Need some help building a cheap gaming computer

D

dragonslayer45895

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 13, 2007
Messages
1,713
Ok, I sold my 78 ford van and am going to have about $400 left to spend on a new computer:D

What i need/want goes as follows:

Need a mobo....as long as its a stable board im fine Needs 2 IDE channels...unless a hard drive can be gotton in the price (PCI-E is a must)

Need a dual core CPU.....intel or amd....what ever will fit in my price range with all i need

Need a New PSU

Need a decent vid card Nvidea or ATI

Want 2 gigs of ram (speed doesnt matter)

What i already have that i can put in the new system:

DVD-RW (PATA)

80gig Seagate hard drive (PATA)

Ive already got a case also

I know that this is prolly going to be hard to get all i need for this cheap but i though i would hit up the [H] members for some help:)

Just post here what you think i should get and links to the parts if you could with prices.

Thank you so much, Harley
 
I always did like a challenge. :)

AMD Athlon64 X2 4000+ CPU - $73
Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H AMD 690G mATX Motherboard - $80
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $70
eVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCI-E Video Card - $90
Samsung SH-203B 20X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner - $31
XCLIO Goodpower 500W PSU - $50
------
Total: $395 Plus tax and shipping

Unfortunately, most mobos these days only have one IDE port. So I included a new SATA burner so one IDE port will be open for your hard drive.
 
Thanks for the reply...i like the looks of that setup....i think i can squeeze a 4200 from newegg in for 2.50 more.
 
I think you can do a little better with a core duo for 20$ more, but then you need to pair it with a decent mobo.....just IMO, and i wouldnt expect many games on that thing, youd need a 800$ budget and some oc and shopping skills to pull a comp that can handle high end gfx processing
 
i mainly play F.E.A.R., NFS Carbon, Far Cry.....the semi older games....and they all play on my comp in the sig....but ive got a chance to upgrade and im taking it. If it can play them...and possibly the new F.E.A.R. thats coming out (i will hopefully down the road some have a good amount of money from selling off this rig and get a nicer vid card) then i will be happy for now
 
I forgot to ask but will you be overclocking?

I agree with Cat1yst about going with a C2D build. If you are planning to overclock or even just curious about overclocking, then I recommend this Intel build instead. Would've posted an Intel build earlier but was in the middle of class at the time:

Intel Pentium Dual Core E2160 CPU - $80
Abit IP35-E Intel P35 Motherboard - $89
G.SKILL F2-6400CL5D-2GBNQ 2 x 1GB DDR2 800 RAM - $70
eVGA 256-P2-N615-TX GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCI-E Video Card - $90
Samsung SH-203B 20X DVD±R SATA DVD Burner - $32
XCLIO Goodpower 500W PSU - $50
----
Total: $411 Plus tax and shipping.

About $16 more. The E2160 performs roughly the same as the X2 4000+ and X4200+ in games. However, if you overclock the E2160, even just a bit, it'll outperform the X2 4000+ and X4200+ by a seriously large margin. With just the stock Intel HSF alone, you can easily hit 3.0Ghz with just a slight bump in voltage and FSB. So if you want more performance and willing to OC, then I recommend the Intel build.

However, if you're not willing to OC, despite the fact that it's pretty easy to OC the E2160 and keep it stable, then go with the AMD build I listed above.
 
I agree, if you want to OC, go intel. Otherwise, AMD.

Cat1yst said:
i wouldnt expect many games on that thing, youd need a 800$ budget and some oc and shopping skills to pull a comp that can handle high end gfx processing
Click to expand...

It actually depends on the games he plays and his monitor size.

What size monitor do you have?

Danny Bui said:
Would've posted an Intel build earlier but was in the middle of class at the time
Click to expand...

What class?
 
I like the looks of that Intel build too....i will have to think them over.

only time i ever overclocked was with the rig in the sig.....and i only went 200mhz...that thing was blazing fast (but my onboard sound didnt work at all:eek::confused: ) I just put it back to stock and left it there.

Im currenty running a Syncmaster 17in CRT at a resolution of 1024 X 768 (its a true 17in viewable screen and its flat lol)

Thanks for all the input guys.....if theres any other suggestions i would like to hear them...or modifications to the current list for AMD and Intel
 
Then the 7600GT should be fine for you. My bro has 15" monitor and a 7600GT and he can play most games at max settings at 1024 x 768.

200mhz? You can easily OC the E2160 1000Mhz with no problem. Though YMMV.
 
well.....my current rig is and INTEL P4 lol.....never oced before and just thought i would try....ill prolly end up going with the intel rig...just thinking it over in my head first (i try to think before i buy....but it doesnt always work that way:eek::p)
 
Well no rush. Just take your time and think it over. Those parts will still be there tommorrow.
 
Yah, sleep on it, at least. ;)

Old?!?! :eek: bleh! just cuz I have a bum leg doesnt mean I'm old. :rolleyes:
 
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