Building another PC - on the cheap

[Buccaneer]

Since I have all of this spare time , I decided to go ahead and think about our 3 PCs here at home. The reason is the boys have been spending too much time on my PC (playing Gothic2 and TW PGA Tour 2003). What we have now is:

my custom-built AMD 2000+/Asus A7V333/1GB RAM/GeForce4 ti4200 128mb/Antec SOHO case (1.5 yrs old);

my 14 yr old stepson has my old Gateway 950/MB?/256MB RAM/GeForce2 32mb/Gateway case;

my 6 yr old son has my really old Gateway 233 with 256mb RAM and TNT2 16mb and that crappy ATX case I bought with my custom PC originally.

I have been going rolling-your-own for 2 years now because 1) it's cheaper, 2) I get much better components and 3) it's fun to do. So I started to look at the usual routine: upgrade my MB, CPU and RAM, plus a couple of new video cards and a replacement Antec case. There is really only one site that I buy hardware and software and that is ProVantage. They have been in business a long time, extremely reliable with really good prices and great service. I only had about $450-$500 to spend so I looked at getting an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard with an AMD XP 3000+ CPU and 512mb DDR PC3200 RAM. Add a couple of GeForce FX 5200 and an Antec SX630II case and I was looking at a little over $600. I just couldn't do that. A reduced spec wouldn't really be that much of an upgrade, esp. considering the time I wouldhave to spend.

Add to that the fact that I have everything running perfectly on my PC and I really don't want to mess with that (and performance-wise, it runs everything just fine). So I decided to skip my upgrade and just go with to building my stepson a new PC and give his current one to my son (which can run TW 2003 just fine for him). Here's what I ordered on Monday:

Asus A7V8X-X motherboard
AMD XP 2200+ CPU
GeForce FX 5200 128mb
Antec SX635BII case

for $278

and everything arrived on Wednesday!

add to that 512mb PC2700 RAM that Best Buy has on sale right now for under $50 (plus a few more 80mm fans).

Another goog thing about this is that now I can wait until I do a real upgrade to my PC in going with an Asus K8V motherboard and the AMD Athlon 64-bit CPU.

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Since I have all of this spare time , I decided to go ahead and think about our 3 PCs here at home. The reason is the boys have been spending too much time on my PC (playing Gothic2 and TW PGA Tour 2003). What we have now is:

my custom-built AMD 2000+/Asus A7V333/1GB RAM/GeForce4 ti4200 128mb/Antec SOHO case (1.5 yrs old);

my 14 yr old stepson has my old Gateway 950/MB?/256MB RAM/GeForce2 32mb/Gateway case;

my 6 yr old son has my really old Gateway 233 with 256mb RAM and TNT2 16mb and that crappy ATX case I bought with my custom PC originally.

I have been going rolling-your-own for 2 years now because 1) it's cheaper, 2) I get much better components and 3) it's fun to do. So I started to look at the usual routine: upgrade my MB, CPU and RAM, plus a couple of new video cards and a replacement Antec case. There is really only one site that I buy hardware and software and that is ProVantage. They have been in business a long time, extremely reliable with really good prices and great service. I only had about $450-$500 to spend so I looked at getting an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard with an AMD XP 3000+ CPU and 512mb DDR PC3200 RAM. Add a couple of GeForce FX 5200 and an Antec SX630II case and I was looking at a little over $600. I just couldn't do that. A reduced spec wouldn't really be that much of an upgrade, esp. considering the time I wouldhave to spend.

Add to that the fact that I have everything running perfectly on my PC and I really don't want to mess with that (and performance-wise, it runs everything just fine). So I decided to skip my upgrade and just go with to building my stepson a new PC and give his current one to my son (which can run TW 2003 just fine for him). Here's what I ordered on Monday:

Asus A7V8X-X motherboard
AMD XP 2200+ CPU
GeForce FX 5200 128mb
Antec SX635BII case

for $278

and everything arrived on Wednesday!

add to that 512mb PC2700 RAM that Best Buy has on sale right now for under $50 (plus a few more 80mm fans).

Another goog thing about this is that now I can wait until I do a real upgrade to my PC in going with an Asus K8V motherboard and the AMD Athlon 64-bit CPU.

Can I have your old components?

[AgPete]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Asus A7V8X-X motherboard
AMD XP 2200+ CPU
GeForce FX 5200 128mb
Antec SX635BII case

for $278

and everything arrived on Wednesday!

That's a damn good deal! That included shipping & handling!? I'm going to have to check out this ProVantage site you're promoting because I've never seen it. I usually stick with local hardware stores to build my systems.