Budget PC $600

[hawk16]

I have $600 to spend on a gaming PC. I want it to have a DX10 card and such. I am not sure to go AMD or Intel i've been out of the loop so long, but however someone told me core 2 duo's were MUCH better, however when it comes to budget what is a cheaper setup, AMD or Intel? It can't be over $600, however I will pay extra for shipping. Can anyone point me in the right direction of what I should get?

 

[merc14]

Core 2 Duos are better but at $600 and a DX10 card you have your work cut out for you. Do you need an OS or do you have an XP CD already? Do you need a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.?

 

[Onus]

For $600, you're almost certainly looking at an AMD build, especially if you want a competent (i.e. not 8600) DX10 card. What parts do you already have?

 

[Solariscs]

Cooler Master Centurion 5
FSP SAGA AX500-PN 450W
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core Processor 4800+* (2.5GHz)
GIGABYTE GA-M61P-S3
Western Digital WD2000JS 200GB
STT DDR2-800 2GB (2x1GB)
EVGA nVidia GeForce 8600GTS 256MB

That's around 600 right there

 

[misterj]

For $600.00 you'll have to make a few scarifices. Check out the Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz you can find them for around 60-70 bucks they have great over clocking capability and you can always upgrade it at a later date. I have built 2 systems with that processor in it and they work great. Not sure about the video cards with DX10 but im sure they're price is pretty high right now. You can always pick up a cheaper DX9 model and get great preformace from them at a reasonable price. For 600 I hope you got most everything already.. case, monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard. Although they are cheap buying all of them can add up quite quickly. Good luck!

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

For $600.00 you'll have to make a few scarifices. Check out the Intel Pentium D 805 Smithfield 2.66GHz you can find them for around 60-70 bucks they have great over clocking capability and you can always upgrade it at a later date. I have built 2 systems with that processor in it and they work great. Not sure about the video cards with DX10 but im sure they're price is pretty high right now. You can always pick up a cheaper DX9 model and get great preformace from them at a reasonable price. For 600 I hope you got most everything already.. case, monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard. Although they are cheap buying all of them can add up quite quickly. Good luck!

a am2 system is lot better then a old 805 system.

 

[zenmaster]

Do not worry about DX10. You can get a better DX9 Cards are faster than DX10 cards at the same price until you get to the $270 range or so for the 8800GTS and that would destroy your budget.

A 1950Pro which I have seen on NewEgg will beat a 8600GTS and cost far less.

Any current DX10 Card less than the 8800GTS simply does not have the power to play DX10 games well enough to be able to use the DX10 Eye Candy anyway.

 

[Onus]

Here's a build. It comes to $569. You could go cheaper on a few things, but not by much. I chose the particular video card over cheaper ones in part because it exhausts most of its heat out of the case. Another $20 would buy a socket AM2+ mobo, which wouldn't be a bad idea if you decided to grow this rig as better parts become affordable. The PSU is the minimum I would use on this build. It doesn't include a keyboard, mouse, monitor, or surge protector.

Rosewill R604-P BK 120mm Fan ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Model #: R604-P BK
Item #: N82E16811147058
$39.99 -$5.00 Instant $34.99

GIGABYTE GA-MA69VM-S2 AM2 AMD 690V Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Model #: GA-MA69VM-S2
Item #: N82E16813128043
$59.99 $59.99

HIS Hightech H195PRQT256DVN-R-V2 Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
Model #: H195PRQT256DVN-R-V2
Item #: N82E16814161088
$169.99 $169.99

FSP Group (Fortron Source) AX450-PN ATX12V 450W Power Supply - Retail
Model #: AX450-PN
Item #: N82E16817104954
$57.99 $57.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ Brisbane 2.1GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model ADO4000DDBOX - Retail
Model #: ADO4000DDBOX
Item #: N82E16819103774
$65.99 $65.99

A-DATA Value Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model VDQVE1A16K - Retail
Model #: VDQVE1A16K
Item #: N82E16820211165
$69.99 $69.99

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Model #: ST3250410AS
Item #: N82E16822148262
$69.99 $69.99

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model LH-20A1L-06 - Retail
Model #: LH-20A1L-06
Item #: N82E16827106072
$39.99 $39.99

Subtotal: $568.92

 

[Onus]

Hmmm, I noted where you say you want DX10. With that budget, you'll be limited to a 8600GT; I'm not sure you'll be happy with that, but here's one:
MSI NX8600GTS-T2D256E-OC GeForce 8600GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $133 after MIR.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127284

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

Here's a build. It comes to $569. You could go cheaper on a few things, but not by much. I chose the particular video card over cheaper ones in part because it exhausts most of its heat out of the case. Another $20 would buy a socket AM2+ mobo, which wouldn't be a bad idea if you decided to grow this rig as better parts become affordable. The PSU is the minimum I would use on this build. It doesn't include a keyboard, mouse, monitor, or surge protector.

that board is not a real am2+ board

 

[Onus]

No, the Gigabyte is not. I was referring to this one, for another $20:
BIOSTAR TF560 A2+ AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138081

 

[Joe_The_Dragon]

No, the Gigabyte is not. I was referring to this one, for another $20:
BIOSTAR TF560 A2+ AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA nForce 560 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138081

Biostar's marketing this motherboard as an AM2+ motherboard, when you really aren't going to get ANY of the features of AM2+. This is simply an AM2 motherboard that will take AM2+ processors without a BIOS update.

 

[Onus]

Ah. Fair enough.

 

[ITSkier]

Gigabyte Nvidia 8600GT 256MB DDR3 -retail PCIe x16 GV-NX86T256H-RT 125.99 (includes Supreme Commander)
I know alot of you don't like them but the 8600gt beats the 1950 in every benchmark I saw while choosing this card recently. My criteria was silence, HD tv and future proofing for dx10 (at least until after the holidays).