Willdog wrote:

I'm interested in this topic, and would like to steal the idea. Here’s a copy of the newegg.com invoice from the last time I updated my computer, circa January 2002.

Case: Enlight Mid-Tower w/ 300W power supply - $46
CPU: AMD Athlon 1800+/266 - $160
MB: Via KT266A (Epox 8KHA+) - $98
Vid Card: Gainward Geforce3 Ti200 64MB - $156
Ram: 2X 256MB PC-2100 Crucial - $82
Total $624, with shipping $674.80

I’m still using this computer. I’ve swapped hard drives and optical drives a few times, but that’s it. It’s time for an update. The newest games I’ve tried lately were Silent Storm, which ran super slow, and Star Wards KOTOR, which choked more then once. There’s nothing out right now that I can buy and expect to run smoothly anymore.

Since my budget will likely be in the same ballpark, I went to newegg today to see what I could get for roughly the same cash.

Case: JUST PC JPC727P4 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply – $41.00
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3400+ Newcastle 800MHz FSB Socket 754 Processor - $156 OR
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Processor - $160
MB: ABIT NV8 Socket 754 NVIDIA nForce4 4X ATX AMD Motherboard - $69.50 OR
MB: EPoX EP-9NPAJ Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD Motherboard - $79.00
Vid: ATI AIW 2006 Edition 256MB DDR VIVO PCI Express x16 GPU (Radeon X1300) - $179 OR
Vid: eVGA Geforce 6800XT 256MB 256-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card – $159.00 OR
Vid: SAPPHIRE Radeon X800GTO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 FireBlade Edition - $160.00
Ram: Crucial 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System - $84.99

Regarding the Case: Seems to be a lot of choice in the $50 range. A lot of mixed reviews though. Is a 450W to 500W power supply enough nowadays?

Regarding the CPU: I’m assuming the 939 socket is the successor to the 754 socket. Beyond that I’m not sure if one Athlon is as good as another.

Regarding the MB: Based solely on falling within the price range. I look for Abit or Epox boards.

Regarding the Vid: I have no idea what graphic cards are worth what now. Last time I paid attention to the market, there was only Geforce 1, 2, 3. My attraction to the ATI card is the possibility of turning my computer into a Tivo, which is kind of silly since I’ve basically done that already now with bit torrent and divx. I don’t know which of these cards is actually better then the other.

Regarding the Ram: My only easy decision, since I always buy crucial.

Projected total of the Athlon 64 3200+ Socket 939 w/ Epox MB, Sapphire video, and Ram: $525 w/o shipping..

Question: Can I play HL2, Doom3, Far Cry, FEAR, etc on this? If not, where do I need to spend the extra money? Be advised, unlike Fussbett, doubling my CPU budget is not an option.

Bonus question: Do I need a special MB to support a case with USB/audio ports on the front face?