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How to Build a $500 Gaming Machine
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.'"
Did you miss the part about it being for gaming?
"Religion is the most malevolent of all mind viruses." - Arthur C. Clarke.
Dude, you haven't experienced gaming until you've played Tux Racer at 300fps! ;)
Did you forget something? Are you sure? Uh, the case?
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Couldn't find a printable link, so to save you from 8 clicks on "next->" and more ads than I could count (they went over budget by $16.49):
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 3000+ $146
Motherboard: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 $69
Memory: Corsair Value Select 512 MB (2x 256 MB) $52
VGA: eVGA 256-A8-N340-TX Geforce 6600 256 MB $113
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80 GB $57.50
Optical Drive LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM $19.99
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12-330 ATX12V 330W $59.00
Total: $516.49
everything in moderation
1 Pay 498$ for XP licience
2 Pay 1$ bus fare to nearest alienware retailer
3 Throw brick through retailers window (If you buy a brick it breaks the budget so steal one)
4 Grab demo model and run (you can call this pc liberation if makes you feel better)
5 Pay 1$ bus fare home
6 Happy gaming
Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
What truth?
There is no dupe
Most of us find a keyboard and a mouse useful on our gaming rigs, and a pair of speakers, and oh, I don't know, an OS, a case, and possibly even a monitor.
A $500 gaming rig? Not quite!
Neopets - the best free game on the Int
PS2
XBox
Nintendo GC
And coming soon:
PS3
XBox 360
Remember that they were building a machine only for gaming too in that article.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
If you want a "great" inexpensive gaming system just pretend it's 3 years ago but pay today's prices.
The best games of 2002 aren't all that bad.
Want cheaper? Keep dialing back the clock.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Does Tux Racer at 300fps count as gaming? ;)
94% of Repubs and 21% of Dems voted to renew the Patriot Act
Yes, but then the "Linus Is God" subliminal message, coming every 35th frame, would go by too fast to register.
Start a happiness pandemic
Students at my university (who are also more likely to appreciate a $500 gaming rig) can get a Windows XP license for $6.
http://www.policystew.com/
We're not in 1995 anymore. Everyone owns a PC. Now if you build a modern PC, you won't need the old anymore, and good luck selling the old one.
Only in Microsoft's wettest dreams is it not allowed to reeuse a copy of windows on a newer PC.
Well, this story is just junk.. But here's my 2 cents. Buy enough cheap ram to upgrade to 512mb. Make sure that you have a machine that runs in the neighborhood of 2ghz (P4/Athlon XP). Purchase an ATI Radeon 9500Pro ($40ish on ebay). This should be enough to be able to play Doom 3 and the other modern titles. No, they won't look great, but they will certainly be playable. I'm on a rig like that right now, and it runs Doom 3 at 1024x768 with specular lighting at around 30fps.
As a general rule of thumb when purchasing a video card on a budget, always buy yesterday's performance model rather than today's budget model.
Each processor would proceed sequentially as if it had been better for them not to rise against Saul.
Their Budget Box is comparable to the one Tom's built, and actually includes all the necessary parts in the price.
Value Gaming System Buyer's Guide ($1000 budget)
High-end System Buyer's Guide ($2,500 budget)
Extreme Gaming PC Buyer's Guide ($4,000 budget)
Meh, ,who needs a case when you can just use a pumpkin!
Monstar L