Budget gaming pc: help!

G

graysuh

n00b
Joined
Aug 29, 2010
Messages
7
Hello all, I'm planning to build a gaming pc from scratch. I would also like to mention that I have no prior knowledge of anything related to computer parts :p I'm just a girl hoping to play Starcraft 2 and a few other games because my macbook does not support anything. I would greatly appreciate everyone's help! This will be my first self-built computer, and I'm excited. :)

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming (SC2), Photoshop, video editing

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Ok I increased my budget to 600-700.

3) Where do you live?
Los Angeles, Ca

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I am starting out with nothing basically :D So I just copied and pasted what I found from the general thread.. I guess I don't need everything, but I also don't know what they are.


COMPUTER (TOWER):
Case
Power Supply (PSU)
Case Fan(s)
Motherboard with the sound
Processor (CPU)
CPU Cooler/Heatsink with Fan (HSF)
Memory (RAM)
Hard Drive (HDD)
Optical (Disc) Drive (CD/DVD/HD-DVD/BR)
Video/Graphics Card (GPU)


PERIPHERALS/OTHER ACCESSORIES:
Monitor


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
No parts.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I plan to buy a 20-22'' 1920 x 1080 monitor.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Starting now-ish to September

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I don't need these.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
None. Friend has windows 7 though.


After going through everything, I hope I can fit everything within my budget... if not, please let me know. I want a gaming pc, but it does not have to be amazing.
 
Last edited:
Well this is the best I could find for your budget ( wich is cutting it a little short for a gaming rig to be honest )

CPU: AMD Athlon II X3 440 3.0GHz Triple-Core AM3 $75

Mobo: ASRock M3A770DE: Socket AM3, 770 Chipset $60

Ram: G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 $81

Graphics card: Radeon HD 5770 1GB $145

HDD: Samsung F3 500GB SATA II 3.0Gb/s $53

DVD: LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner $18

Power supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80PLUS BRONZE Certified $60

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX 2 x 120mm + 1x 140mm fans $45

Total: $535

For $ 20 more you have a AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Processor

Good luck.
 
Do you have a monitor already? If so, what? If not, are you trying to include it with the rest of this build? (If you really need a monitor, you need to up your budget. I believe that $600 is cutting things too closely for a decent gaming system plus a monitor.)

Hell, do you need a keyboard and mouse? Speakers?

Does your friend has an unused, unactivated copy of Windows that he's willing to give you? If so, which version? Is it 32-bit or 64-bit?
 
I was hoping for ~500$ to spend on the core build, excluding monitor/accessories. I only listed all the other stuff like keyboard/mouse because I dont have any to spare. And I don't have a monitor.

i can get windows 7, 64 bit.
 
Include the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers, for now, and tell us how much at most you can spend on this system (including shipping and taxes).
 
so it turns out, I can get a keyboard and speakers from my friend. I have a magic mouse, but that only connects through bluetooth... so I think I'll buy one of those bluetooth dongles for 3$.

But with the tower and monitor I can spend up to 700. preferably less...
 
Two more questions:

Beside StarCraft 2, which games are you going to play?

At what level of visual quality?
 
Regarding a bluetooth dongle, you can pick a really small one up from dealextreme (sku 11866) for $1.80 shipped. I use them myself for side projects as I play around with my arduino and they're nice little units, though I typically end up desoldering the LED (can get pretty annoying). Small, cheap, plug-and-play.
 
thanks Nathalex!!! for the build :) it's super awesome. I've decided to downgrade the graphics card to 5750, which is 45$ cheaper :D

and tiraides, I'm not a hugee gamer and I haven't reallly played games for the past 3 years (macbook... haha), but it's my last year in college, so I decided to build a good computer that'll last me a while in addition to being able to play games with decent visual quality. I also play games from Steam (counter-strike, portal, etc.) but those games don't necessarily require a highly advanced system. I feel that I could just buy a desktop premade, but I decided on building one because it's cheaper and I can customize it.

and thanks for the bluetooth dongle deal :) 1.80 is superrr cheap!
 
grats on the Win7, that's a big saver right there. By the way, if you want a much better vid card, snag one from this deal for $145 if you can swing it.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1036115315#post1036115315

As for the rest, I'd suggest the PII 555BE and just unlock it. Beyond simple to do and great chance you'll get a quad out of it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103846

Also, I'd suggest a wired mouse instead of BlueTooth as I've had dropout issues with some of mine accessories (not often) and some people even more so.

Other then that just keep an eye on slickdeals.com and our [H]ot deals section, never know what might pop out.
 
Do you live near a Fry's or Micro Center?

If not, where do you plan on buying most/all of your parts from?
 
i'm probably just gonna search for deals online, following Nathalex's build and other additional changes if needed. if you have any suggestions, please let me know! thanksss
 
Here's the problem: On Wednesday, September 1, the August deals and sales expire, but it will take a while before most of the good deals for the month of September are announced. While NewEgg normally has good deals, you get hit with a 10% sales tax by them; and Amazon's normally hit-or-miss with some of the cheaper, lower-end products. That's why I asked whether or not you lived near a Fry's or MC; you could have bought some of your parts from one of those stores to save yourself a bit of money.

I can't come up with a build for you tonight, but I need to know whether or not you were planning to buy most of your components from either NewEgg or Amazon. Also, if a 22" inch monitor with, say, a 1680x1050 resolution was cheaper than the 1920x1080 monitor, would you be able to live with that?
 
oh that's true. since labor day is coming up, there might be better deals huh? Im living in the middle of nowhere right now, so there's no Frys or anything store similar around me. I was thinking of just buying the parts one by one online and shipping them to LA.

i am hoping to buy a 1080p, and i've been looking for ones for less than 150$. I'm not in a rush to build this computer, so it's okay to wait for the september deals.
 
Well, think about what you want... and see if you scrounge up a little more cash between now and Labor Day.
 
If you are going for a 1080p monitor the 5770 would be as low as you should go.
I got the card and for casual gaming it's good. It's like a GTX 260. And really worth the xtra $45.
In my opinion.
 
Hey everyone, so I found these deals online and my friend suggested that I get them.

Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition Processor Boxed ($87.99)
A785G3 Socket AM3 785G mATX Motherboard ($19.99)
(These two are from the bundles deal from the microcenter)

Samsung SpinPoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB SATA2 7200rpm 32MB Hard Drive
HD-HD103SJ $78.98
Samsung SH-S223C/BEBE 22X SATA DVD+/-RW Internal Drive (Black), Bulk w/o Software
(These two are a combo from ewiz.com) --> after discount, the total is $71.08

The only thing that I don't understand is the difference between a mATX and ATX. I looked up some of the differences, which include a smaller power supply and fewer pci slots. Is this a problem for the desktop? Thanks in advance!
 
looks good but I coulda sworn I saw someone with the F3 for cheaper recently, will go check.
 
Don't get the motherboard/processor combo deal. Photoshop benefits greatly from a quad-core processor; though the X2 555 BE can be "converted" to a quad-core (it is basically a quad-core with two of its cores disabled), only certain boards are capable of unlocking the unused two cores. I don't believe that the board bundled with the processor is capable of unlocking CPU cores.

I don't know what your local Micro Center has for motherboards, so I suggest that you look for a board that either has "Core Unlock" or is known to be able to unlock CPU cores. If you can't find a board, I recommend that you instead go with either the Athlon II X4 63x or the Phenom II 955 Black Edition quad-core.

Micro ATX (aka microATX or mATX) boards are smaller than ATX boards, and (as you correctly mentioned) have four expansion ports instead of the seven that are normally found on ATX boards. If you don't have specific needs, you won't have any problems with a microATX board.
 
that would be the one, was just comin back to update. Also, that Motherboard unlocks just fine. Don't forget to follow the unlocking guide in the AMD Proc section on [H]ere.
 
I have a complete tower for you to consider (not including monitor, which I'll explain below).

Buy your "core" from NewEgg:
$149 - AMD Athlon II X4 630 & MSI 870-G45 combo
$73 - Geil 2x2GB DDR3 1333
=====
$222 - Subtotal
+$22 - CA State Tax
=====
$244 - Total (free ground shipping on above items)

Grab the rest of your stuff from Amazon (which doesn't charge CA residents any sales tax):
$155 - Sapphire 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770
$45 - Western Digital WD5000AAKS 500GB HDD
$21 - LG GH24NS50 SATA DVD burner
$40 - Cooler Master Elite 310 ATX mid-tower or Elite 341 mATX mini-tower case
$50 - Corsair CX430 430W PSU
=====
$308 - Total (free shipping on above parts)

The total from both places for the entire system is around $552. If you go towards a 22" and/or a 1920x1080 resolution monitor, you'd bust your $700 budget limit, so it depends on how badly you want a 1080p monitor.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top