My buddys new build

my buddy wants a good gaming system and he found this http://www.partspc.com/ProductDetails.asp?CatID=118&ProdID=16864#
i tihnk its a good build but in my opinion i think a Intel Pentium would good.
any suggestion on which to go with an Intel or AMD?

 

Well, DEFINATELY go with AMD. They are faster in almost every possible gaming situation and most other times. Also, this is a socket 754 setup. I would recommend a socket 939 because the 754 will limit upgradability and you can only have an AGP graphics card.

 

AMD has taken the performance crown, particularly in gaming.

Depending on what he's looking to spend, that barebones may not be the best way to start off. Nothing is wrong with Socket 754, but it does lack dual-channel memory functions that Socket 939 CPU offer. Oh, and the socket has absolutely nothing to do with the motherboard's ability to support AGP or PCIe, although you're going to be hard pressed to find a PCIe S754 motherboard out there. While AGP hasn't died like some predicted, upgrades down the road for top of the line parts may be limited or delayed to market compared to the PCIe cards.

What does your buddy want to spend, and what does he want to play?

 

hes willing to spend under $400 and he plays FPS games like F.E.A.R, Battlefield 2, Farcry, and Counterstrike source

 

$400 total for all components or just the barebones? I'm afraid if he wants to play FEAR he'll have a tough time cranking it above medium. As a point of reference that's as far as it will go on my rig (see "my computer") I've got it on oh, 800x600 so $400, even for barebones may need an extention
So long as he comes out with a 3000+ 939 processor, a gig of value ram, a 6800GS video card, and a pci capable motherboard from a respected brand like Abit, Asus, gigabyte, or DFI he'll be good to go.

 

$400 to upgrade, yes. $400 to build a new gaming rig? Not happening. You'd be pushed to build a new system with $400 on the low-end. Even if he's reusing his drives and case, $400 won't buy more than a few parts. An Athlon64 CPU alone costs over $100 and that's for a Socket 754 A64 3000+. Socket 939's start out at around $160. Video card? Anything even worth the money is gonna start out at $100. RAM? Given what he wants to play, he's going to want to have 2GB for BF2, and you're looking at close to $200 for starters. Motherboard? Probably around $100. And then you'll want a new power supply too, which will run at least $80 for just about anything good to start with, unless you know he's got something new. If he can bump his prices up to $600-700, he's got a better shot of doing a decent upgrade that's stable.

What does he have now? If the box has something decent in it, we might be able to breath a little life into it.

 

lol yea he jus figured that out, hes trying to find a PCIe one
i got him coverd in memory
and he found a good price for an X800pro PCIe
http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=39

 

hes looking for fair performance that can get him through the game nice and ez

 

Well, if you are using S754 he can't have dual channel which makes a pretty massive difference in performance.

 

Does he have a motherboard with PCIe? PCIe doesn't work with PCI slots. Name's very similar, but the slots aren't, not to mention the technology between the two.

 

NewEgg has several S754 boards with PCIe. i just rebuilt with socket 939 but kept my AGP, so those are out there too. interestingly enough, NewEgg also has some boards that have both AGP and PCIe. that way you can put off upgrading now, but still be able to later.

 

That's something that slipped my mind. The nForce 6100/6200 isn't something I typically think of. Also, ULI has a chipset that natively supports PCIe and AGP. Assuming you're going to use the AGP slot, make sure it's a true AGP slot, not some XGP, or pseudo-AGP hack job that feeds off the PCI bus (not PCIe). The biggest issue with the fake AGP slots is that they have limited bandwith (133MB/s compared with the 4-8GB/s with AGP and PCIe).

 

That's an option but just keep in mind when you buy components that it's going to be very cramped. The smaller the heatsink the easier it will be to jam a video card in there as in my experience you have to do some unwanted modifications just to contend with the extra slot

 

he doesnt have one yet but hes looking for one, and dont worry he knos the diff
hes trying to look for a good price for one

 

If he's not looking for overclocking, Gigabyte and Foxconn make some good boards that are pretty cheap. I've also been hearing some buzz about Biostar and ASrock.

I'd avoid Epox and PCChips brands, however. I think Epox is getting better at quality control, but I'm gonna have to use them for awhile to see if they've improved any before I'll start recommending them. If he wants a board to overclock the hell out of things, DFI's NF4 LanParty/LanPartyUT series boards are probably the best bet.

 

I was personally unimpressed with my ASrock, granted I've only tried one of their motherboards so I wouldn't rule them out just yet. But the placement of the slots was horrid. You'd have to basically have the dinkiest heatsink of all time on your video card or you'd bump into the the AGP slot (I gave the PCIe + AGP board a try). The Jumpers are all jammed into the middle and are a real pain to deal with, I also found that some were placed in upsidedown... But every company ships a out a random bad board/product now and then.

 

so u guys think he should look for a diff one?
should he buy a barbone system or like buy parts and put them together piece by piece

 

The barebones setups seem to be geared toward a low-end/basic rig that can provide some gaming capabilties, but isn't designed to do that specifically. You can go that route, but, honestly, you can probably build a better system yourself and get exactly what you want with the functionality.

Depending on what he want's to recycle for a decent gaming box, he really needs to look at a $600-700. If not, he's better off waiting until he does, or he'll likely end up with a system he's not happy with concerning performance and/or stability.

 

ahh ok, i guess hes gonna have to wait a bit longer
if u guys kno where to find better prices (in the U.S) plz post them or sumthin

 

Newegg is what I use for prices when I throw together rig lists. I've also spent at least $1000 there, and I wouldn't if I thought the company sucked.
I've also purchased from ZipZoomFly a few times before. Not quite as wide of a selection as Newegg, but still very competitive. I bought my upgrade last year off them, which was a $700 order. Pretty good dudes.

There's also a sticky in the top of this forum with more links to check out.