Looking for a REALLY low budget (around $350) gaming pc (build?)

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jtpetch

jtpetch

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Jan 16, 2014
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Hello, I am looking for exactly what the title says. I need a pc build (with windows 7, nothing else) with at least 4 gb of ram, 8 would be better (but i don't think it'd happen), at least a 500 gb hard drive, a decent cpu for gaming, and a decent graphics card for gaming. I also need it to be able to support at least two vga monitors, (or one vga and one dvi) and i would like it to have a screen capture card, but it's not necessary. I want it to have at least one cd drive with burner, (blu ray doesn't matter), and i also need a case for it all. I would need it to be able to play the following:
Minecraft
Civilization V
World of tanks
Hawken
Planetside 2
DayZ standalone (just hoping)
Skyrim
And pretty much any free-to-play steam game (lol)
All at at least 30-35 fps on medium-low graphics
It doesn't need wifi, as i prefer ethernet anyway.
What i would really appreciate from someone who is boss with tech (probably this whole community :) is a list of links to the best parts for what i need that i could get for under my $350 budget. I know it's not much, but i saw on a few other forums that people built them for around that.
I don't need monitors, a keyboard, or a mouse.
Thank you guys so much!
 
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HiTechObsessed

HiTechObsessed

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Dec 3, 2013
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For $350 this is what you'll get. If you need a copy of Windows, though, I don't know if you'll get away with it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A10-6800K 4.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($139.97 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($53.48 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($39.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.94 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $346.34
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-19 18:30 EST-0500)
 
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HiTechObsessed

HiTechObsessed

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Dec 3, 2013
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Revised my list from above to include the 7750 mentioned by tzn.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A55M-DS2 Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($53.48 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($39.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card ($78.45 @ NCIX US)
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ TigerDirect)
Total: $359.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-19 18:42 EST-0500)
 
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ssddx

ssddx

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May 27, 2009
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for $350 requiring an os you would be better off looking for a used computer on craigslist.

you simply are not going to build a decent system for that with new parts.

while certainly impressive for what it is, an apu (a10) isnt going to run games at 1080p at medium at 30fps or more so thats not an option.

it might be possible to use older tech parts that arent going to be upgradeable at all (basically just throwing cash into the wind here) but it might get you playable settings for right now.

hence why i said to buy used. you can get 50% better parts at least than if you bought new retail (even older cheaper parts)

you should be able to find something with a dual core, 8gb ram, 500gb hdd and semi-medium level video card for that price used. likely you're going to be in the same boat and not having it be upgradeable at all but at least it gets you more for your money.

i would seriously rethink your budget though and try to raise it.
 
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lmaonade200

lmaonade200

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Oct 31, 2013
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G2020 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($57.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: GeIL DRAGON 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R7 250 1GB Video Card ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($19.99)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-118BB DVD/CD Drive ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $343.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

yeah getting anything that can run those games at this price point is pretty much impossible, especially if you need Windows also, that's a hundred dollars gone from your budget.

when i say it's impossible, I mean all at once, you'll need to space out your purchases to get the best deals, the Corsair CX430 is on sale 20 bucks after 20 bucks MIR on Newegg atm, so you need to jump on deals as they appear, you may be able to build this computer WITH windows if you space your purchases over a few months or even a year.

For example, hard drives are not cheap right now, it's nearly the cost of a 1TB hard drive for a 500 GB, but the 500 GB ones occasionally do go on sale or have a rebate deal and you should be able to push the price down to near 30.
RAM is also expensive at the moment, at least new, you should be able to get a stick of 4GB for about 20 if you buy used on Ebay (the best "used" ones are ones that come with certain computers and people buy new RAM to replace it but can't resell the old RAM at full price) or some similar site.

I recommend you camp Ebay for a bit, you may be able to find some potent used parts for very cheap, for example, someone might have a 7750 or 7770 (which is what this R7 250 is basically) 1GB GDDR5 up for sale for cheap somewhere because they recently bought a new video card or something
 
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lmaonade200

lmaonade200

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everyone in this thread has acknowledged that he needs windows, we're just unable to build something that can match his requirements WITH windows, it's impossible to build a 270 dollar computer that can play those games with current prices, he'll have to space out purchases and jump on deals.
 
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jtpetch

jtpetch

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Jan 16, 2014
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Wow. Fastest replies i have ever seen from a forum. lol Thanks guys! I just thought of something: this is the pc i have now http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?cc=us&lc=en&docname=c01287561
Would i be able to upgrade it into a gaming pc for under $300? I know it can only have 4 gb of ram. Is that enough for those games? Also, would it be easy (like, lego easy?) to swap out the parts?
Thank you guys so much for taking your time to answer my questions!
Also, i'm going to sound like an idiot here, but could i use the factory copy (stored on its own drive for factory resets) of windows 7 on my computer to put windows on the new pc? Or is that illegal
 
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jtpetch

jtpetch

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Jan 16, 2014
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Also, what about this build by cutebeans on another thread?
I like the ram amount, but is it all decent quality for gaming?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pcb8
CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($67.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H61M-E33/W8 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7750 2GB Video Card ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Gigabyte GZ-F5HEB ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $310.91
 
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ScrewySqrl

ScrewySqrl

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Aug 2, 2010
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here's my (still windows-less) build

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI A55M-E33 Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.92 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.94 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTS 450 1GB Video Card ($55.21 @ Amazon)
Case: Zalman ZM-T1 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($27.99 @ Mwave)
Power Supply: Rosewill Green 530W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $362.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-23 19:24 EST-0500)

a GTS 450 is about a good a gpu as you can get for $55. a lot better than most at this price, but it is several generations old.
the 1 TB drive was all of $2 more than a 500GB.
the 750K CPU is plenty for gaming
the motherboard lacks SATA 3 and USB 3, but is FM2+, meaning you can upgrade the cpu to a Steamroller-based cpu in the future.
the Rosewill 530W PSU is overkill on Wattage, and while not a top-class PSU, it is of decent quality, an gives room to expand to any future top-clas gpu to go with expansion of the CPU
 
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ScrewySqrl

ScrewySqrl

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Aug 2, 2010
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one othr note: Microsoft had recently had a shift in it policy regarding re-using windows licenses...as long as only one copy of that license is actually active, you can reuse it on new machine - eg you can transfer your license to a new motherboard, as long as the old computer is not ever used again
 
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