Need help Cheap gaming rig thread number 47833

[Timbowens]

Hi guys, I need some help. My wife is going back to school, so I'm borderline broke, but I'd like to build an el cheapo gaming rig.

I'd like to still play current games, but I don't if I have to run it will no eye candy and at 1280 X 800 (or similar).

I was thinking along the lines of a amd 4400+, 2 gigs of ocz rev 2 ram, antec 380 watt psu, thermaltake case, ati 3850, cheap hard drive...

Is this a good idea, or should I spend more money and go with an intel rig?

 

[Dangman]

Some questions that needs to be answered:
- What is your exact budget?
- What parts do you need for that budget? Case? PSU? OS? Monitor? etc.
- What size monitor do you have?
- Will you be overclocking?

Here's the cheapest best bang for the buck gaming rig that I can build (Assuming no overclocking):

AMD Athlon64 X2 5000+ CPU - $59
Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 AMD 740G mATX AMD Motherboard - $60
Kingston KVR800D2K2/2GR ValueRAM 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 - $40
PNY VCG88512GXPB GeForce 8800 GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card - $110
Hitachi Deskstar P7K500 HDP725032GLA360 320GB 7200RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - $50
Antec Sonata III ATX Case with Antec Earthwatts 500W PSU - $80
---
Total: $400 plus tax and shipping.

 

[burro]

Danny's build has a really good price/performance ratio and I definitely back it up. Even if it reminds me that my 5000+ that I bought for so much 2 years ago is now worth $59