$500 to build a gaming PC -- what would you suggest?

[Chumster]

I've got about $500 to build a PC that will be used for gaming. There's no need for a monitor becuase that will already be taken care of. What would you guys suggest? Intel or AMD? What MB?

TIA,
Chum

 

[AFB]

AMD, you can't buy Intel for that kind of money.

 

[RS3RS]

Mobile Athlon 2400+, $78
Shuttle nForce2 Ultra 400 $57
Geil Value Series 512mb pc3200 $94
Antec Solution Series Case w/ 300w PSU: $69 shipped
Seagate or Western Digital 80gb 7200 RPM - $68
Info-Tek ATI Radeon 9600pro, retail - $112
Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW - $30

$508, all shipping costs included.

 

[SniperWulf]

My suggestion HERE

 

[Anubis]

imk about to do the same but not for gameing but because i need a new com

Case
Mobo
CPU m 2400+
heatsink
fan for heatsink
another Hard drive

$$ 394.99

I have a gig of PC2700 that ill see if works well with a massive overclock, if not ill grab a gig of PC3200
i have a TI4600 that still works and ill wait till teh new gen of cards are out and come down in price before i get a new one

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: RS3RS
Mobile Athlon 2400+, $78
Shuttle nForce2 Ultra 400 $57
Geil Value Series 512mb pc3200 $94
Antec Solution Series Case w/ 300w PSU: $69 shipped
Seagate or Western Digital 80gb 7200 RPM - $68
Info-Tek ATI Radeon 9600pro, retail - $112
Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW - $30

$508, all shipping costs included.

Good, but he'll need a heatsink/fan, so tack on at least another $20.

 

[heresiarh]

i'd go with RS3RS

 

[Anubis]

do you have anything you can take from your current computer like CD-Roms floppys and such, mabye a Hard drive, that would bring the cost down like 100$

 

[viivo]

If you are a risk-taker, you could go mostly refurb at Newegg at a drastically reduced price. Opening a refurb package is like Christmas - do you get a motherboard with all retail accessories, or one with a cracked ziff socket and melted caps. 🙂

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: crimson117

Originally posted by: RS3RS
Mobile Athlon 2400+, $78
Shuttle nForce2 Ultra 400 $57
Geil Value Series 512mb pc3200 $94
Antec Solution Series Case w/ 300w PSU: $69 shipped
Seagate or Western Digital 80gb 7200 RPM - $68
Info-Tek ATI Radeon 9600pro, retail - $112
Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW - $30

$508, all shipping costs included.

Good, but he'll need a heatsink/fan, so tack on at least another $20.

10.99 for a Speeze FalconRock should do it, effective, cheap and quite!

 

[Lonyo]

Get a X800XT PE 😉 There ya go, $500 😛

A mobile Barton and NF2 motherboard would be the best start.
Risking refurb is probably an idea for cheap products, someone saw a 9700Pro for $132 refurb (not much more than the 9600Pro suggested above).
See how much you can re-use. You can save som e$$$ if you use an old case/CD drives etc.

 

[Mik3y]

you wont be able to overclock with the 300W psu. you'll need a LOT more juice to be able to overclock. overclocking requires a lot more power and if you want to overclock it to "gaming speed" levels, you'll need at least a 430W antec or so. techically, with $500, you cant build a real gaming computer. for something that is less then the cost of a budget pc, your trying to make it a super gaming rig. i'm not saying it wont work, i'm saying you'll just not get a very great performing system for the new games like doom 3 and hl2

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
you wont be able to overclock with the 300W psu. you'll need a LOT more juice to be able to overclock. overclocking requires a lot more power and if you want to overclock it to "gaming speed" levels, you'll need at least a 430W antec or so. techically, with $500, you cant build a real gaming computer. for something that is less then the cost of a budget pc, your trying to make it a super gaming rig. i'm not saying it wont work, i'm saying you'll just not get a very great performing system for the new games like doom 3 and hl2

You must be joking. If your running a 6800 , maybe. I've been overclocking on 300W PSUs for donkeys without a hitch.

And as for games, graphics cards are changable components, so its not really that big a deal.

 

[txxxx]

Originally posted by: RS3RS
Mobile Athlon 2400+, $78
Shuttle nForce2 Ultra 400 $57
Geil Value Series 512mb pc3200 $94
Antec Solution Series Case w/ 300w PSU: $69 shipped
Seagate or Western Digital 80gb 7200 RPM - $68
Info-Tek ATI Radeon 9600pro, retail - $112
Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW - $30

$508, all shipping costs included.

Might want to consider a nice small Shuttle SN45G - cooling , decent PSU and decent mainboard all in one.

Just avoid the VDIMM setting on the mainboard - that setting destroy's the mainboard on v2's.

 

[GeneralGrievous]

$500 is a bit low for a good gaming rig. At the minimum you really need

Mobile Barton 2400+
Abit NF7
Radeon 9800 Pro

Already out $350 there.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: RS3RS
Mobile Athlon 2400+, $78
Shuttle nForce2 Ultra 400 $57
Geil Value Series 512mb pc3200 $94
Antec Solution Series Case w/ 300w PSU: $69 shipped
Seagate or Western Digital 80gb 7200 RPM - $68
Info-Tek ATI Radeon 9600pro, retail - $112
Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW - $30

$508, all shipping costs included.

- Slight cost bump: Antec 3700 with a 350watt PS
- huge performance bump: spend $100 more for 9800 Pro

The 9800 will make enough of a difference that it's probably worth waiting an extra month to save for it. Or sell blood and go on an all-ramen diet 🙂

 

[duragezic]

Originally posted by: RS3RS
Mobile Athlon 2400+, $78
Shuttle nForce2 Ultra 400 $57
Geil Value Series 512mb pc3200 $94
Antec Solution Series Case w/ 300w PSU: $69 shipped
Seagate or Western Digital 80gb 7200 RPM - $68
Info-Tek ATI Radeon 9600pro, retail - $112
Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW - $30

$508, all shipping costs included.

I agree with this. I don't know much about the Shuttle mobo but it probably is decent. 300w should be fine. A 9600P is fine for a budget gaming system too. You might be able to save a few bucks on the case. Appearantly the Athenatech cases are cheap but they still use good power supplies (appears to be true, as good of v ratings as sparkle, etc...) And like said, you could save some more money (possibly to put towards a better vid card) if you were able to reuse a hard drive, cd-rw, or even case.

 

[JackBurton]

How about an X800XT? You can sit it on your desk and look at it. 🙂

 

[Chumster]

Thanks for all of the replies. The computer in question is not for me, but a friend of mine who is primarily interested in playing Homeworld 2. Looking at the recommended specs (1.4 Gghz, ATI 8500, 512 MB Ram), it shouldn't be that hard to accomplish with $500. Also - there will be no OC'ing done, so that isn't an issue.

RS3RS: Thanks for the config! That looks just about right for what he needs. Should be able to play whatever he wants and still be somewhat future proof. I don't forsee this guy running out and grabbing HL2 of D3, so the 9600P is fine.

Anubis Unfortunately all my friend has is an older laptop and therefore no transferable supplies.

GeneralGrievous: I disagree -- my current 2100+, GF5900NU, 512 MB RAM is doing me just fine in my current games (Painkiller, FarCry, City of Heroes) and even runs a "highly anticipated DX9 game" pretty well.

DaveSimmons: Can't really go beyond the $500 price mark -- though I will certainly mention it.

Thanks again all!

Chum

 

[bluewall21]

You could also save a few bucks woth a cheaper case (like Raidmax Scorpio, check on NewEgg) or a smaller hard drive.

 

[zbalat]

APEX case w/350W PS $40.00
Sony 52x CD-RW $31.50
Lite-On 16X DVD $32.00
ECS KT600 MB $50.00
Mushkin PC3200 512MB $90.00
Athlon XP 2500+ Retail $80.00
WD 80GB HDD 7200RPM $68.00
ASUS 128MB Radeon 9600SE $85.00

$477.00 shipped from NewEgg.