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components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:01 pm
by Foxtrot
Hi

I would like your opinion on what are the optimal price ratios for a low-to-midrange system fair for gaming:

processor
video card
main board
memory

I mean, if you buy a 100$ cpu and 100$ mainboard and 100$ video card and 100$ memory I'd say video card is too weak...

Or more specifically, say I'd like to spend $500 - $666 for a box without a monitor, what would you suggest?

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 6:09 pm
by stopthekilling77
this might be a nice little read for you if youre looking to get the most out of a "cheap" machine

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu ... ,1810.html

from the article:
For some buyers, even a $700-800 performance PC is extravagant. One could speculate about the driving factors behind the sub-$500 PC market, such as frugality, youth or poverty, but in keeping our quality standards high we shot straight for the frugal market.

Yes, we read all the comments posted concerning our sub-$1000 “Low-Cost” gaming system. While most readers had constructive insight concerning possible configuration changes, a few swore by “Absurdly Cheap” components that our experience has proven are likely to fail within the first few months of use. For today’s system we sought to do it right the first time, since nothing drives up the price of a cheap system more readily than replacing failed components.

But how could we keep our quality standard high with such a low budget, if performance was our main priority? A little overclocking is much less dangerous than the use of dubious-quality components, and goes a lot farther towards an overall performance improvement than a “next model up” CPU, RAM, or graphics card. Take a look at our price list.

We don’t expect everyone to agree with our component choices, but we are able to justify each one. Read on to find out how each of these met our criteria.

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 7:27 pm
by XstollieX
are you looking for an amd or intel? are you planning on overclocking at all? what type of games are you planning on playing on the rig? Answers to all of these questions can help the forums direct you to your best system for the buck

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 6:55 am
by Major_A
Go nuts... This a quick list found at Newegg.
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX All Solid Capacitor Intel Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-P35-DS3L
Item #: N82E16813128059
$89.99

ZOTAC ZT-96TES2P-FSP GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #: ZT-96TES2P-FSP
Item #: N82E16814500038
In Stock
$144.99

Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor Model BX80557E6850 - Retail
Model #: BX80557E6850
Item #: N82E16819115028

$189.99

SUPER TALENT 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model T800UX2GC5 - Retail
Model #: T800UX2GC5
Item #: N82E16820609027
$37.99

Subtotal: $462.96

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 8:07 am
by Foxtrot
> are you looking for an amd or intel?

I'm looking for advice, which is better?

> are you planning on overclocking at all?

yes if possible

> what type of games are you planning on playing on the rig?

FPS for sure and other

Hmm... while major_A suggests very cheap memory and motherboard and relatively very expensive cpu, in the article @tomshardware video is twice as expensive as a cpu and mainboard also > cpu.

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 9:16 am
by smack323
I like what Major has suggested except for the video card. those parts will give you a system that will last a bit longer.
You are also going to need a case, power supply, DVD drive,hard drive, and an operating system.
I like the case they have on tom's with the PSU for $65.
Antec NSK4480B about $77 with shipping.
http://www.compuplus.com/i-Antec-NSK448 ... 02426ba67x
I would suggest this GPU-over the 9600 major suggested. my brother has this card and it is awsome for the price.
EVGA 384-P3-N853-AR GeForce 8800GS Superclocked 384MB $130 w/$30 mail in rebate. so $99.00 wow!!
newegg.com
SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD burner $25 +free shipping
newegg.com
Western Digital SATA 250gb HD $60+ free shipping
newegg.com
Microsoft Windows XP Home With SP2B $90+free shipping

That brings the total cost to about.. $700.00 + how ever much shipping would be.
Do you have any of the parts already or are you building from scratch. Is the $666 a firm limit? what size/kind of monitor will you be using?

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Thu May 01, 2008 10:53 am
by Foxtrot
OK an update. I have a 15' LCD 1024x768 which I'll be using for a while with the new box but probably will upgrade to something bigger. I have settled for Intel E2180 CPU. I was thinking about 8600GT or Radeon 1950PRO for a video card but now I'm considering something better, 9600GT 512 or 8800GS 384.

So there remains a question about the mainboard which I posted here:
http://forums.legitreviews.com/about15409.html

and how much memory to stick in: 1G or more?

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:19 am
by ibleet
Definitely go for the Gigabyte P35 DS3L motherboard. Its hard to beat its price/performance ratio! Definitely the 9600GT over the 8600GT...that is like night and day. I recommend 2Gb DDR2-800 ram.

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 9:53 am
by vicaphit
That Gigabyte board supports DDR2-1066, though it is still kinda expensive.

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 12:34 pm
by smack323
for how cheap RAM is nowdays I would go with at least 2GB.
I used that Gigabyte maotherboard on the last build I did and it is pretty nice. everything is well placed on the board.
I also suggest again the 8800gs over the 9600gt.

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 1:46 pm
by martini161
i stick with the gigabyte mobo recomendations for the rest of it:
e6600 or so
2gb of ram
8800gts 512

Re: components price ratio: mainboard, video, memory, cpu

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 3:52 pm
by Foxtrot
I am glad that you recommend Gigabyte board because I've been swaying in this direction myself, either that or Abit p35 board.

I was considering EP35-DS3 because I thought EP models had EIDE (PATA) (and I need it for old disk) while P models didn't but is it the case? How do they differ? AFAIK L is cheaper version with less SATA and USB slots and no RAID. I don't need RAID anyway.

martini, while your setup is great it's also way over budget. My current target system is:
---

E2180
Gigabyte (E)P35-DS3(L) or Abit P35 mobo
cheapest 9600GT 512 DDR3, probably Palit - BTW, is there anything worth attention between 8600GT and 9600GT?
DDR 2 800 memory.

---

MEMORY QUESTIONS :)
Does it make sense to pay attention to memory brand? If so, which makers offer best value for money? And what does it mean (non)ECC, CL 4, CL5? Is it better to buy 1G or 512M chunks?

Now for the PSU, cooler and the case. I am completely green here, what would you recommend?

PS. smack, I was considering Palit's 8800gs 384 but have found out it has no temperature sensor and cooling is 100% all the time, not very good. The rest of 8800gs's seem overpriced so with cheaper 9600gt I'd prefer 9600. Take a look at the end of this topic: http://forums.legitreviews.com/post107491.html

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Fri May 02, 2008 4:04 pm
by martini161
8800gt is good if the gts is over budget. i have one and it handles everything i throw at it at 1440x900. if you are only going to be doing lite overclocking, the stock cooler should be fine. memory in 2gb chunks is better, you can upgrade it later and many memory controllers have trouble when all four banks are filled. ecc is a server thing, it has to do with error checking, you dont need it. CL (cas(colum addres strobe) latency) has to do with how long it takes the memory to find stuff. and if your not going to overclock your memory then just buy the cheapest ones, i think 2gb kits go for around 30 after mail in at Newegg. as for psu, i have heard good things about corsairs, the 520 hx should do you good. when it comes to case, its almost competly a matter of personaly aesthetically preferences, just make sure it has at least 2 120mm fans if its a mid tower, one intake and one exhaust.

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 1:10 pm
by smack323
yeah the one draw back to 8800gs is the WHOOOOSH I can hear from it..

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Mon May 05, 2008 4:39 pm
by ibleet
Last I checked Tiger direct still had the XFX 8800gt for $99.99 after MIR. Newegg had it too, but it seems to have expired.

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 3:55 pm
by Foxtrot
This would be a great price, alas in Poland where I live 8800GT's start at about $240 (Galaxy) so I'm going to get 9600GT. Anyway I feel 8800GT would be too powerful for E21xx anyway so I'd probably need a better CPU and would go way over budget. As far as video cards go, I've heard Galaxies are crummy and Palits are OK, what do you think about these brands?

Re: components price ratio: mainboard / video / memory / cpu

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 10:14 pm
by stopthekilling77
Palit is solid. They've even had a card or two reviewed here at LR: hereand here

That second link is the review for the 9600 roundup (EVGA, XFX, and Palit) so if you haven't read it yet, I'd definitely take the couple minutes and have a look!

not much i know about Galaxy so I'd default to the brand I know already.