You know what...I WANT TO PLAY HALF LIFE 2!

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:49 pm

bicostp wrote:Fool! That's why you should build, not buy! You have greater control over the computer, and you can build it into whatever case you want (to a point), and it's expandable. Plus a board swap will let you use new features such as SATA which I doubt your current board has.

My friend has been trying to get his parents to let him build a computer, but they're all like "You might buy the wrong CPU, and theres a greater chance of you breaking stuff than there isnt." So, the best he can do is go to one of those custom build websites, or else go with a brand-name company.

Post by **bicostp** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:56 pm

http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... pfp=BROWSE
You might want to check this out. It's a 256 MB PCI graphics card. Will it work with your game?

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:14 pm

The memory on a video card means very little in most cases. The 9250 graphics core is slow as hell, so you might as well be stuck with 32-64MB.

Your best bet is prolly to overclock this back to stock levels: http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_g ... id=4630948

When correctly tweaked, the FX5700LE will yeild the highest performance among PCI video cards. If you're REALLY lucky you'll be able to find a standard FX5700 PCI card. Both of those options should give you sufficient performance for HL2.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:19 pm

Thinking about getting HalfLife 2. I have a Dell Inspiron 5160.

P4 2.8 GHz w/ HT
512 MB DDR
20 GB HDD
NVIDIA GeForce FX Go5200 (64 MB)

Can I play HalfLife 2 at an acceptible quality (not low, maybe high-medium)?

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:27 pm

Can I play HalfLife 2 at an acceptible quality (not low, maybe high-medium)?

No

Medium may work, but expect the frame rates to drop to sub-playable often.

vb_master · Post by **vb_master** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:28 pm

I knew I shoulda bought a PowerBook!

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:32 pm

bicostp wrote:http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... pfp=BROWSE
You might want to check this out. It's a 256 MB PCI graphics card. Will it work with your game?

That's about as good as you can get for PCI.

If you're thinking about building a completely new computer demon, tell me your budget and I'll set up something real nice for the money.

I have a budget pc already set up for one of my buddys, maybe the right price for you?

Amd Atholon 64 3200+ Venice $177.55
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=14416

DFI LanParty UT NF4 Ultra-D $130.31
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... acture=DFI

Evga Geforce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E $149.58
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... mbership=0

OCZ Premier PC3200 1GB 2X512MB $106.95
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... Technology

Antec Neopower 480W $103.74
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... ture=ANTEC

Seagate Barracuda 80GB SATA $66.15
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... mbership=0

BenQ DVD+-RW Double Layer Writer $48.86
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... cture=BENQ

Aspire X-Cruiser Case $86.09
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=15055

NCIX PC Assembly and Testing (only if you need it) $21.28
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... ure=NCIXPC

Coming to a grand total of: $890.30

This system should play HL2 Beautifully (All high settings), and still would have a lot of upgradability. If it's too rich for your blood, I could get the price a bit lower for you.

If you're a mad overclocker, you could spend a little extra dough on some

OCZ Platinum Rev.2
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... Technology

or

OCZ Gold EL VX
http://www.us.ncix.com/products/index.p ... Technology

Both sets are reviewed in this article on AnandTech:
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2386

The Rev2 only starts to kick in really perform at 280+ FSB which the DFI Ultra-D should do easily.

The Gold VX on the other hand benefits from raising ram voltage, and beats the Rev2 at performance untill the Rev2 hits its premium speeds.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:36 pm

Or you could bid on this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

I cobled it together. The Athlon 2400+ is really a 2800+ running at reduced speeds. Hey, at leasy I'm selling it at a profit loss.

If you're thinking about building a completely new computer demon, tell me your budget and I'll set up something real nice for the money.

Don't forget to get a second quote- I'll try to beat his price!

soundwave · Post by **soundwave** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:50 pm

How easy is it to make PCs and sell on eBay? What's the usual profit range? (when not selling at a loss...)

madc0w · Post by **madc0w** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:53 pm

soundwave wrote:My Dell Dimension (2350 I think) had integrated video, and a pinout for an AGP slot, but no actual slot.

this old dell my firend gave me has the same thing, is it possible to add an AGP slot? cause i wanna use my graphix card my other friend gave me.

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:59 pm

teraflop122 wrote:Or you could bid on this: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

I cobled it together. The Athlon 2400+ is really a 2800+ running at reduced speeds. Hey, at leasy I'm selling it at a profit loss.

If you're thinking about building a completely new computer demon, tell me your budget and I'll set up something real nice for the money.
Don't forget to get a second quote- I'll try to beat his price!

I've built a system with the following specs:

Amd Atholon XP 3200+ 2.2ghz
Gigabyte 7VT600P-RZ
Corsair Value 512MB
Sapphire Radeon 9600Pro Atlantis 256MB

Plays CSS at medium settings with 40-50 fps. I'm worried a 1.4ghz cpu would do, not too good I'm thinking.

teraflop122 · Post by **teraflop122** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:35 pm

A minor motherboard swap would bring the CPU speed back up to 2800+ speeds. The video card is the primary bottleneck in this case, making differences in CPU speeds nearly irrelevant. My current auction is just for the sake of getting rid of those parts and gaining usable funds for my PCp experiments.

Selling computers on eBay is really quite easy, once you get some good feedback built up. The profits range from $40-$100 in most cases, depending on your luck at any given moment.

How about this?

Athlon64 3200+
Aspire X-CRUISE case
Aspire 520w psu
BIOSTAR T-Force 6100 motherboard
GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E
160GB SATA hard drive
1GB PC4400 mushkin XP4400 memory
LG Black DVD+/-RW Double Layer drive

Grand Total: $860

...You know what....I'd just get the FX5700LE and overclock it. If that doesn't work out, you're only down a few tens of dollars, which you can make up by selling it on eBay.

HomicidalBarber · Post by **HomicidalBarber** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:36 pm

I think the best bang for your buck is the 6600 GT runs great for only like 130 bucks. Just make sure you have a good enough power supply I ran into that problem and had to get a new one, then it didnt fit in my case so I had to cut a bit out.

sniper_spike · Post by **sniper_spike** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 10:45 pm

teraflop122 wrote:A minor motherboard swap would bring the CPU speed back up to 2800+ speeds. The video card is the primary bottleneck in this case, making differences in CPU speeds nearly irrelevant. My current auction is just for the sake of getting rid of those parts and gaining usable funds for my PCp experiments.

Selling computers on eBay is really quite easy, once you get some good feedback built up. The profits range from $40-$100 in most cases, depending on your luck at any given moment.

How about this?

Athlon64 3200+
Aspire X-CRUISE case
Aspire 520w psu
BIOSTAR T-Force 6100 motherboard
GeForce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E
160GB SATA hard drive
1GB PC4400 mushkin XP4400 memory
LG Black DVD+/-RW Double Layer drive

Grand Total: $860

...You know what....I'd just get the FX5700LE and overclock it. If that doesn't work out, you're only down a few tens of dollars, which you can make up by selling it on eBay.

I dont see how you got it so much cheaper with a 160GB HDD, but my guess is the PSU and Motherboard are crap. I've never even heard of Biostar!

And FX5700LE's are actualy less powerfull than FX5500's, and a bit more powerful than 9250's. But the thing isATi cards fair better in HL2, so a 9250 would probably be the best choice if he's not gonna do a total re-hall.

FX5500 vs FX5700LE
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php ... &card2=167

9250 PCI vs FX5700LE
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php ... &card2=167

Post by **bicostp** » Sat Dec 17, 2005 10:53 am

I'm looking to build a PC now. It seems better to do than buy a pre-assembled machine.

I basicallyneed it for networking and stuff like Photoshop and Office, not high-end gaming. (the most advanced PC game I play is Unreal Tournament

)

Here's what I'm looking at:
<a href="http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... erboard</a>
<a href="http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... SE">Athlon XP processor 2700+, 2.167 GHz, 333 MHz FSB</a>

I'm going to reuse a lot of parts from this computer:

-IDE ZIP100 drive
-removable drive bay
-floppy drive
-nVidia TNT2 64MB graphics card
-Netgear GA302T gigabit ethernet card
-RAM if possible
-case
-Power Supply

Features I would like to get, if possible:
-SATA
-DVD-ROM or DVD-R
-5.1 surround sound card

Stuff I don't need:
-fancy graphics card
-onboard graphics or ethernet

Shopping List as of now:
- RAM
- Motherboard
- processor
- 5.1 soundcard
- 5.25" front cover with USB and audio jacks
- bigger hard drive

I'd like to stick with an AMD Athlon XP if possible. And probablysomewhere around 512 MB- 700 MB of memory. (and of course, it should be reasonably cheap. :mrgreenn:)

So basically this will be a board swap. Does it sound like a good idea?