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Originally posted by Radagast
Thats the thing. My computer has 800mhz so If I got a new video card it would almost coast half a computer. So should I spend 500 for 2 ghtz and get by the requirments easily or hit the bare minimum spending around 120? |
$500 for a 2 ghtz? Maybe if you're buying intel, but for those of us on a budget, AMDs are a godsend. :D
I spent $400 for my new computer, and I bought a 100 GB drive and half a gig of PC3200 DDR to go with it.
Going by pricewatch...
Motherboard
ABIT KD7 (NOT KD7E), $90 Pricewatch
CPU (You will also need a GOOD cpu fan/heatsink, about $20-30)
AMD XP 2000, $75 Pricewatch
Motherboard supports just about any DDR you can throw at it... but..
DDR 3200, 512 megs $94
So you could have a nice computer that's the equivilant of a Pentium 4 2.0 ghz for $165 - $250, depending on how much you can salvage from the old computer.
As for the video card... the only ones I'd get right now would be either the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro (which beats out even the new GeForce FX (aka GeForce 5)) or the GeForce 4 TI 4200 (which is much cheaper than the other TIs, but not that much slower.)
Radeon 9700 pro is $270, but you have to go to page two of the Pricewatch listings due to people trying to scam.
GeForce 4 TI 4200 is $110 right now.