$400 gaming? even possible?

X24 · 09-06-2005, 12:54 AM

IDK what he was smoking, but another one of my friends got hooked on pc games, and he said he wants me to build him a $400 pc to play some of the games, i was just wondering if its really possible and what parts would do the best for that?

kobaj · 09-06-2005, 01:00 AM

For that price it is gunna be REAL hard, unless you get all the parts second hand. What kind of games is he planing, if some like halflife2, Fear, ect than there is very little chance, Unless he gets all parts used or just upgradeds his old machine . And if he neads monitors/kb/ms/ect than there is NO way even if you get the parts from other people. So putting it simple a very good gaming rig would be the minumum of $700.

X24 · 09-06-2005, 01:13 AM

Well, he played bf vietnam, farcry, and bf 2 the battlefield games were the ones he got hooked on, and all he needs is a tower. i'm thinking its gunna have to be
512mb ram
cheap processor such as an amd semperon
best graphics card i can find
40gb hdd
cheap case
cheap psu that has good enough amperage
cd burner
cheapest mobo

i'll check zipzoomfly

34erd · 09-06-2005, 01:16 AM

Buy a used one off e-bay maybe?

skidude · 09-06-2005, 01:16 AM

That'll probably work. You will end up getting like a Radeon 9600XT or a GeForce FX5250 or something like that.

gamerman4 · 09-06-2005, 01:58 AM

Alright, this will be hard but I'll help ya.
This is just the tower and nothing else. This is also the bare essentials for playing games too, no bells and whistles.

get a cheap case from CompUSA...mine was $50 make sure it comes with it's own PSU

Athlon XP 2600+ (will overclock pretty good) $77
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103417

ASUS a7n8x-x (pretty high-quality mobo) $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131468

SAMSUNG 40GB 8mb cache 7200RPM HDD $48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152023

OCZ Value RAM 2 x 256MB = 512MB (OCZ RAM is awesome) $48
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146995

lite-on DVD-ROM drive (DVD was $5 more than CD drives so.....) $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827131410
couldn't find a cheaper cd burner might have to stretch the $400 to about $415

Radeon 9600XT $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102344

final price before shipping charges...$398!!!!!

I tried to stray away from OEM or refurbished parts so you wouldn't have any problems.

This is a decent budget gaming rig if I do say so myself.

If I missed something or something isn't compatible, tell me and I will update this but......damn! I am surprised how well this did. Never thought I could stretch $400 this far. Go newegg!!! you might want to cheack zipzoomfly for any better prices but I doubt they will save you much more.

X24 · 09-06-2005, 02:16 AM

u forgot about the case there, and i think zipzoomfly is suppose to be cheaper with free shipping

Camper · 09-06-2005, 02:24 AM

you can get a case for less then 50 dollars
My 2800+ can Play all those games he likes
BFV worked when i hade 512MB of ram and a XFX 5200

[-0MEGA-] · 09-06-2005, 02:28 AM

my comp plays the newest games (HL2, FarCry, Halo, ect) at high-highest settings with no lag.

and my system costs $200... of course that cause i already had the video card, hard drive and ram.

diduknowthat · 09-06-2005, 02:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by geoff5093

my comp plays the newest games (HL2, FarCry, Halo, ect) at high-highest settings with no lag.

and my system costs $200... of course that cause i already had the video card, hard drive and ram.

well that's not saying alot cause you had some carry me on parts ;D

09-06-2005, 12:54 AM	#1 (permalink)
X24 Platinum Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 966	$400 gaming? even possible? IDK what he was smoking, but another one of my friends got hooked on pc games, and he said he wants me to build him a $400 pc to play some of the games, i was just wondering if its really possible and what parts would do the best for that?

09-06-2005, 01:00 AM	#2 (permalink)
kobaj Diamond Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 2,216	For that price it is gunna be REAL hard, unless you get all the parts second hand. What kind of games is he planing, if some like halflife2, Fear, ect than there is very little chance, Unless he gets all parts used or just upgradeds his old machine . And if he neads monitors/kb/ms/ect than there is NO way even if you get the parts from other people. So putting it simple a very good gaming rig would be the minumum of $700. __________________ My site My sigThanks Kornowski for ava and sig. Winner of photo competition: Bokeh. Last edited by kobaj; 09-06-2005 at 01:02 AM.

09-06-2005, 01:16 AM	#4 (permalink)
34erd Diamond Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Age: 15 Posts: 2,842	Buy a used one off e-bay maybe? __________________ DFI Lanparty UT nF4 SLI DR Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1 Gig OCZ VX DDR500 DDR BFG GeForce 7800GT 160 Gig SATA HDD CD-RW DVD-ROM Antec NeoPower 480 Thermaltake Tsunami

09-06-2005, 01:16 AM	#5 (permalink)
skidude Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Orono, Maine Age: 19 Posts: 4,896	That'll probably work. You will end up getting like a Radeon 9600XT or a GeForce FX5250 or something like that. __________________ Desktop / Laptop CPU- AMD Athlon X2 6000+ 3.0 GHz / Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.8 GHz Video- ATI X1900XTX / 2x 8800M GTX SLI Memory- 2 GB A-Data DDR2800 / 4GB DDR2800 Hard Drives- 3x 160GB 7200RPM / 2x 320GB 5400RPM (RAID 0) Mobo- Gigabyte GA-M61P-S3 Socket AM2 Motherboard / Sager NP9262 "In These Lowly Halls / No Moon Will Beam, No Sun Will Shine / In These Narrow Rooms / No Tears Are Seen, No Laughter Heard" --- Insomnium ---

09-06-2005, 01:58 AM	#6 (permalink)
gamerman4 Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Arkansas Age: 18 Posts: 1,307	Alright, this will be hard but I'll help ya. This is just the tower and nothing else. This is also the bare essentials for playing games too, no bells and whistles. get a cheap case from CompUSA...mine was $50 make sure it comes with it's own PSU Athlon XP 2600+ (will overclock pretty good) $77 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103417 ASUS a7n8x-x (pretty high-quality mobo) $60 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131468 SAMSUNG 40GB 8mb cache 7200RPM HDD $48 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152023 OCZ Value RAM 2 x 256MB = 512MB (OCZ RAM is awesome) $48 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820146995 lite-on DVD-ROM drive (DVD was $5 more than CD drives so.....) $20 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827131410 couldn't find a cheaper cd burner might have to stretch the $400 to about $415 Radeon 9600XT $95 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102344 final price before shipping charges...$398!!!!! I tried to stray away from OEM or refurbished parts so you wouldn't have any problems. This is a decent budget gaming rig if I do say so myself. If I missed something or something isn't compatible, tell me and I will update this but......damn! I am surprised how well this did. Never thought I could stretch $400 this far. Go newegg!!! you might want to cheack zipzoomfly for any better prices but I doubt they will save you much more. __________________ NZXT Nemesis Elite Black Intel Q6600 @ 3.20 Ghz COOLER MASTER RL-EUL-GBU1-GP Watercooling Gigabyte DS3R P965 HDDs: 2 x 80GB 1 x 250GB 1 x 500GB 1x 750GB 2 x 1GB Patriot Extreme Perf. DDR2 nVidia 8800GT 512MB Antec Smartpower 2.0 400 Watt Last edited by gamerman4; 09-06-2005 at 02:03 AM.

09-06-2005, 01:13 AM	#3 (permalink)
X24 Platinum Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 966	Well, he played bf vietnam, farcry, and bf 2 the battlefield games were the ones he got hooked on, and all he needs is a tower. i'm thinking its gunna have to be 512mb ram cheap processor such as an amd semperon best graphics card i can find 40gb hdd cheap case cheap psu that has good enough amperage cd burner cheapest mobo i'll check zipzoomfly

09-06-2005, 02:16 AM	#7 (permalink)
X24 Platinum Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 966	u forgot about the case there, and i think zipzoomfly is suppose to be cheaper with free shipping

09-06-2005, 02:24 AM	#8 (permalink)
Camper Diamond Member Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: /dev/null Age: 22 Posts: 1,227	you can get a case for less then 50 dollars My 2800+ can Play all those games he likes BFV worked when i hade 512MB of ram and a XFX 5200 __________________ Dell Inspiron 530 Q6600 Quad 3gb RAM Nvidia 8600 GT 500GB HD

09-06-2005, 02:28 AM	#9 (permalink)
[-0MEGA-] Diamond Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Concord, NH Age: 20 Posts: 27,082	my comp plays the newest games (HL2, FarCry, Halo, ect) at high-highest settings with no lag. and my system costs $200... of course that cause i already had the video card, hard drive and ram. __________________ Desktop // Laptop Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 4.0GHz // Core 2 Duo P8400 2.26GHz Asus Rampage Formula X48 // Intel PM45 ATI 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 // 512MB GDDR3 9800M GTS 4GB (2x 2GB) DDR2 940 // 4GB DDR3 800 750GB SATAII w/32MB // 200GB SATAII 7200RPM Creative SB X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty SilverStone 750W +12V@60A 3DMark06: 21391 // 9179

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