Building New System

[NeroDevil]

Hey guys
I'm thinking of "reviving" an old Windows XP pc I have.
So, I'm just curious - I'm on a TIGHT budget, VERY
TIGHT at that! I was wondering, what's a budget CPU that's
fair in performance? The same for a GPU and HDD (has to be IDE though.)
I have experience in building PC's, so don't worry ^^;

 

[surfasb]

Hit up Ars's or Tom Hardware's Value build guides.

 

[bobkn]

Hey guys
I'm thinking of "reviving" an old Windows XP pc I have.
So, I'm just curious - I'm on a TIGHT budget, VERY
TIGHT at that! I was wondering, what's a budget CPU that's
fair in performance? The same for a GPU and HDD (has to be IDE though.)
I have experience in building PC's, so don't worry ^^;

If the HDD "has to be IDE", but you plan to buy a new one, that suggests that you already have a mainboard with no SATA. Just how old is this? Do you wish to "revive" it with Win7?

Posting what you have would make recommending a CPU possible. It'd also be nice to know whether the GPU has to be AGP, or whether you can do PCI-E.

 

[NeroDevil]

Well, I'm not sure about the mobos make or model ,but it came out around 2004-2005, and as for the GPU, I'm fairly sure it's gonna have to be AGP. I just wan't a pc that can handle modern games - even if it means turning details to their minimum, I don't mind - anything but my laptops whimpy SiS Mirage 3.

 

[surfasb]

And decent AGP card is going to still cost you as much, if not more than a very capable PCIe card.

I sugggest you ditch that motherboard. After PSUs and harddrives, they are the most likely components to fail after 5 years.

 

[bobkn]

Well, I'm not sure about the mobos make or model ,but it came out around 2004-2005, and as for the GPU, I'm fairly sure it's gonna have to be AGP. I just wan't a pc that can handle modern games - even if it means turning details to their minimum, I don't mind - anything but my laptops whimpy SiS Mirage 3.

Let's see: unknown CPU socket type, unknown graphics slot, etc.

Many motherboards have a model number silkscreened on the top of the board. Does yours?

It sounds like your sentimental attachment to the board is nil. Recycle it. (I'd say trash it, but it must contain heavy metals.)