Super cheap "gaming" rig?

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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
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www.mfenn.com
Thanks for going way beyond the call of duty! :)

I´ll be cheking this for the next few days to familiarize myself a bit more with the Intel side of things.

Makes me hopeful that you say that in the next months things will get better. AMD lately is just making small 100 MHZ increments to their CPUs. But good stuff on the graphics side, can´t deny them credit there.

David did a good job, but in the future, you should post a new thread when you want to discuss a different build.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
32
91
rosewill r218p-bk case ~25

Only available in combo, and none are good.

Athlon II X3 740 + Biostar 880G combo $119
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.566266

4GB DDR3 $43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146748

Antec 400W PSU $30 AR (Better reviews than that Corsair 430W and 80+ for only $4 more factoring shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371029
(edit: Lost its rebate. Now $45.)

1GB GTX 460 $165 AR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125333

500GB Caviar Blue w/ promo EMCZNZR47 (good find)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

DVD-R $17
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118039

Case: Shop around. Nothing good at the Egg right now. Check the dump for freebies.

$448.95 shipped with $30 MIR. Case needed though.

If the OP's roommate doesn't need much HDD space, then the Samsung F4 320GB will be faster for around the same price.
$10 more with its $7 in shipping, though.
 
Last edited:
Jan 18, 2010
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Dont get me wrong you ppl but sometimes you exaggerate a bit! What I mean is, you dont need a SUPER computer to run all this new games or even to websurf!

I just recently saw games like CoD BO, Assassins Creed 2, Dirt, F1, SF IV, PES, running on systems like: Mobile C2D+5470; E5400+GF7300 (and they were running pretty well) 1280*1024 medium/high detail.

To run games at low resolutions you dont need the ultimate machine, be aware than in ourdays, low is (1640*1024) and to run games at that res you'll obviously need a much better hardware but not at 1024*768.
Same for websurfing, even a PIII will do the job if you are not the kind of guy that opens 50 windows, winrar, antivirus, etc, at the same time
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,386
32
91
Same for websurfing, even a PIII will do the job if you are not the kind of guy that opens 50 windows, winrar, antivirus, etc, at the same time

Not anymore. A few animated gifs and Flash ads will absolutely kill the scrolling on my PIII 700/ 384MB machine.
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
Dont get me wrong you ppl but sometimes you exaggerate a bit! What I mean is, you dont need a SUPER computer to run all this new games or even to websurf!

I just recently saw games like CoD BO, Assassins Creed 2, Dirt, F1, SF IV, PES, running on systems like: Mobile C2D+5470; E5400+GF7300 (and they were running pretty well) 1280*1024 medium/high detail.

To run games at low resolutions you dont need the ultimate machine, be aware than in ourdays, low is (1640*1024) and to run games at that res you'll obviously need a much better hardware but not at 1024*768.
Same for websurfing, even a PIII will do the job if you are not the kind of guy that opens 50 windows, winrar, antivirus, etc, at the same time

Yeah, but in this day and age of $200 1080P monitors, playing at 1024x768 is a crime against humanity. (Or at least your eyes! :p)
 
Jan 18, 2010
60
0
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Yeah, but in this day and age of $200 1080P monitors, playing at 1024x768 is a crime against humanity. (Or at least your eyes! :p)

True... specially if you have a decent screen, but if you still have an old CRT, you wont notice it so much!
I see many players gaming on laptops 1400*1080 and 1280*1024 and it is bearable! Obviously 1680*1050 is better, and 2560*1600 is even better...

Once I just for fun I tried some new games at 640*480 with full detail and AA on... its not as bad as you could think!!!
 

mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
True... specially if you have a decent screen, but if you still have an old CRT, you wont notice it so much!
I see many players gaming on laptops 1400*1080 and 1280*1024 and it is bearable! Obviously 1680*1050 is better, and 2560*1600 is even better...

Once I just for fun I tried some new games at 640*480 with full detail and AA on... its not as bad as you could think!!!

I dunno, I think that it would be pretty bad. :awe: