Budget Gaming Rig

[jerriecan]

Hi. I'm looking to pick up a gaming computer, and I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the one I've chosen. I am working with a limited budget, so I'm starting with the bare bones model here:

 

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/AMD_Athlon_II_X2_DDR3_Configurator

 

I'm just wondering if, in your experience, this would be an adequate rig to both play and mod Fallout 3 and New Vegas. The baseline seems to be, but I'm looking for the voice of experience. Will the graphics card have enough grunt? Will the power supply be adequate? Which upgrades would be most worthwhile and what can I leave alone? Are there more cost-effective alternatives from other retailers?

 

Ultimately, I'm looking to spend no more than $600. I have a monitor and other peripherals, I just need the core unit.

 

Thanks in advance for your advice!

 

Jerriecan

[Nysba]

Do you already have the hard drive(s) you need and CD/DVD/whatever you need? From like your old computer or smthing?

[jerriecan]

Do you already have the hard drive(s) you need and CD/DVD/whatever you need? From like your old computer or smthing?

 

I have some components - a 120-gig hard drive, plus another HD I can salvage from another system, 80 gigs or so. Also have 500 gigs of external storage.

 

I'll need a new DVD-drive, though - mine hasn't worked reliably in some time.

 

2 gigs of fairly new RAM can be salvaged, 2 1-gig units.

 

My current PC is old and cruddy, upgraded with bits along the way. That's about all I could feasibly salvage.

 

Jerriecan

[TheReverendTholomewPlague]

Get what I have. £300 - £400 and it struggles with no game. Specs are in my sig Edited May 29, 2011 by TheReverendTholomewPlague

[Ghogiel]

what is listed in that base deal as a cpu and GFX card are just not very good. To get anywhere to a reasonable system, you will hit 600$ on that site really fast. A 520 is for playing minesweeper. liquid cooler on a X2 250! :laugh:

 

Starting with something like this:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=57016&csid=_22

That PSU should power a 5830... I have basically an equivalent system to that, and the 5830 and my rig was rated to run no more than 380W at full load according to my psu manufacturer.

 

That doesn't leave you that much for the gfx card/monitor though.. but a 5830 is only 100$ tbh, I really don't think there is a better deal for under 100$. that card is pretty good. It weighs like 2kg and is like a foot long :laugh:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=421995&CatId=3669

 

If you have other components like Nysba is asking, then you can drop the hdd, case and other bits..I think your ram is dead if it is not ddr3... If you need a monitor on top of that..well you have 20$ in the budget to put towards it. You can get a decently large one for 100$.

 

TheReverendTholomewPlague < with all due respect.. a 2.2 is pretty damn slow.

 

My rig barely handles Crysis at a mix of high/max at 1920x1080. It destroys fallout though :biggrin:

 

I paid:

£89 X4 955 3.2

£76 Sapphire 5830

£36 4gb DDR3

£60 for a cheap gigabyte Mobo.

 

if you want HD gaming, roughly my set up is what you need. It is considered budget.

Edited May 29, 2011 by Ghogiel

[Vecna6667]

I know it possible to make a decent computer for under $700. In a February article for MaximumPc, they built a $647 computer that could run most DirectX 11 games, these are the components:

 

CPU AMD Athlon II X4 620 $99

Motherboard Gigabyte GA-MA74GM-S2 $57

Memory Patriot 4GB DDR2/800 $85

Videocard Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 $166

Hard drive Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200.12 $55

Optical drive Samsung SH-S223C $26

Chassis Rosewill R220 $19

Power supply Cooler Master RS-460 $35

Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium OEM $105

 

I beleive they are planning a new article for $690 PC but the big changes are at CPU(a core i3-2100 for $115), Videocard(Radeon HD 6850 for $180), and Motherboard(well it is an intel CPU afterall and I don't know which LGA1155 board they'll go with) according to their Senior Editor. The prices are approximate.

[Illiad86]

There is such a thing, my computer cost a little under $1000..some of the parts are old, the soundcard was a hand me down from a friend, but many games run like crazy.

 

Processor:

AMD Phenom II X4 BE B55 @ 4.0GHz (originally a Phenom II x2 555 @ 3.2GHz...unlocked it to quad core and overclocked) $99

Memory:

2x2GB DDR3 Gskill RipJaws @ 1607MHz $90

Motherboard:

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 $80

Graphics Card::

HIS Radeon HD 5770 1GB $150 at the time

Soundcard:

SB XFi Extreme Gamer Fata1ity Pro $100 or so I think, but I lived with onboard audio for many years.

 

Case is a Coolermaster Centurion 5 which cost $60 at the time, PSU is a 450W Rosewill (don't hate, works great and has for 3 years) for $45, HDD was $50 at the time (250GB). Keyboard and mouse are a little cheap and I got this 24" 1920x1200 monitor for an absolute steal ($180), but most people that are building a budget gaming rig normally already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Oh yeah and Windows 7 Pro x64 OEM was $140...that's really the most expensive part IMO.

 

When you know how to overclock and find the right processor, it's a lot cheaper to build a system. It would have cost nearly $300 if I actually bought the Phenom II x4 955 or whatever the fastest quad core that they sell these days.

Edited May 30, 2011 by Illiad86

[Ghogiel]

man I totally didn't know you could unlock cores on that X2. :thumbsup:

[urbex]

http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png

 

There is such a thing, my computer cost a little under $1000..some of the parts are old, the soundcard was a hand me down from a friend, but many games run like crazy.

 

Processor:

AMD Phenom II X4 BE B55 @ 4.0GHz (originally a Phenom II x2 555 @ 3.2GHz...unlocked it to quad core and overclocked) $99

Memory:

2x2GB DDR3 Gskill RipJaws @ 1607MHz $90

Motherboard:

Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3 $80

Graphics Card::

HIS Radeon HD 5770 1GB $150 at the time

Soundcard:

SB XFi Extreme Gamer Fata1ity Pro $100 or so I think, but I lived with onboard audio for many years.

 

Case is a Coolermaster Centurion 5 which cost $60 at the time, PSU is a 450W Rosewill (don't hate, works great and has for 3 years) for $45, HDD was $50 at the time (250GB). Keyboard and mouse are a little cheap and I got this 24" 1920x1200 monitor for an absolute steal ($180), but most people that are building a budget gaming rig normally already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Oh yeah and Windows 7 Pro x64 OEM was $140...that's really the most expensive part IMO.

 

When you know how to overclock and find the right processor, it's a lot cheaper to build a system. It would have cost nearly $300 if I actually bought the Phenom II x4 955 or whatever the fastest quad core that they sell these days.

And if you knocked off the sound card and windows that would have only been about $600, giving you room for a non combustible PSU.

Edited May 30, 2011 by urbex

[jerriecan]

Thanks for all the replies! Just to clarify, I have little technical expertise when it comes to assembling my own hardware - that's why I was thinking of a prebuilt rig. And I don't need this to run lots of high-end games - Fallout is about as deep into gaming as I'll ever get, most likely. An OS is also not a concern, as I have no love for Win 7. XP suits me just fine.

 

It looks as though I can customize the rig I linked to for something near my budget after all, and not break the bank. Much obliged for the help! :thumbsup:

 

Jerriecan