Need to build comp on 600 dollar budget

Ya I hope it dosn't go boom either. But if it does I will make sure I get a video.

You were not a pain at all. You were asking a ton of questions to make sure that you got your build right. If I had asked that many I probably would have had a different setup with some more quality parts, but thats ok.

well come on. there's always next time right?... a few years down the road when your computer might be getting too old and outdated, you'll find yourself in my position. and then the newegg search party will be reassembled, ready to find discount prices and quality parts.

as for your post, sipsoh, maybe i should put up a gigantic red banner that says "don't count rebate prices because i won't be going for them"...i'm honestly getting kind of tired of saying it all the time...no rebates please? they arent worth my time. that 8800 is way out of my league anyhow, and either way, rebate or not, i'll still have to front the full amount before i get the checks back a month or two later for the rebate. and thats not worth my time. i'd rather save the money NOW not later. very nice setup except the processor. if it was a 2.6 intel, i'd be foaming at the mouth. as good as intel is, the ghz and overall performance of that cpu is below what i want for my rig....the thought is appreciated though.

so, Rage. are my suspicions worth their salt? or does it make no difference?

Nah, the onboard video\chipset and the add-on video card won't cause any compatibility issues at all. Go for it I say.

excellence! i think i finally have a list that will remain out of 90% certainty...final.

GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3 AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 ATX AMD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128034
74.99

Seagate Hard Drive 160 gig 7200 rpm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136075
49.99

Mem 2 1gig cards http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066
60.99

CPU-amd Brisbane 5000 2.6ghz dual core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103780
119.99

Case-coolermaster case fans preinstalled http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119068
49.99

600W power supply OCZ
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010
89.99

video card =radeon x1950 256mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102034
114.99

total without shipping= $560.93
shipping fee= 26.43
Total= $587.36
I need $387.36

frickin sweetness =D. it's finally ready! and the price of those a-data memory sticks went down by 4 bucks when i checked today =D!!

now about that money....

i know why....

i wanted to buy a full 2gigs. 2x 1gig sticks. and the type that fits in the mobo i chose is 240pin ddr2 800. there is no such thing listed on newegg from corsair OR OCZ for less than 80 bucks.

if you can find me 2 gigs of that type, for 65 bucks, feel free. because i couldn't.

Great setup link. Hope it all goes great for you! :grinthumb
A nice system that'll do very well for the purpose (and price).

nevermind that then...

That 650W PSU is a great choice! I guess I just didn't specify it coz of the rebate. It offers about 34A on the +12V rail vs the 29A offered by the OCZ one. It's also of good quality. Nice choice and your system is turning out to be a very nice one. I might be building a similar one for my dad sometime. He still uses his age-old P4 1.7GHz PC.

aw...that's a shame......

oh well. no matter. disregard that new list then.

Looks pretty sweet link.

indeed it does. it feels great to have a list of stuff that will in fact work when i put it together.

naturally, i'm still on the lookout for price drops, or better parts that fit the budget. the only thing i can ask you guys to do is, if you happen to be surfing newegg and you find a nice part on the cheap, post it. =D.

i'll be more than happy to take a look. also, i kinda want to learn how the wattages, and amperages work. how do you calculate those? and what's the average amount of either one that you ought to look for in a power supply for a given gaming computer? you know...all the essentials. i'm getting tired of looking at a power supply wattage, thinking it's high and therefore good, and getting screwed by the numbers.

Well, for starters, Power equals Volts * Amps. To get the total number of amps on the +12V rails in a system with multiple +12V rails, first calculate the power on the +3.3V and +5V rails. Then subtract this number from the total wattage to get the wattage on the +12V rails. Then divide this wattage by 12 to get the total number of amps on the +12V rail. This assumes all the rails are fully loaded but that shouldn't be much of an issue, since the numbers you'll get will be enough to decide which PSU to buy and which not to. Most video card manufacturers usually tell you the power requirements for their cards so no problems there.

aha! i got it now. i had to take a look at the specs of a random power supply, but i found the numbers to work with and i think i've got the idea.

the number i got for
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153052
this power supply was about 22 amps or so.

it only has 1 12v rail though. but i calculated it anyway. hope that doesn't make a big difference. for the 3.3v it gets 22amps, and the 5v it gets 32amps. total of that comes to 232.6 watts. subtract from 500, gives 267.4. divide by 12, and that gives 22.2833333333333333333333 amps.

did i do it right?

Yes that's right. But that PSU has two +12V rails. You can see that from the Output entry under Specifications, which gives the amperage on all the rails. Anyways, you've done it right. See how easy it is?

now...just so i'm clear on this. the number i got is the total amperage offered by both 12v rails? or is that 22amps on EACH 12v rail? i'm pretty sure its the former rather than the latter because 44 amps doesn't quite make much sense anyway.

i'm just trying to dispel any such notions here and now so i don't make mistakes.

anyway. so what would the most typical/best amperage be for any given gaming system?

It's the total amperage, as you guessed rightly. Amperages for gaming systems vary, but the most common would be about 22-25A. It depends on all the other components, but most of all the CPU and the video card, since these pull the most power from the +12V rail.

wow. no wonder you suggested that one...27 amps or so. thats pretty damn good according to your average amperage for a gaming rig. so that should be more than enough...and i can double check when i buy the parts by checking the labels and stuff. awesomeness.

why not get the 5200? Its only 4 dollars more.




http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...mList=N82E16819103759,N82E16819103780&bop=And

strange...i was looking at that exact same processor, down to the link 5 seconds ago....and i denied it entry into my list.

the reason for that is that i've heard that in certain benchmarks, the 5000 has been able to outperform the 5200. they're both the same speed in ghz. but i guess it's all about the multipliers. by that logic, i'd be spending more money for pretty much the same thing. if it was even minutely faster in terms of the ghz, then i'd go for it in a heartbeat. but the two models are just too similar. and given that there is evidence that the 5000 is better, i'll hedge my bets with the 5000.

bigger l2 cache...sure....but that aside, its no different.

I don't know, In every benchmark i seen the 5200 was better

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=933&model2=914&chart=410

Well. Whatever you choose, good luck.