Gaming Rig for Under $500

[vsong]

Ive been out of the loop for a long time now. I switched to Mac's about 2 years ago because of work stuff. Dont get me wrong I love my Mac! But I wanna get back into gaming, i miss it..!

I was wondering if it was possible to build a decent one for under $500. Ive been surfing around the major sites but i really dont wanna spend $+1500 just to play video games. I recently just purchased a new mac book pro for $2,000, so my money is limited. I suppose i could spend more, but it just all depends.

I know you guys get these questions alot, And I wanna say thank you ahead of time if you do decide to read and answer.

I use to use Pricewatch.com to buy all my PC parts is that site still good to use?
Is there a thread that shows the best parts for the best money?

I dont know whats good anymore

 

[thatolchestnut]

It depends on what you mean by "decent." I run everything up to fear, but nothing at the level of vanguard, fine. I run w/ a 9800 pro, 1.6 GHZ, 768mb ram, etc, and I imagine this PC is prolly worth about $200-250 now.

 

[vsong]

Well i play WoW, and i want a machine that wont lag me. My macbook pro does good but during raids it gets bogged down.

I was thinking a desktop would prolly be better for that kind of thing. So i would say something with a new video card. My old machine had a 9800pro xt ( or something like taht ) in it.

Pretty much i want new parts good graphics card, 1gb of ram, the usuall. dont need a big HD cause its just for gaming. I still know how to build a computer ( i hope )

 

[Noema]

X2 3600 $60

MSI nForce 550 AM2 Mobo $58

1 GB Kinston ValueRam DDR2 $40 PC5300@667MHz

eVGA GeForce 7600GS $85

Samsung SATA 3Gb/s 7200RPM 200GB HDD $56

LiteOn DVD Burner $33

Total: $332+shipping

Will run WoW very well. I played it at max settings at 1280x1024 on a lesser system for years and it was smooth as butter.

Or if you want a bit more oomph, you can get this 7900GS for $150, which'd ramp the total cost of the system up to $397. With it you'll be able to play WoW at pretty much any resolution, with all details maxxed out, and would definetly smoke your Macbook Pro in games.

 

[Nnyan]

you don't mention if you are re-using other parts (monitor etc...) but based on your price I'm going to assume that you have a monitor to use with this.

$ 69.00 Athlon 64 X2 3600+ %
$ 53.99 ECS C51GM-M
$145.99 Radeon X1950PRO*
$ 39.99 G.Skill 1GB RAM**
$ 52.99 WD Caviar SE 160GB
$ 49.99 Cooler Master Elite***
$ 16.99 Lite-On CD Burner
$ 6.99 Samsung FD#

Under $500 depending on your local taxes and delivery charges to your area. Here in CA it was $498.05 INCLUDING shipping and taxes.

% Did not do OEM b/c you then have to spend $ on an HSF and its hard to find one as good as the one that comes with the retail box for less then the $10 diff.

* If prices come down a bit here and you can spend more you may want to consider a DX10 card. Don't gain much in performance (if any and you may give some back but then you're better positioned for the future)

** Solid brand, only 1 stick of 1GB so that you can add a second stick later on. Yea you give up a bit of performance this way but better upgrading later on.

*** YES there are cheaper cases out there but this is the cheapest case that has a USEABLE decent Power Supply. I would not go any lower then this case/ps.

# Kill the floppy and upgrade to the cheapest DVD burner.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: vsong
Well i play WoW, and i want a machine that wont lag me. My macbook pro does good but during raids it gets bogged down.

I was thinking a desktop would prolly be better for that kind of thing. So i would say something with a new video card. My old machine had a 9800pro xt ( or something like taht ) in it.

Pretty much i want new parts good graphics card, 1gb of ram, the usuall. dont need a big HD cause its just for gaming. I still know how to build a computer ( i hope )

every system I've ever used even a QX6600 with 8800gtx has some sort of lag in mmorpgs. It's not the video or CPU. It's the game code and the fact that everything has to be transfered from a remote location.

 

[GZeus]

Watch the HotDeals thread for bargains to save some $'s and have patience as you get your build parts together.

A couple of current examples that will save you a few bucks here and there:

600W Power Supply for Free After Rebate (FAR)

A good quality Cooler Master Centurion Case for $36 delivered

There are a ton of deals on quality RAM, CPU's and video cards just about everyday.
Take your time and within 3 months you'll have all the bits needed to make a kick-azz gaming rig for well under $500. Leave some room for future upgrades as new HotDeals get posted.

 

[vsong]

Wow thank you guys! Im going to start looking for those pieces now

Very very much appreciated.

 

[ForumMaster]

you could also step ip the performance a bit.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 for $115
Gigabyte GA965DS3 for $100
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 RAM kit for $93
eVGA GeForce 7600GS $85
Samsung SATA 3Gb/s 7200RPM 200GB HDD $56
Cooler Master Centurion 5 for $50
Samsung DVD Burner for $30

Total Cost:$530

Yes a bit above the desired budget but that system rocks. it's ready for vista and you can seriously overclock that CPU for an awesome performance increase. If you're tight on money, you could cut the RAM in half and get a gig.

 

[Aikouka]

Originally posted by: cmdrdredd
every system I've ever used even a QX6600 with 8800gtx has some sort of lag in mmorpgs. It's not the video or CPU. It's the game code and the fact that everything has to be transfered from a remote location.

Depending on the add-ons that you use, WoW can also be very CPU dependent. Add-ons that update frequently tend to poll the client for new information quite frequently and this ain't free processing.

 

[Nnyan]

ForumMaster,

I considered spec'ing something like that but adding in the Power supply and then ship/tax it would make a big deal to someone looking to stay under a tight budget.

 

[Ichigo]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
you could also step ip the performance a bit.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 for $115
Gigabyte GA965DS3 for $100
G.Skill 2GB DDR2 RAM kit for $93
eVGA GeForce 7600GS $85
Samsung SATA 3Gb/s 7200RPM 200GB HDD $56
Cooler Master Centurion 5 for $50
Samsung DVD Burner for $30

Total Cost:$530

Yes a bit above the desired budget but that system rocks. it's ready for vista and you can seriously overclock that CPU for an awesome performance increase. If you're tight on money, you could cut the RAM in half and get a gig.

Someone posted a better deal including a 1950Pro. So... not sure what you're aiming for.

 

[vsong]

Would i have to spend more money if i wanted to play maxed out graphics on a 1280x1024 monitor?

 

[vsong]

Originally posted by: Noema
X2 3600 $60

MSI nForce 550 AM2 Mobo $58

1 GB Kinston ValueRam DDR2 $40 PC5300@667MHz

eVGA GeForce 7600GS $85

Samsung SATA 3Gb/s 7200RPM 200GB HDD $56

LiteOn DVD Burner $33

Total: $332+shipping

Will run WoW very well. I played it at max settings at 1280x1024 on a lesser system for years and it was smooth as butter.

Or if you want a bit more oomph, you can get this 7900GS for $150, which'd ramp the total cost of the system up to $397. With it you'll be able to play WoW at pretty much any resolution, with all details maxxed out, and would definetly smoke your Macbook Pro in games.

If i did Intell with this setup, would it cost more and would it be worth it? ive never had an intel sysem. thinking about it.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: vsong

If i did Intell with this setup, would it cost more and would it be worth it? ive never had an intel sysem. thinking about it.

Intel's the top of the heap right now for performance.

Have you tried simply installing Boot Camp and XP on your MBP? Frequently running games on the Windows XP side, rather than the MacOS side, is a bit faster. Your MBP is no slouch - typically a Core 2 Duo 2.0, 256MB Radeon 1600 setup - that's not half bad and should be plenty for what you're talking about....and it only costs you $100 or so for the XP license to try it out...

 

[magreen]

No point to building under $500 right now.
Look at this: Dell 3600+ 1GB ram and WinXP with 19" LCD for $429
Add a graphics card of your choice from the recommendations in the above posts, and you're set.