Building a new computer Created 16 years ago2008-02-05 17:55:58 UTC by trooperdx3117

Im going to build a new computer now with a budget of 200-250 euro and I was hoping you guys could recommend for me a new graphics card, processor and motherboard. Im not getting a case, souncard and i've already allocated 100 euro for the RAM so I would really appreciate any suggestions thanks.

Radeon is very good too... I have a X1550 and can handle today's games too.

Thats a very limiting budget, no leeway at all in that?

Also, if thats your sort of budget, spending 100 euros on RAM is completely pointless, you won't see any benefit from the increased quality. 2GB or Kingston or similar DDR2 Ram shouldn't be more than around 40 euros.

If you can re-arrange your budget, try for a Petium E2XXX Core 2 series, they're cheap as chips, basically Core2Duo, and with a good 15 quid cooler will overclock well.

I should probably have said I already have 100 euro taken out of that for RAM, my computer has DDR Ram so I need DDR2 ram. But is that true that you can get 2GB of Ram for 40 euros becaues that would be good

I think you should add a minifridge to the side of the computer. It will help it saty cool and you can store soda in it!

Ermmm... right.

I don't know where you're looking for RAM but I can assure you that you don't have to spend that much, DDR2 is cheaper than DDR anyway. I really wouldn't recommend wasting that much of your budget on RAM.

This is the CPU I was talking about:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/127248

Grab a Freezer Pro for about 20 Euros as well, and that chip will easily overclock to 2.8ghz. Bargaintastic!

As for a motherboard, the skies the limit, but you're after a new GFX card as well, you need PCI-E. If you're building a budget system, you should be looking to spend roughly the same amount of the MB as the CPU.

Finally, GFX card. Both ATI and Nvidia have released a good range of cheap DX10 cards. Don't expect anything of DX10 games with these cards, however they do hold up OK with older games. Maybe an ATI 3XXX series or Nvidia 8600 for around 60 Euros. As I said, don't expect miracles with these cards.

What resolution will you be running at and what sort of things do you use it for?

I would run my resolutions at 1024x768 and I would be it mostly to play games such as Company of heroes and medieval 2 total war. That CPU looks perfect and since I can buy RAM for 40 euros then I have 300 euros for a computer. All those suggestions you've given me look sweet Alex anymore suggestions will be appreciated

Thats quite a low resolution which gives us some headroom when it comes to GFX cards. Depending on how serious on gaming you are, this is where the bulk of your money should go.

However, depending on what your situation is, it may be better to get and old, slow card for short term until you can save up and get a better card. With that resolution you don't need to worry about GFX Memory size, I would aim for 256mb. If you don't mind seconds, maybe even try ebay for a used card. A lot of people change their GFX cards frequently, so can get hardly used cards for a steal!

Cool what graphics card would you suggest

Check these out first:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2006.html

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics2005.html

These will give you an idea of performance in comparison to other cards. If you want to check out older cards, check 2005 and 2006, otherwise look for a low / mid-range 2007 card.

I can't say much about Nvidia having never owned one (or a real one at least. MX Series don't really count!)

However, I have owned a lot of ATI cards, one of which was an X850XT PE. This is an example of quite an old card which really did hold up well till recently, and since upping my resolution. I think it was a similar story for the Nvidia 7800s, and these are really cheap cards.

Avoid the X1300 through X1600 cards, and the X1800 upwards are still great but are too pricey for your budget. I'm still running a X1900XTX and it can still kick ass!

Maybe have a look round for the X800 / X850 range, and look out for the crap on the end. The XL and Pro suck, the XT and XT PE are much better versions of these cards. But as I said, with your budget try and get second hand - you'll get a lot more for your money.

On the other hand, you could go for a new 2007 / 2008 DX10 model, but you'll pay the price. They may be new and HD and all that jizzle, but they aren't too fast. You'll probably pay less for a brand new 8600 than a X800 which is a four year old card, and will beat the 8 series hands down.

Personally, if I really couldn't scrape any more cash together now, and depending on how desperate I was to do some serious gaming, I would find a dirt cheap, any old piece-o-shit PCI-E card for about ?10, slap it into the new build, and then XXX amount of time later, upgrade it. That XXX amount of time will be hell, what with upgrading the rest and not reaping the benefits, but afterwards you'll be grateful!

Thats really helpful thanks Alex although I dont think i'll go for a DX 10 card, I dont have vista and dont want vista

Ok, no problem. I'd recommend a X800 / X850 or 7800 then, both still really popular and can handle what you want to play well. Just remember if you choose an X8XX series to look out for the suffix - the higher spec model the better. Watch out with these though as a lot of them are AGP and your new motherboard (hopefully) will be PCI-E.

Also, different manufactures of these cards make them in different ways, some overclock them, some fit different coolers. A lot of them are passively cooled, great if you're after a quiet PC but they won't overclock and tend to overheat.

I don't know how familiar you are with building computers yourself, but obviously make sure the CPU and Motherboard are compatible!

I will thanks for all your help Alex