$500 Budget AMD System???

[Bravo51]

Hello everyone,

I am ashame to say that I have been out of touch with computer technologies, so I am posting this with the hope you all can steer me in the right direction.

My budget is around $500 and the system must be able to play Falcon Allieds (an update to Falcon 4.0?) smoothly and perhaps Rome total war.
I would like to go with AMD this time around as my current system is a dynosaur P2 350 that I built back in 97.

Thanks you for your time

 

[Bravo51]

logainofhades,

except for the monitor and perhaps keyboard nothing else will be recycle.

 

[spet3r]

The best I could do is around $550 AM2 socket with the O/S. About a year ago I would say it would be possible to go cheaper but a lot of the parts are being phased out due to the transition between socket 939/940/754 and Socket AM2 on the AMD side and socket 478 and socket 775 on the Intel side. That throws everything out of whack because the memory choices are limited because the new boards require DDR-2.

Fortunately for you I've been trying to figure this dilemma for someone else... also... its upgradeable!!

CPU - Athlon 64 3000+ 1.6 GHz $57
FAN - Artic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler $29
MOBO - Gigabyte GA-M61VME-S2 SOcket AM2 nVidia Geforce 6100 $62
Memory - Patriot DDR-2 512MB (to match the board) $52
HD - Seagate Barracude 120 GB Sata 3.0/s $54.99
Case- Coolermaster Centurian 5 $49.99
Power Supply - Cooler Master xTream RP 500 PCAR 500 Watt $29.99
Optical Drive - Samsung DVD and CD writer $44.99
Mouse/Keyboard - Logitech Combo $25.75
O/S - Windows XP Home w/ Vista Upgrade (32 bit version) $90

-- BASE SYSTEM PRICE = $495
-- Shipping = ~$60 giver or take ... $550 total

If you add a monitor, I'd look at the Benq 19'' Widescreen LCD its $175

About $675 total with the monitor... compliments of NewEgg.

Just an FYI... a lot of those parts are really going cheap... in all honesty, I would get at least 1 GB of performance ram (around $105) and get a 7000 series video card (a low end runs around $100). That will guarentee those games to run smooth but at a cost-- add at least another $200 to the bill. Right now I figure the very best system for value I can build is actually an Intel System for about $948 with shipping including the monitor.... $750 without.

Hope that helps? Lots to know... sometimes every few months require a refresher because some new socket is released... I liked the days when it was just Socket A or Socket 478.

 

[spet3r]

The 6100 should run those games... but like I said before, I'd get a card if he can afford it.

 

[Ep1demic]

hey im building quite a budget system myself

i live in new zealand so u guys get stuff lots cheap but for 612 im getting a pretty sweet deal

ASUS A8N sli mobo
AMD 64 3700+
Geforce 7600GT
silverstone 520 PSU
and some ram i have lying at home but you can buy a cheaper PSU for your system and buy ram with the savings

this will definitly run those games and even if you want to extend your gaming the 7600GT is up for it