Best bang for buck @ $450?

T

TopGun

Gawd
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Jan 22, 2005
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My friend decided that he wants a new computer and instead of buying one he wants to build one for his first time. I'm gonna help him with this but I need help on finding him the most bang for his budget.

He has a budget of $450 and I'm trying to find out what's the best system he can get out of that is. He will be mainly using this computer for gaming. He's hopefully getting an lcd monitor soon as well. I know $450 isn't a lot but I think a decent, non bleeding edge system can be built for that amount.

Thanks
-TopGun
 
You can get an 8800GT graphics card for a little over $100.

Really have no choice but to get a budget mobo.

e2180 pentium dual core for 70

a gig of ram AR for maybe 20-30 (use XP)

450 for agaming rig is tough unless you really have no intent on playing at decent reso
 
have a copy of windows he can use? that will help
sonata case + 500w psu = 100
ep35-ds3l=65
e720=120
2gb g.skill= 45
8800gt=110
wd3200aaks= 65
little over budget but would be good.
 
imo 450 won't really cut it... you should tell him to save up a bit more then he'd be set. If he is building an entirely new system you will be incredibly hard pressed to only spend 450.
 
He already has a copy of XP which is good, the system Rydawg posted looks pretty good, anyone else have any suggestions?
 
The new monitor becomes a problem. We often recommend getting a video card based on the monitor/resolution the buyer intends on using, whether it's a monitor they already have or one they plan on buying soon. My first question is: When is your friend planning on purchasing the monitor?

Second question: Does your friend have a specific monitor in mind?

You could build a gaming rig for around $450... but are shipping costs and taxes included in that amount? If so, it would limit what you could get.

I agree with the others that you need to add at least $50 to your budget. (Personally, I recommend more than that.)

(Off topic, but where are you guys getting your prices from? I'm just as guilty as the rest for omitting shipping & taxes in most of my build lists, but those prices seem very low. All I could do was find an open-box GA-EP35-DS3L for $60 and an 8800GT as low as $120 before mail-in rebates. Personally, I believe that open-box models are more trouble than they're worth and that mail-in rebates are no good when you have to follow a fixed budget.)
 
Live near a Fry's? lol...

$105 - PNY 9600GT (FS + $5MIR)
$80 - E2200 + ECS 945G (local pickup @ Fry's B&M)
$75 - Antec NSK4480B w/ EA380 (FS)
$65 - WD3200AAKS (FS)
$40 - 2GB KVR800D2K2/2GR (FS)
$25 - LG DVDRW GH20NS15 (FS)
=======
$390+ tax (free shipping)

If there's no Fry's near you, I'll sell you an E2200 + ECS GF7050VT-M for $100 Shipped. ;) The GeForce board is better than the 945GC since it can OC slightly (it can run the E2200 at 3Ghz easily on stock voltage and cooling).
 
biostar p43 board -99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138126
E2180 - 69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116052
2gb kingston -37.89
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134635
250gb hd - 59.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136161
video card-109.99 (eta 9-2-8)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133193
antec NSK4480B-74.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129032
dvd burner - 26.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118015

Make two seperate orders, one for the case, burner and hard drive, and the other for the rest of the system. Comes out to right at 500.00 with shipping
 
Here is a variation of gwarren007's build (I was trying to avoid doing this for a reason...):

$80 - Antec NSK4480 case with Earthwatts 380W PSU (silver or black; free shipping)
$84 - MSI P43 Neo3-F (~$9 S/H & $10 mail-in rebate)
$70 - Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 (free shipping)
$40 - PNY Optima 2x1GB DDR2 800 kit (free shipping)
$55 - Seagate 7200.10 250GB SATA HDD (free shipping)
$25 - Samsung SH-S223F SATA DVD burner (free shipping)
$105 - PNY 9600GT (free shipping & $5 mail-in rebate)
=====
$459 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

The problem I ran into was with the hard drive... getting a decent one of at least 250GB (plus shipping/taxes) would burst your $450 budget. Plus, I don't like cutting corners quality-wise. I was trying to leave you with some options for future upgrading, hence the case/PSU and motherboard selections. (Though truthfully, if you were to pursue a better video card, chances are that you would have to get a better PSU anyways.)

The 9600GT is actually better than the 320GB 8800GTS, and can play most games well (at medium settings) on monitors up to 19 inches.

I still believe, along with some of the others who posted here, that you need at least $500 to build a decent gaming rig. (And you never said anything about the monitor your friend plans on using.)
 
these prices are from a few weeks ago, but something like this would be good. I think you can get an 8800gt for the same price now.

I'd either use one of his old hard drives, or buy one used. If you use one of his old hard drives, you might see if you can stretch the budget for a 4850.

PartList.jpg
 
OK, if you can salvage a hard drive and/ or an optical drive. You can hit about the $450 mark with a ati 4850. This is from Newegg again.

How so. They update liek everyday
Click to expand...

I do a print screen and store the images on photobucket. The picture below I just made the today. The other one was from a couple week ago I think.

partlist-1.jpg
 
The issue with all of our builds is that you'll have to make a compromise between the video card -- as anything less than a 9600GT or an 8800GT would be unacceptable for gaming -- and the motherboard -- as it could limit future upgrading, especially in regards to the processor (as the G31 chipset, IIRC, doesn't support most of the newer 45nm processors).

You could cut some corners price-wise with an AMD build.

$79 - Gigabyte GA-MA770-S3 (~$8 S/H)
$66 - AMD X2 5000+ (free shipping)

The X2 5000+ performs slightly better than the E2180 at stock speeds. However, once overclocked, the E2180 blows the X2 5000+ away (as the X2 5000+ can't overclock as easily as the E2180).

You can't really cut too many corners by going with a small hard drive. Newer games take up more HD space -- which may cause an 80GB or a 120GB HDD to fill faster than you'd expect -- and the added shipping costs make getting most hard drives under $50 (before S/H) seem pointless.

In order to keep this build around/under $450, you'll have to make some sacrifices somewhere.
 
balake777 said:
OK, if you can salvage a hard drive and/ or an optical drive. You can hit about the $450 mark with a ati 4850. This is from Newegg again.
Click to expand...

No disrespect, but the problem with both of your builds are that they don't account for unknown factors. (Honestly, all of our builds are flawed in this regard.) We don't know whether or not the OP (or, rather specifically, his friend) has any parts that could be transferred over, or whether or not the $450 budget has to include shipping and taxes.

The biggest unknown, which we still haven't heard anything about, is the size and resolution of the monitor that would be used. While the HD4850 is a good choice (overall), it could also turn the processor (assuming that it would be run at stock speeds for now) into a potential performance bottleneck. For gaming on a 19 inch or smaller monitor, the 9600GT is the cheaper, yet equally effective choice.
 
tiraides said:
No disrespect, but the problem with both of your builds are that they don't account for unknown factors. (Honestly, all of our builds are flawed in this regard.) We don't know whether or not the OP (or, rather specifically, his friend) has any parts that could be transferred over, or whether or not the $450 budget has to include shipping and taxes.

The biggest unknown, which we still haven't heard anything about, is the size and resolution of the monitor that would be used. While the HD4850 is a good choice (overall), it could also turn the processor (assuming that it would be run at stock speeds for now) into a potential performance bottleneck. For gaming on a 19 inch or smaller monitor, the 9600GT is the cheaper, yet equally effective choice.
Click to expand...

Right, I'm just showing him some options. Here is a list w/ everything included for $450 shipped to Oklahoma. I don't know where he lives, another "unknown", but this gives an idea. That's the main point.

PartListFull.jpg
 
No, we don't know the size of the monitor, but with such a limited budget, there aren't any choices he has with the vidcard unless he increases his budget.

The Antec Earthwatts 380W provides more power than the TR2 430W from Thermaltake. Most modern systems draw most of their power from the +12V rail(s). The TR2 only has 18A, which is useless for any gaming system. You'd need, at the very least, 24A, and the EA380 provides 324W/12V = 27A -- loads more than the TR2. The case PSU/combo of TR2 + R220-P-BK comes out to $78 shipped ($41 + $25 + $12shipping), while the NSK4480B is $75 w/ free shipping -- So you get a better PSU for $3 less.
 
Now he doesn't even know if he wants a new computer, I guess I'll let him figure out what he wants to do on his own. Sorry to waste your time guys.
 
its ok, you owe me 50 cents or the coke i went threw reading this thread.
 
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