$500 Build.. Where to Start?

D

Drew1231

New Member
Hi, I'm new to the community and for Christmas im on about a $500 budget to get a new PC.

I'm going to use it for gaming, mainly starcraft, and it will replace my compaq laptop as my gaming system.


What do you guys think could be done for that price? I have never bought a computer in pieces before, and I want so make sure that I dont go rushing to newegg and buy a CPU and motherboard that dont work with eachother.

So, my only concerns:

1. It can run starcraft 2 better than a compaq CQ-62,

2. It will not explode

3. It costs around 500 for all peices of the machine.

4. Depending on the resultant performance I will prolly run win 7 or XP.

5. It is a desktop


Sorry about my newbiness, but once a conversation is started I should be able to keep up.

Thanks for any help in advance!
 
This is $500 USD including mouse, monitor, keyboard, and os?

If so, this could be difficult...you'll be wanting an amd system, since their HD4200 onboard graphics chips are the only ones on the market capable of gaming. It'll probably have to be an Athlon II x2, 2GB RAM, and a fairly basic mobo. Honestly, that's not much different than what you have on the compaq...


Are you a college student? That would help a lot, since you can get Windows for cheap, or even free...otherwise it's $100.

You'll be wanting some flavor of Windows 7 64 bit. XP is near useless for gaming anymore, since it only supports directx 9.
 
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Drenlin, I'm a college student (at Univ. Cali. Santa Barbara, if that matters) and I'll be needing Windows 7 for my upcoming build. How do I get it cheap/free?
 
Drenlin said:
This is $500 USD including mouse, monitor, keyboard, and os?

If so, this could be difficult...you'll be wanting an amd system, since their HD4200 onboard graphics chips are the only ones on the market capable of gaming. It'll probably have to be an Athlon II x2, 2GB RAM, and a fairly basic mobo.

Are you a college student? That would help a lot, since you can get Windows for cheap, or even free...otherwise it's $100.

You'll be wanting some flavor of Windows 7 64 bit. XP is near useless for gaming anymore, since it only supports directx 9.
Click to expand...

Just the PC, I already have a spare copy of windows, and I already have a spare keyboard and mouse, and I think I can get a monitor separate from this budget... :D
 
Ah, that makes things a lot easier. You should be able to get something along the lines of my rig, probably with a better gpu. I'll put a build together when I get home.

Gusterr, you get it cheap from the microsoft student site. If available, you get it free through your school...ask someone about it.
 
Drenlin said:
Ah, that makes things a lot easier. You should be able to get something along the lines of my rig, probably with a better gpu. I'll put a build together when I get home.

Gusterr, you get it cheap from the microsoft student site. If available, you get it free through your school...ask someone about it.
Click to expand...

Wow, cool thanks dude!:D
 
Got it, methinks. See what you think of this:

CPU- Athlon II x4 640- $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

Mobo- Foxconn A9DA- $88
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186199

RAM- 2x2GB G-skill Ripjaws 1600- $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

GPU- HIS Radeon HD5770- $138 ($20 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161338

PSU- OCZ StealthXStream II 500W- $45 ($20 mail in rebate)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6491961&CatId=1079

HDD- Spinpoint F3 500GB- $45
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...3-HD502HJ-500GB-SATA2-7200rpm-16MB-Hard-Drive[/size]

Optical Drive- Optiarc 24x- $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

Case- NZXT Beta EVO- $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146059


Total- $541 shipped, $501 after rebates.

You can add a second 5770 in crossfire later on...it's a lot cheaper than buying a newer, bigger card. The Mobo and PSU will both handle it. :good:
 
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Drenlin said:
Got it, methinks. See what you think of this:

CPU- Athlon II x4 640- $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103871

Mobo- Foxconn A9DA- $88
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813186199

RAM- 2x2GB G-skill Ripjaws 1600- $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

GPU- HIS Radeon HD5770- $138 ($20 mail in rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161338

PSU- OCZ StealthXStream II 500W- $45 ($20 mail in rebate)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6491961&CatId=1079

HDD- Spinpoint F3 500GB- $45
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...3-HD502HJ-500GB-SATA2-7200rpm-16MB-Hard-Drive[/size]

Optical Drive- Optiarc 24x- $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039

Case- NZXT Beta EVO- $45
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146059


Total- $541 shipped, $501 after rebates.

You can add a second 5770 in crossfire later on...it's a lot cheaper than buying a newer, bigger card. The Mobo and PSU will both handle it. :good:
Click to expand...
Wow that looks awesome!

I didn't know I could get that much for my budget!
 
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