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The $630 Gaming PC Challenge
gomangofast
Member Posts: 17
Hi, while I'm fairly comfortable with PC's I've never attempted to build my own, and I'm hoping for some advice with a very specific project. I have exactly $630 to spend on a gaming PC but there are some conditions:
1) I need a motherboard, processor, RAM, power supply, video card, and possibly a case and fans (Are 8+ year old tower cases still compatible with new builds? If so I don't need a case, but I might need some fans still, I dunno). I don't need an OS, hard drives, or DVD drive. Did I miss any components? If things like heat paste or any other special stuff is needed when putting together a PC, then I need that too.
2) I have exactly $630 to spend, not a penny more, and that needs to INCLUDE tax (6.75%) and shipping charges.
3) Everything has to come from http://www.tigerdirect.com/ only. I know other places like Newegg probably have better prices but I have to purchase from tigerdirect regardless.
So, is it possible to make a good gaming PC on this budget and with these restrictions? Thanks!
Comments
Do you need a monitor..?
And without opening the door to other stores I doubt it. The thing about building PCs cheap is catching the best deals from various outlets.
"In the immediate future, we have this one, and then weve got another one that is actually going to be so were going to have, what we want to do, is in January, what were targeting to do, this may or may not happen, so you cant hold me to it. But what were targeting to do, is have a fun anniversary to the Ilum shenanigans that happened. An alien race might invade, and they might crash into Ilum and there might be some new activities that happen on the planet." ~Gabe Amatangelo
Played: MCO - EQ/EQ2 - WoW - VG - WAR - AoC - LoTRO - DDO - GW/GW2 - Eve - Rift - FE - TSW - TSO - WS - ESO - AA - BD
Playing: Sims 3 & 4, Diablo3 and PoE
Waiting on: Lost Ark
Who's going to make a Cyberpunk MMO?
If it HAS to be from them with what you need vs what you have you are probably better off buying a pre-built system right off the site and probably going to have to be AMD.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4959030&Sku=C477-G1411
Why do you need to buy from Tiger Direct?
Do you need new peripherals (monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, surge protector)?
And why do you need a new motherboard, but not a new OS, when a new motherboard usually means that you need a new OS license?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4959021&CatId=1887
I know its a pre built , but itsa
6 3.3 Ghz
8Gb Ram
1Tb Harddrive
Geforce GT 610 graphics card
10/100/100 Gigbit ethermet
& a 350 matt power supply
+ you have enough free to buy a betetr power supply to pick up the slack
You are also in Florida. You will have to pay taxes as well as shipping. Assuming your information is correct on your profile.
I would probably look at some of the bundles they have. I saw a decent AMD one that had everything decent except the psu, which I would buy another, cost was $299. Add another 4g RAM, PSU and GPU will give you the parts you listed as needing. And should stay within your budget.
Expect to pay $50-60 bucks in taxes tho, plus shipping. Will eat up a some of the budget making it around $560 total budget actually.
Define 'good'. What are you trying to play? I don't think it's doable by my personal definition of good.
Could probably get close. Prices are rounded up.
MOBO $90 (debatable)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=717470&Sku=
CPU $90 (debatable)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=685803&CatId=7239
Case+PSU Bundle $70 (+decent rebate low wattage but hard to beat the price)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8238167&Sku=M69-0095
Ram $75 (quality stuff)
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1164738&CatId=4534
GPU $205
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7542561&Sku=A271-7874
Edit: Not terrible so far. I'm sure someone else will have some criticisms about my selections but I really didn't break my brain looking. I also build exclusively with nvidia/intel which costs more so I can't vouch for these components personally.
Also not sure if 500W PSU will be enough but it might be ok.
Thanks for the replies so far everyone. I don't need a monitor or speakers or keyboard or anything like that. I have to buy from tigerdirect because I get a work stipend every 2 years but its only good at this store unfortunately. On the bright side, I get a free OS from work so that's $100-150 I don't have to spend. But yes I do have to pay FL sales tax and shipping.
On another note, is the NVidia 610 capable of running games even decently? A few people in the thread have suggested systems with that, but from a quick google it looks like it has really horrible benchmarks, maybe even worse than like onboard graphics?
Artalis's build seems like the most potential so far, anyone else have thoughts on that?
Thats an easy fix with a phone call.
Artalis's build is pretty solid for a budget system so not really any critiques considering what you are getting for the price. He put emphasis on the GPU like he should have and the PSU while not the best will work fine in your system. All in all its a good budget build and look at it this way, it has better specs than an Xbox One lol.
610 gt wont run minesweeper , well it will but thats not the point, it will not run games, 6 years old 8800gt will run them better i reckon , best thing you could do is : invest some time into research, and exactly whats the point of this pc? do you really need new one, why now, cant you save more than 630$? cant you add you own money, buy couple parts using that 630$ and rest from your own,
not that I got a clue, what work stipend actually do or why you get one, personally I am thinking about new build as mine is already dated, thought I plan to spend about 4 times what you want to spend ,I am still unconvinced if this is good time to build new pc, as I am nowhere near rich ( maybe one day ) and I expect my pc to be high end for 2~ years ( well usually its about 1 year, Maybe i pick wrong times for new build and new architectures comes out and obliterates old ones ) another 1-2 Ok, and maybe another 1-2 just getting by,
But there is new consoles and all that giberish, no clue how good those game runs, on paper everything we have now ,eats consoles for breakfast, but there are those 8gb ram, but they I will get 16gb so why would I care, well others seem to care because its gpu ram at same time, so if you get 2gb video card and new console games comes out and eats 4gb, you will be screwed
in any way there are many things to consider, if you can wait, why not? if you can invest your own money into build, maybe do it, if you cant do either, just research, look and dream, its fun , building pc is fun , especially if you do it rarely
Here you go:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8140617&CatId=1946
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4953872&CatId=7703
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5400618&CatId=7387
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=894285&CatId=4534
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=125449&CatId=5431
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6267238&CatId=1509
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7281716&CatId=2459
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8020886&CatId=89
That comes to $630.63, including sales tax, but before shipping and rebates. I'm not sure what shipping is, nor how you feel about rebates. If you need to bring that price tag down some, then get a cheaper video card:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7867678&CatId=7387
Personally, I'd lean toward spending more on the processor and less on the video card up front, as a video card is much easier to upgrade later, but you strike me as the sort of person who knows up front that you're never going to upgrade.
is the NVidia 610 capable of running games even decently: Answer - Hell No
You're better off going for the GT-640 as it has much more performance than the GT-610/630 - However overall the card isn't exactly all that great.~ They are very low budget cards that perform no better than a GTS-450. My honest opinion is that the Geforce GT series slightly suck quite badly, also the GTS-450 is slightly better.
Artalis's build: Sounds good in some areas, however I disagree with the quality ram as you can get 1600-Mhz ram for slightly cheaper. Saving around $20 to spend. The CPU/GPU is the most important part for gaming, while the A8 will suffice....id suggest an AM3 socket for the FX-processors - The 760G-AM3 Socket is for only $52 on other retail sites - The Processor of choice for the AM3 Socket Motherboard would be a FX-4130 and above, also it is slightly better than the A8. @$110. - Although since you have an extra $50 you could bump up to an even better FX processor.
Edit: Forget the 4130 - You can get a 6100 that gives way more horsepower for only $109 - Hurray for price drops!
However....perhaps a 970 AM3 socket motherboard would be required for a hexacore processor.
Two CPU cores for the price of six. What could possibly go wrong?
After you toss the piece of junk power supply on the garbage, that combo deal reduces to a seriously overpriced case. The main point of that CPU is the integrated graphics, which you then plan on not using.
You say that you don't need a new hard drive, but unless you happen to have a new one laying around, you should probably get a new hard drive. You don't want to reuse an old hard drive that is on its last legs already and have it die on you in a year.
As for an optical drive, if that's the only thing you're taking out of an old computer, then the old computer is likely worth more intact.
Everything above seems to be quite golden, except for the CPU/Motherboard. AM3 Mobo = Future FX-Series Processors Piledriver/Ex/Beyond will use an AM3 socket board. If you choose wisely you can eventually upgrade to a better processor down the road with AM3. Intel CPU's are known to be quite pricey, which is why AMD is the way to go if you're on a budget. The best FX-Series processor is the 8350 which has the power of a Intel-i5.
Just in case you want to upgrade - Future Proof yourself with an AM3+ Motherboard 970+
I actually own a 4100 FX-Series Processor, and I'm able to run every single game very well. The processor he has listed is slightly better than the one I own. The bigger your screen/resolution the better the graphics card you will need, to keep that FPS up.
DO NOT SKIMP OUT on a graphics card - anything FX-4100 and above will do you excellent! or the FM2/Amd Athlon....
Check out this site to guage the speed/ranking of the current best processors/graphics cards and prices.~ It's an excellent site! http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1470687&CatId=5530
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1239961&CatId=7341
Keep in mind - I did NOT calculate the prices together - Nor the Taxes!
are you an idiot?
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/677?vs=144
for the money the i3 kicks ass and AMD always has problems in games with their cpu/gpu so I stay away from them
Played: MCO - EQ/EQ2 - WoW - VG - WAR - AoC - LoTRO - DDO - GW/GW2 - Eve - Rift - FE - TSW - TSO - WS - ESO - AA - BD
Playing: Sims 3 & 4, Diablo3 and PoE
Waiting on: Lost Ark
Who's going to make a Cyberpunk MMO?
Not trying to derail the thread, but I have a hardware question.
Will this video card run games fairly well?
EVGA GTX 550 Ti(Fermi) 1GB 192bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0x16 Video Card SLI Ready.
Thanks
http://www.entropiapartners.com/?r=22415
I just upgraded from my 550ti to a 660ti and passed the 550ti down to my son.
The short answer is yes it will play games.
Will it play new games well with fancy settings turned up? Probably not.
it all depends on what you want to play.
AMD-7870 Ranked: 17: Score 4225
GTX 550-TI Ranked 68: Score 1925
GTS 450 Ranked 84: Score 1532
GT 610 Ranked 319: Score 343
---------------PassMark Software--------------
As an owner of a GTS-450 I'm able to start up the games of today, and play them on low detail.
1600x900 resolution - DmC/Dragons Prophet/Smite/etc.
You should do just fine....however my 7870 blows it all out of the water <_< jus-sayin 32-inch gaming. woot woot xD
He's not the one whos the idiot, ...
Frostbite 3 AMD optimized, Crysis 3 AMD optimized, 6300 beating 3220 hands down everywhere, silly 2 core processor has been dead in the water ever since it was announced that new consoles will have amd processors. Planetside 2 AMD and multi-core optimized.
Stop doing this, stop baiting and tricking people into wasting money on Intel, when those people want good cost to perfomance ratio. If you're being payed by Intel to do this, can't you let one hard working guy get a better machine for less money for once.
Haven't you helped Intel scam and trick enough people already ?
Enough is Enough, AMD is coming back in full force and Nvidia and Intel are gonna take the backseat once more, ...
If you want to build a solid gaming setup i wouldnt settle for anything less than a GTX 660Ti or the AMD equivalent.
On AMD video cards i will caution you, their hardware is fantastic, but they have the worst drivers on the freaking planet. In 20 years of building PC's i've had over a dozen different AMD cards, and between me and about a dozen other computer geek friends who build our own, i can count on one hand the number of AMD cards we havent had stupid problems with.
Personally i won't buy AMD cards anymore for gaming. I've bought a couple as HTPC cards that have worked ok, but even with those i've had stupid annoying driver issues (settings that won't save, or revert back to default randomly, etc).
For processors, dual core vs quad is pretty meaningless for games. Pretty much nothing (even most professional apps) have trouble utilizing more than 2 processors threads with any real aplomb. The most important thing for gaming is at least 2 cores, and the fastest cores you can get with at least 2.
I.E. A dual core I5 at 2.4ghz would be better for gaming than a quad core i5 at 2.1ghz.
Maybe in 5 or 10 years this will change, but for now no games properly utilize multiple cores.
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche