Barebones PC Ideas

[gto78]

I'm thinking about building a few barebones PC's for a few of my friends who like games like BF2 and Farcry etc. What I'd like to know is- what motherboards do you guys prefer as far as price, what video cards, and memory types, and how much would you pay for a "barebones" system?

With the sudden drop in AMD prices I'm thinking of going that route but the new Intel Core 2 Duo is getting a lot of free popularity in it's advertising. Also as far as cooling goes, am I better off with any particular case or should I get a cheap case and modify it myself and install a large diameter quiet fan etc? I'm trying to spend less but build it with LOTS of potential for overclocking and upgrading. My thought is that I need a strong mainboard and cpu, the rest of the system can be personalized later on.

Your thoughts/links/ideas?

Thanks

Joe

 

[sneekypeet]

hey joe, give these guys some dollar figures that you are looking to spend on this endeavor,and I'm sure thesse guys will link you to some quality merchandise at good prices!

 

[gto78]

I'm thinking of total cost under $900? Not sure these days what people like to spend, but I know for myself I can't seem to make one big lump payment on a system. I was going to come up with a few variations and choices, and show them to some guys I work with to see if they're interested in me building it for them (for a small fee of course).

 

[Nitro-Max]

for what a good amd costs u might as well get a E6300 core 2 duo m8 with a cheap board and memory and still beat the amd even a cheap mobo can come with some overclocking abilitys nowa days

 

[Sovereign]

It all boils down to this ; Most people here are going to give you their opinions, whether it be good or bad, they are just opinions for the most part. The thing you need to realize that there are alot of good choices out there, AMD - Intel, ATI - nVIDIA, ect ect. Just go with what you feel most comfortable with, reguardless. Just because a well known company puts out a product, dosen't mean a lesser well known company dosen't have or make a simular product of equal or sometimes better quality!

For example, most people wouldn't recommend an ECS brand motherboard, just because it isn't consider among the elite companies. ECS has for years made solid, no-frills motherboards that do the job and keep on tick'n. I used ECS as an example, not a recommendation as this rule applies to many situations and products.

In the end, use your own head and decide for yourself what you like and what you think best, most of the time it's going to be a decent choice, even though some others may not approve because it isn't 1337 enough! From this point on, you re probably going to hear people say "you must get nVIDIA..." "you gotta go with ATI" "make sure its a new intel core 2 duo chip..." blah blah ect ect. Like I said, it's all about opinions and not necissarily the best overall choice.

 

[JC316]

It all boils down to this ; Most people here are going to give you their opinions, whether it be good or bad, they are just opinions for the most part. The thing you need to realize that there are alot of good choices out there, AMD - Intel, ATI - nVIDIA, ect ect. Just go with what you feel most comfortable with, reguardless. Just because a well known company puts out a product, dosen't mean a lesser well known company dosen't have or make a simular product of equal or sometimes better quality!

For example, most people wouldn't recommend an ECS brand motherboard, just because it isn't consider among the elite companies. ECS has for years made solid, no-frills motherboards that do the job and keep on tick'n. I used ECS as an example, not a recommendation as this rule applies to many situations and products.

In the end, use your own head and decide for yourself what you like and what you think best, most of the time it's going to be a decent choice, even though some others may not approve because it isn't 1337 enough! From this point on, you re probably going to hear people say "you must get nVIDIA..." "you gotta go with ATI" "make sure its a new intel core 2 duo chip..." blah blah ect ect. Like I said, it's all about opinions and not necissarily the best overall choice.

I have to agree with Sovereign here. Asus is considered and "Elite" company, yet alot of their products suck. Where as ECS and Biostar are considered to be crap, yet they make very nice stuff.

 

[Joshmcmillan]

Here is an idea:
AMD Athlon X2 3800+,
ASUS M2M,
Case,
550W PSU,
DVD Burner,
1gb ddr2 667 ram with 2x512 sticks so u can hav dual channel.

The ASUS M2M has an intergrated Geforce 6 but if you wanted for still way less then $900 if you bought online you could get something like a Geforce 7600GT. Basicly what my computer is and I have a small budget, having no job and going to school. Except I am using the Geforce 6 for a while. I think that would run pretty much all games nicely if you got the 7600GT aswell as being a fair bit less then $900 if you bought online.

 

[Frick]

Integrated graphics is not an option for gamers. The 7600GT is really cheap now and you might be able to find a x1950pro or a 7900gs for like $130-150 (not sure about US prizes though..)?

Anyhow, they need monitors too, right?