Budget gaming PC?

[jjrox32]

Over the summer I'm getting a job for a few weeks. I'll probably end up making somewhere between 500-600 dollars. I might be able to squeeze a little more cash as it's my birthday soon, but the max budget would be around 700-800 dollars AT THE MOST. What I'm aiming for is a computer that I can use mainly for gaming (nothing insane like Crysis on high settings, mainly Source games. Bioshock on low settings might be in there somewhere), with semi-good longevity. I need to start from scratch, so this includes a mouse, keyboard, monitor, case, etc.

 

 

 

Any suggestions?

[Cruiser]

You can put together low end dual core machines with case and all the parts you need for $300-$400. A decent video card will run another $100-$200 depending on how fast you go. A monitor will be another $150-$200. Basic Vista versions run ~$90 so you're looking at a minimum of about $600-$700 if you want something with playable gaming performance.

 

 

 

You're better off waiting till you actually have the money on hand so we can put together a parts list for the money you can actually spend because things may have changed by the time you've saved it all up.

[OldJoe]

As cruiser said, and there's some new video cards coming out in a couple of weeks. ATI 4850 will be launched for 199$ and 25-40% better performance than 8800GT. And if i don't remember wrong, very soon, Intel is shipping out some new CPU's=lower prices on older ones. So you will be in a very good spot to buy a new rig =) (Nvidia will ship out two new power hungry cards in a couple of weeks, thus lowering the price on their older ones)

[everhappy111]

that budget, seems hard to get a good gaming pc

[Nadril]

that budget, seems hard to get a good gaming pc

 

 

 

Mine was about $800 (including OS but no monitor) and then I spent another $130 a year later on a video card.

 

 

 

I play Age of Conan on all highs @ 50fps and pretty much anything else maxed out. (save for Crysis, it optimizes poorly).

 

 

 

 

 

Anyways I would say wait a bit for when you have the money in hand.

[Kriegsmier]

Ditto to Nadril. Except mine was about $100 more.

 

 

 

I think its possible to build a budget gamer. Even with the new releases, that doesn't always make the prices go down. Just look at RAM. DDR costs you an arm and a leg while DDR2 is dirt cheap comparably. And DDR2 is the newer of the two. Also video cards, i can get better performance out of a 8800gt then a 9600 and they run about the same price, 9600 being a newer card, but the 8800 is tried and tested and still ranks up there with some of the best gamer cards.

 

 

 

I'm a GeForce fan, i'll never own another ATI card. Also a Intel fan. A lot of my suggestions i either use myself or have used.

 

 

 

Processor/CPU: Q6600 or E8400 (6600 is quad 8400 is dual core. Difference of about $10-15 both are good)

 

Mobo: Gigabyte P35 DS3L

 

RAM: GSkill 4GB PC6400 DDR2

 

Video Card: GeForce 8800GT

 

HD: Seagate Cuda 320GB 7200RPM

 

Optical Drive: Use an old one or a Samsung DVD/RW whatever.

 

 

 

Total: $674 (not including shipping prices) You could use old optical drives and/or old hard drives as well. Save some costs. Just wipe them clean and start over. Without those 2 you're looking at about a $565 build.

 

 

 

Another option, whats your computer like now? Anyway you can just update a few parts?