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[Xenon]

I currently have a the XP+ 2400 mobile. I can OC the chip @ 333 Mhz(166FSB) to 2.1 Ghz with little problem. My mem is PC 3200 so I should be able to hit 400Mhz no problem but the chip wont do it and the system is showing its age.

I figured I'd pick up an AMD XP+ 3200 which runs at 400Mhz cheap but for some reason they are running around $200+. WTF?

I have a Case with a 400W Power supply that Id like to keep. I'm looking for a killer gaming PC at the moment and I dont want to spend a lot on a system, but still want to leave room for upgrading later.

Here is what I'm looking at. Also what a good cheap video card to get with this?

BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 SE AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Processor - its a good overclocking chip and cheap


This will all run me les than $200 bucks so it seems like a good deal. Also what a good cheap video card to get with this?

Thanks

 

[theultimo]

I currently have a the XP+ 2400 mobile. I can OC the chip @ 333 Mhz(166FSB) to 2.1 Ghz with little problem. My mem is PC 3200 so I should be able to hit 400Mhz no problem but the chip wont do it and the system is showing its age.

I figured I'd pick up an AMD XP+ 3200 which runs at 400Mhz cheap but for some reason they are running around $200+. WTF?

I have a Case with a 400W Power supply that Id like to keep. I'm looking for a killer gaming PC at the moment and I dont want to spend a lot on a system, but still want to leave room for upgrading later.

Here is what I'm looking at. Also what a good cheap video card to get with this?

BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 SE AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400 - Retail

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Processor - its a good overclocking chip and cheap


This will all run me les than $200 bucks so it seems like a good deal. Also what a good cheap video card to get with this?

Thanks

Any DX 9 flavor is a bargain right now, and DX 10 support is fluff at the moment.

A nice 7950 or 7900 should do wonders for that type of rig.

 

[Kabouter]

I'd seriously try to go Core 2 Duo.
Get an E2180 or something as a CPU.

 

[Xenon]

I'd seriously try to go Core 2 Duo.
Get an E2180 or something as a CPU.

Wow thats cheap compared to their other offering, is there a catch? This isn't a cripple chip is it? Its been a while since I looked into this stuff.

 

[theultimo]

Wow thats cheap compared to their other offering, is there a catch? This isn't a cripple chip is it? Its been a while since I looked into this stuff.

Less cache, 2MB instead of 4 or 8 if I remember.


Not a huge difference.


Ahh, here we go:

Intel® Pentium® Dual Core E Series
The Pentium Dual Core E series have one half the L2 Cache of desktop Core 2 Duo E4000 series processors. Affordably priced, performance is more than adequate for basic computing tasks.

And a review:
http://www.techspot.com/review/53-pentium-e2140-e2160/

 

[Vic]

The Pentium Dual Core CPUs are normal Core 2 Duo but with only 1MB of cache and they don't have some virtualization tech that the other Core 2 have. The low cache might show a little difference in gaming.

 

[theultimo]

The Pentium Dual Core CPUs are normal Core 2 Duo but with only 1MB of cache and they don't have some virtualization tech that the other Core 2 have. The low cache might show a little difference in gaming.

Price/Performance is amazing though, for ~90 you can get 80% performance of a Core 2 Duo

 

[Vic]

Price/Performance is amazing though, for ~90 you can get 80% performance of a Core 2 Duo

Yep, I always recommend this chip these days. It's a fucking steal imo for this price.

 

[Xenon]

Hmm, after the crippled Celrons I've been weary of Intels bargin offerings. I guess the same memory would work. I'll check it out. The OCing looks good =)

 

[Xenon]

Thanks for all the info and recommending the Core Duo. Here is what Im looking at now. Its more than I wanted to spend but, wtf why not. They chip has great OCing and the other parts seem to be of good quality. I went with E4400 because it was the cheapest chip with 2x1Mb cache due to the fact that I want to do some media editing and encoding.

I'm still not sure on the video card, however. I'm using an APG ATI 800 GTO with all the pipes unlocked. I want to get something that is at least as good as that but I have no Idea were it falls in the range of performance. I dont want to spend too much but it would be nice to be able to run oblivion well(solid 30 @ 1280x1024 with most effects on)

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804

GIGABYTE GA-965P-S3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core 2 Duo E4400 Allendale 2.0GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E4400 -



I also want to say that Newegg is fucking awesome. Sure you may find things a little cheaper elsewhere. But I did not see a site that came close to their setup with a combination of products, specs and user reviews.