Ok, might as well give a little back story. I like watching TechTV, specifically The Screen Savers and such. Well, loyal watchers know about Patrick and his $500 Gaming PC segments. Well, fast forward to the future and I have a good chunk of money to spend, and would like to get back into PC gaming, so I figure why not?
Well, using
Pat's general outline that gives me (using newegg.com):
AMD Athlon XP 2600 (333-MHz FSB) - $83
Abit NF7 nForce2 Socket A ATX w/Audio/LAN AGP8X - $79
Here's a question, would I be ($100) better off getting 1 GB of RAM, or 512 MB? Basically, will I see that $100 in performance? I'll assume just 512 MB for now with a possible upgrade in the future.
Corsair Value Select 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-2700 - OEM - $106
ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL - $173
Seagate 160GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive, Model ST3160023A, OEM - $123
Lite-On Black 52X32X52 CD-RW Drive, Model LTR-52327S, OEM - $38
Lite-On Black 16X DVD-ROM Drive, Model XJ-HD166, OEM - $35
POWMAX DREAM STAR Mid Tower ATX Case with 400W Power Supply, Model "CP2347SEL-3" -RETAIL - $40
TOTAL + Shipping = $695
I'm thinking about dropping down the HD size and save some money there. I'll also probably be waiting a little while longer, so I'm hoping the 9600XT might drop a little bit by then.
Anyone have any suggestions or a stamp or approval?