$500 Gaming PC

Dangman

Dangman

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Ok my siblings' PC is becoming more and more outdated. It uses RDRAM!

So my mom just gave my lil bro $500 to buy a new PC. My bro is a gamer so OEM isn't really an option with our budget.

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Aspire X-Dreamer w/ 420 Watt Power Supply
Biostar TForce4 AM2
AMD Athlon 64 3000+ AM2
OCZ DDR2 512MB PC2 4200 RAM
eVGA Geforce 7600GS 256MB PCI-E
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 160GB SATA 3.0Gb/s
NEC ND-3550A

Total: $492.44

Is this a decent gaming build for the budget? Any suggestion, comment, and idea are welcomed. I'm not a stickler for AMD so if theres a Intel build equal or greater than the one I have here, I'm all ears.

Thanks in advance.
 
Looks OK to me. I would opt for a better PSU. It would suck if the Aspire went out and take the entire system with it.
 
a few tweaks...

Ram OCZ DDR2 800. it costs only a few bucks extra, why not give that memory contoller what it wants? + $11
Mobo MSI Nforce 550 AM2. the new Nforce 500 series is really really nice. with DDR2 800 it now has 33% more memory bandwith. + $5

of course im asking you to spend an additional $16 :\ . but i think both are worthy of that $16.

and if you ask me you could prrroooobibly go with a cheap sempron, and try for a 7600GT???? hmmmm. yes you can do it swap this for this and swap this for this. plus you get a mail in rebate for the 7600GT, bringing the extra cost to only $20. AND its the cheapist one WITH a 7series KO cooler on it! thats pretty nice.

and then you can double the L2 cache size of that sempron 64 by adding 9 bucks... but you know. just a few suggestions.

hope i was of some help. i mean really an extra $5 could get you a completely diferant system, so you gotta draw the line somewhere.
 
they're slightly differant. this guy needs all the periferals, you dont.

There is NO reason to go with a 6800XT, unless you can find them on clearance.

and again the choice is yours, AMD or intel? if your going to go with an intel system i would wait until conroe. i believe the cheapist conroe is estimated to be about $100 and should perform really well. 65nm. its sweet.

and does it need to be future proof?
 
synergyo1 said:
Looks OK to me. I would opt for a better PSU. It would suck if the Aspire went out and take the entire system with it.
Click to expand...

I used that case/PSU on my last computer for about 2 years. I never had a single issue with it running 3 hard drives, a heavily overclocked athlon xp, 9600XT, lights, a billion fans, etc.

I know we all hate weak PSU's, especially ones that come with the case, but in this case I know from experience it's good. So don't worry about it, it'll do ya just fine.

All looks good by the way.
 
The system looks fantastic... however, there is only one real bottleneck there. Look for deals on ram (ncix.com has 1gb [512mbx2 dual channel] of ddr2-667 OCZ gold for cheap as hell). I just built a system that a gamer uses with only 512mb of ram, and games like Quake 4 or Oblivion are too slow to play. Not because the hardware is crap, but the amount of paging that gets done to the hard drive slows the game down enough to make it unplayable. He had to upgrade right away to a gig. Don't build this system without 1gb of ram. Even if it means your bro will give you another $40, or borrow $40 from you and owe you back.
 
Factorxfiles said:
I used that case/PSU on my last computer for about 2 years. I never had a single issue with it running 3 hard drives, a heavily overclocked athlon xp, 9600XT, lights, a billion fans, etc.

I know we all hate weak PSU's, especially ones that come with the case, but in this case I know from experience it's good. So don't worry about it, it'll do ya just fine.

All looks good by the way.
Click to expand...

Your experience doesn't equate to everyones. It is good that the psu served you well but statistically poor PSUs die early and/or take out other hardware more than a decent/good PSU. Personally I would pay the extra $50+ for peace of mind. It is up to the OP though.
 
I'd spend my money on the extra memory first, then get a new PSU when money permits. I'd bet that the PSU will run just fine, even if it isn't the best/most effecient PSU. Still, the system deserves a better one, but extra ram should be the first priority here - the PSU should come after.
 
For a gamer, I really would get a Sempron instead and OC the Shite out of it. Then you could get a better videocard and RAM.

Can't he use his old harddrive and dvd drive too?
 
Yes, I would go with a Sempron instead (perhaps the AM2 3000+). When overclocked, the 7600GS will be the bottleneck.

I too would get a different PSU. If it's anything like the one in the Q-Pack... Well, look for yourself.
 
belmicah said:
For a gamer, I really would get a Sempron instead and OC the Shite out of it. Then you could get a better videocard and RAM.

Can't he use his old harddrive and dvd drive too?
Click to expand...

i refer you to my 1st post. Replace the Atholon with a sempron, and replace the 7600GS with a 7600GT from EVGA (their cheapist edition is one with a KO cooler! :D)
 
belmicah said:
Can't he use his old harddrive and dvd drive too?
Click to expand...

No, my bro can't. My bro's PC is being passed onto my sister.

@ MrWizard6600
Thanks for the RAM suggestion. That's a good choice. But for the mobo, I'm still on the fence for that. As for future-proof, somewhat. This PC is just a stop-gap solution. My bro just wants a decent gaming PC that last him at least a year until he goes to college.

@vortexpud
The RAM you suggested is doesn't fit within the budget. I would get more RAM but cash is a bottleneck for my bro and I. The 512 is just for now until we can get more RAM.

@ Sempron suggestion
My bro doesn't like the idea of overclocking despite what I say.

@meatycheesyboy
Thank you!! Saved myself $3 and got a better processor. Thanks for the heads-up.

Thanks for the help guys! This AMD setup is becoming pretty sweet but I've convinced my lil bro to wait till Conroe comes out and see what happens.

Thank you.
 
I bought a socket 754 Sempron 2800+ and ECS motherboard combo from Fry's for $79+tax. The board is really limited, AGP, RAM settings, and 250 Mhz limit on the FSB. Turns out the processor is a 64-bit Sempron, I ran XP Pro x64 for a while, then converted the rig to a HTPC. Out of the box the thing runs at 1.6Ghz @ 200 FSB. With Systool I was able to push the chip to 2.4Ghz with shitty voltage options on the motherboard and a Zalman 7000 Al-Cu. I ran some tests and the chip was running faster in most generic benchmarks than my 939 A64 3000+ @ 2.3Ghz.

On the positive side of things AMD is planning on keeping socket 754 around longer than the 939.

Just an option.
 
synergyo1 said:
Your experience doesn't equate to everyones. It is good that the psu served you well but statistically poor PSUs die early and/or take out other hardware more than a decent/good PSU. Personally I would pay the extra $50+ for peace of mind. It is up to the OP though.
Click to expand...

Statistically the vast majority of people use OEM PSUs and never have a problem with them. I have always used OEM PSUs and the biggest problem I've ever had was a fan burning out on one, and that didn't take out the system, it just made it shut down every time the PSU overheated until I figured out what was going on.

Plus, this guy is going for a budget build with fairly low-end hardware, it's not going to stress even your basic OEM PSU.

If you're going to run a P4 965EE, 2x x1900xtx, and 3 hard drives, by all means, spend the big money on a high end unit, for the average user and the average computer, stock PSUs are fine.
 
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