Gaming machine under $300 opinions

[rexload]

Looking to build a gaming machine..

I have a micro atx case and a power supply

So I need a MoBo, cpu, gpu, ram, and hdd... and I would like to spend under $300 on everything

Obviously the hardware will have to be outdated and possibly used... and I'm okay with settling for around 320gb of hdd.

What do you guys suggest as far as cpu and gpu in this price range..? I'd like to get as much performance as possible for the money.

[Leung]

Personally i think you get the best bang for the buck with AMD processors. I've got an AMD 645 Propus that is 3.1ghz quad core, i don't over clock or anything but it's fast for what i use it for; school work, left for dead, world at tanks and CSS.

With 8 gigs of ram, not that i really needed it, an SSD for a boot drive and a 1.5tb eco drive as my mass storage, and a Gigabyte HD 5670 gpu i get like 6.8 on the WEI scale. The gpu of course being the weakest component in what it grades but it works for me because all the settings are on high, even Skyrim.

Why a micro ATX case? won't that be too small to support a GPU?

[rexload]

I just had the case laying around.. I am pretty sure it is big enough for a dedicated gpu.

What about the HD 4870 X2 card? It could fit my budget if I find one used...

Has the SSD improved the performance/boot time significantly? You just have your operating system on the SSD, that's what you mean, right?

[Leung]

I just had the case laying around.. I am pretty sure it is big enough for a dedicated gpu.

What about the HD 4870 X2 card? It could fit my budget if I find one used...

Has the SSD improved the performance/boot time significantly? You just have your operating system on the SSD, that's what you mean, right?

yea the OS, MS office and a few games i play the most then everything else is on the bigger drive.

the SSD i have is only a 60gig OCZ drive, for 54 bucks i wasn't going to complain. It loads up to the desktop so fast that i had to increase the time to access the BIOs by another 5 seconds otherwise i'd miss it if i needed to get in there. I still have like 17 gigs of that free but i'm not going to fill it completely because i never could find an answer on how performance is affected if it is near full. For your gaming system though, i don't think you'll want to go with an SSD because it's still on the steep side for the price of a gig of storage space.

I can't comment on that graphics card nor can i comment on having two gpus since my mobo only supports one at a time.

[deevergote]

Buy used. Components are so quickly outdated that a hardcore gamer with some dough will gladly sell off last year's crap for this year's slightly better crap!

Look around on forums dedicated to gaming, computer building, etc... The hardcore computer nerds will likely part with outdated "mediocre" parts that would suit your needs, and they'd likely part with such things CHEAP!

I just spent $600 on a brand new Lenovo machine from Best Buy with fair capabilities. I had to upgrade my power supply, though... as the dual-output Nvidia card I got for it required far more power (that's how I blew my last computer up... playing Diablo 3 with a too-weak power supply and a video card that needed more power!)

Be sure you have:
The fastest processor you can afford. As suggested, a good AMD multi-core should work nicely.
A video card with as much processing power and RAM you can afford (my own card is fairly low-end, and Diablo 3 looked good to me! the single-out version of my card would've been a good deal cheaper, too...)
As much RAM as you can cram in there (keep in mind that to use more than 4gb of RAM, you'll need a 64bit OS... fortunately for me, I got that included with my Lenovo.)


My advice for building on a budget, especially if you're buying all new stuff:
Get a motherboard that can handle a significant upgrade in RAM and CPU. You can buy a cheaper CPU and a smaller amount of RAM to start, and upgrade if you need more in the future... without having to upgrade the motherboard again as well!
If you want playability over looks to start, focus more on the RAM and CPU than the video card. The video card can always be upgraded. As with the RAM and CPU, be sure to get a motherboard that can handle a better graphics card than the cheapie you can afford.

Newegg and Tigerdirect.com are good sources for decently priced parts, and great for comparing specs. Once you find what you want, check ebay, craigslist, and any forums you can find for used components that are comparable to what you want. Buy used if you can, if not... carefully compare. Sometimes the newest "best" parts are only slightly better than the cheaper, outdated parts!
I used to use pricewatch.com for super cheap parts, but that seems to have gone the way of dialup internet...

[Leung]

with just newegg alone, i was able to piece together for him using my process which now is only 79 dollars, a motherboard that has four slots for ram and two PCI-E slots for gpus also for the same price.

If he's got a microcenter near him, they were running a deal on their brand of 4gigs 1333 DDR3 RAM which is made by ADATA for only 20 bucks. The only downside that he won't be able to overclock with this ram. I don't overclock so 15 dollars savings is a lot that but he if he wanted to, Kingston HyperX ram was that 15 dollars difference.

With this it still leaves him a significant chunk of his budget for the GPU and power supply. I think the OP said he already has a hard drive that he can reuse so that's some money saved. What about the OS? last time i checked, a 64 bit version of Win7 was still at least 120 bucks.

One word of advice, never cheap out on the power supply.


AMD 645 Propus $79.99

ASRock MOBO $74.99

I don't think this motherboard will fit in that case btw...

[wildBill83]

Got parts to trade?

[rexload]

yea the OS, MS office and a few games i play the most then everything else is on the bigger drive.

the SSD i have is only a 60gig OCZ drive, for 54 bucks i wasn't going to complain. It loads up to the desktop so fast that i had to increase the time to access the BIOs by another 5 seconds otherwise i'd miss it if i needed to get in there. I still have like 17 gigs of that free but i'm not going to fill it completely because i never could find an answer on how performance is affected if it is near full. For your gaming system though, i don't think you'll want to go with an SSD because it's still on the steep side for the price of a gig of storage space.

I can't comment on that graphics card nor can i comment on having two gpus since my mobo only supports one at a time.

I see the OCZ 60GB SSD is 49.99 now on newegg. I'd like to give this a try to see how much of a performance increase an SSD gives as I've never used one.

Buy used. Components are so quickly outdated that a hardcore gamer with some dough will gladly sell off last year's crap for this year's slightly better crap!

Look around on forums dedicated to gaming, computer building, etc... The hardcore computer nerds will likely part with outdated "mediocre" parts that would suit your needs, and they'd likely part with such things CHEAP!

I just spent $600 on a brand new Lenovo machine from Best Buy with fair capabilities. I had to upgrade my power supply, though... as the dual-output Nvidia card I got for it required far more power (that's how I blew my last computer up... playing Diablo 3 with a too-weak power supply and a video card that needed more power!)

Be sure you have:
The fastest processor you can afford. As suggested, a good AMD multi-core should work nicely.
A video card with as much processing power and RAM you can afford (my own card is fairly low-end, and Diablo 3 looked good to me! the single-out version of my card would've been a good deal cheaper, too...)
As much RAM as you can cram in there (keep in mind that to use more than 4gb of RAM, you'll need a 64bit OS... fortunately for me, I got that included with my Lenovo.)


My advice for building on a budget, especially if you're buying all new stuff:
Get a motherboard that can handle a significant upgrade in RAM and CPU. You can buy a cheaper CPU and a smaller amount of RAM to start, and upgrade if you need more in the future... without having to upgrade the motherboard again as well!
If you want playability over looks to start, focus more on the RAM and CPU than the video card. The video card can always be upgraded. As with the RAM and CPU, be sure to get a motherboard that can handle a better graphics card than the cheapie you can afford.

Newegg and Tigerdirect.com are good sources for decently priced parts, and great for comparing specs. Once you find what you want, check ebay, craigslist, and any forums you can find for used components that are comparable to what you want. Buy used if you can, if not... carefully compare. Sometimes the newest "best" parts are only slightly better than the cheaper, outdated parts!
I used to use pricewatch.com for super cheap parts, but that seems to have gone the way of dialup internet...

I've been looking on eBay mostly and it does seem like I can save $10-15 on each part by buying the hardware slightly used. It is nice to have brand new stuff but I am trying to keep my budget low with this build.

I see your point about buying a MoBo that can support significant upgrades in the future. I don't want to get cheapest MoBo, but at the same time, I want a CPU and a GPU that will satisfy my needs for at least ~3years. I am not really after the latest games as soon as they come out.. I tend to play games a couple of years old typically... hell, I still get a lot of enjoyment out of Quake1

Got parts to trade?

I pretty much sold everything I had. I just have a Micro ATX case with a power supply and a basic laptop that isn't worth anything.

with just newegg alone, i was able to piece together for him using my process which now is only 79 dollars, a motherboard that has four slots for ram and two PCI-E slots for gpus also for the same price.

If he's got a microcenter near him, they were running a deal on their brand of 4gigs 1333 DDR3 RAM which is made by ADATA for only 20 bucks. The only downside that he won't be able to overclock with this ram. I don't overclock so 15 dollars savings is a lot that but he if he wanted to, Kingston HyperX ram was that 15 dollars difference.

With this it still leaves him a significant chunk of his budget for the GPU and power supply. I think the OP said he already has a hard drive that he can reuse so that's some money saved. What about the OS? last time i checked, a 64 bit version of Win7 was still at least 120 bucks.

One word of advice, never cheap out on the power supply.


AMD 645 Propus $79.99

ASRock MOBO $74.99

I don't think this motherboard will fit in that case btw...

That MoBo is not AM3 socket... or am I wrong?

I found that CPU for $75, though that's a marginal saving. I think this is the perfect CPU for this machine and budget though.

As for the OS.. I am still undecided. Really don't feel like paying 120 bucks for the OS.






So far this is what I decided on

- amd 645 cpu $75 new
- ocz 60gb ssd $50 new
- 4gb 1333 ram $22 new
- hd 6870 gpu $140 used

that's a total of $287

and I still need a microATX am3 socket MoBo and a 320GB hdd as the 60gb ssd isn't going to be enough space

so I am probably okay going $50-70 over my budget

[Ralphie]

I see the OCZ 60GB SSD is 49.99 now on newegg. I'd like to give this a try to see how much of a performance increase an SSD gives as I've never used one.



I've been looking on eBay mostly and it does seem like I can save $10-15 on each part by buying the hardware slightly used. It is nice to have brand new stuff but I am trying to keep my budget low with this build.

I see your point about buying a MoBo that can support significant upgrades in the future. I don't want to get cheapest MoBo, but at the same time, I want a CPU and a GPU that will satisfy my needs for at least ~3years. I am not really after the latest games as soon as they come out.. I tend to play games a couple of years old typically... hell, I still get a lot of enjoyment out of Quake1




I pretty much sold everything I had. I just have a Micro ATX case with a power supply and a basic laptop that isn't worth anything.



That MoBo is not AM3 socket... or am I wrong?

I found that CPU for $75, though that's a marginal saving. I think this is the perfect CPU for this machine and budget though.

As for the OS.. I am still undecided. Really don't feel like paying 120 bucks for the OS.






So far this is what I decided on

- amd 645 cpu $75 new
- ocz 60gb ssd $50 new
- 4gb 1333 ram $22 new
- hd 6870 gpu $140 used

that's a total of $287

and I still need a microATX am3 socket MoBo and a 320GB hdd as the 60gb ssd isn't going to be enough space

so I am probably okay going $50-70 over my budget

The ssd is only really for the OS and frequently used programs.

I would get that ssd and another sata hdd and call it a day.

Os on ssd, rest on sata hdd.

[Leung]

That MoBo is not AM3 socket... or am I wrong?

yeah you're right it's not.

I found a different one that was an AM3 board BUT it's the ATX form factor so it won't fit your case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813135272

[deevergote]

ASRock is garbage... but I used one for a very long time with no issues. I believe it's still good, sitting in the corpse of my last computer.

I get catalogs from Tigerdirect all the time, since I order from them frequently. I find that the catalogs make comparing specs and prices even easier than flipping around the website.
Also, look into what exactly you want this system to do. You're clearly not going to get anything great for your price, so figure out where your priorities are, and go with lower-end parts for the things that don't matter all that much.

Unfortunately, these days it's almost as cheap to buy a whole new system as it is to assemble one. Computers are so easy to upgrade for the average user these days that MANY people are building/modifying their own systems... which means there's profit to be made in parts (higher part prices), and there's not so much to be made in complete system sales (which means lower prices.)

Check out www.ComputerLX.com. They use some low-end parts with high-end specs to build some pretty badass systems, and their prices are absurdly low. I'd have bought one of their systems, had I not needed to have a functional computer right away for work reasons.

[wed3k]

agreed, intel dual core complete computers with 6-8 gb ram and 500-1tb of hd space for 300 bucks.

on board video which is the downside but it comes loaded with an OS!

i can play fear 3 on medium settings with the onboard vid card.

[deevergote]

Onboard video these days is decent. Nothing that would qualify as a "gaming system", but not bad in most cases. $300 for a system like that, plus $150 for an upgraded video card... and you're in business.

A REAL gaming system is going to cost a hell of a lot more. Stuff like top of the line Alienware pre-made systems can hit $3000 or more. 10% of that price is going to be a top of the line system for 2003.

[deevergote]

http://www.computerlx.com/config.asp...roduct_ID=1620

$363. Free shipping. Complete system.

[wed3k]

i desperately want to get into solid state. i might just get a small 120gb for my dedicated gaming setup.