Well, a friend just gave me an Intel 3.2 prescott (socket 478) because he couldn't exchange it at the store (he decided to go AMD and sold me the 3.2 for $1 Cool Then again, if Dell uses it, I HAS to be good )

I was thinking on creating a $700-800 gaming PC. Well, I know that an Intel won't provide performance like an AMD, but for the price I paid, I would like to use it

All I need is the internal parts and a case. No OS, no speakers, etc..

I would like to play games like CoDII, BF2, etc. at a good pace. I know I won't be able to play at the highest frame rates, but oh well. I would like a nice, fast video card, too, if possible. Hopefully I won't have to upgrade a year or so and I also need a rig that can play future games moderately well (if that's possible with the rig that I would like).

I would also like a case which is not too dull, perhaps something flashier than your average beige or black box. Nothing too "cheapy" looking with a plastic head sticking out. I was thinking something "smooth" and elegant like Cooler Master's, Silverstone's, etc. line of cases.

I hope I'm not too demanding with my requests! Thanks for the help!

Thanks for all the help, guys

i would suggest going HERE and looking for a cheap but decent case (also look for a 500 watt PSU), and using the rest of your $ on a video card and ram no less than 1 gig. i would recommend a GOOD 6800gt (my BFG 6800GTOC is comperable to my friends 7800gtx as far as frame rates go), they can be found for less than $300 im sure.

burners are worthless in a gaming rig (im assuming you have them in your other rig) a simple 48x read cd or dvd player should be fine and cheap (or free). i always look at HDD's after i get the major hardware, a simple 40gig HDD can be found for cheap and will be sufficent until a bigger drive can be had.

a decent 478 motherboard (MSI, ASUS, ABIT, etc..) can be found at well under $100 at the above mentioned site

so..

~$300 for vid card
~$73 for 1 gig ram
~$100-$150 for case a PSU
~$50-$75 for motherboard
~$50-$100 for HDD
thats about $700 before shipping, that still leaves a lot of change for opticals and cables and miscelaneous stuff.

Thanks for the advice

For the motherboard choice, I  am stuck between the Asus Asus P4C800-E Deluxe or the Abit IC-7

Which one would be a better choice?

Newegg rocks for parts. When it comes to cases, go with Directron. Better selection.

Directron

Quoted: Newegg rocks for parts. When it comes to cases, go with Directron. Better selection. Directron

That was me under the wifes account. Anywho. As a plus, Directron is in Texas.

I was kinda looking at the Cooler Master Stacker 830 (the new one, not the 810)

What do you guys think of it?

Quoted: Quoted: I was kinda looking at the Cooler Master Stacker 830 (the new one, not the 810) What do you guys think of it?  it's a kickass case. very pricey. mmk

Thanks....I may need to play around with my budget a little :(

Also, are there any -478 mobos that offers PCI Express x16? I would like to run nVidia's 7800 series of cards, but they don't make them AGP

The fastest AGP card is the -850XT, which gets smoked by BFG's 7800 GT in most tests and is cheaper!

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: I was kinda looking at the Cooler Master Stacker 830 (the new one, not the 810) What do you guys think of it?  it's a kickass case. very pricey. mmk Thanks....I may need to play around with my budget a little :( Also, are there any -478 mobos that offers PCI Express x16? I would like to run nVidia's 7800 series of cards, but they don't make them AGP The fastest AGP card is the -850XT, which gets smoked by BFG's 7800 GT in most tests and is cheaper!

ASUS makes the P4RD1-MX which is a PCI with ATI chipset one.

ASUS also makes the P4GD1 with an Intel Chipset.

Quoted: www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=247048

ATI chipset, eh?

Hmm...how will it stack up to Intel's 865PE?

Is there any way to "turn off" the integrated graphics so I can run a separate video card?

I was kinda hoping this PC to be a gaming (well, the best gaming that $700 can get me LOL) PC.

Last thing I need is a chipset that is slower than Intel's chipsets

I have also heard that sticking a 7800 with a 478 would be bad because a  478 proc can't keep up with many of the new PCI-e video cards. Just the low-end ones. Is that true?

Yeah, I would have gone AMD, but  a $1 proc is hard to pass up

Pents aren't known for gaming and such, but hopefully I can make it the best I can to it.

Maybe once i have everything running smoothly, I can OC the proc....

Quoted: I have also heard that sticking a 7800 with a 478 would be bad because a  478 proc can't keep up with many of the new PCI-e video cards. Just the low-end ones. Is that true? Yeah, I would have gone AMD, but  a $1 proc is hard to pass up Pents aren't known for gaming and such, but hopefully I can make it the best I can to it. Maybe once i have everything running smoothly, I can OC the proc....

There is nothing wrong with running a pent for a gaming setup.  AMDs are exellent chips, but to say that intel chips are bad for gaming is just ignorance.

There will be a CPU bottleneck when using the card with a lower end pentium 4, but it will still be the fastest damn card you have ever seen.  I wouldnt worry about the bottleneck.  You can always use the card in a faster system later, provided it also has a PCI-Express slot.

Here is my current settup


NZXT Lexa Black/ Silver Aluminum ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 500 WATT PS2 ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply - Retail

   Add item to Cart Add item to Cart
$179.00  

BFG Tech BFGR78256GTCOD2 Geforce 7800GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card bundled with Call of Duty 2 - Retail
Model #: BFGR78256GTCOD2

 Add item to Cart Add item to Cart
$349.99   $349.99



Update Antec NeoHE 430 ATX12V 430W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: NEOHE 430

   Add item to Cart Add item to Cart
  $85.75

OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered Dual Channel Platinum System Memory Model OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K - Retail
Model #: OCZ4002048ELDCPE-K

  Add item to Cart Add item to Cart
  $239.99

Update Maxtor MaXLine Plus III 7L300S0 300GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: 7L300S0

   Add item to Cart Add item to Cart
  $121.00

Update NEC Black IDE DVD Burner Model ND-3550A - Retail
Model #: ND-3550A BK RT

   Add item to Cart Add item to Cart
$46.99 -$5.00 Instant   $41.99


Subtotal: $1,017.72

Is there anyway I can cut back around the $800-ish range without sacrificing too much?

The RAM is expensive, yes, but I read that BF2 utilizes 2 gigs for best performance. Are there alternative RAM that offer two gigs and offer nearly the same performance as OCZ's offering that I listed?

Thanks for the help, guys

You could knock around 150 dollars off the build cost by going with something like a 6800GS or a 6800GT.


I have a 6800GS and in BF2 I am running some remarkably high settings.     The 7800s will do better but it's not worth the additional 150 dollars in my mind.

I run BF2 with 2x anti-aliasing, dynamic lighting/shadows to low(could run higher but then you wind up missing people hiding in all the pretty shadows).      The rest of my settings are turned to high and I'm running at 1600x1200.      The game looks so good that I don't see the need for a better graphics card at this time, plus I have the option to run a second card in SLI at a later date with my SLI board when the 6800GS gets even cheaper.


I also went with Crucial PC3200 RAM and managed to get 2 gigs for right at 200 dollars, didn't see the need for going balls out buying expensive RAM when the timings shouldn't make that terribly much of a difference.      2 gigs at 250 bucks or 2 gigs at 200 bucks, I'll go for the 200 dollar RAM and Crucial typically builds decent RAM.      My 2 sticks were built on the same day and are almost sequential sticks.



[EDIT]


A place you can save a lot of money...     Your case, it already has a power supply and probably the reason why it is 179 dollars.

Either look for a decent case without a power supply so you can drop your own Antec power supply into it, or drop the Antec power supply to go with what is provided with the case.

If you can find your case without the power supply that should knock anywhere from 50-100 bucks off the price of the case.

I'd look at this case... used them several times for customers.

Sonata

-d

Quoted: I'd look at this case... used them several times for customers. Sonata -d

That is the only case I use nowadays (well that and it's smaller brother the SONATA II).

Excellent case and at full blast is very quiet.  I mean QUIET.

Includes a good powersupply (unless you have SLI and several drives, then it's a little on the low side) and is quite accessible to all the internal components.

My only quirks with that case:

To change the PS will require removing the MOBO in most cases.  So if you buy it, make sure it's the PS you want.

Other than that, top rated case!