Building the Ultimate Gamer System VI

Okay guys, for once in a very long time I'm writing a BUGS for advice- and this time, it's for no other than Mike, our own in-house reviewer. Being on a seriously strict budget, he's looking to get himself raw power for a little money, and as he puts it, ?Just so I can play F.E.A.R.?. Okay, let's do that.

This is a unique challenge because we've been given a base system and only a video card to take all of the system and change it around. To note, Mike has purchased himself an eMachines T2341- a very basic entry-level PC sold by the company now somewhat owned/partnered/whatever with Gateway. To note, this is a VERY basic system, so my job is to not give advice on what motherboards to get, but how to make a slow PC a budget gaming PC.

First off, let's examine the literal specifications of the t2341:

Processor: 1 x AMD Athlon XP 2400+ / 2GHz
System Memory: 128MB DDR SDRAM - 266MHz - PC2100
Graphics Controller: VIA ProSavageDDR KM266
Installed Video Memory: 128MB
Monitor: None
Hard Drive: 1 x 40GB - standard - IDE/ATA
Optical Storage: 1 x CD-RW
Audio: ?Sound card?
OS Provided: Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Okay, so this is not bad at all. For under $100, Mike picked himself up an Athlon XP, and a decent Hard Drive. Being as he really doesn't need a sound card nowadays (Note: Unless you intend to do a lot of sound work, most laptops and standard desktops come with decent cards on the mobo, so don't stress over it. This is a quick way to save money), and the Processor/HDD layout is good, let's look at what needs to be fixed.

Any good computer techie will notice one problem: If this is going to be a gaming machine, where are the graphics? That's right, it's using an onboard chipset, made by Via of all people. This isn't a bad thing at all, but if Mike wants to play himself some F.E.A.R., he might as well try professional racing with a Honda Accord. This is the only real thing keeping him from running the game low end, other than some minor details I'll go over.

So, looking at our specs, we also notice that the system memory is 128 megs. Yes, that is exactly how much it takes to run Windows XP. So basically, you can instant message or look at porn on this computer, but the second you kick in anything that requires system resources, you kill the system. While this is good for anyone like my Grandparents, this is not good for Mike, who needs fast speed so he can make me learn how much I really suck at Counter Strike. So, obviously, this needs a boost. Thankfully, Mike has gotten a good deal on 512 megs of memory, which will more than take account for his needs on most games.

So what else is needed? Well, a monitor. With Mike telling me he has very little cash to spend, this is a big requirement. In this article, I'm going to have to balance out a great monitor with good color with simple practicality. And most of all, something that'll let him frag newbs.

Oh, and let's not forget a general requirement: A DVD drive. At least something that can read DVDs, and possibly something that can burn them. We'll have to see on that one.

Our budget? About $150 max for the video card and who the hell knows for anything else. Of course, knowing Mike, he's going to want to have as much money saved for games. And after all, buying him something too expensive will be bottlenecked anyway. So it's time to go shopping.


As always, because I grew up knowing the lowest price = better even if a 12 year old in Taiwan makes it, we're going to Pricegrabber.com. Pricegrabber is a lot like Amazon.com but contains a lot of big name sellers so I can generally see how the prices fluctuate over the course of the sales. This is generally a good thing for anyone who wants to build a PC: Watch the parts and how fast they depreciate, and you know how fast your computer will go obsolete. Anyway.

First, we need to go to the meat of this- the video card. Hopefully, this will be the most expensive endeavor. The goal here is to get a low power card that will work well- on a AGP 4x slot. Wow. According to cnet.com, this puppy's got the low end of video card AGP slots, so let's just see what we can do with it. (This actually helps us a lot, because it lowers the median costs of AGP cards a lot. Whoopee! Or not.)

The overarching decision I have made is to go with the GeForce FX 5500 chipset, a budget 256 Meg chipset that will hopefully be able to accommodate for the fact Mike will be racing with one leg instead of two (4x instead of 8x AGP). The BIG issue here is that any video card running on his slot HAS to conform to AGP 4x standards and be able to convert to the volt standards, or else it'll be faulty. Uh oh.

So, our best decision in this case is to go with the cheap and standardized chipset- the FX 5500, with the median price being something around $65 or so. Not only is this cheap and powerful, but it, being a mainstream setup, will handle the 4x environment the best. Cards that would work well for Mike in this class include the XFX GeForce FX5500, eVGA e-GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, and ESPECIALLY the Sapphire Radeon 9200 with the ability to go down to even AGP 1x standards.

So, we just spent about $60 on a video card, now let's look on some prospects as to monitors. Being generally very expensive, as even Mike said, he will probably not be getting a flatscreen LCD. But this works actually in his favor, because regardless of the setup, CRTs tend to work with fast gaming better on a whole. Another issue is resolution- we want something with a native resolution small enough so he can have a lot going on, but not so much that normal operation fries the video card. That leaves us with a simple resolution- a CRT with 1280x1024 or less.

There is a distinct challenge here in that there aren't many standard grade CRTs left that would do Mike well in the gaming world. Even though they're the best monitors for gaming, most companies have chosen to go flatscreen in hopes that the technology will catch up with the speed of CRTs. While some monitors (Like mine) do this, it's expensive, and I doubt Mike needs a huge flatscreen monitor anyway. Let's go for something simple, but hardcore.

After a LOT of searching, I found a simple discount that might attract- the ViewSonic A91f+ CRT monitor with 19? of space (As big as my flatscreen!) and a whopping 1792x1344 maximum resolution. While his computer in no way will chug out F.E.A.R. At that, it's nice because he could theoretically switch between sizes when he was word processing or pwning that noob. Unfortunately, unless Mike wants it refurbished (at $60) he'll be shelling out $150 for this, which isn't bad for the size monitor he'll be getting.

Now, I know this is going to be questioned of me: Why this monitor, and why not cut him down to a 17? Dell or something. Now, Mike is a gamer, and we're not going to convince him to buy my Grandmother's choice of a screen for him to squint on. Simply put, LOOK AT THE BRAND. Dell monitors, while generally good, tend to drop in quality the cheaper they get. This is understandable, because there's still a production cost no matter how small they are. In any case, Viewsonic is like the Porsche of monitors, and for a low price like this, it's a steal.

However, if we're talking lower than that, let's look at ?Oh crap I have little money and bit wants? purchases. In a lower price scenario, I'd go with the $70 IBM G78 1280x1024, only currently available on miscellaneous sites and TigerDirect.com. IBM was once known for some serious hardcore CRTs, and this is a great model for those on a budget, but it's only 17?. Personally, I would recommend saving up instead of getting this- IBM CRTs are great, but you could get so much better for a little bit more. 17? really doesn't cut it anymore, unfortunately.

So, that leads us to a quick addition, a DVD/CD-R drive. I'd go with the Sony CRX320E DVD/CD-RW Writer. It's a really good, standard writer that will hold up to abuse, and it's a good brand. Yes, I know, it doesn't burn DVDs- however, DVD burning technology is overrated. Unless you're someone who has a huge need for storage (Like backing up your programmed code) or someone like me who burns J-Doramas to DVDs (Obsessively), you will probably not have a need for a DVD burner. Plus, I feel it's better to wait till we see where Sony is moving with this Blu-Ray and other companies are moving with HD-DVD. In any case, Sony brand drives have a good history, and it's only $36.


So, there you go. My attempt at taking a eMachine and turning it into a Gaming Machine. Please note, however, like any BUGS, that these decisions will change over time. I recommend for true good decisions that will work for you, just look it up yourself. You learn so much, and it will prevent you from getting some part I recommended and going ?HEY IT FAILED?. Hell, I might even be wrong here- if there's some glaring problem with my opinion, drop me a line at Kirk (AT) Gametrash.com.