I am travelling to USA in two weeks and would like to buy parts to build a computer at home. Due to air travel space and weight limitations, I will only buy the "core" there:
motherboard, processor, RAM, video card and hard disk. The other parts will be purchased here.
There has been a long time when I bought my current home computer, so I would like to have your help to choose the components. The restrictions are:
I am not a gamer but I would like it to be able to run "heavy" games, like "Half life 2" and "Counter strike".
Hard disk: I think 300GB are enough for now. I can add more later.
The cost of these parts should be around US$ 700, due to Brazilian customs limits. So, I would like to have the best system that can be bought with US$ 700.
I am considering this system, as a starting point:
motherboard: Nforce 570 Atx Socket Amd AM2 1 Pci-e X16 X1 2 Gb Lan Ieee 4DDR2 Price: 150.81 at Amazon.com
processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+ 2.2 GHz Price: 99.99 at Amazon
RAM: US Modular Dual Channel 2048MB PC4200 DDR2 533MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB) Price: 139.99 at Amazon
video card: onboard
hard disk: 320GB 7200RPM 16MB Buffer Serial Ata II/300, 3.5INCH, 8.9MS Seek, Caviar Series Price: 124.99 at Amazon
Price Total: US$ 515.78
Some doubts:
Is that motherboard a good one?
Is the onboard Nforce 570 fast enough for games or should I buy a separate video card?
The price is almost $200 below my limit. How should I spend this money to improve the system?
Any suggestion on where to buy? The restriction is that the place must accept international credit cards.
Other comments?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Vital