How cheap can you make a gaming PC?

S

SilentButDeadly

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 24, 2003
Messages
407
I am very curious on how cheap a person can make a gaming PC, but with the PC still performing very good for the games that are being released now like Half-Life2, FarCry, and UT2004. "Shakezilla" looked like he was making a pretty good one, but I was thinking the price of $715 could come down a bit. Anyone up to this challenge? Hehe if I can find a way to build one as cheap as possible myself, I will just go ahead and build another computer for my sister instead of trying to buy one full in the For Sale/Trade Forums.

The story behind the reason I am wondering all this is here.

Anyways lets see what you guys can put together.

Seth
 
Sweet. Sounds like a fun challenge.

?: Do you already have a Monitor/Case/Keyboard/Mouse. That'll drop the price nice and good. Whats your PSU too?

Here is what I would get.

Not the MOST future proof system (Socket 754) But everything else should do fine and dandy. .

MSI nForce3 250 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 Socket 754 CPU
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=13-130-457&depa=1
$103.00
MSI hasn't done me wrong yet...

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-486&depa=1
$149.00
Couldn't find a Winchester one. O'well

Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-219&depa=1
$66.55
512 should be enough for your Sister. I think you have like 20 bucks left over, so if you want to try for some cheap 1GB mem be my guest.

Western Digital 80GB 7200RPM IDE Hard Drive
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=22-144-102&depa=1
$54.00
Not a SATA but its a damn big drive and spins fast enough. Plus I don't even know if the Board supports SATA so whateve'a

Sony Internal 16X DVD+/-RW / Double Layer Beige Drive
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-131-242&depa=1
$61.50
You can get whatever color you want for that one.

Chaintech nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, AGP 8X
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-107&depa=1
$225.00
It shall play those games nicely.

Total: 658.06 (Taxes NOT included)

And if you needed a PSU:
Fortron 350W
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-986&depa=0
$28.00

Total W/PSU: 686.06 (Taxes NOT Included)
 
Your main cost will be the video card. I think you can get a decent Nvidia for ~$200, a 6600GT. I don't know if you have a monitor already or not, but a 17" will run you about $90 - $150.

Anyway, for just the box, no accessories, you can probably figure on $700. This is what I came up with at Newegg:

60.50 Antec SLK1650B w/ 350W PS
40.99 Sony 52x32x52x16 DVD/CDR/RW drive (black)
29.99 ThermalTake Silent Boost XP
60.00 Western Digital 80GB SE (8MB Cache)
66.55 Muskin 512MB PC3200 DDR
36.00 ASRock VIA KT400A Socket A mobo
86.00 AMD Athlon XP 2500+
92.25 Microsoft Windows XP Home w/SP2
219.00 Leadtek Nvidia GeForce 6600GT AGP
------
691.28 Total

Pretty decent box if I say so myself (and I just did.)
 
That is awesome guys. So far I think this looks very good.

MSI nForce3 250 Chipset Motherboard for AMD Athlon 64 Socket 754 CPU
$103.00

AMD Athlon 64 3000+, 512KB L2 Cache 64-bit Processor
$149.00 + Free Orange Newegg T-shirt

Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200
$66.55 + $5.00 for shipping

Chaintech nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, AGP 8X
$225.00 + $3.00 for shipping

Seagate 160gb Sata Harddrive
$0, I will just take this one out of my current case that I have.

Windows XP Pro
$0, I already have a full copy of it.

CD-Rom Drives and Sound Cards and stuff like that I can worry about later.

Only thing I have left to look for now, if I stay with this, is a cheap but nice case and Power Supply.

Total right now is: $551.55

Also is there anything special about Chaintech brand video card?

Seth
 
WooHoo Looks like my picks won! :D
Score one for me.

Chaintech, just because I couldn't find a BFG and I heard good things about Chaintech.

Also I listed a PSU on there, and I'll look around for a nice case later.
Ill edit my original post to reflect the changes

Edit:
(Deleted) Read Specs on MOBO
 
abudhu said:
WooHoo Looks like my picks won! :D
Score one for me.

Chaintech, just because I couldn't find a BFG and I heard good things about Chaintech.
Click to expand...
Cool that makes since now.

abudhu said:
Also I listed a PSU on there, and I'll look around for a nice case later.
Ill edit my original post to reflect the changes
Click to expand...
Yeah I would like to go with that one, but I really would like to find a cheap case, and it may come with a power supply, but if it doesn't I would go with that one.

abudhu said:
Edit:
(Deleted) Read Specs on MOBO
Click to expand...
???I don't understand what is up here...I didn't see anything wrong with the specs...but is there something I don't know about?

Thanks,
Seth
 
Athlon 64 3200+ w/ mobo $199
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/4304795
Kingston 512MB PC3200 400MHz 64x64 HyperX DDR Memory $69.99
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/36...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
BFG 6800 OC $249.99
http://shop3.outpost.com/product/40...CH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Those seem to all be pretty good deals there. Is the 6800 better then the 6600gt?

And which memory do you guys think is better? >>Mushkin 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC-3200 or Kingston 512MB PC3200 400MHz 64x64 HyperX DDR Memory

And the Athlon 3200+ w/mobo sound like a good deal, but is that a reliable mobo?

Also what are your opinions about buying from Fry's?

I will be doing my own research to on this stuff, but it would be cool to hear all of your opinions on this too, as I will learn more this way.

Thanks,
Seth
 
Some vendors (I know Monarch Computers does from personal exp.) include free copies of Far Cry, HL2, and Doom3 with a purchase of their CPU/mobo combos. I found Monarch's prices to be less than $40 above what it would cost to it myself. Well worth the cost in games (if yo don't already own them) and time I would spend putting it together.
 
c1001 said:
Some vendors (I know Monarch Computers does from personal exp.) include free copies of Far Cry, HL2, and Doom3 with a purchase of their CPU/mobo combos. I found Monarch's prices to be less than $40 above what it would cost to it myself. Well worth the cost in games (if yo don't already own them) and time I would spend putting it together.
Click to expand...
Man I wish I could buy from them, but since I live is Georgia I try to stay away from them because taxes are ridiculous when buying pc parts.
 
The 6800 is much better. But the reason I didn't go with it is because of the price factor. I could have added on +60 and got a 6800 for you in my picks but opted not to.
Not bashing anybody elses picks, but seeing as this is for your sister, and it doesn't seem to be a long term computer anyways, you might as well get the best bang for the buck with the current technology. Sure you could go with a 939 pin and a 6800GT, but that seems like a long-term computer that, I gathered from your post, you are not quite interested in at the moment.
 
abudhu said:
The 6800 is much better. But the reason I didn't go with it is because of the price factor. I could have added on +60 and got a 6800 for you in my picks but opted not to.
Not bashing anybody elses picks, but seeing as this is for your sister, and it doesn't seem to be a long term computer anyways, you might as well get the best bang for the buck with the current technology. Sure you could go with a 939 pin and a 6800GT, but that seems like a long-term computer that, I gathered from your post, you are not quite interested in at the moment.
Click to expand...
6800 + budget computer?? :confused: :confused:
6800gt + budget computer??? :confused: :confused:
 
Optik said:
6800 + budget computer?? :confused: :confused:
6800gt + budget computer??? :confused: :confused:
Click to expand...


Well no. What I meant was to go from the 6600GT I picked to a 6800 I could have added 70 bucks. Which would have been good. But to go from a 6600GT to say a 6800GT I would have to add on like 150 which is a huge difference. One which would change the price from 700 with the 6800 to about 800 with the GT. Understand now?
 
Different Chipset, Different features...

Former: VIA Chipset

Latter: nForce 3
 
Will the Winchester work with the 754 socket mobo? Will I have to start looking into new mobos and everything now?

Seth
 
SOB!

Thats a 939. Didn't look. Thats why I said I couldnt find a Wincherster for a 754.

No, My original post has all the correct stuff. Now go buy it! :D
 
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