Building a gaming computer on a tiny budget, what do you think of this parts guide?

MattD1zzl3

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http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/a/DIYBudgetGamePC.htm

From newegg this is going to cost around $545 dollars (some parts im going to carry over from my old computer)

I had some horrible failure which i suspect is based on my motherboard grounding on the metal case, and my computer is toast. I built it in 2005 with only minor upgrades since than, so its crazy old, and has been nothing but trouble for years. This guide was written early this year, and seems to be alright, i dont expect anything amazing for the money, but would it be able to run most games on high graphics with decent FPS? Below is a list of parts, the link at the top of the page has newegg.com links for more info.

The Budget Gaming PC Components

* Case - Raidmax Smilodon

* Motherboard - ASRock H55M Pro

* Processor - Intel Core i3-530

* Memory - A-DATA 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 Kit
run smoothly.

* Video Card - Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 512MB

* Hard Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA

* CD/DVD - Sony Optiarc 24x DVD+/-RW DL SATA

* Keyboard and Mouse - Logitech Internet 350

* Operating System - Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit

Im willing to plunk down a little more on the GPU, but i wanna keep the total budget under 600 (moniter, speakers nonwithstanding, im only talking about parts in the case) with Dual video cars definately in my future, but not having a computer sucks, what do you guys think?
 
It needs a power supply, doesn't it? Looks pretty decent.
 
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Agreed. ^

Also monitor choices?
 
Budget Computer said:
Case - Raidmax Smilodon
A low cost steel mid-tower desktop computer case with a foldout motherboard panel that makes installation of the internal components extremely easy. It also comes equipped with a 500W rated power supply.

Keeps an eye on this thread!

oh and
What about this?

but i wanna keep the total budget under 600 (moniter, speakers nonwithstanding, im only talking about parts in the case)
 
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Looks pretty solid to me, though if switching to a 5850 fits in the budget I'd go for that.
 
Since you are upgrading if you can salvage components from your current build it can definitely cut down on costs, mainly:

Case, Monitor, Keyboard/Mouse, HDD (if not too old, ie at least SATA), CD/DVD drive (if not too old)

If you can re-use those components, then 600 budget can be used for the components that will make the most upgrade in performance: CPU, Mobo, GPU, RAM (monitor and HDD may also need to be upgraded if they are quite old)
 
All i want to re-use is a hard drive and a DVD drive, i want everything else to be new. (And that is going to be a secondary drive, at that...)

Ive just had too many problems with this computer and its time for a clean slate.

And my case is from 1995. Think im kidding? Its white and metal and gigantic, it doesnt cool well at all and doesnt have the trick side opening panel, which i think looks quite cool.
 
If I were you I'd replace the i3 with an AMD Athlon X4 (similar price but quad core) or Phenom with quad core (these are more expensive though).
 
All i want to re-use is a hard drive and a DVD drive, i want everything else to be new. (And that is going to be a secondary drive, at that...)

Ive just had too many problems with this computer and its time for a clean slate.

And my case is from 1995. Think im kidding? Its white and metal and gigantic, it doesnt cool well at all and doesnt have the trick side opening panel, which i think looks quite cool.

Damn, that's an old school case. Hey, you can build a Sleeper PC! Noobs are like, omg what a slow/old computer, and then you fire up Windows 7 and run Crysis at 60FPS for major lulz.
 
So this would probibly do crysis on decent details? My biggest fear is spending all this money and still having crappy performance :)
 
So this would probibly do crysis on decent details? My biggest fear is spending all this money and still having crappy performance :)

Oh, uhh...yeah...well...that was just a humorous comment about a possible sleeper PC. I don't believe the components listed in the OP can actually run Crysis at 60FPS. Depends on the resolution, it could run somewhat smooth but it will likely look like crap. And don't use Crysis as the be-all end-all benchmark of gaming capability. It's not that good of a game anyway.

A quick google search found this nice guide that is very recent and I agree with the component choices:
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/600-gaming-build/

Except since you have your own HDD and optical drive you can get the quadcore (Phenom II 955) instead of the dualcore.
 
I agree, I think AMD is a much better option on a budget with the ability to unlock cores, My Athlon x3 430 unlocked to a full Phenom quad with l3 cache running at 3.4 ghz on stock volts. Also a 5770 or gtx460 would give you much smoother gaming performance at larger resolutions.

I have used the Athlon x3 440 for 3 builds, mine which unlocked with l3 cache, my parents which couldn't unlock the core but did unlock l3 cache, and my buddies which unlocked to an Athlon quad.
 
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Is it bad to get a 220 dollar video card and only a 154 dollar cpu? :D

1 dollar of GPU does not equal 1 dollar of CPU. A HD5770 will not be bottlenecked at all by a Phenom II 955.

I have a $600 GPU setup with a $200 CPU, no problems at all. (HD5850x2 with Core i7 930)
 
I don't know how much I would trust the PSU that comes with that case.
I would get a quad core AMD over a Core i3.
I wouldn't get that video card.
If you need a monitor there's a great deal on an Asus 19" wide screen for $119 on Newegg.
 
The Core i5 is fine, you can upgrade to the i7 750 if budget allows. And if this is a gaming comp, get a 5770 instead. The 5770 has 800sp, while the 5670 has only 400sp.
 
Is it bad to get a 220 dollar video card and only a 154 dollar cpu? :D

I have a Core 2 Duo E7300 with a Radeon HD4890, I think you'll be fine. For gaming, GPU is generally more important than CPU (though both are important of course).

On the monitor, $120 for 19" is nothing, you can practically find 22"s for that nowadays. My brother got a 20" Acer for $100 quite some time ago at Best Buy.
 
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