building a great gaming computer!

[hatefury]

hey guys, i guess im a newb to this forums. i was wondering if anyone knew what would be needed to make really good gaming computer that can play games like battlefield 2, cs source, world of warcraft, call of duty 2, oblivion, and games like that. im running on a 1.2ghz processor 512 ram and a ati 9250 256mb agp. its pretty slow though and its ****ing me off because i've never really had a great computer. now i guess its time to change that, what kind of processors/graphics cards and other things would you recomend? also im looking to spend less than 500 at least, im just trying to build a great computer or add it to this one right now. thanks guys!

-tom

[Trotter]

Hmmm... Could you be more specific on what hardware you have?

Mobo make and model? CPU socket? Graphics interface type? RAM speed?

Download everest and run it. It should tell you most of it.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181

[P.P. Mguire]

Im gonna tell you now if he wont, your not gonna get far on 500 bucks if you wnat a "great" gaming PC.

[Jonathan Bones]

Edit: When I first wrote this post, I assumed you meant you had a P4 when you said "1.2GHz CPU". But then I realized this could be the clock speed of a more recent AMD processor. Trotter makes a good suggestion-- identify the socket of your motherboard. Perhaps you can upgrade, in contrast to what I originally posted. I'm thinking 754 at best, though-- and you won't find one of those processors brand new unless it's from a liquidation store.

I'm no expert, but I think you'll find that the general consensus is that these are the picks for a cost-conscious gaming machine right now:

- AMD Athlon 64 3700+ ($230)
- Nvidia 7600-series videocard (starts @ $110, $170 for the GT version of the card)
- Asus A8N-series motherboard (starts @ $60)

The processor you could go as low on as a 3000+ (only $110), but it won't have the longevity of the 3700+. I guess it's a value call, and one that the forum experts can make better than I. All depends on how much money you have to spend.

But as you can see, you're already looking at $280 minimum for the core components. And you could easily spend $500. You still have to get RAM (1GB at least, 2 would be best), a hard drive, optical drive(s), power supply, and a case. Which is, conservatively, another $300.

So a total of $500 really isn't a lot to spend if you want a computer that will run current games very well, and that will also hold up a ways into the future. But even the cheapest gaming system you can put together for $600 will kick the pants off what you have currently. And don't bother considering upgrading-- you just can't do it. You have to upgrade all your core components. If you don't want to keep your current computer, you can always re-use hard drives and optical drives, though-- which might save you a little money.

I'm in a similar position to you-- going from a P4 1.5GHz/Radeon 9800 to a used system, 3200+/Nvidia 7800GT. It's not the best out there anymore, but it's going to blow my old P4's socks off.

Good luck!

[hereyago]

you can't do jack crap with $500.

you need about $800

[P.P. Mguire]

you can't do jack crap with $500.

you need about $800

Obviously not, the other guy just proved you can upgrade pretty decently if your not buying anyhting else.

[visionRAY]

You could get by at/around $500, but it would be wise to save up a little more and spend at least $700 on a better system that will last longer and play games decently, rather than scraping along at the minimum requirements for games like Oblivion, Battlefield, and CoD2. Get at least an AMD 3700, 1GB RAM, 80GB 7200RPM HD, nVidia 7600GT, 500W PSU, CD drive, and a decent motherboard (Asus A8N5X?) and case (Centurion 5 @ ~$50). That comes in right about $750 on Newegg. Not too bad.

[cwiz]

man, if u only spend 500, your going to be right back were u are now in like 6 months, drop a G and have a good comp for a year or more