$500 supa budget gaming PC?

[Olo401]

Build a Kick-Ass $500 Gaming PC, Play Crysis at 40FPS! | Maximum PC

They assume you have your own OS license already, which is the case with most people who look into building their own computer. They also assume you're not going to overclock.

It's actually a pretty decent build they put together. The only contentious part is the case/power supply.. if you spend an extra $15-20 you can get a much better quality, but still basic case and much better quality PSU.

[mootsfox]

Motherboard: MSI P43 Neo3-F LGA 775
Price: $90

Fail.

[Olo401]

For an ATX P43 board that's not a bad price.

And what's the problem with MSI boards? I'd actually recommend them before I reco ASUS.

[mootsfox]

For an ATX P43 board that's not a bad price.

And what's the problem with MSI boards? I'd actually recommend them before I reco ASUS.

Why would you do that?

Newegg.com - ASUS P5Q SE PLUS LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard - Intel Motherboards

Even the P45 from MSI is less than the price quoted by that magazine.

$105 will get you a X38 which the same as a X48 basically.

[Starless]

Being someone who needs to make a new PC, I thank you for this link.

[Blabj]

Splash a few more dollars and buy a decent CPU Heatsink, you'll be able to do a little overclock (assuming the mobo allows it...) and get even more bang for your buck.

Also, buy 4gb of RAM now and future proof yourself for a while. If you're running Crysis on Vista you're going to be pretty choked up on RAM by the time the system gets into the swing of things.

[mootsfox]

Being someone who needs to make a new PC, I thank you for this link.

Post a new thread and your budget. PC articles are always being the curve, even if they are a week old. Prices and performance/dollar change daily if not faster. Seriously, you'll get the best help with a new thread outlining what you want and how much you want to spend

[Starless]

Also, buy 4gb of RAM now and future proof yourself for a while. If you're running Crysis on Vista you're going to be pretty choked up on RAM by the time the system gets into the swing of things.

That was the one thing I was iffy on. My laptop from xmas 07 has 2gigs of RAM and this thing chokes up on FFXI if I run into a city or campaign. :\

And my budget is just about at $500. My issue is that, while I know how to disassemble and put a computer back together, I really have no knowledge at all about compatibility issues and different types of stuff and that kind of thing. A nice, easy list like this that I know works is very nice for a nontechsavvy person like me.

[Flattus]

Spoiler: show

http://i391.photobucket.com/albums/o...6541321654.jpg

My friend just showed this to me last night, it's actually pretty good for $472 imo

[Blabj]

Spend the $30 you saved getting a 256mb Graphics card on getting back that 512 beasty, you'll notice the difference.

[Olo401]

Spend the $30 you saved getting a 256mb/128-bit interface Graphics card on getting back that 512/256-bit beasty, you'll notice the difference.

Slight but extremely important fix. The amount of memory the GPU can address in one burst is just as important as the amount of memory available.

The 4670 is a decent card if you're just playing older games and FFXI/WOW, but it's outpaced easily on newer games by the last-gen 3850/3870s and the GeForce 8800 series because of the memory bandwidth.

[Flattus]

He swapped out that Graphics card for the 4830, said that it maxed his setup and it was "purdy"

[Avanarius]

NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE GTS 250 Superclocked 771MHZ 512MB 2.246GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-1151-TR In Canada.

consider it's canadian pricing.....

I holy shitt'd but I don't need a graphics card.

[Olo401]

NCIX.com - Buy EVGA E-GEFORCE GTS 250 Superclocked 771MHZ 512MB 2.246GHZ DDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I HDTV Out Video Card - 512-P3-1151-TR In Canada.

consider it's canadian pricing.....

I holy shitt'd but I don't need a graphics card.

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-1151-TR GeForce GTS 250 Superclocked Edition 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Same price, tho Canada gets a larger rebate.

Either way it's still a 9800 GTX+ rebadged and with $20 added to the price.

[Rafbacca]

deja vu

[Avanarius]

Please let me know when you find a 9800gtx+ for $129.99ca before rebate.

[Olo401]

Seriously tho that's one hell of a special they have going on that card! Can't find it at newegg.ca either.

I think that dips under a hundred USD after the rebate.. nuts

[mootsfox]

Slight but extremely important fix. The amount of memory the GPU can address in one burst is just as important as the amount of memory available.

The 4670 is a decent card if you're just playing older games and FFXI/WOW, but it's outpaced easily on newer games by the last-gen 3850/3870s and the GeForce 8800 series because of the memory bandwidth.

No, it's not, I don't want to go into it now, but bus width as a lot less to do with it then you think. Most cards are saturated with bandwidth anyways. A more powerful core will give you a bigger increase in performance.

And buy the HD4850 ($100 OB from Newegg) it's easily 2-3 times faster than the HD4670, if not more.