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Sub $300 Gaming Rig

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Save the $300 and get a nicer gaming rig in 6 months....

Seriously, if you have to save up money for a gaming rig, why are you throwing a good $300 away?
 
Raincity said:
Tell that to my system when the Antec True Power 380 that come with the Sonta case decided to pop a cap and take everything with it. Only the case and the rear fan where the only survivors. System gone, took the Viewsonic LCD and Motorola Surfbaord with it also.
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that one sounds more like you should have invested on a better surge protector.
 
thats decent, like buying a ps3 i guess, id do it if i only had 300, but id go ati because they are better right now
 
Quiksilver said:

See Video

They don't have to be damaged to explode, they just have to be a cheap POS.
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I'm sure Corsair is a completely and totally unbiased source. They have absolutely no incentive to exaggerate their findings. None at all 😀

Working with schools, non-profits, and other organizations that had a minimal IT budget, I've worked with my fair share of shitty power supplies. They had a minimal amount of connectors, the fans sucked (or sucked very little), and they were usually pretty noisy under load, but they only time I've ever seen a power supply fail like that was when it was severely overvolted.
 
Well the difference between a good budget PSU and a no name chinese one is what.. 15 bucks?

For all the hassle and possible damage to your more expensive parts, I think it's a good investment and it's one of the things you can reuse without a problem (my 500W PSU shouldn't have any problems when I upgrade my rig as long as I stay away from SLI or CF)

I agree that you won't have to worry about fires or explosions, but a cheap PSU can at least easily influence the stability of your build, especially if you want to OC (and fluctuating voltage isn't that great for electronic parts all in all)


Anyway I think spending the 300$ on a PS3 or XBOX is surely a better investment than spending them for a cheap PC that will be replaced in few months, I personally prefer PC gaming by far, but in this case a console seems to be the way to go.
 
Don't get me wrong, a premium power supply definitely has a place, especially with enthusiasts that need every last bit of power and cooling that a high-end power supply can provide, but to say that a cheap power supply = BOOOOOOM! is unsubstantiated FUD.
 
Anyway I think spending the 300$ on a PS3 or XBOX is surely a better investment than spending them for a cheap PC that will be replaced in few months, I personally prefer PC gaming by far, but in this case a console seems to be the way to go.
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I'd tend to agree with this overall. Once you dip below ~$450 consoles start to make a lot more sense, on a realistic basis at $300 I don't think it's even close.
 
I don't think buying a $300 PC is such a bad idea provided the mainboard is decent and you can sell the initially purchased budget parts on ebay after you upgrade to more mainstream components.

Trouble with computer components (that I have found) is that the budget parts are just as poor in value as the ultra high end stuff. Buying always in the low end can actually be more expensive than buying mainstream if it means a person needs to constantly upgrade at shorter intervals.
 
theevilsharpie said:
I'm sure Corsair is a completely and totally unbiased source. They have absolutely no incentive to exaggerate their findings. None at all 😀

Working with schools, non-profits, and other organizations that had a minimal IT budget, I've worked with my fair share of shitty power supplies. They had a minimal amount of connectors, the fans sucked (or sucked very little), and they were usually pretty noisy under load, but they only time I've ever seen a power supply fail like that was when it was severely overvolted.
Click to expand...

The PSU that was killed in that video was a Raidmax, which is a well-known company that is known for it's cheap PSU's and anyone with a little bit of google know how can prove that they tend to explode a lot like that video.

theevilsharpie said:
Don't get me wrong, a premium power supply definitely has a place, especially with enthusiasts that need every last bit of power and cooling that a high-end power supply can provide, but to say that a cheap power supply = BOOOOOOM! is unsubstantiated FUD.
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Fine, I will admit that Cheap POS PSU's won't always explode but they can kill your other components with piss poor ripple. Just to get that point across here's a few more reviews showing bad PSU's that can explode from failure or just flat out suck.

Several Generic Units

Linkworld Made

Another Generic Unit

See the Rosewill and Cooler Master Units

Dynex and Rocketfish

few more bad apples

Ultra Products (although their products either hit the nail on the head or fail miserably.
 
Yep, waiting is a good idea. Don't forget you'll need to purchase a DVD drive (~$20) and a copy of Windows 7 (~$90) unless you already have an OS disc/key to use.

Really, $500 is the price point you should look at first, no less.
 
You could use Bill-Me-Later and have no payments for 6 months, build a nicer unit for $500 or so. Then send as much as you can, including the initial $300 and it won't be so bad...
 
tempradno said:
I've decided to cancel the $300 PC. I'll wait 'til I have more money.
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hahahahaha

you guys should be ashamed of yourself. you convinced the op that he needed to spend $400-$500 and talked him out of fun pc gaming for the next 6 mos.

@OP, go with your original idea and build a cheap system. the only thing to change is to get a 4670 or whatever instead of gt220. you'll still be under $300 and you'll have lots of fun while you're at it.
 
bryanW1995 said:
hahahahaha

you guys should be ashamed of yourself. you convinced the op that he needed to spend $400-$500 and talked him out of fun pc gaming for the next 6 mos.

@OP, go with your original idea and build a cheap system. the only thing to change is to get a 4670 or whatever instead of gt220. you'll still be under $300 and you'll have lots of fun while you're at it.
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Hey, I only wanted him to increase his budget to ~$350 :X so he could get a decent PSU that wouldn't be a POS.

He would also have to change a bit more than just the video card as his build still lacked an OS and optical drive...

It's possibly to build a $300 PC but I wouldn't call it a "gaming" machine by any means.
 
bryanW1995 said:
hahahahaha

you guys should be ashamed of yourself. you convinced the op that he needed to spend $400-$500 and talked him out of fun pc gaming for the next 6 mos.

@OP, go with your original idea and build a cheap system. the only thing to change is to get a 4670 or whatever instead of gt220. you'll still be under $300 and you'll have lots of fun while you're at it.
Click to expand...

You could play games now with low settings and/or perhaps choppy framerates now, or wait until later and have more fun with high settings and silky smooth gameplay later.

I played some games on my old X1950XT which were kinda choppy, like Assassin's Creed. It was fun, but it was also annoying since framerates occasionally dropped under 30fps.

And if you're in college, think of it this way. Use the next 6 months to study and get the A, then reward yourself with the gaming rig afterwards.
 
Maybe he can have his cake and eat it to?

Buy a base PC now with a quality motherboard with integrated graphics along with a good power supply, but cheap CPU and a single 2Gb RAM module. This is now your base system. In a month or when ever you can afford it, start buying the rest. Get a Good video card, then replace the low end CPU with a high end, add more RAM, and so on and so forth. You don't have to buy everything at once. Incremental upgrades also allow you to watch for really good deals as they appear. You can eBay your low end CPU or save it to build a MPC.

In the end you get the PC you want, but you start getting it now.
 
BladeVenom said:
Antec NSK 4480 II ATX Mid Tower Computer Case EarthWatts 380W Power Supply = $69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129059
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http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371005

Sounds like this 80 plus PSU (that comes with the case) has good reviews.

OP, the combo deal Blade Venom mentioned here sounds like a good idea. I think this PSU (included with that Antec case) will handle either GTS 250 or HD5770 pretty easily (both of which are good gaming cards.)
 
$395.93 + $10 shipping = $405.93 - $60 in rebates = $345.93.

Not quite sub-$300, but looks like a reasonable budget gaming system that could be upgraded, rather than tossed aside in six months. Unless anyone sees any components that raise a red flag. Haven't used any of these specific parts. I'd thrown together a sub-$500 wishlist earlier this week and modified it a bit (removing parts not specified in this thread, going up to AM3/DDR3). *Edit* Looking at reviews, that Gigabyte board has been getting a lot of DOAs recently. Maybe swap that with an ASUS or MSI for $5-$10 more.

Though waiting isn't a terrible idea either, if you can look at a better system within six months and can make do with what you have in the meantime.
 
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