For Christmas I am planning on upgrading my son's laptop to a better gaming system for him to be able to use and not complain about lagging etc.. I am not a total dummy when it comes to techy stuff and I have a 17yr old that knows some stuff as well but I wanted to get some info here because I know you guys know what you're talking about. Any suggestions?
Best Gaming PC under $400
- Thread starter Jocelyn_1
- Start date
Solution
DonkeyOatie
Champion
- Sep 16, 2014
- 12,141
- 1
- 50,960
A good complete gaming system for your budget is tough because the OS uses up so much. I think that best idea might be to get an older off-lease business system with a good CPU ($200 to 250) and add a decent GPU to it. What games might they want to play?
This is about as cheap as I would want to go and play modern games.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($47.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 360 2GB NITRO Video Card ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Elite V2 550W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $427.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-13 10:13 EST-0500
This is about as cheap as I would want to go and play modern games.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($47.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 360 2GB NITRO Video Card ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Elite V2 550W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $427.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-13 10:13 EST-0500
Here is my build. It goes a little over the budget but delivers great performance:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pXm2vK
[strike]Also you won't need to buy an operating system, you can download it and install it by yourself, it's easy.[/strike] Good luck!
http://www.bonanza.com/listings/Windows-8-1-PRO-OEM-32-64-Bit/297952189?gpid=76983190261&gpkwd=&goog_pla=1&gclid=CK6woMCWy8kCFdgKgQodw1wFhA
$40 Windows 8.1 Pro OEM key (digital download). Upgrade to Windows 10 is free.
I haven't used it yet, but I will be buying from them as soon as my son's parts come in
$40 Windows 8.1 Pro OEM key (digital download). Upgrade to Windows 10 is free.
I haven't used it yet, but I will be buying from them as soon as my son's parts come in
Try this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($47.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Elite V2 550W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $343.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-13 10:37 EST-0500
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($47.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($45.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Elite V2 550W ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $343.80
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-13 10:37 EST-0500
I'd keep my build with those changes:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4VnN8d
Also here's just something that I think is worth the money:
http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=3254&gid2=2064&compare=radeon-r7-360-v2-sapphire-nitro-2gb-edition-vs-geforce-gtx-750-ti-msi-gaming-2gb-edition
Also I'm using all the budget for the best performance
- Apr 6, 2009
- 54,206
- 3,413
- 179,340
Unless you are referring to a free distro of Linux, you can't simply download a free version of Windows.
Beyond trial/preview versions, there is no free version of Windows. To use Windows, you must purchase a license, even to use the free Win 10 upgrade from an earlier, licensed, version.
Tom's Hardware does not support any form of software piracy. None. Period.
DonkeyOatie
Champion
- Sep 16, 2014
- 12,141
- 1
- 50,960
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
Question AVAGO PEX8748-based M.2 SSD Expansion Card: Feasible or Not?- Started by NOR1NCO
- Replies: 0
-
Discussion What's your favourite video game you've been playing?- Started by amdfangirl
- Replies: 3K
-
Question Can I just upgrade my graphics card or should I be upgrading my processor as well for UE5?- Started by Tolstoy1990
- Replies: 9
-
Question Microsoft Defender found Trojans on my PC- Started by Tommy Sawyer
- Replies: 4
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram