Cheep $4-500 Gaming Build

S

sdotcarter

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 23, 2009
Messages
177
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, possible movie ripping
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
4-500$ shipped. Microcenter Close
3) Where do you live?
Boston
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
All
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
n/a
6) Will you be overclocking?
If doable I will.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
21" Wide Screen Monitor. Believe its around a 1440 or 1600 rez
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Week
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Minimum
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Will get from microsoft student or microcenter oem

Want to stay a ddr 3 amd build. Video Card needs svideo out. Wants a little HTPC action. Ripping and watching dvd's, or playing games on one machine.
 
I really have to fix those questions: Is the cost of OS included in the $400 to $500 budget?

Also, is the highest form of video input that that your TV is S-Video?
 
You might have to increase your budget by about $300 - to about $800 - for a minimally acceptable system for gaming. This is because you need a relatively high-end CPU and 4GB of RAM to play the latest games. Plus, with a Phenom II X4 955 CPU, an 890GX motherboard, 4GB (2 x 2GB) of DDR3 memory and an HD 5770 graphics card, you've already spent more than $500 just on those four components. Add in a 500GB hard drive, a really good 550W PSU, a case and an optical drive (DVD burner), and you've already blown $720 in total (and that does not include speakers, a keyboard, mouse or an operating system).
 
Assuming that the cost of OS is not included in that $500 budget, a decent gaming PC can be had for around $500:
$175 - AMD Athlon II X4 630 CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H AMD 880G AMD mATX Motherboard
$55 - Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$112 - XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive FS
$24 - LG GH22NSS50 DVD Burner FS
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU FS
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP ATX Case FS
---
$512 shipped.
 
LordBritish said:
You want to build a gaming PC for $500 max? :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Its easy if you have a Fry's or Microcenter nearby and they have free/cheap mobo specials. ;) Unfortunately, I don't think there are any good combo deals at either of those places right now, lol. No worries, the deals will come later in the month. :D
 
Danny Bui said:
Assuming that the cost of OS is not included in that $500 budget, a decent gaming PC can be had for around $500:
$175 - AMD Athlon II X4 630 CPU + Gigabyte GA-880GMA-UD2H AMD 880G AMD mATX Motherboard
$55 - Patriot 2GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$112 - XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$56 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive FS
$24 - LG GH22NSS50 DVD Burner FS
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU FS
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP ATX Case FS
---
$512 shipped.
Click to expand...


OP, ^ This could work well for you depending on what games you play. Though if you were serious about the HTPC bit you will probably want to spring for a 1TB drive. That shouldn't add too much to the overall cost though.
 
Hey guys,

Thanks alot and I really appreciate the input.

Yes, the highest input is svideo. It's and old projection tv 47" or so. Also pushing a monitor at ~1600x1200 or so.

LordBritish, yes a gaming pc for $500. The person I'm building for is only used to consoles, and he's looking to get into the pc gaming, interwebs, and over all functionality.

He won't be looking for anything high end.

Danny, that build is very very nice. That looks like something he would be very happy with. I'll be purchasing from microcenter because I'm too impatient to wait for shipping. :( For the resolution of the monitor the 4850 should be beast.

I'll see what I can get from MC since they price match the egg if asked. (Have to bring in a print out)

Thanks again for the input guys, very useful, as usual.
 
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