Cheap Gaming Computer for Wedding Present

[Stildawn]

So my mates getting married...

And instead of getting them something lame and girl orientated (as per all normal wedding presents)present... I have decided to build him a new computer (which the wife can also use lol)

Plus I still owe him a 21st present also...

Anyway...

Im after a cheap gaming rig...

He has a 450w powersupply (but not a fancy brand so dont rely on it) and a case... He also has a DVD-RW IDE and a HDD IDE.... Which I can use if I need to....

So yeah just after the cheapest but best gaming rig for around US$425 (NZ$600 I live in NZ)

Heres a few builds Ive come up with... Feel free to critique or do new ones for me...

Athlon II x2 250 3Ghz
MSI GF615M-P33
Powercolor HD4770 512
OCZ XTC 1600 Cl7 2x2gb
DVD-RW
WD 160gb 7200

(This one is bang on budget here in NZ)

Phenom II x2 545 3Ghz
MSI GF615M-P33
Powercolor HD4770 512
OCZ XTC 1600 Cl7 2x2gb
DVD-RW
WD 160gb 7200

(This one is twenty over budget here)

Athlon II x4 2.6ghz
MSI GF615M-P33
Powercolor HD4770 512
OCZ XTC 1600 Cl7 2x2gb
DVD-RW
WD 160gb 7200

(This one is about 50 bucks over budget but is a quad core, but I dont know if the Athlon II quads are worth the extra bucks)

Phenom II x2 550 3.1GHZ
Gigabyte GA-MA770T- UD3P
Powercolor HD4770 512
OCZ XTC 1600 Cl7 2x2gb
DVD-RW
WD 160gb 7200

(This is the one I want to get him, but is like a hundred bucks over budget, but would be cool to unlock the cores and give him an awesome quad)


So yeah... Any feedback would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks

 

[Drenlin]

You can't always unlock the dual-cores to quads...

There's nothing wrong with an Athlon quad. They do lack an L3 cache but even a triple core one would be ok for gaming. With a higher-end GPU they might be a bottleneck, but not with a 4770.

Other than that, I'd go for a mobo with an AMD chipset (770 would be ok), and is possible a bigger hard drive.

 

[daisymtc]

Mobo - you will need SB750/ SB710 to unlock core in case he get phenom II. Ditch the MSI.
So I recommend
Athlon IIx2 - to keep the build cheap
Phenom IIx2 545 if he is not OC.
Gigabyte GA-MA770T- UD3P
Powercolor HD4770 512
OCZ XTC 1600 Cl7 2x2gb
DVD-RW
WD 160gb 7200

 

[Stildawn]

Gigabyte GA-MA770T- UD3P

I did pick that one for the build using the 550 cause at the time I thought that was the only Phenom II x2 that unlocked cores...

The MSI is just for all the cheaper builds which wont unlock any extra cores.