$500-600 Gaming System?

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CapnKill

Member
Apr 5, 2001
85
0
0
Hi guys,

I'll have about 5 to 600 bucs to spend in about a week, on a new PC. Only thing I would use it for is games, so I'm looking for any tips or setups you can suggest. I've b een out of the loop for a while, so I have no clue whats out there.

Games that I play are mainly BF2, HL2, Civ 4 the new C&C whenever it comes out... things like that.

I already have a HD a Monitor and a DVD drive, so I wont be needing those things.

I'll need Case, Mobo, CPU, Video Card, Audio (if on-board isn't good enough)... is that it? I guess thats it.

Thanks!
 
M

mezrah

Senior member
Aug 23, 2005
765
1
0
I'd take a look over at ExtremeTech. They just did an article on the $800 gaming rig. If you subtract the stuff you don't need, and maybe alter things slightly, you should be good to go.
 
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BladeVenom

Lifer
Jun 2, 2005
13,365
16
0
What about memory and a power supply?

If you live near a Fry's keep an eye on the Hot Deals. You might find a great deal on a CPU/Mobo combo. Also Intel's Next price cuts are coming April 22 if you can wait that long.
 
S

Skott

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2005
5,730
1
76
I think you'll find you need to increase your budget to $800 to get a decent low end gaming rig to play the modern games plus any newer ones due out. Look at getting a low end Conroe cpu and a good mobo that you can overclock up to more respectful performance. Start with a good foundation of a good cooling case and a psu that'll allow for upgrades and overclocking. Top end I'd say a Corsair 620w. This will allow up to a 8800GTX later on if you ever decide to go that big of a card. For low end I'd say a good 500w psu. Then get either a E4300 or E6300 cpu and a good overclocking mobo like the Gigiabyte DS3 or ASUS P5B that'll allow for great overclocking. A cheap HSF like the Artic Cooler Pro 7 will suffice for most decent overclocking settings. If you want to push farther then look at the Thermalright 120 Ultra plus or a Tuniq Tower. But that can come later when extra cash allows. For a video card, 7600GT PCIe as a bare minimum but a 7900GT is a better start. You could skimp with 1GB RAM at start with plans to go to 2GB asap if you cant afford 2GB at start. Make sure the modules will allow for decent overclocking. Dont worry about getting a badass HD like a Raptor. Look at the 7200.10 that Seagate offers. Everything else is pretty inexpensive.

A setup like I mentioned above will give you alot of gaming goodness and allow for future upgrades down the road.
 
jpeyton

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
AMD X2 3600+ Brisbane & Biostar TForce550 AM2 $150
Arctic Cooling Alpine64 $10
2GB Super Talent DDR2 667 $115
Sapphire X1950GT $125 After Rebate
16X DVD/CD Burner $30
250GB SATA HD $70
Ultra ATX Case Free After Rebate
Ultra 500W PSU Free After Rebate

$500 after rebates, plus shipping/tax.

Or $400 if you don't need a HD or DVDRW.
 
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CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
5,401
2
0
Cheap gaming systems are difficult to build. It really depends what you're looking to do with it.

Super Cheap:
-754 Sempron, 939 Sempron, 478 Celeron, 775 Celeron
-512MB memory
-Cheap motherboard to match processor socket ($40-60)
-Older Graphics Card (nVidia 5900, 6600, 6800; ATI 9800Pro, X800, X1600)
-40GB, 60GB, or 80GB IDE Hard Drive
-Other parts as needed
Ballpark Price: $300-400

Decently Cheap:
-939 Athlon 64 (3200+, 3500+, 3700+, 4000+), 939 Athlon X2 (3800+), 939 Opteron 165, 775 Pentium D 805 (beware - Prescott based)
-1GB DDR 400 memory
-Stable, reliable motherboard (ASUS A8N-SLI Premium worked well for my 939 build)
-nVidia 7900GS; ATI X1950Pro
-Seagate 7200.10 320 Hard Drive
-Other parts as needed
Ballpark Price: $500-900

Kinda Cheap:
-Core 2 Duo E4300, Core 2 Duo E6300
-2GB lower-speed DDR2 (533, 667)
-Any P965-based motherboard (Gigabyte S3 and DS3, or ASUS P5B are all good choices)
-nVidia 7900GS, 7950GT, 8800GTS 320MB; ATI X1950Pro
-Seagate 7200.10 320GB Hard Rive
-Other parts as needed
Ballpark Price: $800-1200

The more you spend, the better the system will be. What I gave was just a few basic "templates" for spending goals. Keep in mind that the two lesser systems both use outdated components, so it might be money thrown down the drain. If you can give us an idea of what parts you already have (monitor, speakers, sound card, mouse, keyboard, hard drive, etc.) it would help us to make suggestions.
 
jpeyton

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
You can get AM2 Athlon 64 X2 machines for $500. Why would you spend money on Socket 939 at this point?
 
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imported_Nacelle

Senior member
May 8, 2004
933
0
0
You can use your old ram. I just upgraded to a 939 system. The next upgrade I do, will most likely need a new motherboard anyways. Just get the best bang for the buck now. Don't worry about next year.
 
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CurseTheSky

Diamond Member
Oct 21, 2006
5,401
2
0
Originally posted by: jpeyton
You can get AM2 Athlon 64 X2 machines for $500. Why would you spend money on Socket 939 at this point?
Click to expand...

If he's using DDR(1) memory he'll most likely have to upgrade to DDR2. That should put the AM2 system over $500. Then again, if he's using SDRAM, it's all over anyway. :p

If he has an AGP card, that's another story...

I would highly suggest using AM2 over 939 to anyone these days. The only problem is, I find most people who aren't building brand new Core 2 Duo systems are trying to reuse parts from previous systems to save money.
 
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CapnKill

Member
Apr 5, 2001
85
0
0
Wow didn't realise I got replies... I thought the thread slipped off into obscurity...

Here's a system that was suggested to me about 4 months ago... Is there anything I need to tweak here?

cpu - amd am2 3800 orleans - $90
ram - 2GB ddr2 667 $167
m/b - nf4 am2 epox - $73
psu - 450W fsp - $50
gpu - x1800xt - $200
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
2
81
CPU AM2 x2 3800+ 65W $104 at eWiz
RAM 2GB SuperTalent DDR2 667 $124 at eWiz
motherboard ???
PSU Enhance ENP-5140GH $56 at eWiz
GPU X1950XT 256MB $200AR at Newegg

Had links, but lost the post and don't feel like looking for them again. For eWiz, just go to Froogle and type in the part followed by "site:ewiz.com" and you'll save a few bucks. No recommendation at this time on motherboards since there's no outstanding budget (under $100) socket AM2 board IMO. There is for micro ATX, the Abit NF-M2 nView for around $95 or so, make sure the "nView" version.
 
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engiNURD

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2004
3,975
0
76
Oh, the XClio Stablepower 460W is out... Enhance-made unit?

@OP: go with jpeyton's build. If you get more cash, go with a Core2Duo build.
 
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CapnKill

Member
Apr 5, 2001
85
0
0
He's build is only 450... I can thrwo about 200 more into it... any particular area I can put that towards?
 
T

tapir

Senior member
Nov 21, 2001
431
0
0
Intel C2D E4300 Retail -- $169
Gigabyte GA-945P-S3 -- $83
Wintec AmpX 2x 1GB PC2 6400 (2GB) -- $160
Sparkle 400W PSU -- $50

total $462 + $11 for shipping
these are newegg prices

you can find a new retail 7900gt 256MB for $150 shipped on eBay -- i got lucky and the guy shipped me a 7900GTX 512MB :D
or you could get an x1950gt or a 7900gs for the same price from newegg

note that the motherboard is a 945P not a 965P... its one of the cheaper mobos to run C2D well

there are a ton of other DDR2 that you can get for $160 on eBay, I have the corsair myself with the $40 rebate but the wintec i listed should be just as good

i have this mobo/CPU setup and you can overclock it right to 2.7GHz with stock cooling and then the mobo will completely hit a wall at 300MHz FSB, however its nice to know in a year or so you could pick up a more powerful 650i or 975x mobo for cheap and get your FSB up to 400mhz and go crazy with the chip

hope this helps you

EDIT -- also i dont know if you are or aren't an eBay person but you can get a very high quality PSU on ebay for your $50 such as the enermax coolergiant - good luck!
 
yh125d

yh125d

Diamond Member
Dec 23, 2006
6,886
0
76
heres a really good C2D build

E4300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115013

Gigabyte S3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128017

G Skill ram, 2gigs
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820231055

Gigabyte 7950GT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814125046

xclio PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817189014

TOTAL: $711.96


This allows you $90 for a case. But you might consider this PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817139001

Its much more futureproof/respected than that xclio, and it would still leave you $40 for a case, but you could shop around at different places than newegg and cut off about $50-60
 
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