how would this fare for medium gameing use?
 

Abit NF7-M Motherboard
AMD XP 2200
Sound blaster audigy platinum
512 mb ddr

Is this a good base for a gaming machine? I will probably overclock it. But back to the point, how would this perform for games like offroad evo 2 andother similair games? Am I missing any major components?

Video Card.

great...the audigy isn't really needed though.

the motherboard
comes with the NVIDIA nForce2 IGP/MCP2 chipset

For a medium gaming PC, I'd go after a GeForce4 4200 video card. Most video cards that come on a motherboard are suck.

The 4200 is cheap nowadays and it still is a good card

you should be able to handle most, if not all of the games out now

For medium gaming you'll do fine...depending on the video card. Less than a ti4200 and you might be in trouble.

And you could always bump up the RAM...that never hurts. 512 should be fine though.

how about a Radeon 9500?

great card for the price. If you've got it, you're set. If you're going to buy...and can afford, aim for a 9700pro at least.

Guy this is what I would build...all from newegg.com


2500+ AMD - $90
NF7-S Rev 2 - $123
No Audigy -
2x256 Corsair XMS Series - $62x2($124)
Saphire Radeon 9500 Oem - $139

total = $476


Machine you qoute with new egg prices

2200+ - $74
NF7-M - $122
Audigy Platinum - $167
512 Ram - $100

Total - $463

Now here is why I would do this -

The NF7 rev 2.0 is notorious for being able to get up to 200fsb or higher..which if you are going to overclock this will help.

The ram is rated at 3200, so you can oc up to 200fsb no problem.

Onboard video...no way. If you are going to play at anything higher than 640x480 you need a seperate video card. Also onboard video uses your system memory. Who the hell want's to be caught with a machine that has only 448 megs of ram?

The Sound Storm on the nforce boards are very nice.

it sounds like it could handle most of today's games (although steer far clear of any running the latest Unreal engine - such as Unreal 2, Postal 2, etc. - they stutters and load times would cause you to pull out your hair).

I'd boost the video power, if your budget allows. And keep in mind that if you're looking forward to Half-Life 2, Deus Ex 2 or Doom 3, you're not going to get optimal performance from that machine.

What games are on your wish list? That might help answer the question.

XP 2500+ = $87
NF7-S Rev 2 =$123
Radeon 9500 = $133
PC3000 DDR 256 X2 = $120
=$463 total
This is my revised list. Will this fair any better?

looking good, but those aren't newegg prices. Reason I recommend newegg is it's HIGH on the reseller rating, plus the prices I qouted was with shipping and no taxes.

Instead of PC3000, which was never really a standard (Who runs ram at 183fsb anyways? :)) go for the Corsair 3200 I have listed. Faster memory and it gets you the girls.

All my prices where with shipping too, Price watch:D

never ever go for the cheapest vendor on pricewatch unless it's a respected vendor.

Video card, definitely. I use a Ti4200 and it seems to do most things at the moment (with XP 2400+, 512mb CL2 DDR mem)