I want to play Sacred 2 too!

[Silearth 6]

I find myself in a very interesting position. The wife is looking to rebuild the computer that she destroyed. I am on a very limited budget—around $300.

 

So, what I was able to salvage from the old PC is the motherboard and CPU(Lol, it’s the 1.1 GHz Athlon Tbird that has served me so well over the years, Gigabyte N400SL, the hard drive, and the power supply.

 

After doing some comparison-shopping, I find that I can get a decent case, 3 gigs of PC3200, a DVD R/W with lightscribe, and an 8X AGP card for just under $300.

 

My problem seems to be my CPU. The highest processor I can manage on my board is an Athlon XP. I have looked into that as well and it seems that they are hard to find and still expensive. Moreover, would this system be even be able to play Sacred 2?

 

The other option is to take the dell (2.79 GHz), and try replacing the power supply and putting the 8X AGP card in. Take the ram from one gig to three.

 

Now, with either of these options, what AGP card would you recommend?

 

Alternatively, perhaps I should just get an Xbox and Play the darn game that way. But would I be able to play with you guys?

[promatolya 5]

I don't think the people on xbox live can join the same servers as those on another platform.

 

It's not that way with other games, so I assume the same rules apply for sacred.

[Timotheus 416]

What are the specifications of the Dell?

[Schot 407]

Yes! You must!

 

Interesting position indeed Sil. Hmmm, tough one. Where's Timo? lol. (Ah there he is. Posted while I was typing, hehe.) I'm thinking that upgrading the Dell would be the best option, it sounds as though it's about 3 or 4 years old. Dell has a bit of a rep for being difficult to upgrade however. So before shopping I'd suggest making absolutely certain the parts are compatible.

 

As for an AGP it looks like the 3850 would be the best choice from ATI.

 

But... Maybe you should wait a while and increase your budget. Anyway you can raise that budget to 500?

[Silearth 6]

Yes! You must!

 

Interesting position indeed Sil. Hmmm, tough one. Where's Timo? lol. (Ah there he is. Posted while I was typing, hehe.) I'm thinking that upgrading the Dell would be the best option, it sounds as though it's about 3 or 4 years old. Dell has a bit of a rep for being difficult to upgrade however. So before shopping I'd suggest making absolutely certain the parts are compatible.

 

As for an AGP it looks like the 3850 would be the best choice from ATI.

 

But... Maybe you should wait a while and increase your budget. Anyway you can raise that budget to 500?

 

To increase my budget.... I can, most likely, come up with about $1000--when tax time rolls around next year. I usually have my money in mid to late Feb/ early March.

 

Money is tight this year, but I will certainly try to get more.

 

@ Timo.

 

The Dell is a 4600--a piece of crap that dosen't hold a candle to my old 1.1 GHz Athlon system. Perhaps it's the built in video or the bloatware that Dell crams their non-gaming pc's full of.

 

Anyway, we are looking at a 2.79 GHz Pentium, 1 Gig of ram--everything else is onboard.

[Timotheus 416]

Hmm. I wouldn't recommend trying sacred with that one, since the processor is quite slow (we have a 3ghz northwood here and it's slow as hell too!) and upgrading is expensive since AGP is getting less and less attention.

 

How about this?

 

Note, however, that it doesn't include:

- Shipping

- Assembly

- Harddisk

- DVDrom

- OS

 

 

I don't know your tech level but you might be able to put it together yourself. Also, you can re-use some stuff from your old pc like the harddisk and dvd drive to save money

 

EDIT updated!

Edited October 27, 2008 by Timotheus

[Silearth 6]

Wow! Way to shop!

 

This looks promising as I still have my harddrive and it's in good condition. I can add a Litescribe DVD R/W for around $30.

 

As for my tech level....once apon a time I was a certified geek. I spent all of my free time at computer swap meets, and Fry's electronics. I would change my hardware the way most people change their socks. I've even had to get down and dirty once with the soldering iron and replace components on a mother board.

 

But with the speed technology moves, you let your magazine subscriptions lapse and suddenly your are a noob once more. I remember reading the first review for a PCIe video card and saying "What!? we are back to PCI again?!"

 

So, in my round about manner, I am saying that I am pretty comfortable building a system.

 

Thank you.

[Silearth 6]

Well, it's getting close now and I will be able to pull together around $800.00.

 

I've been toying around with the 'Dark Matters' build in my wishlists at new egg. I also have my dream system and a pretty nice system that DIY speced out for around $1200.00.

 

The build that Timo gave me came in under $300. After playing around with it and adding a harddrive and monitor(I had an awesome LG widescreen selected for $369.00 but replaced it with a sub-$200 non-wide 19 incher.

 

Total cost, not including shipping takes me close to $650. Take a look, tell me what you think.

 

RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEB 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case - Retail

Model #:ATX-612WEB

Item #:N82E16811156078 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock

$89.99 -$15.00 Instant $74.99 1

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000 Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5000DOBOX - Retail

Model #:ADO5000DOBOX

Item #:N82E16819103211 Return Policy:Processors (CPUs) Return Policy In Stock

$54.99 $54.99 1

RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W ATX12V V2.2/ EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Modular LED Power Supply - Retail

Model #:RX-530SS

Item #:N82E16817152028 Return Policy:Limited 30-Day Return Policy In Stock Mail-in Rebate

$54.98 -$5.00 Instant $49.98 1

GIGABYTE GA-MA78G-DS3HP AM2+/AM2 AMD 780G HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Model #:GA-MA78G-DS3HP

Item #:N82E16813128373 Return Policy:Limited 30-Day Return Policy In Stock

$89.99 -$4.00 Instant $85.99 1

SAMSUNG 943N High Gloss Black 19" 5ms LCD Monitor - Retail

Model #:943N

Item #:N82E16824001256 Return Policy:LCD Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy In Stock

$185.99 $185.99 1

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Model #:ST3250410AS

Item #:N82E16822148262 Return Policy:Limited 30-Day Return Policy In Stock

$54.99 $54.99 1

POWERCOLOR AX3850 512MD3 Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail

Model #:AX3850 512MD3

Item #:N82E16814131096 Return Policy:Standard Return Policy In Stock Mail-in Rebate

$69.99 $69.99 2

Transcend 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Desktop Memory Model JM800QLU-2G - Retail

Model #:JM800QLU-2G

Item #:N82E16820208344 Return Policy:Limited Non-Refundable 30-Day Return Policy In Stock

$19.99 $39.98 1 ±±

SAMSUNG 22X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model SH-S223Q - OEM

Model #:SH-S223Q

Item #:N82E16827151173 Return Policy:Limited 30-Day Return Policy In Stock

$29.99 $29.99 Subtotal: $646.89

[Timotheus 416]

Looking fine there Sil it's a well-balanced system.

[Schot 407]

Ok so hurry up and go buy it and get online Sil.

 

Looks like a decent system. And great work on the tech counseling Timo but have you told Sil your fee yet?

[gial 2]

Looking good, Sil.

 

I just started putting together a system and I see a couple things you may want to consider:

 

I don't see a UPS/surge protection in there. Where I live that's important. We see a lot of electrical storms here.

 

Save about $10 if you don't want/need lightscribe. Lightscribe media is going to be more costly, too. (Lightscribe allows you to burn labels on the front side of CD/DVD rather than using printed/glued labels).

 

Also do not see an OS. I assume you're going to transfer the one from the dead Dell.

 

Mouse, KB? They can be cheap. I don't recommend buying a mouse without seeing it though - I did and it's not full size. You can probably get a good USB combo for $20-$30. Wireless a bit more (then you'll need batteries, too).

[Timotheus 416]

@ Schot:

That's why the system could only cost 650 max

 

@ gial:

Some .... jeez I have no idea what they're called in English:

These sometimes come with surge protection as well, so he may already have it

Edited January 18, 2009 by Timotheus

[Silearth 6]

Doh!

 

The wife was asking about the system I was planning to build(she wanted to make sure I was getting a large enough monitor. I asked 'who is this computer for anyway )

 

After showing her what I had I noticed that I had forgotten the mouse and keyboard. A microsoft mouse and keyboard will do the trick for me.

 

I do have a surge protection. It's kind of old and may need to be replaced. Anyone remember the Kensington MasterPiece Plus? Paid about $120 for this bad boy back in the days when Egghead was just a traditional brick & mortar.

 

I know I can get a non-lightscribe for less, but....well...I think it's cool and I really want it. I don't burn many disks, but was thinking that it would be a nice touch for making photo disks.

 

In addition to the OS installed on the Dell, I also have the Windows XP that was installed on the other computer and Ubuntu. I'll be dual booting as the Linux versions of open office and firefox run better than their windows counterparts IMO.

 

The only other thing I have to get now is a new case and dvd drive for the Dell.

[Timotheus 416]

I sure hope the dell has a standard ATX motherboard then, Dell may have left you with a custom motherboard...

Also known as the OMGTHESCREWHOLESDON'TLINEUP problem...

Edited January 18, 2009 by Timotheus

[Silearth 6]

I sure hope the dell has a standard ATX motherboard then, Dell may have left you with a custom motherboard...

Also known as the OMGTHESCREWHOLESDON'TLINEUP problem...

 

After about 30 seconds of research, I can confirm that I can not simply replace the case. Too bad I already trashed the pieces from the other computer.

[Silearth 6]

Slight change to the build.....replacing the motherboard with:

 

JetWay JHA07-ULTRA-LF AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail

Model #:JHA07-ULTRA-LF

Item #:N82E16813153125

 

Also replacing the case with a more mainstream model to keep costs down.

 

Moving up to a 3.0 ghz chip. Am considering a quad core, but trying to figure out if it will be worth it. Other than Sacred 2 I will only be running word processing and screwing around with gimp from time to time.

[Silearth 6]

Well looks like this is it. I was notified that I would be receiving my refund on the 6th of the month by the IRS. My build is sitting in my wishlist over at newegg and I am ready, willing, and able.

 

The Jetway board I decided on is out of stock with an ETA of 2/9/09. Everything else is good to go. I did add another 4 gigs of ram and will toss in the system builders edition of XP prof 64bit or Vista 64 bit. I am considering going back to my original MB choice as the chances of me running crossfire are pretty slim.

I am going with the onboard 3200 video until I can get a good deal on a 4870.

 

That should put my cost in the $650-$700 range.

 

I still have a couple of days to rethink the Smilodon case. I wanted it bad, but now I am thinking something more understated may better meet my needs.

 

 

-----------------------------

Well, it is done. I ended up backing off a little in a couple of areas. I got the 2.5 Ghz 64 X2 instead of the 3.2. I cut the ram from 8 to 4 gigs. I kept the case as the instant rebate brought it under $70. I also added a keyboard, mouse, and some arctic silver.

 

I decided to stick with the onboard video for awhile. I'll test the setup on the Sacred 2 demo once it's built but to be honest, I won't have much time to play until June or July.

 

 

 

Total cost with shipping and tax was about $705. Just for fun I'm going to check dell or HP to see if I can configure something close.

Edited February 7, 2009 by Silearth