new gaming rig

[lazarus]

So I'm trying to building a new gaming rig. my current computer is about 6 years old . I will be donating it to a local church soon, who has a computer about 15 years old (no joke)

 

I'm looking to spend about $500, already got the monitor. I've been out of the hardware world for about 6 years as well, so I'm not versed in what's new, what works with what, and all that jazz. I've done the very minimum of research, found some sites that have budget gaming rigs, like this one:

 

toms hardware

 

Just looking for some VERY nice folks that could point me the right direction. I'm not afraid to build one (built this one), not looking for anything fancy, just want it to do the job...playing CSS and L4D! Also, I'll probably be buying this bad boy in the next 5-6 months, if that makes a difference.

 

[Preacher]

Well since prices fluctuate daily, it would be better and more informative to get one closer to when you wish to purchase it. For $500 this is what I came up with. Mind you, this is not the best for gaming, for that you need to up your price range a tad.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4959277&csid=ITD&body=MAIN -case,mobo,PS

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161183 -RAM

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037 -CPU

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140042 -DVDRW

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127435 -Video card

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181 -hard drive

 

About $540 w/ $25 MIR

 

If you have other parts it may help to drop some cost as well

[lazarus]

preacher thanks for the info! i'll hit you up when the time draws hear.

[Tek-Almighty]

Well since prices fluctuate daily, it would be better and more informative to get one closer to when you wish to purchase it. For $500 this is what I came up with. Mind you, this is not the best for gaming, for that you need to up your price range a tad.

 

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4959277&csid=ITD&body=MAIN -case,mobo,PS

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161183 -RAM

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115037 -CPU

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827140042 -DVDRW

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127435 -Video card

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181 -hard drive

 

 

 

 

About $540 w/ $25 MIR

 

If you have other parts it may help to drop some cost as well

 

 

Ouch, that case, mobo, PSU combo is iffy. I bought a case, CPU, MSI mobo, generic PSU combo for my folks from TD, and I had numerous problems with the chipset drivers for mobo included on a CD and d-loaded from TD. Plus that case has a generic 250 watt psu...that isn't enough enough power to run the cpu and vid card...no way.

 

Get a decent, reliable prebuilt last gen core2duo, 8xxx nvidia gpu, with 500gb hdd and 4 GB ram from some guy off of craigslist or ebay...you can find them bro...you can.

Edited October 10, 2009 by Tek-Almighty

[Preacher]

I would look a lot harder for better stuff if he was buying now, but this is a future project and tech, prices and availibility will be different the day he buys than today. Plus there is the sale factor.

[lazarus]

thanks preacher and tek. when i get settled into my new place and have some dough to spend, i'll hit yall back up! this was a good jumping off point though.

[Tek-Almighty]

Well...what games you looking to play? Maximum pc just did an article last month with a $600 gaming pc that is pretty darn good. Check it out.

 

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/dream_machine

 

 

The recession special has a 4870 512mb gpu and triple core AMD decent mobo and memory...nice setup. I bet it 3Dmarks within 15% or so of my machine which I built for more than that about 15 months ago (minus the GPU).

 

I must say...the vid card I have MSI GTX260 core 216 is highly overclocked and runs all the games I want to play really well...it was only $159 after m.i.b. You can find it still on newegg.

 

Good luck, it is a good time to buy a low cost gaming computer.