Sub $800 Gaming Machine - Need Help!

[tzk]

Hello All,

My friend is building a new computer and he needs some help picking out parts, and he will be slightly gaming so I have no clue what to tell him to get (he's picking out some shady parts). He's going from a Windows ME system.. I don't know the specs, but it's pretty old!

Here are the details:

Price Range: $800 or less shipped. (This does not include rebates)
Gaming Uses: Half Life 2, Counter Strike, and CoD4 (possibly)
Other Uses: Photoshop, the usual 'office' stuff.
Will There Be Overclocking: Maybe??
Needed: Case, CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Hard Drive, DVD Drive, Power Supply, Monitor, Graphics Card, Mouse
Not Needed: Keyboard, Speakers, OS...

Right now, the monitor he is looking at is a $190 - 17" monitor, resolution is 1280x1024 - so if he gets that, that leaves us with a $610 budget to build the rest of his machine.

But that's a bit stupid since he can pick up a 19" Widescreen for $170. So let's see what you guys suggest.

He doesn't care for the mouse, as long as it's optical - he was looking at a $15 cheap Microsoft mouse.

Thank You,
Zach

 

[mitcity22]

I would suggest searching the gen hardware, sub forum for similar threads...they pop up all the time...you'll at least have a starting place then.

 

[Dangman]

Yeah what mitcity22 said. There are probably dozens of threads matching your requests. In fact, I think I just did a $700 build that fits your requirements more or less. So go look around.

 

[crhscoog]

i just did a smaller budget on another thread so this is a copy and paste with a few edits.
$90-$20MIR-GeForce 8600GT 256MB
$82-GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L rev. 2.0
$30-Samsung Optical Drive
$46-$10MIR- A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) @ 800MHz
$80-Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB
$72-e2160
$27-ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7
$70-Corsair VX 450w Power Supply
$74-COOLER MASTER CM 690
=$571 not including taxes and shipping, nor is the mir deducted from entire cost

*if your friend could stretch his budget, i would get the e8400 processor and drop the processor and hsf above.

does he have any spare monitor that he could use temporarily. because if so he should use it for time being and wait to buy monitor on black friday or so. i bought my 22' samsung 220wm for $216 with taxes

 

[hossdaddy]

Give this a try:

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor 2.4GHz Socket AM2 89W Dual-Core $71.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103751

Mobo: BIOSTAR TF560 A2+ AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX $79.99(-$10 mir)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138081

Ram: A-DATA 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 $43.99(-$10 mir)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211066

GPU: MSI N9600GT-T2D512 OC GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127332

PSU: SeaSonic SS-500ES ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 500W $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151040

Monitor: Hanns·G JW-199DPB Black 19" 5ms DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254001

HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA-300 $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148262

DVD Burner: SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S203B $27.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153

Case: COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid $39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119115

Mouse: Logitech SBF-90 Black 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel PS/2 Wired Optical $5.25
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104051

Total: $759.16 + shipping. There is also $20 in mail in rebates which are separate from this total.

Notes:
- the monitor includes a dvi cable, not all of them do, $10-15 is you need to buy separate.
- graphics card seems to have the highest factory oc of these new 9600gt's
- the case choice was based on quality and how many fans are included (2 x 120mm)
you can really pick anything because looks are subjective just allocate about $25-50 for a case purchase
- stick with Logitech or microsoft for a basic mouse, they take a big beating and you dont want to compromise on quality. Not that its a big cost just more of an inconvenience.
- I chose the cpu because of its great value, you can oc that on factory cooler to 2.6g so why over spend.
- the mobo is future proofed a bit it will run the new amd quad core phenom cpus so if he wants to upgrade later he wont have to buy a new mobo as well.
- psu is about as solid as you can get in this price range, its 80% efficient, and has an active pfc as well as a great reputation.

GL!