Decent Gaming Computer?

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Logan Henson

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
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10,510
I found this deal on craigslist but am not very up to date with hardware unfortunately, but am looking to get a decent gaming desktop without spending a whole lot on a fully custom build system. please let me know how I would be using this setup to play possibly Battlefield, world of warcraft, path of exile, skyrim (most recent games d:)

Operating System : Windowa Vista
Miscrosoft Office Enterprise Edition 2007
Motherboard : Asus M4A88T-M Series
Processor : AMD Phenom II Quad Core Black Edition 3.4Ghz
harddrive: westgate 1tb hard drive
Video Card :NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 - 3D Ready
Power Supply Unit : Thermal Take 600 Watts
RAM : 16GB DDR3 - 2 sticks
Monitor : 23 inch HP w2338H - HD 1080p - Wide Screen
Blue Ray DVD ROM
Lightscribe DVD Multi Recorder
SD and Mini SD Card Reader
Compact Flash II/MD
Smart Media / xd
Keyboard
Mouse
PC Speakers and subwoofer

thanks!
 
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Logan Henson

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Apr 14, 2013
15
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10,510


they are asking $525 and would possibly take a little less..from what I gathered the motherboard is not usb or sata 3 compatible so upgrading to a ssd later would be limited to sata2, the cpu seems to be very good, but know next to nothing about graphics cards!

 
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DarkSable

DarkSable

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Sep 27, 2012
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Yeah the 250 is pretty old - it was just a re-branded 8800GT, if I remember correctly, but DX10 compliant.

EDIT:

1) If you're getting a higher end SSD, sata 2 will, in fact, not be able to keep up with the bandwidth needs at times, therefore limiting it.

2) As for the tom's hardware build that bignasty linked, it's a good build, but I'd update it with an ivy bridge pentium and an h77 motherboard.
 
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bignastyid

bignastyid

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Jun 19, 2011
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Actually yes it can as many current sata III drives are faster than the sata II bus. They will work with sata II but not at their full potential.
 
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Logan Henson

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
15
0
10,510
I have always gamed on a laptop in the past, and am sick of not being able to upgrade without taking the whole thing apart..I do not have a monitor or keyboard, not that those are very expensive, but it all adds up on my budget. If I did get a new ssd it would be down the line, basically all I want is a "frame" that I can continue to upgrade when I have money, and that will play modern games at a reasonable level right now.

for comparisons sake of what a "reasonable level" is, I have been gaming on an Asus g73jh laptop for the past 4 years
 
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DarkSable

DarkSable

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Sep 27, 2012
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It's slightly more expensive than you're looking for, but it's got good quality parts in it and will make an excellent frame to upgrade with:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G2130 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.94 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($30.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $610.38
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-14 14:59 EDT-0400)
 
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Logan Henson

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
15
0
10,510


So the rig I found on craigslist is not worth getting seems to be the consensus, and just making an all new setup would be better, correct?
 
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DarkSable

DarkSable

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Sep 27, 2012
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Correct - the one on craigslist has a good number of issues that would make me shy away from it - it would make a decent media PC but that's about it. It was probably a best buy computer or something like that which has been upgraded slightly, and is being sold because it struggles to game anymore.

 
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Logan Henson

Honorable
Apr 14, 2013
15
0
10,510


Ok thanks for such a straightforward answer! So taking the above posted config if I opted to replace the 500gb hdd with a ssd right off the bat what would be my best option, I would be running win7 on it and about 50gb of games, as well as microsoft work software totaling probably 100gb, so I'm assuming I would need at least a 200gb ssd, significantly ramping up the price d:
 
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DarkSable

DarkSable

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Sep 27, 2012
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Not at all. What you do is you buy it with the hard drive, and use that.

When you can afford a ssd, buy it - you want a 120/128 GB drive. Then reinstall windows on the SSD and put your programs on it. It'll only need to have a couple games, because most games don't really get a benefit from having faster loading screens.
 
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