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Thread ID: 96960	2009-01-30 03:35:00	Building a PC cheaply?	vladiator (14565)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
743307	2009-01-30 03:35:00	Hi everyone! I am new here. I have a computer that I use to play games. It is Acer MediaCentre T620, purchased from DSE 3.5 years ago. It came with Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 60Gb HDD, and intergrated graphics card. Over the years I slightly improved it by giving it 2Gb RAM, and Palit 512Mb Geforce 9800 (or maybe 9600, I forgot..). The computer served me well all these years: for example, I can play Oblivion on the highest settings and Stalker on high-ish settings. It does have its moments however -- e.g. playing Football Manager 2009 it gets almost stuck from time to time. I am worried that I will have troubles playing newer games as they constantly become bigger and more technically advanced. So, I thought about building my own PC. I read what components are required for a computer to operate and went to pricespy and some online store sites to check them. I was shocked to discover the variety of different CPUs, MoBo, etc that are currently available! To make things even more complicated, prices range immensely! I am not an expert on computers, so I simply do not know what to choose. If I see two CPUs, one costs $300 and the other $600, I will assume that the first one is rubbish and will not allow me to play big new games and the second is good. However, I am not prepared to spend more than about $800 (without a graphics card) on building a system, preferably less. So, my question is: is it possible to build a good gaming PC for around $800 (again, this is excluding a graphics card -- I would use my current one and get a better one in due course)? One that would be fast and would run on highest settings both any games currently available and those that are coming out in near future? Or is it only possible if I spend thousands? If it is possible, would you be able to recommend what components I should get to make such a computer? Thanks in advance.	vladiator (14565)
743308	2009-01-30 03:43:00	Definitely, building a gaming PC for 800 is achievable. You could go AMD if you want and save a bit of money, or just Intel would be OK. Get something similar to this: CPU: $150.00 Intel Pentium E5200 2.5GHz 2M LGA775 Mobo: $185.00 Asustek P5QL-PRO LGA775 Intel P43 FSB 1600 DDR2 1066 PCIE 2.0 RAM: $76.00 2x1GB DDR2-800 CL4 Memory GFX: $243.00 ATI Radeon HD 4830 512MB Case: Use old case PSU: $88.00 Antec TRUEPOWER TRIO 430W DVD: $42.00 Asustek DRW-2014L1T Serial-ATA DVD Writer HDD: $128.00 640GB Western Digital SATA 7200rpm 16MB This should allow you to play most old games on high settings and current games at medium, depending on the resolution and size of your monitor. Thanks Blam	Blam (54)
743309	2009-01-30 03:45:00	He's already stated that he's using his current graphics card, so that's not necessary. :) You could also reuse your optical drive if you wanted to, like I did.	pcuser42 (130)
743310	2009-01-30 03:48:00	Welcome to PF1 -- A Gaming PC for under $800 - not going to be that flash, even without the card included. The example given about prices on components cheap = rubbish NOPE- meaning if you saw the exact same CPU ( or any other component) for different prices then they are the same component, just different places charge more. You have to look at the CPU or other component spec's - for example a Intel E7300 Dual Core will be a LOT less than a Intel i7 940. General rule of thumb - the more expensive the more power the CPU will have. The Graphic card you have -if its an AGP card - you'll be hard pressed to find a Modern board with AGP slots, they are now PCI-E, totally different slots , and not interchangeable.	wainuitech (129)
743311	2009-01-30 03:55:00	Thanks blam I notice you chose Pentium CPU. But everywhere I look, I see Dual and Quad Cores. Is Pentium considered outdated now? Would the system that you suggested, be much better than what I have? (As I mentioned I can play Oblivion, Stalker. Never tried something like Crysis). You system comes to $912, which is fine. But if we remove the price of the graphics card and DVD (can use my old ones), can the rest of elements be improved further?	vladiator (14565)
743312	2009-01-30 03:55:00	hard to answer because many different styles of games need more of different computer resources (some ram, others cpu, but mostly graphics) Basic decision is AMD or Intel Amd is generally the cheaper option and they perform pretty good, i personally use intel So if you were going with an intel system id recommmend... Core2duo q6600 - $420ish Motherboard is all down to how much upgrading you plan on doing - roughly $180ish Ram - 4gig ddr2 800 - $75 (pcpacific.net) cheapest stuff i could find, preferably youd get better but you want cheap Power Supply - This isnt worth being cheap about, cheap psus are known to cause problems. For what you want i think the one im using would be excellent, its in my sig $200 from memory Hard drive - 640gig Western Digital for about $130 Have you got a case? DVDrom is pretty much a must if you want latest games as well Youl see that we're already up at about 1k, you can buy a cheaper cpu or psu but if you want it to be reliable and be sorta future proof go with it Also whether or not this would run on highest settings is alot to do with the resolution your monitor is running, the higher the resolution the better your pc needs to be. If your at 1280x1024 or something like that then you should be fine hope that helps	hueybot3000 (3646)
743313	2009-01-30 03:56:00	You would probably want to use at least a Core 2 Duo for a gaming system. ;) EDIT: Sorta snap. :D	pcuser42 (130)
743314	2009-01-30 03:57:00	you guys type to quick is your budget set at 800 or is that just what youd like to spend?	hueybot3000 (3646)
743315	2009-01-30 03:59:00	Wow, that's a very busy forum! Thanks to all of you! My card is PCI-E. I also did mean that different CPUs come in different prices and wondered whether I could get a cheaper one that would still be good enough for modern games.	vladiator (14565)
743316	2009-01-30 04:01:00	core2 is cheaper but quad core is more future proof (games are slowly starting to make use of them) so that would be up to you what your really tryin to achieve is a cheap fix, its like a car, the more you spend on mods the more the improvement EDIT: should also add that mine (e6600) which is the same price as the quad handles modern games fine, adminttedly im ocd but even stock it held up fine	hueybot3000 (3646)
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