[magix]

Hi there, I'm looking to build a gaming system that can run things such as COD4 smoothly, but I have a tight budget. I'm looking to only spend around the $600 mark, and I'm uncertain if it's even possible to build a machine capable of such things at this price . Anyways if it is, where should I start? I've never built a computer before, so I'm a bit stuck. Thanks for any help you can give me!

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newegg.com is a good place to start looking for parts. they usually have fairly cheap prices and offer reviews and ratings on hardware.

[Radatat]

newegg.com is a good place to start looking for parts. they usually have fairly cheap prices and offer reviews and ratings on hardware.

[Ningen]

newegg.com is best bet if you know what your doing if not I hate to say this but Wal-Mart has some alright machines for 600 bucks like this: An ok walmart computer i think the 3100 gma can handle cod4. It handels wow ok and i play cod4 on one of my machines with a nvidia 6150 and its ok

[Troy]

Hi there,

I made this list not too long ago at all, so I'll copy and paste it here for your reference. This would be a good start, it's from a $500 build thread, but doesn't include keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, or OS:

Hi there,

If you're looking for a tower only (no monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, or OS), then it can be done. If you are needing any of these components as well, then it's going to be cut real tight!

Here's my example, copied from the Newegg wishlist I made:


COOLER MASTER Elite 330 RC-330-KKN1-GP Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail

$44.99

ASRock ALiveNF6P-VSTA AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE / nForce 430 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

$49.99

XFX PVT96GYDF4 GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

$139.99

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ600SXS 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply

$84.99

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ Brisbane 2.7GHz Socket AM2 65W Dual-Core Processor Model ADO5200DOBOX

$77.00

SUPER TALENT 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model T800UX2GC5

$37.99

HITACHI Deskstar 7K160 HDS721616PLA380 (0Y30006) 160GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

$41.99

LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS120-04

$23.99

Subtotal: $500.93

Cheers

Troy

Let me know what you think of that, and we could make some minor adjustments to suit your budget - or add Vista and that sounds about right.

Cheers

Troy

[ultimateslacker2]

In my opinion, you should get the AMD Athlon 5000+ BLACK Edition at 2.6 ghz for like 8 bucks more

Athlon 5000+

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103194


That processor is a very good overclocker and it won numerous awards for its performance.


I like this 8800gt , it has more stream processors and a bettter clock. XFX is good but if you want this its great too as the 9600.

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130318

Everything else troy recommended seems to be pretty good.

[mcstorm]

Go to bestbuy. Look for a white and black box. it will be priced under 600. It will play blue rays and COD4. It comes with one controller. It will run oblivion smoothly as well.

[Troy]

In my opinion, you should get the AMD Athlon 5000+ BLACK Edition at 2.6 ghz for like 8 bucks more

Athlon 5000+

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819103194


That processor is a very good overclocker and it won numerous awards for its performance.

Hi again,

Just a quick note here - the Black Edition processors from AMD include the processor only - no heatsink/fan is included, so you'll need to purchase a separate one.

I like the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro, I have the Intel version, a great performer for the price.

Cheers

Troy

[magix]

Thanks for that troy, I attempted to make my own, here is what I ended up with:

HDD: Western Digital 400G SATA 7200 rpm HDD (16MB Cache)
PSU: Power Supply CoolerMaster Real 650W Extreme SLI Ready
CDDRIVE: LG DVD20X+- DUAL LAYER DVD Rewriter with Software(GH55NBBK) Black
CHIP: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2180 2.0GHz/1MB CACHE/800FSB/LGA775
RAM: DDR2 1G PC5300 667 DDR2 RAM Apcer ( x 2 )
BOARD: Gigabyte EP35-DS3 P35 1333Mhz FSB DDR2 1066 SATA2 Raid GLan
GRAPHICS: Gigabyte GF8800GS,384MB,DDR3
CASE: Deluxe Skyhawk Silver Case with Aluminum mesh panel(NO PSU)

Also could you please answer a few questions, with the motherboard, what's the difference between the DS3 and the DS3L and DS3R and all of those?

Another thing, the graphics card says DDR3, does that mean I can only use it if I have DDR3 RAM? which means that I wouldn't be able to get it because I'm getting DDR2 ram..

And! The PSU, says SLI Ready. Does that mean I need an SLI mobo to use it? Is my mobo SLI?

If you could give me any help on all of this, or maybe recommend better parts that are around the same price range that'd be great, thanks a lot!

[reconman]

Hello magix

Another thing, the graphics card says DDR3, does that mean I can only use it if I have DDR3 RAM? which means that I wouldn't be able to get it because I'm getting DDR2 ram..

Nope, the DDR3 is the memory that the graphics card uses, it has nothing to do with the separate RAM sticks that go into the motherboard's RAM bays.

And! The PSU, says SLI Ready. Does that mean I need an SLI mobo to use it? Is my mobo SLI?

That just means that if you decide to get two cards to run in SLI mode, your PSU would be able to support that. You do not need an SLI mobo to use the PSU, and no, your mobo is not SLI compatible as it only has one PCI-E x16 slot.

[Troy]

Hi there,

Just thought I'd point out the system you made - while a decent attempt at a build - is probably not going to give you as good performance as the system I made.

The Intel E2180 is a big difference in performance from the processor I selected - for a budget of this build, I would suggest going the AMD route. If not, the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3L should be slightly cheaper.

The differences between the motherboards are features, some have more SATA ports, some have larger North Bridge and South Bridge heatsinks, etc... If you really want to know the difference between two particular models, look them both up on the Gigabyte website.

But I have noticed a much larger hard drive, do you need that much space? If so, I could possibly rework the list to include 400GB, although it is a really tight build already, so it's going to be knocking performance down further.

Cheers

Troy

[magix]

Sure Troy, I mean, I would be happy with a 160GB HDD if it could save me room for better parts/performance!