Advice on bying a pc?

[ButWay]

So I'm thinking about getting a new (budget) computer, but I realized that things have changed since my last computer purchase. It use to be that you got then one with highest clock frequency, most ram and so on (or at least thats what I thought) but I get the feeling that nowadays you should consider more then those things.

so heres three different setups:
1.
Cooler Master Centurion 534 black, Aluminium Front
NorthQ 4001AT, ATX 400W, 120mm fan, 12-17dBA, 2xSATA, PCI-E, 20/24pin
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ 2.2GHz Socket AM2 1MB, BOXED w/fan, 65W
Corsair Value S. PC5300 DDR2 1024MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 512MB
MSI K9N NEO-F, nForce 550, Socket-AM2, SATAII, DDR2, GbLAN, ATX, PCI-Ex16
XFX GeForce 7900GS 525M 256MB GDDR3, XT-X, PCI-Express, 525/1550Mhz, 2xDVI
NEC DVD-burner AD-5170 IDE black OEM DVD+R/+RW/DVD-R/-RW (Dual layer)
Samsung SpinPoint T166 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM
Sony floppy disk station 3,5" 1,44MB black Floppy disk Intern

2.
# AMD Athlon 64 3800+ AM2 2,4GHz
# 2GB DDR2 667MHz (2x1GB)
# GeForce 7600GT 256MB TV-ut, DVI
# 250GB SATA-II, 7200rpm 8MB
# 18X DVD±RW DL burner
# Chassi 400W & floppy disk station
# 6st USB, Gb-LAN & 7.1 sound

3.
AMD ATHLON 64 X2 4200+dual core AM2 processor
MSI/Asus mainboard K9 AM2 socket, Raid, SATA2, 4*DDR slot /800MHz, PCIex
2GB DDR2 533MHz Kingston
250GB HDD SATA2 16MB 7200r 3GB/S 9ms
GeForce FX6600 512Mb PCIex/TV&DVI out
DVD±RW 16X DL
8 channels soundcard 3D
Stereo speakers 360W 220v
Networkcard Giga-LAN (10/100/1000BASE-T)

All of the above are in the price range around 770 eur. So even tho I know you'll must be dead tired of all these "witch computer" threads, I still hope that you can give me some pointers/help me decide.

[mr. nails]

of those 3 i would suggest u get #1 choice, but even then i would recommend u looking into (if ur not building it urself) a pc with an intel core 2 duo chip.

[ButWay]

with regard for mr.nails suggestion heres alternative #4

In-Win C720 Midi Tower ATX black Chassi, 350W
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz Socket LGA775, 2MB, BOXED w/fan
Corsair Value S. PC5300 DDR2 1024MB Kit w/two matched Value Select 512MB
ECS P965T-A, P965, Socket-775, SATAII, GbLAN, DDR2, ATX, 2xPCI-Ex16
Sapphire Radeon X1650PRO 512MB DDR2, PCI-Express,Tv-Out,2xDVI-I,Lite-Retail
NEC DVD-burner AD-5170 IDE black OEM DVD+R/+RW/DVD-R/-RW (Dual layer)
Samsung SpinPoint T166 320GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM

[Virtualbody1234]

#2 doesn't list a motherboard make or model.

[mr. nails]

so there u go. imo i would go with #4 if that's what ur gonna be doing (letting someone else build ur pc and that's the money u have to work with).

[ButWay]

#2 is a pre build computer and they didn't give any more info (not a good sign come to think about it), So anyway heres a new setup, building it from scratch. A bit more pricey but probably a lot better, any suggestions (with in the same price range)

#5
Cooler Master Centurion 534 black, Aluminum Front

ECS P965T-A, P965, Socket-775, SATAII, GbLAN, DDR2, ATX, 2xPCI-Ex16

Hiper Type-R 530W black, 2 fan, 18db, 4xSATA, ATX/BTX, 2xPCI-E, 20/24pin

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13GHz Socket LGA775, 2MB, BOXED w/fan

PowerColor Radeon X1950PRO 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express, EXTREME Edition, ViVo/HDCP or Asus GeForce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express,Tv-Out/DVI-I/HDMI/HDCP-ready

Samsung DVD-burner SH-S183A SATA Black OEM

Samsung SpinPoint P80SD 160GB SATA2 8MB 7200RPM

TwinMOS DDR2 PC5300 1024MB Dual Pack KIT ,w/two matched DDR2 PC5300 512MB CL5 667 MHz

[mr. nails]

e6300/e6400 is pretty much the same thing. so, if u "need" to save money for say better ram just get the e6300. the x1950 is a good card and will cost u a little more than that x1650pro or whatever, but better nonetheless. i'd nix the ecs mb. some ppl may not have a problem with it, but myself they are decent for the price, but more often than not they will cum with crippled bios'. my recommendation is up the cpu to e6600 and downgrade ur vid crd to a bfg 7600gt for they are really cheap atm. they can be had for $90 and by the time u (seeing how it seems ur not a "pro" gamer) get around to playing better games u'll have some extra money on 1 years time for a better card. perhaps a dx10 one at that.

[chip19]

e6300/e6400 is pretty much the same thing. so, if u "need" to save money for say better ram just get the e6300. the x1950 is a good card and will cost u a little more than that x1650pro or whatever, but better nonetheless. i'd nix the ecs mb. some ppl may not have a problem with it, but myself they are decent for the price, but more often than not they will cum with crippled bios'. my recommendation is up the cpu to e6600 and downgrade ur vid crd to a bfg 7600gt for they are really cheap atm. they can be had for $90 and by the time u (seeing how it seems ur not a "pro" gamer) get around to playing better games u'll have some extra money on 1 years time for a better card. perhaps a dx10 one at that.

I would like to second two things mr. nails said.

First off, I would also not do an ECS motherboard. A friend of mine is in the process of building a Core 2 Duo machine (actually with similar specs to what you're going for) and his ECS motherboard was DOA. Perhaps it was a crippled BIOS, like suggested above, but the point is that it didn't work.

Second, I don't think you should spend big bucks on a video card ever, for two reasons. 1) If you spend a shit load of money, you will be pissed off when the same card is half the price in six months or when the same amount of money could get you a new card that is so much better than it. 2) If for some reason you spend a lot of money on a card and then it goes bad, and even RMAing it doesn't help the problem, then you just wasted a lot of money. In contrary, if this happens and you got a cheap card, then you only wasted a little bit of money. Maybe I'm biased because I have a useless 7900 GT that I paid $320 for, but that's just me.

The point is... if you just spend like $100 on a video card every 18 months, you can play all the best games on medium settings. Plus, you will have a decent card all the time. If, on the other hand, you spend $300 on an upper-midrange card like the 7900 I bought, then in three times 18 months which is four and a half years (the time it would take you to spend $300 using the other buying method), that 7900 is going to be a dinosaur and barely crank on 20 fps with low settings in the newest game. Four and a half years ago, the ATI Radeon 8500 was a hot card to have.

Just a thought...

[amaso20005]

i prefer to you to buy a good vga card

[unholyman]

Your ram is really too little. It will bottleneck the CPU in some apps. 2GB seems to be the sweet spot. Also at least get 667mHz rams which can be OC to 800mHz. Try to get kingston rams as other rams might have compatilibilty issues.Also,it would be better if you can get a Western Digital HD as they do not emit much heat,are quiet and have respectable performance. (I recommend the 160 GB AAJS) as it is a single platter. Also for motherboards,try not to get the intel 965 series as it does not have native support for pata drives. What the others say about either getting the 6300 or 6600 is true. ppl go for the 6600 becos the L2 cache is doubled to 4 MB. Also every batch of chips differs in their required voltage.