Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Hardware: Building a "Good enough, bang-for-buck" Gaming PC under 21K
I've been trying to come up with a PC specs for a Internet Cafe/Gaming shop.
As far as I can remember, the average 'decent' PC was always around the price range of around PHP27K-30K. Decent I mean with mid to high-end components that will enable you to NOT upgrade for at least 1-2 years under normal use (back then ha?). What usually happens is whenever you buy a good or high-end PC component, overtime this will depreciate of course, but will be replaced on market by a newer technology with about the same price of when you bought your hardware. (Is this related to Moore's law? Nah, not really, it's more related to supply & demand) :)
For example, a standard above average video card (for entry-level hardcore gamers) costs PHP5,000.00 in early 2003. In my case, the nVidia MX440 64Mb/64bit and that was the cheapest you can get in Virra Mall at that time (I miss Virra Mall). Now it sells for slightly above 2K and the standard for entry-level hardcore gamers is the ATI 9550EE (rev 2.2 now available) which ranges from 4.7K-5.7K (too many models/brands to choose from). Go for GeCube 9550Extreme Edition rev 2.2.
But at present, this isn't the case anymore. An average decent PC can cost you around 23K-25K with the same components as before (not including media readers, external drives,USB peripherals, etc)
(I know this might all be relative and depends on how you look or where you stand in the market, but you made it this far, read on!) :)
Anyways, here's the specs I've come out with 'under 21K' tight budget...
AMD Sempron 2500+ (Boxed)
ECS N2U400A-L nForce2 U400
1x256MB DDR 400
Palit fx5200 128mb/128bit DDR
17" Monitor
Mars Casing w/ Keyboard & Mouse
40 GB Seagate 7200rpm (2-yr wty)
Ozaki CM688B 2.1 with Subs
TOTAL estimate 20,800
[Reviews]
CPU: AMD Sempron (Sempie), we're taking about bang-for-buck here, right?
Motherboard: ECS N2U400A -- I initially put there the Epox EP-8RDA3i nForce2 mobo. But apparently, this is 'overkill' for a tight-budget gaming shop. (I still insisted on an nForce2 though)
2nd choice mobo: ECS KT600AL KT600 -- new KT600 chipset w/ SATA & RAID. nice.
Memory: 1x256Mb for now, since if you upgrade another stick of the same 256MB, the additional performance will come from the Dual Channel (not to mention it's easier to maintain it that way)
Video Card: Palit brand since I've been hearing a lot of heat issues with Inno3D FX5200. But what about Inno3D's renewable warranty? (I need suggestions on this)
Monitor: If I can have it my way, any monitor that can at least go 1152x864 @80-85 Hertz refresh rate or higher would be gggreat! :)
Hard Drive: 40GB Seagate -- more distributors offering Seagate drives. Easier/faster to replace (RMA).
Speakers: Ozaki -- well, just heard some nice reviews about it. :)
Comments are most welcome!!! (please?!) :)
As far as I can remember, the average 'decent' PC was always around the price range of around PHP27K-30K. Decent I mean with mid to high-end components that will enable you to NOT upgrade for at least 1-2 years under normal use (back then ha?). What usually happens is whenever you buy a good or high-end PC component, overtime this will depreciate of course, but will be replaced on market by a newer technology with about the same price of when you bought your hardware. (Is this related to Moore's law? Nah, not really, it's more related to supply & demand) :)
For example, a standard above average video card (for entry-level hardcore gamers) costs PHP5,000.00 in early 2003. In my case, the nVidia MX440 64Mb/64bit and that was the cheapest you can get in Virra Mall at that time (I miss Virra Mall). Now it sells for slightly above 2K and the standard for entry-level hardcore gamers is the ATI 9550EE (rev 2.2 now available) which ranges from 4.7K-5.7K (too many models/brands to choose from). Go for GeCube 9550Extreme Edition rev 2.2.
But at present, this isn't the case anymore. An average decent PC can cost you around 23K-25K with the same components as before (not including media readers, external drives,USB peripherals, etc)
(I know this might all be relative and depends on how you look or where you stand in the market, but you made it this far, read on!) :)
Anyways, here's the specs I've come out with 'under 21K' tight budget...
AMD Sempron 2500+ (Boxed)
ECS N2U400A-L nForce2 U400
1x256MB DDR 400
Palit fx5200 128mb/128bit DDR
17" Monitor
Mars Casing w/ Keyboard & Mouse
40 GB Seagate 7200rpm (2-yr wty)
Ozaki CM688B 2.1 with Subs
TOTAL estimate 20,800
[Reviews]
CPU: AMD Sempron (Sempie), we're taking about bang-for-buck here, right?
Motherboard: ECS N2U400A -- I initially put there the Epox EP-8RDA3i nForce2 mobo. But apparently, this is 'overkill' for a tight-budget gaming shop. (I still insisted on an nForce2 though)
2nd choice mobo: ECS KT600AL KT600 -- new KT600 chipset w/ SATA & RAID. nice.
Memory: 1x256Mb for now, since if you upgrade another stick of the same 256MB, the additional performance will come from the Dual Channel (not to mention it's easier to maintain it that way)
Video Card: Palit brand since I've been hearing a lot of heat issues with Inno3D FX5200. But what about Inno3D's renewable warranty? (I need suggestions on this)
Monitor: If I can have it my way, any monitor that can at least go 1152x864 @80-85 Hertz refresh rate or higher would be gggreat! :)
Hard Drive: 40GB Seagate -- more distributors offering Seagate drives. Easier/faster to replace (RMA).
Speakers: Ozaki -- well, just heard some nice reviews about it. :)
Comments are most welcome!!! (please?!) :)
# posted by umberto @ 12:10 PM 
gs