Need a custom gaming computer for around $400-$500

[ThrasherFan22]

This is my first post so im not that familiar with the site but i need help building a custom computer. A friend of mine is like, a total genius with computers and he offered to help me build one because he has build 4 or 5 of them with his dad.

Im kinda familiar with computer like needing lots of harddrive space for games and music but that is about it. PLEASE POST

i mainly play WoW and fps games and listen to a good deal of music.

 

[Jesse_hz]

500$ seems like a rather small budget to me, but with cheap components you may be able to squeeze it in that budget. Places where you can skimp a bit are the graphics card (WoW runs fine on a GF6xxx series card and Intel GMA900), and you could probably get a cheap cpu from the last generation of dual-cores. You probably shouldn't skimp on the motherboard as it will limit your future upgrade options.

 

[wallabing]

Athlon 64 3200 skt AM2

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813138041

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820161067

Video = X1650Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102050

SATA Hard drive thats $50

Windows XP Home OEM $95 (If you need it)


So... $520

Add PSU and case combo, optical drive and it will be $580, which is overbudget so sry. So I think you have to sacrafice the video to make ends meet. Probally an older X800 or something.

 

[SNGX1275]

xbox360

asrock 775dualvsta is a cheap board that will let you use agp or pcie graphics cards and accepts ddr and ddr2 ram. if you want a budget system build around that board, it will give you the most flexibility. I'm not going to do the work for you, but the board is around 50, and with that board you can recycle a bunch of crap from your current system.

 

[ThrasherFan22]

well i dont have a current system except the computer my family has downstairs. its great but i want a computer of my own that has a good video card, the games i was mainly wanting a good processor speed and a good video card for would be wow, doom 3, call of duty, medal of honor, fear, and halo. the video card my familys pc has is choppy while playing these games except when playing wow although it does get choppy when entering very heavily populated areas such as ironforge. so summed up, a good gaming computer

 

[mailpup]

The games you want to play are quite demanding on the hardware. Steve, who writes for Techspot as a reviewer, wrote an article about building a $600 PC back in November of 2006. Prices might be lower by now. Anyway, check it out here for some ideas.

 

[ThrasherFan22]

well that setup dosent include a case or alot of the other components for creating a custom pc from scratch

 

[ThrasherFan22]

if u have any ideas for a pc around 600, it would be nice to know but im trying to get the best pc for the lowest price. i also checked out newegg to check out pricing and was wondering, what is a barebone pc?

 

[wallabing]

if u have any ideas for a pc around 600, it would be nice to know but im trying to get the best pc for the lowest price. i also checked out newegg to check out pricing and was wondering, what is a barebone pc?

A barebone system is a motherboard, case and psu combo.

Sometimes, a barebone is also a special design that uses a special motherboard/components, such as a small form factor systems such as the Shuttle brand.

 

[ThrasherFan22]

A barebone system is a motherboard, case and psu combo.

Sometimes, a barebone is also a special design that uses a special motherboard/components, such as a small form factor systems such as the Shuttle brand.

srry but i dont know wat a psu is although i kinda know wat a motherboard is and i know for a fact wat a case is. shuttle brand? Remember, im new to all this stuff.

i was thinking about buying a bare bone pc and getting the other neccesary components. would this work.

barebone pc
Freetech Cobra

harddrive
Western Digital 320 GB 16 cache

video card
Radeon Diamond x1600 AGP 512 mb GDDR2\

Ram
a-data 1 gb ddr2

processor
amd duel channel


is this all i need, anything else like a sound card or somthin like that?

 

[rmdl51]

Hello my friend! First of all let me tell you that Gaming on a PC is quite a expensive hobby, you get exactly what you paid for, I'm saying this so you won't be dissapointed later.
PSU stand for Power Supply Unit, and MotherBoard or MOBO is the Main Board where you'll install all the components (RAM, CPU, HDD, etc).
These two are the components you can't skimp on. MOBO will let you upgrade later and PSU is the one will keep you video card juiced.
I'll dare to say that a standart budget for a gaming PC should be 1k, could be less cuz you might find good deals online, but honestly the games you want to play (FPS: Halo, FEAR, COD, etc) are demanding games, and if you want to start from scratch then that means you'll need a Monitor, KB, Mouse, etc.
pretty hard to make it with $500. I'm not saying is impossible but it's hard to build a gaming machine from scratch with that budget. My suggestion is to save a little bit more and maybe with $700-800 you can get a decent gaming system.
About the Parts you posted:
The Freetch Cobra G6100 is a pretty good deal...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856121015

even tough it's not compatible with the Video Card or RAM you posted, the video Card is AGP, that's the name of the slot where the card goes and this MOBO has a PCI-E slot, The RAM is DDR2 and this MOBO is only compatible with DDR, I think an option is that you could use this barebone PC with the onboard graphics for a while in the meantime you save money for a good PCI-E card, just add the CPU, RAM and HDD, BTW don't get one stick of 1GB Ram, for DDR RAM get 2x512, let's say, something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820148007

That way you'll get the Dual channel working

Also PSU on this case is not a good one, the Amps on the 12v rail is too low, but like I said, you can use the onboard Graphics and then save for a Video Card and PSU in the future. The PSU will be ok for just the MOBO, 1 HDD and 1 Optical Drive.

Ok, I hope I help you a little bit, I dont mean to confuse you with all this stuff, anyway if there is something you want to know just ask, we're here to help GL :wave:

 

[ThrasherFan22]

Hello my friend! First of all let me tell you that Gaming on a PC is quite a expensive hobby, you get exactly what you paid for, I'm saying this so you won't be dissapointed later.
PSU stand for Power Supply Unit, and MotherBoard or MOBO is the Main Board where you'll install all the components (RAM, CPU, HDD, etc).
These two are the components you can't skimp on. MOBO will let you upgrade later and PSU is the one will keep you video card juiced.
I'll dare to say that a standart budget for a gaming PC should be 1k, could be less cuz you might find good deals online, but honestly the games you want to play (FPS: Halo, FEAR, COD, etc) are demanding games, and if you want to start from scratch then that means you'll need a Monitor, KB, Mouse, etc.
pretty hard to make it with $500. I'm not saying is impossible but it's hard to build a gaming machine from scratch with that budget. My suggestion is to save a little bit more and maybe with $700-800 you can get a decent gaming system.
About the Parts you posted:
The Freetch Cobra G6100 is a pretty good deal...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16856121015

even tough it's not compatible with the Video Card or RAM you posted, the video Card is AGP, that's the name of the slot where the card goes and this MOBO has a PCI-E slot, The RAM is DDR2 and this MOBO is only compatible with DDR, I think an option is that you could use this barebone PC with the onboard graphics for a while in the meantime you save money for a good PCI-E card, just add the CPU, RAM and HDD, BTW don't get one stick of 1GB Ram, for DDR RAM get 2x512, let's say, something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820148007

That way you'll get the Dual channel working

Also PSU on this case is not a good one, the Amps on the 12v rail is too low, but like I said, you can use the onboard Graphics and then save for a Video Card and PSU in the future. The PSU will be ok for just the MOBO, 1 HDD and 1 Optical Drive.

Ok, I hope I help you a little bit, I dont mean to confuse you with all this stuff, anyway if there is something you want to know just ask, we're here to help GL :wave:

thx. i found out wat a psu was last night so i figures out that but mobo was new to me. the rest of the stuff i understood. a guy my mom works for is really good with computers and i can get really good deals on stuff from him because him and my mom do buisiness all the time. my moms going to tell him that i want a good gaming computer for a low price and hes gonna buy the parts and put it together for me. i just gotta pay him back. its probably gonna kill my wallet tho.:dead: o well thanks for the info

 

[SNGX1275]

Are you planning to continue to ask questions that members spend some time researching and answering for you and then completely disregarding our thoughts by having someone you know do it? Why didn't you just skip all this bs and have him build you one from the start? Its disrespectful. Another thing that is disrespectful is writing like you are typing a txt message to you buddy on a cellphone from school, type in proper English or at least as close as possible and you'll get a lot more respect around here.

 

[ThrasherFan22]

Are you planning to continue to ask questions that members spend some time researching and answering for you and then completely disregarding our thoughts by having someone you know do it? Why didn't you just skip all this bs and have him build you one from the start? Its disrespectful. Another thing that is disrespectful is writing like you are typing a txt message to you buddy on a cellphone from school, type in proper English or at least as close as possible and you'll get a lot more respect around here.

the only reson i joined this site is so that i cud ask thes questions was so that i cud no wat to use to build a good pc. 2nd, only losrs spel evrything perfect. 3rd, i didnt now the guy who kud build it for me until ystrday so think befor u judg peple *******.

 

[agi_shi]

the only reson i joined this site is so that i cud ask thes questions was so that i cud no wat to use to build a good pc. 2nd, only losrs spel evrything perfect. 3rd, i didnt now the guy who kud build it for me until ystrday so think befor u judg peple *******.

Actually, You're The Loser! Yay! :giddy:

 

[F1N3ST]

Might as well go find a differant site to ask your questions at, go away, your not wanted

 

[SNGX1275]

the only reson i joined this site is so that i cud ask thes questions was so that i cud no wat to use to build a good pc. 2nd, only losrs spel evrything perfect. 3rd, i didnt now the guy who kud build it for me until ystrday so think befor u judg peple *******.

Look man, rmdl51 and wallabing spent some time looking up stuff for you. I thought you might be wanting someone to do all the work for you so in my first post I just gave you an example of a good motherboard for your situation so you'd have a solid foundation to build off of without spending a lot of money, I wanted you to put forth the effort to find out what to do after that. Techspot is about making people more knowledgeable and guiding them through mistakes in the hopes they can help other people out along the way. Its not a place you should come to get everything done for you.

I hope you come back long enough to read the responses that show you aren't welcome here with that attitude. We can now spend time helping others rather than dealing with you and trying to decypher that crap you are spewing forth that is a sorry attempt at English.

 

[Ressurrector]

Asus motherboards

AMD chips


can't go wrong man I have field tested em and their built like panzer tanks whether its games,music just listening or making ,multitasking they hold up at your price I hope you have a few things u can salvage dont expect a bad *** gaming machine complete for 400 lol cause it ain't gonna happen you can spend that on a video card for really good graphics

 

[rmdl51]

It's a shame that you call us Losers just because we spell correctly, you called Losers to people trying to help you man, you offended people here at the forum, sngx1275 didn't offended you, he just told you how disrespectful you was about our opinions, and you came out calling us Losers and your banned word is pretty easy to guess, about me, no offense taken, I'm not a loser, I'm an educated person with knowledge and experience, you just proved that you are an immature kid who was raised without knowing the words kind and polite, and I don't mean to offend you, this is just what your behavior showed to us. And last, a piece of advice, pay attention to your grammar class. because even Bill Gates have to get perfect spelling when he wrote windows code, and he's not a Loser right?

 

[ThrasherFan22]

I do pay attention in my grammar classes. highschool grammar isnt hard as i have all a's and b's. i also didnt mean to offend anyone at the forum. i didnt think before i acted. i did take into account all of the things that everyone did for me and i appriciate that, but i hadnt thought about marcus (the guy who will build my pc for me) could help me. i had just thought that since this would have been a first build, it would be better for him to build a pc for me and I can upgrade it as needed so that I can learn as i go. Again, im srry if i offended anyone, and i know i did.

 

[ThrasherFan22]

Has anyone gone to college as a game desighner, pc technician, or similar. Its off topic but im closing the gap between now and then and i would like to go to a college of that sort. If anyone has anything of that nature, please post that as well. Thanks