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How to Build a $500 Gaming Machine

Posted by Zonk on from the cutting-edge-just-isn't-necessary dept.

bacterial_pus writes "Tom's Hardware has a very interesting article on how to build a $500 gaming rig. 'Instead of the newest killer rig from Alienware, Falcon Northwest, Voodoo, etc... how about a system for the rest of us with a realistic budget starting from scratch? We set out to build a reasonable gaming system that will get you through today's game titles without breaking the bank for around $500.'"

3 of 305 comments (clear)

  1. Kind of interesting... But by Azureflare · · Score: 1, Redundant
    They left out the case! Cases are like 60$ for a good one. What are they going to do, leave all the parts scattered over the floor, or pinned up on the wall? (of course pinning up on the wall also requires parts).

    The final cost of this machine is more like around $570, and then when you include the shipping on the parts you bought online... Well... I'd say it comes to more like $600. (Possibly more?)

    Still... A good guide for the newbies to budget PC design. This article really makes me feel outdated with my Geforce FX 5600 and Athlon 2800+... I guess I definitely don't have a decent rig for most modern games. But that's ok because I don't play any modern games.

    BTW anyone know a good way to avoid the annoying linkified ads in firefox? I just used links2. All those ads really slow down my browsing experience.

  2. Summary: by jannesha · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Basically, to spend only $516, you have to give up on the following:

    OS (unless you want to run your games under WINE)
    monitor
    keyboard
    mouse
    speakers
    case (that's right, just pile the components under your desk, folks!)

    yikes.

  3. what a ten page article is trying to say: by fanblade · · Score: 1, Redundant

    ASRock motherboard (AMD Socket 939, PCI Express/AGP, SATA2) - $69
    AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Processor (1.8GHz, boxed CPU kit with cooler) - $146
    eVGA's nVidia GeForce 6600 (256MB, AGP) - $113
    512MB Corsair Value Select (PC3200, dual-channel DDR400 RAM) - $52
    80GB Western Digital Caviar SE hard drive (WD800JD, SATA 150, 8MB cache, 7200rpm) - $57.50
    DVD-ROM from LiteOn (SOHD-16P9SBLK, 16x read) - $20
    330W PSU from Seasonic (S12-330, ATX 12V) - $59