Starter gaming rig for $450ish

Dec 31st, 2007 by Admin

Taking quite a few steps down from the previous model, this is a computer fairly close to the one I built for myself recently. It doesn’t come with an operating system, but most people have a windows XP CD lying around somewhere. If not, then this computer will cost you about $89 dollars more, unless you decide to go with one of the *ahem* less legal routes. You can make up some of the cost of the operating system by dropping the hard drive down to a 320GB or even a 160Gb hard drive, or going with a 7600GT instead of an 8600GT

• 500 GB Hard drive
• Geforce 8600GT 256MB
• 2 GB DDR2 RAM
• DVD Burner
• 2.0 ghz dual core AMD processor

As always, read on for links

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 2.1GHz Socket AM2 65W ProcessorAMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor

WINTEC AMPO 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop MemoryWINTEC AMPO 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory

MSI GeForce 8600GT NX8600GT-T2D256E OC Video CardMSI NX8600GT-T2D256E OC GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card (Mail In Rebate $20.00 Expires 12/31/2007)

ECS GeForce6100SM-M2 (V1.0A) Micro ATX AMD MotherboardECS GeForce6100SM-M2 (V1.0A) AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Western Digital Caviar SE 500GB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive Western Digital Caviar SE WD5000AAJS 500GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

XION II XON-101 Black Computer Case With Side Panel WindowXION II XON-101 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 450W Power Supply

Sony NEC Optiarc 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black IDE Model AD-7190ASony NEC Optiarc Black 20X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 20X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM IDE 20X DVD±R DVD Burner

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Posted in Builds, Monthly builds | 5 Comments

5 Comments to “Starter gaming rig for $450ish”

1. on 24 Jan 2008 at 3:49 pm1Aka Zero

   To make this a killer box for a few dollars more.
   Go with a motherboard of a little better quality (msi, gigabyte)
   Go with ddr2 800, 2gb. It can be had for around $60-80
   And if you really want a gaming machine, put all the extra money into an 8800gt.

   Rest is good, but the 2.1ghz chip might kill some games.

   My setup:
   Foxconn C51XEM2AA motherboard; AMD FX-62 (3.0 ghz); 2gb g-skill ddr2 800 (micron chips); 8600gt; OCZ GameXStream 700w psu; 250gb wd sata (boot drive), 320gb wd sata (load drive), 2x 500gb wd sata (storage); LG 18x dvd multi drive; TT Armor Jr case (black); 5x 120mm fans, 2x 92mm fans, 1x 80mm fan, 1x 60mm chipset cooler. Logitech kb, Logitech mx 610 laser mouse; 19″ crt monitor.

   Total cost at last upgrade. $1300

2. on 24 Jan 2008 at 4:21 pm2Nick

   Nice work compiling the list. I think it would be better if you swapped out the 500GB drive for a couple smaller (like 80GB) ones and set up at least a software RAID. That usually makes games load almost twice as fast. And if you’re strapped for cash (which is why you are only spending $450), then you can try and set up WINE on linux instead of real windows for exactly $89 less.

3. on 25 Jan 2008 at 2:01 pm3Jason

   As a note, Wine does not run all windows programs.

4. on 20 Feb 2008 at 10:58 pm4Dan

   And that’s not mentioning that one of the weakest point is Direct3D handling. A lot of games won’t run at all in it.

5. on 20 Feb 2008 at 10:58 pm5Dan

   One of the weakest points in Wine, that is.

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