[MaverickSidewinder]

Hi geeks...

You haven't seen much of me in the "System Building and Overclocking" section of the GTG forum...that's because i am usually in the Programming or the WINXP section

Anyway, enough with the boring stuff...let's get to the point:

I would like to get a new computer... I only use it for the following things:

• Internet / Browser Games
• Graphics (Photoshop / Paint Shop Pro 9 / Animation Shop 3)
• Occasional gaming
• MSN Instant messenger
• VB 6 / VB STUDIO / some C++
• Macromedia Flash / Dreamweaver / Fireworks ecc
• Website building

That pretty much sums it up

I would like to know a good configuration that would fit my needs...Don't know if its too much to ask...

Anyway, i already have some specifics that i would like to have:

• Dual 2 x 512 mb RAM
• At least 3 GhZ processor

I don't know what kind of: graphic/ video and audio card i should get...also the type of processor and the mobo...

Thanks to anyone who will take the time to answer this post

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I usually build myself a new computer every 3 months. I built an intel 3.0 puter a couple of months ago. It has the following hardware.

Pentium 4 3.0 HT socket 478
Gigabyte GA 81 PE 1000 MB
2-512 kingston PC3200 memory
Evga FX5200 128 Mb video card
Creative Audigy sound card
NEC 3520 DVD-RW
Lite-0n CD-RW/DVD combo drive
WD 120 Gig HD
floppy drive
Silver aluminum case with 500 Watt PS

Now i collect parts from stores and off the internet when i can get good prices. This puter came in right at $1000, but i bought a lot of little things like thermaltake heatsink and fan, 11 in 1 card reader, round IDE cables,and a few other things that increased the price. This puter does everything i want without any problems at all. It is slightly outdated already for some of the newest games but im not really into the extreme edge of playing games anyway. I am also a cheapskate because i know that 6 to 9 months later i'm selling the puter anyway. You can buy a better video card like the Nvidia 6600 for twice what i paid for the fx5200, or even 10 times what i paid for and get a Nvidia 7800 card. Depends on what you want from the computer.

SRX660

[SRX660]

I usually build myself a new computer every 3 months. I built an intel 3.0 puter a couple of months ago. It has the following hardware.

Pentium 4 3.0 HT socket 478
Gigabyte GA 81 PE 1000 MB
2-512 kingston PC3200 memory
Evga FX5200 128 Mb video card
Creative Audigy sound card
NEC 3520 DVD-RW
Lite-0n CD-RW/DVD combo drive
WD 120 Gig HD
floppy drive
Silver aluminum case with 500 Watt PS

Now i collect parts from stores and off the internet when i can get good prices. This puter came in right at $1000, but i bought a lot of little things like thermaltake heatsink and fan, 11 in 1 card reader, round IDE cables,and a few other things that increased the price. This puter does everything i want without any problems at all. It is slightly outdated already for some of the newest games but im not really into the extreme edge of playing games anyway. I am also a cheapskate because i know that 6 to 9 months later i'm selling the puter anyway. You can buy a better video card like the Nvidia 6600 for twice what i paid for the fx5200, or even 10 times what i paid for and get a Nvidia 7800 card. Depends on what you want from the computer.

SRX660

[MaverickSidewinder]

Thanks very much!

[warriorscot]

You must be thinkin a really cheap 6600 or you got a relly expensive FX5200 those are 20 quid cards especailly the 128meg version.

I would say go with an AMD system they are generally cheaper and more suited towards a home user and tend to be very reliable in bith normal and extreme conditions, the motherboards for nforce4 chipset are also abundant, cheap and easy to use.

My system would fit your needs came in at £950 almost 6 months ago and i did buy a good monito and a nice case for it at the time included in that price.

[SRX660]

warriorscot, heres the prices i can get today. It doesnt seem to matter what company i use for they all are close in prices. Newegg and tiger direct are $39 and $39.99 for a 128MB FX5200 card. Newegg has a Geforce 6200 256 mb for $74 while Tiger direct has the same card for $104.99. You make your choice but the price of the 6200 cards is about double the fx5200 cards. The cheapest Geforce 7800 card is $299 at newegg.

SRX660

[warriorscot]

Thats quite expensive, is it one of those super tv recording VIVO slim line 5200 for a micro atx system because thats alot for a 5200 especially if its vanilla, so i wouldnt get a 5200 they are the essence of gfx card crapness alot of the old geforce 4s are alot better than it for alot of things nut obviously you cant get a geforce 4 nowadays not much supports them.

For gfx x1300s look a good deal they have an impresive feature list and are coming in at under 80 quid over here, and prices are usually the same numerical value in the states as they are here.


Are you going to be building this yourself?
I would definately reccomend an AMD due to the fact that

[MaverickSidewinder]

Actually, i was looking forward to finding out what were the best things...like for mobo ecc. So that when i go buy a pc, ill look for one with the best combination.

Im only 15..i don't have the experience to build a pc. (only to program one )

[warriorscot]

Its not hard to learn read some of the stickies there is a link to an excellent building tutorial, its really not hard to build pcs and if you are lucky all the parts work when you get them.

Depends wether you want intel or AMD i can help you with AMD but im not as up to date on intel as i dont use any intel systems regularly, AMD i can help you with no bother. I would reccomend AMD to 95% of home users as well they are geared for the home user intel cpus are more suited to business and some professional users.