1st Post Building AMD budget pc

[J2TheROC]

[J-Roc]
Sup mafakas!!

My homeboy Bubbles be wanting a system on budget moneh yo
also prize goes out to the first mafaka that can identify my loyalties to the 4 companies in my avatar please.
[/J-Roc]

Ok in all seriousness, I'd like to put out a big Hello to the community here. I hope to learn more about computers and be part of some good times here!

Situation: My friend wants to build a pc on a budget for under $1000 after tax which is 14% here. Purpose of the pc is to mostly do multimedia stuff and some nice long term gaming on the side, with upgradability in the future.

Here are the specs so far(If you know of a place where I can find lower prices for any of these parts or better alternatives for a lower price please let me know~!... oh no online parts no cc) :)

P.S He wants the ability to upgrade in the future to more powerful am2 procs when needed as well as dx10 or dx10.1 vid card.. NOT interested in SLi


=============
CPU:
$149.97 AMD Athlon 64 x2 5400 2.8ghz dual + 2 free games OEM
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.80GHz OEM Processor with FREE Dark Messiah & Ghost Recon 3 PC Games in Canada at TigerDirect.ca
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ 2.80GHz OEM Processor with FREE Dark Messiah & Ghost Recon 3 PC Games in Canada at TigerDirect.ca

Questions:
A1)What Intel cpu is equivalent to the athlon 64x2 5400? and is it cheaper?
A2)Is there any real oc ability with this cpu?(not really planning to oc this)
A3)Are the AMD Athlon 64x2 actually considered a serious gaming proc? or are they basically slightly better Pentium D's?
A4) would the bus speed actually be running at 2000mhz?


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Cooling:
$63.99 Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 Heatsink
Canada Computers - Cooling > CPU Cooling : Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 Heatsink Support S754/S939/AM2 Socket.
Canada Computers - Cooling > CPU Cooling : Zalman CNPS9500 AM2 Heatsink Support S754/S939/AM2 Socket.

Questions:
B1) Is this overkill? I know he lives in high rise condo and it gets hot in that room in the summer
B2)Any cheaper solutions that would be sufficient enough to cool the 5400?

=======
MOBO:
$109.99 Asus M2N-E Socket AM2 nForce 570 Ultra MCP Chipset DDR2 533/667/800 6xSATA PCI-Express x16 Slot 7.1 Channel Audio Gigabit Lan AMD Live! Ready
http://www.canadacomputers.com/index...459&cid=MB.526

Questions:
C1)Is this basically an Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe with no frills? in terms of build quality and value?
C2)Would this support higher end am2 quads in the future?

Case:
$69.99 after $10 instant savings Thermaltake SopranoRS 101 VG7000BWS - mid tower - ATX
http://www.icct.ca/index.php?main_pa...c10f5e3ed1aa54

Questions:
D1)Will this fit the mobo and powersupply? lol
D2)Sufficient airflow design?

========
Vid Card:
$139.97 after $40 rebate 256mb XFX GeForce 7900 GS X X X
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...975&CatId=1560

Questions:
E1)Good enough to run hl2 or CS:S with everything turned up?
E2)is the ati radeon x1650pro a better card?

======
Hardrive:
$68.99 Seagate Barracuda (ST3250620AS) 7200.10 250GB SATA NCQ 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache (OEM)

=======
Ram:
$108.99 Mushkin EM2-6400 DDR2-800 2x1GB EM Series CAS 5-5-5-12 (996527 (2x1024MB))

Questions:
F1) I realize that with Mushkin you are paying a premium, but I trust their realibility, are The ram timings too slow for gaming?
F2) How well does 800mhz ram fit in with busspeed of the cpu? (CONFUSED)
F3) ANybody have any experience with KINGMAX value brand of ram? how is it?
F4) IS this DUAL CHANNEL?
============
DVD WRITER:
$29.99 Pioneer DVR-111D 16X DVD-Writer, Black, W/Software, OEM

===========
PSU:
$94.99 after $10 mir OCZ (OCZ600SXS) StealthXstream 600W Gamers Power Supply

G1)Continuous Power?
G2)Sufficient for future if 1x 8800 gtx and an am2 quadcore added
==========

Total
$836.87 before tax
$954.04 after tax
Sooo...... Is this system a good value?

I think thats it! Are there any other part(s) im missing? i am giving him my old monitor/keyboard/mouse so not a problem and i think onboard sound has gotten to the point where its good enough for most people.

Ok some afterthought general questions.

1)Looking at all the parts will it work? (ie. all parts fitting, cpu fan included)
2)Do you think this would be able to play Crysis or Bioshock at med-high settings?(will be running xp)
3)mmm Any mistakes that wouldnt make this sytem work?

I look forward to your responses! Thanks In Advance!

[Gamashinoch]

Where do you really live? Have you looked at NCIX's prices on all that gear yet? Knowadimsayin'?


For $30 you could get a 8500GT after a rebate.

[b1lk1]

8500GT is a pile of crap that won't be able to play any DX9 games well and probably NO DX10 games at all. 7900GS is 10 times the card as that.

And yes, check NCIX's prices. Only Canadacomputers prices are close. Tigerdirect.ca overcharges on everything.

[Gamashinoch]

well don't know how well a 7900gt will run directx10 games since....*gasp* it's only a directx9 card. Wow, even 6600GT's are faster than 8500gt's. Who knew.

[Jim]

Originally Posted by J2TheROC

Sup mafakas!!

My homeboy Bubbles be wanting a system on budget moneh yo
also prize goes out to the first mafaka that can identify my loyalties to the 4 companies in my avatar please.

dude I'm down with that,keep it rollin ,nice

Watch out for Tiger they can be high,though they sometimes have killer pricing on budget bundled units,maybe tell the phone rep your buying for a complete build say you want 10 percent off or something .As was mentioned NCIX or Buy Computer Parts, Computer Hardware, PC Parts at Best Online Computer Shop - DirectCanada .I got a killer deal ,80 bucks cnd for 180 dollar asus p5b-e motherboard at Shop eBay Canada Store - NCIX.com Outlet Store:: Accessories, Electronics
After you get all the usual stuff the parts that kills you budget at least for me is a powerful video card , so 7900 gtx (lots of jam for what you described) for now (165.00 usd ebay) in a year or so an 8800 gt something when they sell for $175.00, Cyrsis can wait a year for me CRYSIS

and yea know no dx10 , no matter to me haven't even owned 2142 or hl2 , lots of cool stuff to play yet