If you were to build a computer for $500....

[Aksen]

Alright, so I'm putting together a gaming machine for my friend. We've got a limit of 500 dollars, and we're going to do it on friday.


I'm curious about what other people would do, building a computer at this price.


Just the rig... no monitor or anything.

[Donnie_Doritos]

Get a Frys ad and pick out a 2400/2500+ cpu/mobo combo. Im looking at an old ad and its a 2400+ with ECS K7VTA3 $79.99 (2400+ tbreds are already $75 at newegg so its pretty good). I think they have barton/mobo combos too
--$75

Havent looked at their cases but I bet you could pick a decent cheap one. Grab one the newest zalman heatsink for $25
--$50 + $25 = $150

Depending on what kinda ram he wants, $75 to $100 on newegg for 512
--$75 = $225

Cheap keyboard/Intelimouse from Frys
--$5 + $20 = $250

Any 40gig hard drive, could get one today for less then $40 easily with rebates
--$40 = $290

9600XT sapphire from newegg
--$170 = $4600 omg!

edit: Bleh, missed the psu... could swap the 9600xt for a 9500pro for $150, grab a stock heatsink and

editoo: i guess he needs a cd rom too... tell him to steal $100 somewhere

[torman]

you should be able to pull $.50/gig pretty easy if you're willing to deal with rebates.

[antishatter]

for 300 bucks i built my friend a 2400 amd athalon(with mobo combo it was a name brand mobo just cant remember it maybe a year old.) ddr 2100 256mb(frys brand) we used his old hd and got him a radeon 9200 pro. then we took a 40$ case and modded it for a window we did that for like 5 bucks it was awesome. first we took a cheap peice of lexan (3$s at osh) had it cut (free) took the side off his computer and then we got some of thos strip magnets atached them to the windows so that i hangs on the case. (window works great no problem with the magnets). then for drives i had some old junkers lying around so we gave him those. as of now it runs like a champ but we need to get a new hd(he has a 20 gig western digital 5400 rpm) for 500 bucks i would wait for a frys chip and mobo deal. But the main reason we did it other than the fact that he was running a 1 ghz emachines was to show him how to build computers. (now hes not afraid to open one up and fix somthing) oh and my dad bought the kid a set of rounded cables and a light, he also did the window for the kid.

[Aksen]

That's a pretty good deal, Antishatter


Torman, I was born for rebates.


Donnie, you're thinking along the same lines as I was. :) Except I was thinking of getting a better motherboard and a 9600 Pro. I think that's pretty much what I'm asking in the thread - what corner is the best corner to cut? Motherboard, video card, what?

[enervate]

Originally posted by Donnie_Doritos
Get a Frys ad

Just thought I would add that the Fry's ad you are looking for can be found on the back of the Business section in the Sac Bee on Wednesdays and Fridays. The one on the back of Sports has mostly TV's and blenders.

[Bullfrog]

Originally posted by Aksen
what corner is the best corner to cut? Motherboard, video card, what?

If it was just a internet computer then you could cut on the video card. With a gaming machine it's going to be hard to cut corners if you pay retail. I would look into trying to trade/buy parts while not cutting to many corners.

The one corner you are not going to want to cut for a gaming rig is the video card. A good video card will make up a lot more of the game-play then a super fast processor. I would suggest looking at a motherboard that has everything integrated to save on network and sound cards.

[Moddy]

I find that arstechnica has a pretty good setup going on. They have 3 boxes - Budget Box, HotRod Box, and the God Box. All 3 boxes have each component listed, why they chose them, and the cost. Each machine is complete with monitor, kb, and mouse, so you can get a pretty good idea about cost.

http://arstechnica.com/guide/system/index.html <---Their DIY Guide

http://arstechnica.com/guide/system/budget.html <---The Budget Box

[Aksen]

thanks for all the tips, fellas.

So concentrate less on the motherboard/cpu, and more on the video card? So 9600 XT instead of Pro?

[)( C4m3L_T03 )(]

A decent place is http://www.ewiz.com/

I have bought many things from them in the past. Low prices and free shipping on most items, what else can you ask for?

[GeekDiva]

I've heard that you can overclock a 9500 Pro to run as a 9700...just a thought.

[DeadLamb]

Originally posted by Aksen
and we're going to do it on friday.

Well it's Friday so we are (well at least I am) wondering what ya ending up building? Ya make it under budget or did the person cave and throw another $100+ into the over all budget?

[Aksen]

Well, here's what happened.


At the last minute (ie thursday), Tiffany's parents did some financing and discovered they can't give her the dollars for the fragger for another month or so.


So she'll hold onto her pentium III 800 until then.


Then you shall all taste the fury of the Budget Beast!

[Moddy]

Originally posted by Aksen
..At the last minute (ie thursday), Tiffany's parents......

Needs moar pix of Tiffany.

[Hoss]

Oh oh oh.... I found one of her!

http://www.linkandpinhobbies.com/graphics/tiffany.jpg

[Moddy]

Originally posted by Hoss
Oh oh oh.... I found one of her!

http://www.linkandpinhobbies.com/graphics/tiffany.jpg

Y HALO THAR!!!

[antishatter]

isnt that the chick from spawn

[Aksen]

she was hangin out with me when I came to the boards and read this. She was crackin up.


sorry, no pixcz for now!

[OnParole]

Tiffany is prolly some 29 year old drag queen or something... r you guys sure that you want to see the pics?

[Anasazi]

Originally posted by OnParole
Tiffany is prolly some 29 year old drag queen or something... r you guys sure that you want to see the pics?


Yeah.

You don't?