I'm a light gamer, so why can't I build something much cheaper?

[Crackles McFarly]

I've noticed motherboards from $60 to $250 and cannot understand if
this is needed if you're a light gamer and manly use apps.

I might play a game once a week at most frequent.

I'm wanting to know if it's possible to get a powerful number
crunching computer for a low cost with this gaming under
consideration?

I do a lot of photo editing [no animation or 3d modeling] and use
programs to encrypt, encode and compress a lot.

So, is it possible to upgrade to a modern system for cheap?

p.s. I've built systems in the past if that helps.
ALSO I won't need things I already have like the monitor, keyboard &
mouse, hard drive.
I'm looking for motherboard + case + ram + cpu + video card basically.
thank you.

 

[Paul]

I've noticed motherboards from $60 to $250 and cannot understand if
this is needed if you're a light gamer and manly use apps.

I might play a game once a week at most frequent.

I'm wanting to know if it's possible to get a powerful number
crunching computer for a low cost with this gaming under
consideration?

I do a lot of photo editing [no animation or 3d modeling] and use
programs to encrypt, encode and compress a lot.

So, is it possible to upgrade to a modern system for cheap?

p.s. I've built systems in the past if that helps.
ALSO I won't need things I already have like the monitor, keyboard &
mouse, hard drive.
I'm looking for motherboard + case + ram + cpu + video card basically.
thank you.

A $60 motherboard can do Photoshop. A $60 motherboard may not
be able to overclock the CPU to double its normal speed. A
$100 to $150 motherboard, may last a bit longer, perhaps
using a slightly better Vcore regulator design (more phases,
solid caps etc).

If you want to go dirt cheap, try this. Board is $67, uses an
Intel chipset (G31, built-in graphics). Only two RAM slots
(one reason why it is $67). Buy 2x1GB for $40, select a processor
for it, and you have a basic Photoshop box. Built-in graphics
can be used for Photoshop.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16813128078
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/13-128-078-05.jpg

But if you want to game, then "how high is high" ? Some people
want to be able to play, with antialiasing enabled, all detail set
on high. In other words, they want eye candy. Other people, in a
FPS (first person shooter), are only interested in spotting the
target and shooting it. In which case, a low detail setting and
antialiasing disabled is fine with them.

Check benchmarks and then price the items, to determine what to buy.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1061&model2=1057&chart=318

Paul

 

[spodosaurus]

I've noticed motherboards from $60 to $250 and cannot understand if
this is needed if you're a light gamer and manly use apps.

A motherboard that makes use of dual channel RAM architecture is all you
need unless you want all the other included bells and whistles like HDMI
and multiple SATA drives.

I might play a game once a week at most frequent.

I'm wanting to know if it's possible to get a powerful number
crunching computer for a low cost with this gaming under
consideration?

Sure. It also depends on what types of games you're playing. If you're
playing FPS games, or RPGs like WoW, then you're going to need to spend
more on a graphics card to handle the details. If you play predominantly
RTS games (like me) you don't have to get the latest and greatest card.

I do a lot of photo editing [no animation or 3d modeling] and use
programs to encrypt, encode and compress a lot.

Well you'll be wanting a dual core CPU then. Single core Athlon 64s are
available in the LE range and are extremely cheap (like half the price
of the low end dual cores in some cases). However, the extra core will
not cost all that much more in terms of total cost.

So, is it possible to upgrade to a modern system for cheap?

Yes, but that depends where you're starting from. I just did so for
$181AUD using an Athlon 64 X2 4200+, an ASUS M2N-MX SE board (not
recommended unless you're comfortable flashing the BIOS straight away,
judging from many user reports, but there are plenty of others for just
$10 more), and 1GB of DDR2 800. You'll want to add the cost of a mid
range PCI-e video card to that.

p.s. I've built systems in the past if that helps.
ALSO I won't need things I already have like the monitor, keyboard &
mouse, hard drive.

Well, you might. It depends on how many IDE drives you want to migrate.
Most boards have only one IDE connector, so two IDE drives max. You can
get more expensive boards with two IDE connectors, and they usually have
at least four SATA connectors, too.

I'm looking for motherboard + case + ram + cpu + video card basically.
thank you.

Antec cases tend to be nice and so are their PSUs - mid range units that
are generally pretty reliable and at the very least are less likely to
kill your new system if they do fail.

The video card will depend on what games you want to play.

Regards,

Ari


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[philo]

I do a lot of photo editing [no animation or 3d modeling] and use
programs to encrypt, encode and compress a lot.

Well you'll be wanting a dual core CPU then. Single core Athlon 64s are
available in the LE range and are extremely cheap (like half the price
of the low end dual cores in some cases). However, the extra core will
not cost all that much more in terms of total cost.

So, is it possible to upgrade to a modern system for cheap?

Yes, but that depends where you're starting from. I just did so for
$181AUD using an Athlon 64 X2 4200+, an ASUS M2N-MX SE board (not
recommended unless you're comfortable flashing the BIOS straight away,
judging from many user reports, but there are plenty of others for just
$10 more), and 1GB of DDR2 800. You'll want to add the cost of a mid
range PCI-e video card to that.

I agree...for Photoshop CS/2 CS/3 a dual core cpu is the way to go...
the above mentioned X2 4200+ will do the job fine.

Yes to the PCI-e video

and as for RAM I'd try to use 2gigs.


For any cpu-intensive application that can take advantage of dual cores...
there wil be a very nice boost in performance over a single core. It's well
worth it

 

[jaster]

I've noticed motherboards from $60 to $250 and cannot understand if this
is needed if you're a light gamer and manly use apps.

I might play a game once a week at most frequent.

I'm wanting to know if it's possible to get a powerful number crunching
computer for a low cost with this gaming under consideration?

I do a lot of photo editing [no animation or 3d modeling] and use
programs to encrypt, encode and compress a lot.

So, is it possible to upgrade to a modern system for cheap?

p.s. I've built systems in the past if that helps. ALSO I won't need
things I already have like the monitor, keyboard & mouse, hard drive.
I'm looking for motherboard + case + ram + cpu + video card basically.
thank you.

Well, most games play well with 2.0ghz cpus so start there, but if you're
into the high end 3d games like Crysis you'll need closer to 3.0Ghz cpu.
Dual core is still popular I think and very little software use 2 cpus
yet.

Video is #2 so video card should be pixel shader model 3.0 or better,
DirectX 9.0c or better, and faster is better. Like nVidia 8600, ATI 2600
or better.

More memory is better. Case should be roomy enough for ease of expansion
once the motherboard is installed, PSU 350watts or better depending on
video card and peripherals. Onboard 5.1 or bettersound is good enough
for me.

Above all if you're running Vista make sure the components are Vista
compatible, ie, vendor supplied drivers work with Vista.

 

[DaveW]

It entirely depends on WHICH games you want to play once a week. If your
choices include current highly graphics intensive games like Crysis, then it
doesn't matter if you play hourly or once a month. If you want decent frame
rates you are going to have to spend a fair amount of cash to put the image
on the screen. If you don't need that kind of power then, yes, you can get
a lot of number crunching ability for a very nice price.

 

[KlausK]

I'm wanting to know if it's possible to get a powerful number
crunching computer for a low cost with this gaming under
consideration?

I do a lot of photo editing [no animation or 3d modeling] and use
programs to encrypt, encode and compress a lot.

So, is it possible to upgrade to a modern system for cheap?

Life is simple: you get what you pay for. To run gutting edge games in their
glory, you need at least 3.0GHz (dual or quad) and a powerful graphic card.
Add to that memory, HDDs, motherboard, cooling, etc.