Hey guys. I'm looking to build a budget gaming PC for my girlfriend when she goes off to college this fall. I don't really need it to do anything fancy besides run World of Warcraft on high settings, which I think should be pretty do-able on today's midrange tech. I'm trying to keep the budget to around $500.
This will be my first homemade computer, so I'm open to any advice and suggestions.
Hey guys. I'm looking to build a budget gaming PC for my girlfriend when she goes off to college this fall. I don't really need it to do anything fancy besides run World of Warcraft on high settings, which I think should be pretty do-able on today's midrange tech. I'm trying to keep the budget to around $500.
This will be my first homemade computer, so I'm open to any advice and suggestions.
I'm not sure the 500w PSU that comes with the case will be adequate to power the system.
I would not trust the psu, you might get by with this. I own the unit and it is strong for a 400w unit. Should power your 7600gt ok, but you would need more power for a major graphics card upgrade. May fit your budget too.
I don't have links right now, but something you could consider is the Coolermaster Centurion 534 case (for 49.99 with $10 mail in rebate... so 39.99) and then there's a nice Thermaltake PSU that's 39.99 for a 430W, lowish watts, but I've asked around and for almost that exact build I've been told by a few people the PSU will be fine. I'm actually getting ready to order one like that for myself in the next couple days.
The thermaltake got like 1300+ reviews or some such, should be easy to find, and if you just type in centurion 534 on newegg that will come up right away as well.
I agree, get a better GPU if you want to run on high settings. I run WoW on an X1650Pro at stock setting. It does fine, but if I turn up the settings things get choppy, and if I crank them up, the computer crashes after about 5 minutes.
I say this because I hear the X1650 is comparible to the 7600. I'd say don't go lower than the X1950Pro. I have seen alot of debate about the amount of GDDR needed, so I can't really speak too much as to getting 256 or 512.
