop. Nextag is a good search tool for pc parts in Canada, http://www.nextag.com/Monitors~300265z1z0z_aMonitor_Type:CRTzB1lszmainz5-htm

 

As far as the other components in your system, have you considered a different or less expensive board??? I have been very pleased with my ASUS K8V SE Deluxe K8T800 board. The VIA is producing motherboard chipsets that are just as good as nVidia right now. If you went with either the K8V SE Deluxe or the K8V-X it would save you some money that you could put towards a better monitor. If you want the best nF3 board, then the DFI Lanparty UT nF3 250GB is the best especially when it comes to features, speed and overclocking. $20 cheaper than the ASUS board too.

 

Know that was a lot, but I hope it helps.

Devil21

1. I work in Canadian dollars (probably because i am Canadian)

2. I'm not going to be ordering parts from anywhere but Canadacomputers because i'm goin to be driving down there to save the shipping costs.

3. I'm already on a tight budget so if you want to make a suggestion for something I should upgrade try to make it reasonable and make sure its available at www.canadacomputers.com

4. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Devil21

P.s. Thanks you for your help and i'd like to say that I am able to spend a little more money without sacrificing anything I have right now.