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Cheap, reliable gaming PC? (Budget of $500!)
TheMeddler
Member Posts: 9
Before I get started, I just wanted to say ahead of time, please do not suggest iBUYPOWER or CyberPower PC. I have heard too many bad reviews about them being borderline scams and I do not want to risk it.
Anyway, obviously, if you couldn't already tell, I am awaiting Guild Wars 2. I am an avid Guild Wars fan, and I want to play this game to the max potential, along with some other games, and I want a new and quick PC regardless. Of course, in this case, I need a gaming PC that can run it on max settings, however, I can't seem to find any reliable ones on a $500 budget. I can maybe go a bit higher, a bit less. Please, anything you could suggest would help.
Played: World Of Warcraft, Runescape, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord Of The Rings Online, Runes Of Magic, Rift
_____________________________________
Currently playing: Guild Wars
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Awaiting: Guild Wars 2
Comments
Craigslist and a friend that knows pc's. Now is the perfect time to find someone selling their old one.
Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can
be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.
-Robert E. Howard
I'll tell you what I personally consider the best and only reasonable option: save the money and wait until you have accumulated a healthy sum before even thinking of buying a computer. Guild Wars 2 is still a long way away from hitting the shelves, don't get too anxious. $500 will get you a very low-end computer that will more than likely have difficulties even running Guild Wars 2.
yep, craiglist or a friend that is thinking of dumping current pc in favor of a brand new one
$500 isn't a very large gaming comp budget so going new is out of the question. If you have any experience building a comp or know friends that do i would also look at buying used hardware and just building one which might possibly save you a bit more.
There is generally a minimum budget threshhold for a decent computer - anything below that and you wind up with crap that's just looking for an excuse to die and take your data with it. But anything above that threshhold, and your options improve quickly.
Setting aside peripherals and assuming you have a monitor you can reuse, $500 still isn't going to get you a gaming computer, even if you save a little money by assembling it yourself. A couple hundred more, and your prospects would be looking much better. If your budget is fairly firm, you'll want to start looking for a used system.
A Modest Proposal for MMORPGs:
That the means of progression would not be mutually exclusive from the means of enjoyment.
I donno where you guys are getting your parts but I could build a decent system for 500. Of course it wont be high end where you can render movie files while recording and playing 2 games at the same time while streaming, but it will run any game at least on High settings.
Well, I don't need something high end where you can render movie files while recording and playing 2 games at the same time while streaming. I only need an affordable PC where I can run the game on the highest settings alone.
Played: World Of Warcraft, Runescape, Dungeons & Dragons Online, Lord Of The Rings Online, Runes Of Magic, Rift
_____________________________________
Currently playing: Guild Wars
_____________________________________
Awaiting: Guild Wars 2
Well if you can build a rig for 500$ wich will play ALL games at high settings, why you dont just show us. Put all the link of the pieces with they prices. I will love to see that.
TheMeddler, i dont beleive you can buy a NEW rig that can play guild wars 2 a max settings for only 500$. You can build a normal rig for that price and surely play guild wars 2 at reasonable settings tough.
My advice will be like others before me, save some more (maibe 700$ to1000$) if you really want something good or buy a second hands pc.
Newegg
AMD Phenom II X4 960T Zosma 3.0GHz Socket AM3
110$ U might be able to unlock more cores, no idea tho. think of it as a 4 core.
GIGABYTE GA-970A-D3 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
90$
Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory with heatshield Model PSD38G1600KH
36$
HIS H687FN1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card 160$
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD3200AAKX 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
95$
Rosewill R101-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case
30$
APEVIA ATX-CW500WP4 500W ATX Power Supply
40$ 6870 draws 247w, CPU = 95w, system ~ 30w. Leaves 133w headroom. upgrade mabye needed for piledriver.
About 561$ before tax.
Some notes on my choices.
You are on a budget so I opted for the 4 core zosma based phenom II
An AM3+ Motherboard will let you upgrade to the rediculously powerfull Piledriver x8 x10 mid 2012
I'v never had a problem with patriot memory
320gb WD platters are bulletproof.
U are on a budget OS not included.
Add +50$ if you want to get a 6 core Phenom II.
This setup will max GW2 @1080p, and let you upgrade your processor later.
Some may tell you to get an Intel system. They are on crack.
Socket 1156 is dead, nothing past 4 core systems ever.
The cheapest socket 1366 system (mobo + cpu) worth getting is near 500$ and it gets much more expensive very quickly. And an AM3+/Piledriver mid next year will trump anything intel has for price/performance.
If you own or plan to use a pirated OS and already have monitor, mouse and keyboard, then yes, you can build an acceptable build at least. But all from the start, then it is impossible. I mean over a third of the budget will got to the garphics card, you don't want to drop under that there. If there is one thing you never should save money on it is the GFX card.
I think I would base my build on this combo packet for $267: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.790396
It includes:
LOGISYS Computer CS305BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Enhanced SOHO Computer Case 480W Power Supply
1x MSI 760GM-P23 (FX) AM3+ AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard (Model:760GM-P23 (FX))
1x AMD Athlon II X4 640 Propus 3.0GHz Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor ADX640WFK42GM (Model:ADX640WFK42GM)
1x G.SKILL Value Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT (Model:F3-10600CL9S-4GBNT)
1x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (Model:ST3500413AS)
1x Thermaltake A4022 92mm CPU Cooler (Model:A4022)
That is case, PSU, SPU, MB, RAM and HD all in one for a great price. Then you need a GFX card.
I would go for the Nvidia 460 GTX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130749 Another $150
That leaves us a $83 for OS, screen and mouse.
Keyboard: $6 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201010
Mouse: $5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826193041
That leaves $72 for a screen. $90 gives you this 19" ASUS screen: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009235
So that is a acceptable computer for $518 but it does not include a OS. Windows 7 still will cost you $100 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986). You really need a 64 bits OS so you can't use your old XP, unless you can use a friends old Vista 64 bits key you would be forced to use an illegal version which I can't recommend you to do (especially not on an open forum).
That is why you can't do it, $618 works though. It is close enough.
The point is to get him max settings @1080p for 500$, so ya it really isn't feasable.
I assumed he has a television, 2nd hand or old mouse/keyboard.
I see some holes in your build. 5870 is quite a bit faster than 460 gtx for the same money.
Zosma 4 core is quite a bit faster than Athlon X4 for 20$ more
8gb ddr3 1600 would be reccomended for the price I posted.
Only reason I'm posting is I don't think your build would max @1080p. and neither of ours would fit under 500...or 600 /w monitor or OS.
Yeah, I was considering the 5870 as well, but not because it is faster (it actually is like half a percantage slower in most of Toms test, but the difference is frankly close to zero) but because it was ten bucks or so cheaper. The 460 is however more beginner friendly, But a 5870 works as well, no problems there.
As for the Zosma, the difference gets more than 20 bucks because of the combo deal. Changing it would really be $60. Not worth it, it is the GFX card that must be fast anyways here. The Athlon x4 is good enough.
8GB of ram will not do that much in most games, it is good if you have lotsa crap in the background but with this budget it is easier to don't have that, and RAM is easy to upgrade later if needed.
Still, If you ran mine on Linux you get it for $518 and that is very close to OPs speccs. If now only ANET made a Linux version of GW2 things would be great... Or if OP is a despiccable software pirate
And you could get the price down another 10 bucks by changing the screen to this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824160063 It is dang close but no cigarr
.
The one I posted was a 6870.....oops my bad I said 5870. VLI4 is quite a bit better than VLI5.
Anyway I see your point. but I would never buy a system that wasn't looking foward to future upgrades. Thus my picks.
6870 benchmarks
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=628&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=4
It makes a little difference actually, but the 6870 is not that much faster, amd it cost 10 bucks more than the 460.
Both are good and priceworthy cards but with 500 bucks limit you can't look forward to a small edge in the future, the difference is just too small. And for a few extra bucks you could get a 560 GTX that is slightly faster (0,3 FPS in the test I looked on at least).
But I deemed the 460 as the cheapest card that is OK, if Newegg would have had a 6870 10 bucks cheaper than the 460 I would have suggested it instead.
We are really arguing about 1-3% percentage here anyways and all the mentioned cards can max out GW2.
You want a cheap pc that can play a game at its max....besides being counter to each other you may have a hard time at the price range...however if you know how to build one as well as get a copy of win 7(cough,cough,torrent,cough) Then you could do what you you want with some simple recylcling of parts.....
First you are gonna want an apu system... the a8 amd apu processors give a good punch in processing power for games, and the integrated gpu to the cpu cores makes for great graphics package. Dont worry you can always upgrade your video later on but this will give you about med high settings on most of the demanding games out there and it will run you about 150...
next get a decent mobo that can handle say 16 gigs ddr3 but you will only need 4-6 to be viable for your needs...If your memory on your current rig is ddr3 then just use that and expand as need be...
hard drive long as its a sata should also work and will need to be formated.
case should also be recycled but you will want to look into changing out the power supply as this will help you in future upgrades.
dvd players burners or whatever can easily be used from one machine to another so you can recycle that as well....
So now with some rather simple replacements to your system you can upgrade your system to a mid range system that will not need a video card to play gw2 however you can easily add one to play it, though you wont lose much either way and all in all you can do all this for under 400.
The key to making Fusion fast is the ram speed, the faster the better. I'd get at least DDR3 2133 which is still reasonably priced. You go up to DDR3 2200 or 2400 it gets lots more expensive.
The A8-3870K is multiplier unlocked so you can ramp up the bus speed to make use of the DDR3. This will improve the APU performance drastically.
If you want to play anything at reasonable settings at 1080p on a fusion you will need to use Hybrid crossfire imo. radeon 6570 overclocked to 800 core should be possible for 60$
For the Llano processors the ram speed is far more important than quantity. 8gb 2133 should be plenty.
AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano 3.0GHz Socket FM1
ASRock A75M-HVS FM1 AMD A75
SAPPHIRE 100323L Radeon HD 6570 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB DDR3-2133
Antec EarthWatts Green EA-380D
Rosewill R101-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower
Under 500$, if you overclock the ram/processor/6570 you should be able to hit max settings in gw2 @ 1080p
Since you are specifying 1080p I'm assuming you have a tv/monitor already. a trip to radio shack can hook up the on board sound to your tv/stereo speakers. I'll leave a mouse and keyboard up to you, tastes in thoes vary too greatly for sound advice.
Yeah thats about right on that....However what he wants and what he wants to pay its gonna be pushing, however some lucky packaging combo's via new egg could really help out in this....
Btw that same a8 you were talking about with out the video card played crysis two on medium pretty damn smooth.
http://www.techspot.com/review/325-amd-radeon-6870/page5.html
Cmon quit hiding from the benchmarks, go through a couple pages, the 6870 is easily worth less than 10$ more.
but lets both just agree the 560ti at 140$ beats the snot out of both the 460 and 5870 in price and performance.
http://www.techspot.com/review/359-nvidia-geforce-gtx-560ti/page4.html
yea the performance is pretty good but the reviewers never push the system to its full capability. I bet overclocked properly @ 2133 DDR3 and an overclocked 6570 it would be a screaming system at under 500$. I might make one for my brother for SWTOR. on his huge lcd tv.
yeah it will play that fine just make sure that sucker breathes...beef up the fans if you plan of clocking that much....Oh and those a8 do not overclock with out a damn good fan and artic silver...My bro tried to oc with out the extra cooling and thermal paste....well lets just say new egg got another 260 from him.....His wife is mounting the burnt out chip with the message This is your brain on gaming.....It is really bad looking when it melts down.
If you want a gaming computer on a $500 budget, then you're building it yourself and running many games at low to moderate settings.
As for what it will take to max settings, we don't know, as Guild Wars 2 isn't out. What it takes to max settings varies wildly from one game to the next, and some games won't let you max settings with a smooth frame rate on any hardware available on the market today.
i disagree STRONGLY with this....i build my computer for a lil under 500 and i have yet to find a game i cannto run at max settings...i can play skyrim a full and crysis 2 at full...just ahve to find the right place for parts...runnign
2 radeon 6770 video cards
1000watt power supply
soundblaster 24bit card
512G harddrive
1TB external HDD
ASUS mobo
AMD athelonx2 black edition 2.8ghz
8G DDR3 ram
basic keyboard and mouse and speakers
Alienware case (ebay)
ALREADY HAD MONITOR AND BORROWED WINDOWS 7 64 BIT FROM A FRIEND TO INSTALL LEGIT!
now for all the parts i got them for dirt cheap off of:
Tigerdirect.ca (canada) .com for (US)
end total was a lil shy of 500 and then i got 80 back from all the rebates (mail in)
so for ppl who say u cant get a good gaming computer for under 500....suck it
Some games won't run smoothly on that even at hard minimum graphical settings. More or less playable, maybe, but not smooth. See SWTOR, for example.
Also, if you're going with some piece of junk "1000 W" power supply, you're sacrificing an awful lot of reliability.
You're also rather lacking an OS license.
what do u mean my SWTOR runs liek a hot knife through butter SMOOTH! and cheap 1000w power supply? its afreaking ULTRA brand man its one of the best on the market witha lifetime warrenty...your just pissed cuz u over paid for your POS prob sum alienware junk
like i stated i have yet to find a game i cant run on full setting smooth...i used to have a quad core processor but the dam POS thing burt out in 4 months so i went back to dual core...dont need quad unless u r a heavy multi tasker.
what do u mean lackign a liscense? i can download updates and it says im certifyed in my systems tab...seem liek a 100% authentic copy of windows 7 to me bud
Only thing my setup is lackign is watercooling and 2 more monitors and maybe a RAZOR keyboard n mouse
Ah, so now the trick to staying within a $500 budget is to get the $100 OS given to you for free. How nice.
And no, Ultra is not a reputable power supply vendor. Reputable vendors don't mainly rebrand Andyson power supplies. You do realize that a bad power supply can cause a lot of problems other than merely a dead power supply, I hope.
Maybe you haven't played any games that are very demanding on the processor. But what you've got will only get you around 3/4 of the performance of even a cheap $60 processor. That's good enough for some games, but will be a big problem in others unless you have a very broad idea of what constitutes "smooth" frame rates.
Sorry, but borrowing a copy of the Windows installation disks doesn't make it a legitimate version of Windows. Windows is sold on a 1 copy per 1 machine license, and pretty much always has been. Now, Microsoft's legal department isn't likely to come after an individual for violating this license, but legally, they could. But if that copy of Windows came from a corporate account, Microsoft could persue them, and the company could choose to persue legal action against the individual.
Just do the right thing and buy a copy of the OS for your system.
Logic, my dear, merely enables one to be wrong with great authority.