Yesterday my dad decided to get me a new computer for Christmas, for two reasons: Leave his Sony alone, and to replace my severely aging 533 MHz Compaq. I decided to build my own, and this was I have at the moment:

Athlon XP 2600+ (Barton, don't know what it means)
Shuttle AN35N-400 MB
Corsair 512 MB PC3200 DDR
--Video card to be decided--
6CH AC97 onboard audio (Will get a soundcard sooner or later)
--Hard Drive to be decided--
--CD-ROM Drive(s) to be decided--
430W Power Supply
Linkwood case w/ window on the side

I have the Speakers, keyboard and mouse. I'm looking for a Video card and HD for less than $80 each and I will probably go for a CD-RW drive for $50. Anyone have suggestions? Thanks.

By the way, I spent $350 for all the parts listed above.

I suggest that you go to NCIX.com and let them build you a computer... They have the lowest prices and can probably ship to the USA (since they are located in western Canada)... And there is no tax!

BTW, I would go with a ATI Radeon 128MB 9600 Pro Video Card and a Western Digital 80GB Hard Drive!

Nice site, and I saw a couple Radeon 9200SE for $80. Anyone know the difference between the 9200SE and the regular 9200s? For some reason the SEs are cheaper...

No idea, but since its a Canadian site, you'll probably pay like $600 US for a pretty good computer with a nice case...

How about a 64 MB Radeon 9000? I looked at a Best Buy ad and its $50 after mail in rebate.



Lol, the 9600 is out of my range, but the HD is a good idea!

Here is the one I quickly came up for you... Comes out to about $770 US...

http://www.ncix.com/pcbuilder/index.php?ac...platformid=1000

I already bought all these, and they're in the closet till Christmas...
If I can get a 128 MB Radeon/GeForce for $80 and I'll probably get the 80GB HD.

Oh! Well, you can order the parts you need individually!

I would not recommend buying a plain old CD burner. DVD burners, even dual format ones, are very cheap these days. For around $80 you can get a 4x +/- RW DVD burner. Try checking out Techbargains.com every day. There's an $80 burner under Office Max a little ways down the page. Good luck with your computer building!

Gamehead, I think I'm going to get the Maxtor 80GB at Best Buy. They have it for $49.99 after rebates. Thanks for the suggestion.
Datalore, I'm probably gonna get a plain CD-RW for around $40 just because I don't use DVDs on computers. Although then again, I'm cosidering it. Thanks.
Now, just need a decent video card for $80 then I'm good to go. Oh by the way, I'm gonna run Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition on this machine.

I have a Maxtor, and haven't had a problem with it yet...

Some people on this forum have had very bad experiences using them and suggest using Western Digital or Seagate!

Bartons are clocked a lil slower than the thougroubreds, but they make up for it with their extra cache. I just got my 2800 barton core and it performs great. The extra cache does make a difference.

Really?! Wow, thanks for explaining what a Barton is, because I was going to get a 2400+ Throughbred but I decided on the 2600+ Barton

As for the video card, I recommend some GeForce4 MX 440 64 Mb.

They are cheap, and go for like 60 US$. You can also go with a GeForce FX 5200 128Mb, the are like 75$ US$ (quotes from www.newegg.com). You can even pay a litlle less if you go with an unkown brand (wich I don't recommend. You should go with Asus or MSI. Abit is good too.)

I like the GeForce 4 MX 440. It's what I have, and I consider myself to be a mid-lite gamer. I like to play newest games, and I'm happy when the game runs fluently. I don't mind about ultra-high FPS. I've only seen a game where my GeForce MX 440 64 Mb got sluggish, and it was Sim City 4.

For the rest, you're getting yourself a great computer for a very good price.

GeForce 4 MX440 is definitely a candidate. I also am considering Radeon 9000/9200 also, since I haven't had a Nvidia card in a while. I tried to find a GeForce FX 5200 for about $80, but I can't find any. Hmmm...

Still on www.newegg.com...

There are 2 Asus GeForce FX 5200: 64 Mb (65$) and 128 Mb(75$)

Here is an MSI GeForce FX 5200 128 Mb at 72$.

Now a Chaintech GeForce FX 5200 128 Mb priced at 67$.

An Albatron GeForce FX 5200 128 Mb at 65$ (I heard Albatron cards are really good).

A Leadtek GeForce FX 5200 128 Mb at 62$

A Gainward GeForce FX 5200 64 Mb at 63$ or 128 Mb for 71$ Even a 256 Mb for 98$

Those prices are quoted in US dollars and do not include shipping nor applicable sales tax.

Thanks, I'll look through all these during the weekend. I also came up with another issue as I look over my stuff. I noticed my CPU has a 333MHz FSB and my RAM is a 400MHz. Will these two be compatible? Please help, I need to know so I can switch the RAM if they're incompatible.

That would be compatible, but your RAM will only be working at 333 MHz.

I have the same kind of setup, with a 266 FSB on the CPU and 333 MHz RAM. I intended this for a further CPU upgrade...

Whew...

Saves me a trip to Fry's. Thanks for the info. By the way, I got the Maxtor 80GB Hard drive, thanks Gamehead. I also got a 52x32x52x CD-RW for $20. Now to get a video card I'll look at the links you gave me ggtyh, thanks again.

Wow, that is really sweet!

what brand is it?

Some brand called Norcent...I need to update my avatar too

Alright got a video card. An ATI 128MB Radeon 9200....for $65

My dad saw an ad for a 9200SE for $64.99 and went to Best Buy to match it. He picked up an actual 9200 instead of the 9200SE and they took it

A $100 card for $65.