Gaming capable rig for under 400

[aloalo]

Hello. I'm wondering if anyone knows of any rigs that are capable of playing games, for example Deus Ex: Human Revolution and is under 400 dollars (after taxes and shipping). I understand I won't be getting anywhere near max settings at 400 bucks, but 30 fps on lowest settings is good enough.

I'd be willing to build it myself, but would prefer a prebuilt. I don't need it to be future proof, either.

I already have a monitor, but will most likely need to buy mouse + keyboard + optical, but without is fine as long as there's 40 bucks in the budget to buy that stuff on my own. Comments, questions and suggestions welcome. Thanks in advance

edit: we were looking at this: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/874477-REG/Acer_PT_SE6P2_002_Aspire_X3_Intel_Core.html#Specification but it ends up 20 bucks over budget.

edit 2: This is also a back-to-school kinda thing so there's a deadline of c. Sep 5th.

 

[FinneousPJ]

Sure man, I think you'll be quite amazed by the performance of something like this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G630 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($57.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($22.85 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card ($137.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec 380W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($31.45 @ Newegg)
Total: $380.22
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-25 17:51 EDT-0400)

 

[aloalo]

That's a pretty nifty site. I went through some stuff and edited some things. let me know if some things were unnecessary:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G630 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($57.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE2-GP 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card ($129.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec 380W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($31.45 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($21.48 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM5200 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($12.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $413.83
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-25 19:28 EDT-0400)

I honestly wasn't really expecting a discrete card (at least not a 6850!) for such a low-budget rig. However, I was wondering if any integrated chipsets could handle modern games at all? I've heard good things about the intel HD3000 chipset. The main function of this rig would not be for gaming. How much would I save if I went integrated and would it be "cost effective" in terms of performance per dollar?

All that being said, I really appreciate that great first response, FinneousPJ!

edit: Also remember that I'd slightly prefer a ready-made PC rather than a build-it-yourself one.

 

[FinneousPJ]

That's a pretty nifty site. I went through some stuff and edited some things. let me know if some things were unnecessary:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G630 2.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($57.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE2-GP 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card ($129.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec 380W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($31.45 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($21.48 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM5200 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($12.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $413.83
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-25 19:28 EDT-0400)

I honestly wasn't really expecting a discrete card (at least not a 6850!) for such a low-budget rig. However, I was wondering if any integrated chipsets could handle modern games at all? I've heard good things about the intel HD3000 chipset. The main function of this rig would not be for gaming. How much would I save if I went integrated and would it be "cost effective" in terms of performance per dollar?

All that being said, I really appreciate that great first response, FinneousPJ!

edit: Also remember that I'd slightly prefer a ready-made PC rather than a build-it-yourself one.

It seems good to me.

Re integrated the best chip right now is the AMD A8. It noticably more powerful than HD3000 which is quite lacking. Soon they should release the A10 soon which is somewhat more powerful. You could perhaps build a system for ca. $300

 

[blazorthon]

HD 3000 is not something that I'd consider gaming-capable unless you don't like modern games as much as some older games. It is extremely weak and has crap driver support (especially in systems that have customized drivers rather than Intel's still fairly poor generic drivers) in addition to not even supporting DX11. However, it's pretty great for non-gaming purposes.

 

[aloalo]

Would I be able to hold-off on buying the 6850 and run my computer with integrated graphics using the remaining parts and buy the 6850 or other card later on? Would the 380W be enough for the 6850?

Assuming I don't get the 6850 and rely on integrated CPU graphics, what's the best CPU I can afford with the extra $100 I saved from the GPU?

How does this look?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE2-GP 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec 380W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($31.45 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($21.48 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM5200 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($12.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $337.86
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-25 20:49 EDT-0400)

I think everything is compatible. Correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks for all the practically instant help!

 

[blazorthon]

A 380w is not really enough for a 6850 comfortably IMO. It would be enough for the similarly performing 7770.

 

[aloalo]

What about a 5770, which I may be able to acquire from a friend?

 

[blazorthon]

It's not as fast as a 6850 and 7770, but it should be fine with a 380w PSU.

 

[xaephod]

On board Graphics make for poor gaming.

 

[blazorthon]

On board Graphics make for poor gaming.

The HD 3000 is on-die, not on-board.

 

[aloalo]

So I think this is the final list:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor ($111.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE2-GP 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($29.74 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($21.48 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Gigabyte GK-KM5200 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($12.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $306.17
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-26 02:03 EDT-0400)
and this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154095
Will order in the next 2 days. Thanks for all your help!