Cheap Gaming Rigs

Demure

Obliviot
Hey guys I'm back again as it seems another one of my friends wants me to help build him a computer (even though I'm no expert). Instead of doing a ton of research I figured you guys would probably already know. He basically wants a rig that will be able to play the latest games on max settings without killing his pocket. How much do you guys ballpark it will cost to build such a rig? And what should we look at getting?
 

Optix

Basket Chassis
Staff member
Intel - i3 530, H55 OR H57 motherboard, 2x2GB DDR3 1333, 500GB HD, ATI 5770.

AMD - Phenom II 555 BE, AM3 motherboard, 2x2GB DDR3 1333, 500GB HD, ATI 5770

Both systems are great (I'm running the first) and will run most games beautifully. You could save a bit of money if you replaced the Phenom II 555 with an Athlon X4 but for gaming I'd say the 555 would be the way to go.

If I were to rebuild mine it would run about $1000 with tax and free shipping but that does not include the monitor so tack on another $200 or so for that.
 
Last edited:

Kougar

Techgage Staff
Staff member
Hey Demure, it's best if you could get a good price range to work within. What monitor/resolution is he using, too?
 

madstork91

The One, The Only...
The good news about the economy being down is that you will get another year out of your PC in terms of needing to upgrade for games...

We will see the next few gens a little slower due to lack of ability by the market to necessarily upgrade immediately.

Game sales were up last I checked though.
 

Demure

Obliviot
Hey guys,

Thank you for the suggestions. He is looking for a computer from about 1k to 1.5k How does this look? I don't know much about Solid State Drives, but someone told me you can install you OS and programs on them and all your files on another HD for maxium performance. Is that true? Also, I don't know much about cooling. Is this build heat proof enough? Feel free to make changes to better suit what I'm trying to do. Thank you!

$70 - XCLIO A380BK CASE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010
$300 - Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5225&cm_re=core_i7_930-_-19-115-225-_-Product
$200 - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=Motherboard_SATA-_-13-128-423-_-Product
$190 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0231311&cm_re=8gb_ddr3-_-20-231-311-_-Product
$325 - EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...130550&cm_re=470_Fermi-_-14-130-550-_-Product
$110 - CORSAIR 750watt - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
$75 - SAMSUNG 1tb - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
$125 - Kingston 64 GB SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139132
$110 - LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181
$100 - Windows 7 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._7_home_premium_64_bit-_-32-116-754-_-Product

TOTAL w/Shipping & Newegg Discounts = 1,564
 

Demure

Obliviot
Hmm, perhaps I should go with an AMD 6-core build. They are cheaper than Intels 4-core. Any ideas?
 

TheCrimsonStar

Tech Monkey
Hmm, perhaps I should go with an AMD 6-core build. They are cheaper than Intels 4-core. Any ideas?

while that may be true, intel processors (the core i series) are much more powerful than amd's processors..even the phenom. If your friend is interested in gaming with max settings and full res on new games, i'd go with the intel setup.
 

DarkStarr

Tech Monkey
Actually.... I'm running a phenom 955 BE with a 5750 and it kills every game I've played at 1080p, it really just depends on what your doing, and more cores usually help more than higher clocks.
 
Last edited:

Optix

Basket Chassis
Staff member
Hey guys,

Thank you for the suggestions. He is looking for a computer from about 1k to 1.5k How does this look? I don't know much about Solid State Drives, but someone told me you can install you OS and programs on them and all your files on another HD for maxium performance. Is that true? Also, I don't know much about cooling. Is this build heat proof enough? Feel free to make changes to better suit what I'm trying to do. Thank you!

$70 - XCLIO A380BK CASE - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103010
$300 - Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...5225&cm_re=core_i7_930-_-19-115-225-_-Product
$200 - GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=Motherboard_SATA-_-13-128-423-_-Product
$190 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...0231311&cm_re=8gb_ddr3-_-20-231-311-_-Product
$325 - EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...130550&cm_re=470_Fermi-_-14-130-550-_-Product
$110 - CORSAIR 750watt - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
$75 - SAMSUNG 1tb - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
$125 - Kingston 64 GB SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139132
$110 - LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181
$100 - Windows 7 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._7_home_premium_64_bit-_-32-116-754-_-Product

TOTAL w/Shipping & Newegg Discounts = 1,564
Holy hell! If that's your idea of a budget rig I would hate to see your gaming monster!
 

Demure

Obliviot
Holy hell! If that's your idea of a budget rig I would hate to see your gaming monster!

Hah, perhaps I'm going overboard? He's going to playing on a 27inch at 1920 x 1200. He'll be playing all the latest games like Metro, GTA, and StarCraft. Can an $800 rig get that done?
 

TheCrimsonStar

Tech Monkey
Hah, perhaps I'm going overboard? He's going to playing on a 27inch at 1920 x 1200. He'll be playing all the latest games like Metro, GTA, and StarCraft. Can an $800 rig get that done?

oh yeah you just need to get the right parts. Now if he were to play Bad Company 2 or Fallout 3 on max settings, I would invest in a (or some) higher-end GPU(s) which will make the total cost go up.
 
Top