PC for like $350 with no monitor, speakers, etc.

[m-mag]

Hello,

I should be getting a present and it should be another PC. The estimated budget is around $350 (don't know if it's strict, will be glad if it's higher lol)

I don't know what best spec's that fit the price and will, at the same time, make me able to run heavy games. COD, NFS's, etc.

Also, a friend told me that since there's no big budget, I should go for AMD, cheaper. like an AMD CPU for $100 will do better than $100 one Intel.

Thought about Intel Core i3 2100 and Gigabyte GA-P61-USB3-B3.

Also don't know the best VGA that suits the budget and will do the trick. You can direct me to a thread/forum about choosing VGA or something if you are not sure.

Thank you in advance!

 

[circulate]

Hello, it's very important to make sure you at least look at the first page of the forums, let alone use the search function...

Here are 4 related pages just on the first page...

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/318624-31-upgrade-build

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/318693-31-budget-gaming-build

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/318733-31-girlfriend

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/318735-31-cheap-gaming

VGA is a type of video connection fyi.
The term is GPU (graphics processing unit) or video card-vid card, graphics card, etc.

 

[008Rohit]

Check my build on my signature. It costed me about $300.
You'll have to buy a GPU and one more stick of RAM.

 

[m-mag]

Check my build on my signature. It costed me about $300.
You'll have to buy a GPU and one more stick of RAM.

Thank you. Is Intel Core i3 2100 good enough for running heavy games? And yeah I thought about it with a Gigabyte mobo. Yet, someone has told me that since I don't have enough money, I should go for AMD, as you'll get higher performance with lower price. WRT Intel.

 

[008Rohit]

^^

One friend of mine pulls 100FPS from Mafia II in highest details with an i3 2100 + GTS 450 @ 1366x768. I dunno if you consider this powerful or not.

I personally like Asus MoBos. Gigabyte is a good manufacturer, too.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

At $350 you aren't going to get a massive gaming box.

$350 can get you a Llano A8 build with no GPU (capable of 25-30 fps on low/medium settings for most modern games at 1440x900)

or it can get you an athlon II X2/X3 build with a low-end GPU (4670, 5550, 6570) that can manage 30 fps for medium settings at 1440x900

 

[m-mag]

What if I want rather good GPU?

I've came up with these spec's, what do you guys think?:

-Motherboard (not sure what make, still) chipset 780 (not sure yet about the chipset as well)
-AMD Phenom II x2 555
-RAM 4GB Kingston 1333 (1 module, for now)
-GPU ATI 5670 512mb GDDR5
-HDD 500GB
-DVD writer
-Case with decent PSU

 

[008Rohit]

Phenom II X4 955 BE
ASRock AM3+ 970 AMD Motherboard
HD 6850.

You can upgrade to BD later.

 

[m-mag]

Got $35 more dollars. Will get more soon. Will wait till I get more (I don't know how much I should get to get a decent PC). So I can purchase Phenom II X4 955 BE. And the increment should make me able to buy better motherboard/better GPU/more RAM.

 

[m-mag]

The issue is: Now I got a PC with these spec's:

CPU: Intel CPU P4 630 (2M cache, 3.00 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)
Motherboard: Gigabyte 945G
GPU: Built-in
RAM: 1GB (4x256MB) 533 MHz

As you guys can see, I could upgrade this PC... The motherboard has LGA 775 socket, so I can get a dual core processor. It's got 3 PCI express slots, so I could get a GPU. It supports 667 DDR2 RAM up to 4 GB.

I know that even if I upgraded this PC it would still be kinda "obsolete". Yet, I want the new PC has enough power and capabilities to make me feel the difference. So it would be better than the upgraded version of this PC. If you know what I mean.

Thanks!

 

[des74]

The sweet spot for a budget build that'll last you 2 or 3 years is 550 - 800 dollars.

 

[m-mag]

Phenom II X4 955 BE
ASRock AM3+ 970 AMD Motherboard
HD 6850.

You can upgrade to BD later.

Great. But, HD 6850 (this?) would cost around $160. CPU costs $120, motherboard for $120.

That's $400 without the HDD, RAM.

Should I wait for more money?

 

[008Rohit]

err sorry... My intention was to post that in another thread. I can suggest a $350 build for you though.

Processor : AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W - $75
MoBo : ASRock 760GM-GS3 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $48
Graphics Card : Galaxy 50SGH8HX3QMZ GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) GC Version 1GB 128-bit DDR5 - $79.99 (after mail in rebates)
Hard Disk : Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATAIII - $40
DVD R/W : LG - $20
RAM : Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 - $24
PSU : Corsair CX430 - $25 (after mail in rebates)
Case : Cheapo - $20

Total : $342 after rebates

 

[ScrewySqrl]

err sorry... My intention was to post that in another thread. I can suggest a $350 build for you though.

Processor : AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W - $75
MoBo : ASRock 760GM-GS3 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $48
Graphics Card : Galaxy 50SGH8HX3QMZ GeForce GTS 450 (Fermi) GC Version 1GB 128-bit DDR5 - $79.99 (after mail in rebates)
Hard Disk : Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATAIII - $40
DVD R/W : LG - $20
RAM : Kingston Value 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333 - $24
PSU : Corsair CX430 - $25 (after mail in rebates)
Case : Cheapo - $20

Total : $342 after rebates

You'll need a CPU cooler though for a 720.

cheapest option I would consider would be a Coolermaster Hyper-101A, which is $14.99 at Newgg. Its basically an 80mm, 2 heatpipe version of the Hyper 212, and does a good job of cooling.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103075

Alternately, you could use an Athlon IIx3 450. at $77.99, which comes with a cooler and its 3.2 GHz (and its $67.99 with promo code thru 9/7).

 

[008Rohit]

Ohh, I forgot that its an OEM CPU.

Nice HSF suggestion and nice processor suggestion too.

 

[m-mag]

Best answer selected by m-mag.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey