[OT] My new rig.

[trigger hurt]

So I haven't built a new computer in a while and my Dual P3 733 box is getting kind worn out. It's starting to crash and hang an awful lot. Discovered one of my IDE drives is dying, causing win2k to hang solid, causing me to reset.

I decided to build a new box. Not something bleeding edge new, just a bit faster and use some newer technology (DDR, SATA, etc).

So, here's the specs for my new box. Everything was purchased at Newegg.com and I set a budget of $400. So, think this will run Neocron and maybe get decent FPS during a fight?

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2.08Ghz
ABIT "NF7-S" nForce2 PNY nVIDIA GeForce FX5200
Mushkin PC3200 512MB
Seagate 160GB 7200 RPM SATA HDD

This put me a little over my budget, but I figure I will have a computer that will last me another 4 or 5 years and will do what I need it to do. I went to the local pc shop earlier today to buy a ThermalTake fan (78CFM) and a ThermalRight copper heatsink. That ran me about 40 bucks. So I ended up a little over my budget, but I feel like I can build a decent system out of this.

I've never really cared about buying a budget Video card. I don't even read the reviews of them anymore. But the card I got has dual vga out. that comes in handy for my dual monitors. I can free up a pci slot finally.

[Nvidia]

My only recommendation to you would be to go for a GeForce 5700 Ultra. They're EXCELLENT cards for the money, because the clock speeds come so highly. This is mostly due to the GDDR3 RAM they use, but I've been told that you can go as high as 575 on the core and 1100 on the RAM. Here's a few links for you to give you a good idea of what I'm talking about:

http://secure.newegg.com/app/CustratingReview.asp?DEPA=1&item=14-122-192

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-201&depa=1

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-081&depa=1

Everything else on your list looks great though. However, the last thing you'd want to do is cheap out on the video card. Simply put, a 5200 is absolute shit. It really runs a fine line between 'budget' and 'worthless'. With a 5700 Ultra, you could hold onto that puppy for probably a year and a half or two years.

Good luck man, hope you get everything you want. :)

[OpTi]

yeah you should always even your system out. Having a PC thats going to be doign alot of gaming needs to have all it's components to be decent quality. It's suprising the perfomance gain you can get buy spending that little bit more.

e.g. i decided to get a new cpu and i could have gotten a XP2400 266fsb OR i could get ax XP2500 333fsb for £5 more and i can easily overclock the cpu to the same speed as a XP3200 400fsb and it runs pretty nice a cool :)

not bad for the extra £5

[40$Poser]

'AMD Athlon XP 2800+ 2.08Ghz'

that's the processor I got and it's pretty good. Helps to have a 256 mb video card, but I get decent FPS in neocron (without one of them there super compu-tars hrhr)

and I don't fatal that often, tho I mean it is neocron, so fatals still happen for meh.

[trigger hurt]

yeah you should always even your system out. Having a PC thats going to be doign alot of gaming needs to have all it's components to be decent quality. It's suprising the perfomance gain you can get buy spending that little bit more.

e.g. i decided to get a new cpu and i could have gotten a XP2400 266fsb OR i could get ax XP2500 333fsb for £5 more and i can easily overclock the cpu to the same speed as a XP3200 400fsb and it runs pretty nice a cool :)

not bad for the extra £5
Well, it was either the cpu I got, or pay a tad less for a tad less speed and get a mobile cpu. Not clock-locked, easier to overclock...toss some cooling at it and turn an XP 2400+ into a 3000+. But I decided against it cause I really don't want to over clock.

[OpTi]

that was just an example but nvidia hit the nail on the head, that GFX card is shit compared to the rest of the comp which in the end drags the rest of your comp down with it. May aswell spend a bit more and get a better card like the one mentioned.

[Ithaqua]

The reason the FX 5200 is so bad is a MASSIVE bottleneck i the core... i mean big enough to choke an elephant.

FX5600 is the same (wish i'd never bought one), just avoid both of those cards, don't touch them with someone elses barge pole. :lol:

[trigger hurt]

The reason the FX 5200 is so bad is a MASSIVE bottleneck i the core... i mean big enough to choke an elephant.

FX5600 is the same (wish i'd never bought one), just avoid both of those cards, don't touch them with someone elses barge pole. :lol:
I've done as advised and canceled the order for the FX5200 and ordered the 5700 Ultra from the site. I don't upgrade often, but I decided to put off buying a new car stereo for the video card...so we'll see.

Once I get the machine built in the next couple of days, I'll run some benchmarks and let you know how it goes.

[Terayon]

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2003/

thats just a site that might help you inchosing a card you want.

[OTIS]

good thing on holding off on the FX5200...i'm using one right now and i dont even wanna play games thats how bad it is :rolleyes: but once i get my x800xt i'll be happy!!

[Omnituens]

most of the stuff i want in my ultimate machine isnt out yet.

wouldnt mind a Cell processor ;)


MASSIVE bottleneck
is it just me, or does something seem wrong with those 2 words being next to each other?

[OTIS]

lol sounds funny kind of an oxymoron eh?