How to build your own PC for $700

I've noticed how the console gamers like to be obnoxious and send PC gamers around hunting for PC builds that fall below X, Y, or Z price point, and I got an e-mail today with this obscenely powerful PC bundle featured in it from Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.239582&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL082009&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL082009-_-AMDbundle-_-L0A-_-Combo239582

The e-mail also described additional mail in rebates via e-mail subscribers bonuses. As you can see, after rebate, you can cut the cost of this very high end gaming PC below $700.

This system has a quad core AMD Phenom out-of-order processor clocked at 3 Ghz per core, 1 gigabytes of dedicated VRAM, and 4 gigabytes of DDR2 system RAM. Best of all, there's no thinking required. Click, buy. When it gets to your house you put the damn thing together, boot it up, add some drivers, and voila, you now have a badass gaming PC. Oh my god, what a task. What a test of wit. Talk about breaking the bank, eh folks.

For comparison's sake, your standard Xbox 360 comes with 512 MB of total RAM (compared to this rig's 5 gigabytes), a rinky dink GPU, and a crappy in-order processor with only 3 cores. It cannot run general purpose applications, it cannot run any operating system aside from the standard one, it does not have a web browser, blah blah blah. Don't forget that this PC has a 1 TB drive compared to the 60 GB you'll get in a standard 360 or 120 GB in the $300 PS3 Slim. In other words you can get a piece of crap for $300 that will play games designed around 2005-2006 technology remarkably well or you can buy this PC for $700 and melt faces. Low end gaming rig for $300, high end rig for $700. High end PC gaming is not unreasonably expensive. This PC provides a dramatically better price-performance ratio when compared to any console on the market, and it's not even a game console. It's a general purpose tool.

I rest my case.

Holy cow, that's actually an incredible deal! Anyone with $720 dollars to spend and was planning to buy a new desktop anyway, buy this. This would cost over $1000 anywhere else.

maybe i shoulda wait to buy it now, but too bad i already built mine earlier this year :cry:

All I need is that CPU and I'm set, and maybe that video card, I have a Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB.

how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :PGiancar

how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :PGiancar

how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :PGiancar

In general, the AMD processors are mediocre. But the Phenom II Quad cores are really, really good. Not Core i7 good. But an excellent bang for your buck.

not that great really... rosewill power supplies suck, they'll die on you, saphire cards aren't that great, 800 mhz ddr2 ram is horribly slow, and will bottleneck framerates, that case is overpriced and unneeded, the centurion 5 has better airflow and it's only 50 bucks, and the eco HDD's are horrible and tend to die on you. it would be amazing for the first week... then you'd notice the ram bottlenecking, it would start crashing from overheating, and stuff would start failing. nice try though.

[QUOTE="Giancar"]how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :POPuniverse

All I need is that CPU and I'm set, and maybe that video card, I have a Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB.

mitu123

[QUOTE="Giancar"]how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :Porganic_machine

In general, the AMD processors are mediocre. But the Phenom II Quad cores are really, really good. Not Core i7 good. But an excellent bang for your buck.

[QUOTE="Giancar"]how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :POPuniverse

[QUOTE="Brownesque"][QUOTE="Giancar"] [QUOTE="OPuniverse"][QUOTE="Giancar"]how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :PGiancar

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

All I need is that CPU and I'm set, and maybe that video card, I have a Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB.

OPuniverse

Yep, I need a new CPU badly.

And I can get any console for at most $100 below. No one will ever convince me PC gaming doesn't break the bank.

[QUOTE="OPuniverse"][QUOTE="mitu123"]

All I need is that CPU and I'm set, and maybe that video card, I have a Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB.

mitu123

Yep, I need a new CPU badly.

I almost bought that!! But I decided to get the Core 2 Duo instead. Ironically, it was more expensive. It serves me really well, though.

It's not a bad bundle but I'm thinking the mainboard is lacking a bit as well as 800Mhz memory. 2 PCI slots with onboard video? I mean it's not a bad deal but it could be better.

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

[QUOTE="OPuniverse"] what cpu are you using right now? I say ur 4850 is good, no need to change for anything soon. organic_machine

Yep, I need a new CPU badly.

I almost bought that!! But I decided to get the Core 2 Duo instead. Ironically, it was more expensive. It serves me really well, though.

[QUOTE="Giancar"]how good are the AMD processors? when it compares to pentium? I'm not that techie lol :PBrownesque

Ehhh...Not really...

I don't like Intel anymore, I just use AMD, it's overpriced and certain sockets can break easily.mitu123

[QUOTE="OPuniverse"][QUOTE="mitu123"]

All I need is that CPU and I'm set, and maybe that video card, I have a Radeon HD 4850 with 512 MB.

mitu123

Yep, I need a new CPU badly.

[QUOTE="mitu123"]I don't like Intel anymore, I just use AMD, it's overpriced and certain sockets can break easily.organic_machine

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

[QUOTE="OPuniverse"] what cpu are you using right now? I say ur 4850 is good, no need to change for anything soon. OPuniverse

Yep, I need a new CPU badly.

[QUOTE="OPuniverse"]

[QUOTE="mitu123"] I have this.

Yep, I need a new CPU badly.

mitu123

Interesting.. Might look into it, thx.:D

*sigh

This is why pc gaming isn't for everybody. That's not really a good build for several reasons.

The case doesn't have great airflow by design. It's got a ton of fans, and can probably push a lot of air, but it's not going to have air flow due to the hdd blocking the front fan. Air will most likely flow in from the other fans which will only keep certain areas cool. Not to mention that most stock case fans are cheap, and will need replacing in about a year (unless you don't mind the noise).

The graphics card is over priced for the performance you'll get out of it. Especially if you take the time to shop around.

While a 5400 rpm hard drive isn't bad for stuff like media, and storage it's kinda slower for gaming. Especially since more and more games, are loading assests on the fly. I'd recomend a faster hard drive for gaming, and use the slow one for everything else.

I really don't recomend skimping on your PSU brand. Failing psu's can ruin the rest of your hardware, and end up costing you a lot more than you saved. Not to mention the only reason you need a 700w psu is because your graphics card's power consumption.

[QUOTE="mitu123"][QUOTE="OPuniverse"] yea the clock is really low for a quadcore. Are you having trouble running games? what resolution are you trying to achieve? Try to OC it if you can to see if you have any performance increase. Although wise getting a P2 with ur gpu isnt bad at all :P

OPuniverse

wait, how many games can you start from the BIOS?

This rig ends up being $900+ with OS.

And I can get any console for at most $100 below. No one will ever convince me PC gaming doesn't break the bank.

789shadow

wait, how many games can you start from the BIOS?

This rig ends up being $900+ with OS.

samuraiguns

That is an awesome deal! Except the awful power supply :?

[QUOTE="samuraiguns"]

wait, how many games can you start from the BIOS?

This rig ends up being $900+ with OS.

imprezawrx500

[QUOTE="imprezawrx500"][QUOTE="samuraiguns"]

wait, how many games can you start from the BIOS?

This rig ends up being $900+ with OS.

samuraiguns

[QUOTE="samuraiguns"][QUOTE="imprezawrx500"] windows is $100 max for home prem. Brownesque

[QUOTE="Brownesque"][QUOTE="samuraiguns"] I would use windows 7...and not the RC.mitu123

It's pretty much guaranteed that Vista wouldn't run on your rinky dink little console, because it tends to chew up roughly that much RAM just to function without stuttering.

[QUOTE="mitu123"]

[QUOTE="Brownesque"] the same hardware requirements as Vista? Brownesque

It's pretty much guaranteed that Vista wouldn't run on your rinky dink little console, because it tends to chew up roughly that much RAM just to function without stuttering.

Too much work for me sir. But if people like to put all that work into a PC then fine by me. Still you can post all the cheap do-it-yourself PC specs all you want, nothing can beat the cheapness and ease of buying a console and playing it right out of the box.

Too much work for me sir. But if people like to put all that work into a PC then fine by me. Still you can post all the cheap do-it-yourself PC specs all you want, nothing can beat the cheapness and ease of buying a console and playing it right out of the box.

clubsammich91