This weekend I am going to be a new PC to replace the one I have now (its about 4 years old). I want a system that is good for gaming. I went to Ginstar Computers Inc. in Atlanta (where I live) and they told me that they could make me a system with the following specs.

CPU: AMD XP 2200+
Memory: 256 MB DDR 400 MHz PC3200
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-X, N-Force 2-400, 400FSB, 8x, DDR400, Lan
Video Card: Chaintech GForce IV 8XAGP w/128DDR/TV
. . . there are other specs, but I figured those were the most important for gaming. The whole system is $499.00 Is that a good price for that, and are there any other video cards or anything I should look at?

Hey whats up? I think that computer you are looking forward to is great for extreme gaming, if you add some seperate hardwares. From what I see, I think your video card is a Geforce 4 MX ??? with 8x AGP with 128ddr/tv. If it is a MX series of geforce, I wouldn't recommend it at all because I have one, and its not really GREAT! or FANTASTIC!...just good. MX is mostly used for buisness type of stuff...

If you can afford one, you should try to get a Geforce 4 Ti 440 128mb 8x card. Its probably like 150 bucks so get this if you want some seriously good graphics or get those ATI RADEON 9800 Pro cards which gives you EXTREME graphics :)

Anyways, add more RAM to your computer because 256 isnt that good for a fast computer like that. At least 512mb Ram is nice to have.

By the way, what is the sound card for that computer?

-i3lcz152

Thanks for replying. For $50.00 I can upgrade my RAM to 512MB, which I might do. For this particular system, they only have GeForce 2 which IS MX series, (also GeForce 4), but I can get a ATI Radeon 7500 AGP w/64MB DDR HD for $10 bucks more. I am a college student and I CAN'T spend more than 600 dollars (im using my rent money for this, lol) I can get a killer video card for $110.00 more, but I am not going to spend that. As for audio, it comes with onboard soundcard, but I am gonna switch that out for SoundBlaster Live 5.1. This system also comes with 500W speakers with mini-subwoofers.

heh heh, i see. An ATI RADEON 7500 AGP w/64mb is very good for gaming and its better than the MX, so I suggest getting that, or a Geforce 3 Ti 200.

For audio, SoundBlaster Live 5.1 is great for gaming as well, I would use a lesser version of Creative PCI cards and rather combine the rest for a good video card. I never heard of 500W speakers before...(?)..you can get those really cheap & good speakers such as Altec Lansing for only like 20 bucks.

gl

One more thing. This system comes with a DVD drive and CDRW . . . but a CD-ROM is not included. Are they replacing the CD-ROM with the CDRW? Or do they just expect me to add on a CD-ROM before I buy?

CDRW is CR-R + CDRW. CDRW is very special because it allows you to burn cds as well and play CDRW and CD-Rs. You don't need to replace it at all.

The CD-RW is the CD-ROM, your CD-RW will come in a series of numbers, say 40x12x48
the first number is the write speed of the CD Recorder, the seconds is the write speed of the Re-writed(for re-writable media), and the last one is for the CD-ROM read of your digital media. :D I hope this gives you an understanding :D

Bob

Also, you can use your DVD as a CD-ROM, its all optical, DVD just uses a more "precision" laser, acually the 1/0 or raises and drops are just closer together on the media(DVD), media. :D

Thanks for the replies guys. I think I am gonna pay the $10.00 more and get the Radeon vid card I mentioned earlier. I don't know if this is what you meant, but the 500W is for 500 watt speakers. I might not get those cause it seems a tad excessive for just an apartment. I saw some nice logitech speakers at Best Buy that I might get. They were $30.00 and were a 5 piece system with subwoofer. Again, thanks for helping me out

Couple of suggestions:

Get (2) 256 DDR400 RAM sticks instead of one 512 stick

A DVD-ROM will replace the CD-ROM and read more formats...it's always been my quik fix for a cd that won't read some formats.

Your onboard sound will surprise you. It's pretty good.

The provided speakers may also sound ok. Nothing wrong with a thirty buck 5 speaker system either. Mine pisses the neighbors off just swell.

If you want a different vid card later, ask the dealer if he'll give you credit for the the card in the system you decided on and if so, get it in writing. The 7500 is getting pretty old now and I don't feel it's worth an extra ten bucks. Search some vid card posts in the General Hardware and CPU forums.
Lots of tips.

Have fun with your new machine,

Skip

Hey thanks Skip, gives me something to think about with this. I just wanna make sure that I get the best computer for my money. Just for kicks, the computer I have right now is an AMD-K6 3D processor, 500 MHz, 376MB of RAM IBM Aptiva. Its been handed down since my oldest sister, who is now a teacher, went to college. When I got the thing, I had to replace the harddrive (corrupt), install XP (it had 3.1), and add memory (it had 64MB). So ya, I am pretty excited about getting a computer that doesn't completely suck, lol.

It's usually good advice to start with an affordable system and upgrade from there.

The $499 system is a good start.

Well I got the system today.

CPU: AMD XP 2200+
HD: 60gig, 7200 rpm
Memory: 512 MB DDR 400 MHz PC3200
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X-X, N-Force 2-400, 400FSB, 8x, DDR400, Lan (however, the guy had to change this one out because he was out of this type. He gave me a discount on the better chipset he gave me instead)
Video Card: GeForce IV 8XAGP w/128DDR/TV

. . . .also added an extra fan to deal with any potential cooling problems. Got the whole deal for about $550. I think this is a pretty good system to start with. I'll probably upgrade the vid card in about 6 or 8 months when I get some more money.

Let us know how it works with your favorite games.

When buying new games, carefully read the system requirements on the box and download a demo if available before you buy.

Skip