Can a 400-500$ PC run recent games?

[Denismage]

If so, prove it by listing the components you've used. You can exclude the monitor, keyboard and mice. Please don't use crappy components, and please no VIA.

 

 

 

The reason why I'm asking is because I'm thinking whether it's better and cheaper to get a console for gaming, and at the moment it appears to be so.

[Mylez]

My spec:

 

 

 

AMD 780g Motherboard

 

NVIDIA 9800GT 512mb

 

AMD Phenom x3 2.3ghz 8650

 

Gateway 19" wide & Acer 17"

 

Hitatchi 150gb & Freecom 500gb

 

Kingston 4gb RAM @ 1066

 

Soundblaster x-fi live

 

Logitech g9 laser gaming mouse

 

Logitech media-600 keyboard

 

Creative Fatal1ty headset

 

Windows XP Professional SP3

 

 

 

I just C&P'd that from somewhere else, that's why it has all of my spec. Anyway, I built that for around £500, or $700.

 

I estimate you'll get a SIMILAR set-up, slightly lower performance for around $400 - 500.

 

 

 

I can run Crysis on medium at 50FPS no problem. Crysis is one of the most performance heavy games out there. Hope I've helped :

[Nadril]

Build by me and ultimania92:

 

CPU- AMD Athalon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6ghz $60

 

GPU- EVGA 8600GT 256MB $40

 

RAM- Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $45

 

HD- Seagate 400GB 7200RPM $50

 

CD/DVD- LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD $18

 

Mobo- BIOSTAR nForce 520D $49.99

 

CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99

 

OS- Microsoft XP OEM $90

 

Total Price: $390

 

 

 

 

 

Some of it was deals that may be outdated, me and Ultima did it like 6 months back so you could actually get some better parts probably. Not to mention this includes the OS.

[runescapeloser22]

Build by me and ultimania92:

 

CPU- AMD Athalon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6ghz $60

 

GPU- EVGA 8600GT 256MB $40

 

RAM- Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $45

 

HD- Seagate 400GB 7200RPM $50

 

CD/DVD- LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD $18

 

Mobo- BIOSTAR nForce 520D $49.99

 

CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99

 

OS- Microsoft XP OEM $90

 

Total Price: $390

 

 

 

 

 

Some of it was deals that may be outdated, me and Ultima did it like 6 months back so you could actually get some better parts probably. Not to mention this includes the OS.

 

Everything except the OS, case, and RAM are deactivated on Newegg :lol:

[Nadril]

Build by me and ultimania92:

 

CPU- AMD Athalon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6ghz $60

 

GPU- EVGA 8600GT 256MB $40

 

RAM- Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $45

 

HD- Seagate 400GB 7200RPM $50

 

CD/DVD- LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD $18

 

Mobo- BIOSTAR nForce 520D $49.99

 

CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99

 

OS- Microsoft XP OEM $90

 

Total Price: $390

 

 

 

 

 

Some of it was deals that may be outdated, me and Ultima did it like 6 months back so you could actually get some better parts probably. Not to mention this includes the OS.

 

Everything except the OS, case, and RAM are deactivated on Newegg :lol:

 

 

 

Yeah I figured. Still you can get the same idea for probably around the same price. I'll be damned if I'm looking for all that again though lol.

[Mylez]

Build by me and ultimania92:

 

CPU- AMD Athalon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6ghz $60

 

GPU- EVGA 8600GT 256MB $40

 

RAM- Corsair 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $45

 

HD- Seagate 400GB 7200RPM $50

 

CD/DVD- LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD $18

 

Mobo- BIOSTAR nForce 520D $49.99

 

CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99

 

OS- Microsoft XP OEM $90

 

Total Price: $390

 

 

 

 

 

Some of it was deals that may be outdated, me and Ultima did it like 6 months back so you could actually get some better parts probably. Not to mention this includes the OS.

 

 

 

 

 

That's a pretty good set-up and will play most games. :thumbup:

 

 

 

EDIT: Yay! 1k posts. : Party at my place!

[vesuvius27]

CPU- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 2.9ghz $72.99

 

GPU- EVGA 8600GTS 256MB $54.99

 

RAM- Crucial 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $34.99

 

HD- Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM $49.99

 

CD/DVD- LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD $20.99

 

Mobo- MSI $49.99

 

CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99

 

OS- Microsoft XP OEM $89.99

 

Total Price: $410.92

[Deathmath]

CPU- AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600 2.9ghz $72.99

 

GPU- EVGA 8600GTS 256MB $54.99

 

RAM- Crucial 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 800 $34.99

 

HD- Western Digital 320GB 7200RPM $49.99

 

CD/DVD- LITE-ON 16x DVD 48x CD $20.99

 

Mobo- MSI $49.99

 

CASE- Linkworld /w 400W PSU $36.99

 

OS- Microsoft XP OEM $89.99

 

Total Price: $410.92

 

 

 

Yeah that's good. It'll run most everything, but not on max graphics. (It's like my best comp :P )

[JoeDaStudd]

These all look like ok builds to me.

 

 

 

I would do the following to vesuvius27's build.

 

Replace the CPU with this - better performance, unlocked and cheaper $64.99.

 

Replace the DVD with this - SATA connection for only $2 more (trust me its a lot easier to work with).

 

Replace the RAM with this - after rebates its $19.99 for 4gb of ram :shock:

 

Replace the motherboard with this - $69.99 after rebates, but AM2+ socket (better for the CPU and great onboard).

 

Replace the graphics card with this - $49.99 after rebates

 

Vista Home premium 64 bit $99.99 - don't give me any rubbish about Vista. This allows the full 4gb to be usable as well as play DX10 games if you decide to upgrade.

 

 

 

$426.93 pre rebates, $376.93 after. So add a case + psu and you've got a damn good build.

 

 

 

Full specs would be

 

X2 7750+ 2.6ghz AM2+ (black edition)

 

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H AM2+ (780G)

 

Powercolor HD4670 512MB

 

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800

 

LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner (SATA)

 

Western Digital Caviar 320GB (SATA)

 

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit (OEM)

 

 

 

I think I win ;)

 

If you want to up it to $500 replace the 4670 with a 4830 and get a Antec case/psu combo.

[Mylez]

JoeDaStudd, while Vista allows you to use the full 4gb instead of 3.3gb (ish), it still isn't any faster. XP runs much more smoothly and is faster for games. Also, DX10 is only available on MOST games when on higher settings and doesn't actually look much different while it uses lots of memory and power. Ultimatly, it's down to Denismage to decide which he would rather have. I built my new PC with Vista, and got sick of it. So I switched back to XP pro. :P

[Sbrideau]

JoeDaStudd, while Vista allows you to use the full 4gb instead of 3.3gb (ish), it still isn't any faster. XP runs much more smoothly and is faster for games. Also, DX10 is only available on MOST games when on higher settings and doesn't actually look much different while it uses lots of memory and power. Ultimatly, it's down to Denismage to decide which he would rather have. I built my new PC with Vista, and got sick of it. So I switched back to XP pro. :P

 

You do realize you're the only one that's going to say something so untrue as that because you had a software or driver problem? Vista is actually faster than XP on a computer like they built.

[OldJoe]

Joes build is great.

 

I'm too tired to dig up an old build by myself.

 

And i must say, i'm agreeing with Mylez. I have used Vista and XP and XP is the winner. Vista is just too much of a resource hog. Didn't have any driver problems or anything.

 

XP starts up faster than Vista, closes down faster, using alot less ram and get more points in 3DMark 06. *

 

http://sweclockers.com/articles_show.php?id=6147&page=6 - system.

 

*= http://sweclockers.com/articles_show.php?id=6147&page=7 - source.

[Nadril]

JoeDaStudd, while Vista allows you to use the full 4gb instead of 3.3gb (ish), it still isn't any faster. XP runs much more smoothly and is faster for games. Also, DX10 is only available on MOST games when on higher settings and doesn't actually look much different while it uses lots of memory and power. Ultimatly, it's down to Denismage to decide which he would rather have. I built my new PC with Vista, and got sick of it. So I switched back to XP pro. :P

 

You do realize you're the only one that's going to say something so untrue as that because you had a software or driver problem? Vista is actually faster than XP on a computer like they built.

 

 

 

Yup, Vista is faster.

[Laura]

Did you guys load Vista on a machine or buy another machine with Vista preloaded? I never had an issues with Windows before Vista. Anyways, he wants this computer for gaming, so I'd go with XP.[1] Vista is, at best, marginally faster than XP in certain aspects, but in others it's blown out of the water by XP.[2]

[Sbrideau]

My computer came with XP on it, Vista is much faster than XP used to be.

[vesuvius27]

These all look like ok builds to me.

 

 

 

I would do the following to vesuvius27's build.

 

Replace the CPU with this - better performance, unlocked and cheaper $64.99.

 

Replace the DVD with this - SATA connection for only $2 more (trust me its a lot easier to work with).

 

Replace the RAM with this - after rebates its $19.99 for 4gb of ram :shock:

 

Replace the motherboard with this - $69.99 after rebates, but AM2+ socket (better for the CPU and great onboard).

 

Replace the graphics card with this - $49.99 after rebates

 

Vista Home premium 64 bit $99.99 - don't give me any rubbish about Vista. This allows the full 4gb to be usable as well as play DX10 games if you decide to upgrade.

 

 

 

$426.93 pre rebates, $376.93 after. So add a case + psu and you've got a damn good build.

 

 

 

Full specs would be

 

X2 7750+ 2.6ghz AM2+ (black edition)

 

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H AM2+ (780G)

 

Powercolor HD4670 512MB

 

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800

 

LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner (SATA)

 

Western Digital Caviar 320GB (SATA)

 

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit (OEM)

 

 

 

I think I win ;)

 

If you want to up it to $500 replace the 4670 with a 4830 and get a Antec case/psu combo.

 

 

 

I'm not used to AMD specs. Nor am I used to budget PCs. I usually prefer Intel CPUs. You win.

[Mylez]

JoeDaStudd, while Vista allows you to use the full 4gb instead of 3.3gb (ish), it still isn't any faster. XP runs much more smoothly and is faster for games. Also, DX10 is only available on MOST games when on higher settings and doesn't actually look much different while it uses lots of memory and power. Ultimatly, it's down to Denismage to decide which he would rather have. I built my new PC with Vista, and got sick of it. So I switched back to XP pro. :P

 

You do realize you're the only one that's going to say something so untrue as that because you had a software or driver problem? Vista is actually faster than XP on a computer like they built.

 

 

 

Yup, Vista is faster.

 

 

 

Ok. The following is a list of performance test, showing that XP is faster at MOST things. :|

 

 

 

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Opinions/XP-vs-Vista/

 

 

 

http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=14627.msg233390

 

 

 

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=102401

 

 

 

http://futuremark.yougamers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72298

 

 

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/04/vista_vs_xp_tests/

 

 

 

While Vista may be faster at certain tasks, for gaming you cannot beat XP. Denismage wants a computer for gaming.

[Jernlov]

My Build (AMD Athlon X2 7750, XFX 8800GTS, 2GB Corsair RAM) will run most things on medium/high at 1680x1050 without many problems. I need to turn HDR off in most games though.

[Sbrideau]

JoeDaStudd, while Vista allows you to use the full 4gb instead of 3.3gb (ish), it still isn't any faster. XP runs much more smoothly and is faster for games. Also, DX10 is only available on MOST games when on higher settings and doesn't actually look much different while it uses lots of memory and power. Ultimatly, it's down to Denismage to decide which he would rather have. I built my new PC with Vista, and got sick of it. So I switched back to XP pro. :P

 

You do realize you're the only one that's going to say something so untrue as that because you had a software or driver problem? Vista is actually faster than XP on a computer like they built.

 

 

 

Yup, Vista is faster.

 

 

 

Ok. The following is a list of performance test, showing that XP is faster at MOST things. :|

 

 

 

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Opinions/XP-vs-Vista/

 

 

 

http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=14627.msg233390

 

 

 

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=102401

 

 

 

http://futuremark.yougamers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72298

 

 

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/04/vista_vs_xp_tests/

 

 

 

While Vista may be faster at certain tasks, for gaming you cannot beat XP. Denismage wants a computer for gaming.

 

Your links are outdated, most of them are from before SP1, and they were pretty much all in the times when computers didn't have today's specs and at the time Vista still has bugs. Now it doesn't.

 

 

 

Also, dual core processor + 4GB RAM, your computer will most likely be faster with Vista than XP. Just needs the graphics card to play the game.

 

 

 

Also, Vista has dx10, which gives much better graphics.

[Mylez]

JoeDaStudd, while Vista allows you to use the full 4gb instead of 3.3gb (ish), it still isn't any faster. XP runs much more smoothly and is faster for games. Also, DX10 is only available on MOST games when on higher settings and doesn't actually look much different while it uses lots of memory and power. Ultimatly, it's down to Denismage to decide which he would rather have. I built my new PC with Vista, and got sick of it. So I switched back to XP pro. :P

 

You do realize you're the only one that's going to say something so untrue as that because you had a software or driver problem? Vista is actually faster than XP on a computer like they built.

 

 

 

Yup, Vista is faster.

 

 

 

Ok. The following is a list of performance test, showing that XP is faster at MOST things. :|

 

 

 

http://www.devhardware.com/c/a/Opinions/XP-vs-Vista/

 

 

 

http://www.crysis-online.com/forum/index.php?topic=14627.msg233390

 

 

 

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=102401

 

 

 

http://futuremark.yougamers.com/forum/showthread.php?t=72298

 

 

 

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/04/vista_vs_xp_tests/

 

 

 

While Vista may be faster at certain tasks, for gaming you cannot beat XP. Denismage wants a computer for gaming.

 

Your links are outdated, most of them are from before SP1, and they were pretty much all in the times when computers didn't have today's specs and at the time Vista still has bugs. Now it doesn't.

 

 

 

Also, dual core processor + 4GB RAM, your computer will most likely be faster with Vista than XP. Just needs the graphics card to play the game.

 

 

 

Also, Vista has dx10, which gives much better graphics.

 

 

 

yes, some of the links are fairly old. Dual/triple/quad core processors make no difference between XP/Vista. RAM does, I'll agree. But the difference from 3.35 to 4GB is used up in Vistas waste.

 

You think it's impossible to have DX10 on XP? :roll:

 

Also, DX10 only kick in on the highest details settings, and doesn't make that big of a difference. Water looks slightly more realistic, and textures have more details. You're looking at a 25% FPS set-back for this small graphical extra.

[Nadril]

Sigh, I read the first link and they are testing it on a machine with 2GB RAM and the article is almost a year old. Look, in real world testing Vista is faster, Vista is better. XP does squeeze by in tests like this but it fails to recognize the power of Vista 64 bit with 4GB + of ram. I'll just say that my machine is a lot faster because of Vista 64 , and I would lose a lot going down to XP 32 (and XP 64 is terrible).

 

 

 

And no offense, but the naysayers are someone who had a problem with Vista and thinks it's horrible, and a mac fan.

 

 

 

 

 

So, at this point, it is pointless to buy XP.

 

 

 

 

 

Also, DX10 only kick in on the highest details settings, and doesn't make that big of a difference. Water looks slightly more realistic, and textures have more details. You're looking at a 25% FPS set-back for this small graphical extra.

 

 

 

If you don't know what DX10 does it might be a good thing not to try and talk about it.

[Laura]

I prefer Macs now because of Vista, not the other way around. I don't hate Vista because I like Macs. That and I have an XP partition on here and use Windows everyday. Just because I use and prefer Macs now doesn't mean I hate Windows.

 

 

 

None of the games he wants to play require 4GB of RAM, nor is he going to use it all. And, what is to stop him from buying 64-bit XP? It's not a comparable variable because both systems can use those amounts of memory.

[Nadril]

I prefer Macs now because of Vista, not the other way around. I don't hate Vista because I like Macs. That and I have an XP partition on here and use Windows everyday. Just because I use and prefer Macs now doesn't mean I hate Windows.

 

 

 

None of the games he wants to play require 4GB of RAM, nor is he going to use it all. And, what is to stop him from buying 64-bit XP? It's not a comparable variable because both systems can use those amounts of memory.

 

 

 

You really think it is wise to use 64 bit XP? Sure, that's great and all if you want 90% of your programs to simply not function (including games). :lol:

 

 

 

Vista 64 > XP 64. There isn't even any comparison honestly. XP 64 blew chunks.

 

 

 

 

 

Also 4GB of ram these days is seriously like $30. There is no reason not to have that much.

[Dirkmetal]

These all look like ok builds to me.

 

 

 

I would do the following to vesuvius27's build.

 

Replace the CPU with this - better performance, unlocked and cheaper $64.99.

 

Replace the DVD with this - SATA connection for only $2 more (trust me its a lot easier to work with).

 

Replace the RAM with this - after rebates its $19.99 for 4gb of ram :shock:

 

Replace the motherboard with this - $69.99 after rebates, but AM2+ socket (better for the CPU and great onboard).

 

Replace the graphics card with this - $49.99 after rebates

 

Vista Home premium 64 bit $99.99 - don't give me any rubbish about Vista. This allows the full 4gb to be usable as well as play DX10 games if you decide to upgrade.

 

 

 

$426.93 pre rebates, $376.93 after. So add a case + psu and you've got a damn good build.

 

 

 

Full specs would be

 

X2 7750+ 2.6ghz AM2+ (black edition)

 

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H AM2+ (780G)

 

Powercolor HD4670 512MB

 

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800

 

LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner (SATA)

 

Western Digital Caviar 320GB (SATA)

 

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit (OEM)

 

 

 

I think I win ;)

 

If you want to up it to $500 replace the 4670 with a 4830 and get a Antec case/psu combo.

 

Great stuff! But most of us like being able to USE our comp other then look at the nice "ON" LED, and listen to the soothing hum of the CPU fan.

 

No speakers + no monitor + no interface = a useless box.

[Nadril]

These all look like ok builds to me.

 

 

 

I would do the following to vesuvius27's build.

 

Replace the CPU with this - better performance, unlocked and cheaper $64.99.

 

Replace the DVD with this - SATA connection for only $2 more (trust me its a lot easier to work with).

 

Replace the RAM with this - after rebates its $19.99 for 4gb of ram :shock:

 

Replace the motherboard with this - $69.99 after rebates, but AM2+ socket (better for the CPU and great onboard).

 

Replace the graphics card with this - $49.99 after rebates

 

Vista Home premium 64 bit $99.99 - don't give me any rubbish about Vista. This allows the full 4gb to be usable as well as play DX10 games if you decide to upgrade.

 

 

 

$426.93 pre rebates, $376.93 after. So add a case + psu and you've got a damn good build.

 

 

 

Full specs would be

 

X2 7750+ 2.6ghz AM2+ (black edition)

 

GIGABYTE GA-MA78GM-US2H AM2+ (780G)

 

Powercolor HD4670 512MB

 

CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 800

 

LG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner (SATA)

 

Western Digital Caviar 320GB (SATA)

 

Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit (OEM)

 

 

 

I think I win ;)

 

If you want to up it to $500 replace the 4670 with a 4830 and get a Antec case/psu combo.

 

Great stuff! But most of us like being able to USE our comp other then look at the nice "ON" LED, and listen to the soothing hum of the CPU fan.

 

No speakers + no monitor + no interface = a useless box.

 

 

 

Perhaps read the OP next time before being a [bleep]?