I have a laptop, but would like a decent desktop to use as well, to do some mild gaming. I would like to keep it around 400-500 bucks.

I found a PSU and case for $20. Is this a waste of money?

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?threadid=296956

Any suggestions as to what Processor/Motherboard I should be going after. It would be nice if this CPU would be able to run the next version of Windows, but not a must.



[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 10:45 AM. Reason : ]

7/31/2006 10:24:39 AM

well you're looking in the right places obviously. Slickdeals is great.

I would suggest an AMD Athlon 64 or X2 with an nForce4 motherboard, but wait until AMD reduces their prices due to the introduction of Core 2 Duo.

7/31/2006 11:24:33 AM

What do you mean by "mild gaming". Computer games are some of the most computer intensive pieces of software out there,

7/31/2006 12:11:08 PM

Well I have a few older games that I would like to play again. I would like it to be able to run AofE III.

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 12:27 PM. Reason : add - I would like it to play some of the newer games, but it is not my primary concern.]

7/31/2006 12:27:06 PM

AoEIII has some beefy video requirements to run well. You might need to up your budget some. You're looking at $150-200 just for a video card to run AoEIII well.

7/31/2006 12:37:16 PM

I would be willing to up the budget, but I am going to take my time with this. Not looking to build it immediately. I am going to watch slickdeals to find the deals and going to use Petschska advice of waiting til the Core 2 Duo release. I am not trying to build a piece of junk, but I am trying to see how cheaply I can build a decent PC.

[Edited on July 31, 2006 at 1:31 PM. Reason : booga booga]

7/31/2006 1:19:57 PM

I would suggest a pentium d 805 ($97 on newegg i believe), and an ASUS mobo to go with it some cheap DDR 667 ram... Atleast a gig(unless of course you have some old DDR 1 400 ram... Then you need to decide if you want an AGP or PCI-e card... i would go with PCI if you plan on building on this system... but if your going for a low end gaming pc you might get a better deal on a Last Gen AGP card... But next time you upgrade you'd be starting over.... And speaking of... they now have last gen cards in PCI-express too...

This looks like a good deal if you wanna go PCI-express... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131007

8/1/2006 11:57:03 AM

If you want a gaming rig go with AMD, not Intel. Prices are better (especially after Core 2 Duo is released as mentioned above) and performance in gaming has always favored AMD processors. AMD64 is the best way to go as far as "mild gaming" goes and running the latest Windows seeing as how you won't be able to take advantage of the X2's dual core with older games.

8/1/2006 12:41:20 PM

I just upgraded...I hope it's worth it..

Antec P180 Deluxe Case
Antec NEOHE 500W PSU
Intel E6600 Conroe w/ Artic Cooling 7 Pro HSF
Asus P5DW Deluxe
2 gig Corsair DDR2800 CAS4 RAM
eVGA Nvidia 7900GT KO
(2) Seagate Barracuda 7800.10 Perpindicular Drives - 320g/x
S.Blaster X-Fi retail
DVDR +16x w/ Lightscribe

8/1/2006 12:42:32 PM

^^unfortunately not really true anymore. Price / performance is basically dead even.

8/1/2006 1:44:04 PM

why unfortunately?

8/1/2006 2:07:21 PM

prices on the X2 chips have already been reduced to combat the Core 2 Duo. Go with the X2 4400

8/1/2006 3:34:26 PM

He doesn't need X2, Athlon64 is still cheaper.

8/3/2006 9:32:42 AM

Quote :

"I just upgraded...I hope it's worth it.. Antec P180 Deluxe Case Antec NEOHE 500W PSU Intel E6600 Conroe w/ Artic Cooling 7 Pro HSF Asus P5DW Deluxe 2 gig Corsair DDR2800 CAS4 RAM eVGA Nvidia 7900GT KO (2) Seagate Barracuda 7800.10 Perpindicular Drives - 320g/x S.Blaster X-Fi retail DVDR +16x w/ Lightscribe"

Where the hell did you gte an e6600?

I wanna find one tax free this weekend so badly

8/4/2006 2:47:41 PM

probably a pre-order. if not i'd like to know as well...

8/5/2006 1:10:59 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103010

How out of date is this? This seem like a good deal for what I am looking for.

8/7/2006 9:09:06 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819103531

better deal

8/7/2006 3:40:35 PM