XXXXXX

Forum Posts	Following	Followers
2972	2	4

I am going to go through the steps you should make to choosing gaming PC components and give a few examples.

1) Always choose the case and power supply first. Why? Because you cannot have a PC without either and if you are on a tight budget you need to make sure these components are first choice. Do not skimp on the power supply but also do not over estimate your needs. DO NOT buy a case / power supply combo if they are oddball brand names. There are a number of decent brands and it should't be hard to decide and yes brand matters.

Really good brands: Antec, Corsair, OCZ, Silverstone, Zippy

Good brands: BFG, Enermax, Fortron, Seasonic, Tagan, Xclio

Ok brands (when nothing else seems to fit): Coolermaster, Rosewill, Ultra

Wont list the bad because you should more-or-less buy from any of the above and not many others.

2) Motherboard and CPU are next. Why? Because you don't have much choices in these areas and you need to get these two items out of the way while you have your budget in mind.

3) Hard Drive, because they are all relatively cheap and again it something you need. 320gb is my usual recommendation.

4) Memory is afterwards, these are relatively cheap and inexpensive and are a good thing to get out of the way as well when on a budget. DO NOT overestimate the amount of ram you need, 2GB is more than enough in MOST cases in gaming and CHEAP, 4gb is good and relatively inexpensive and 6gb is unneeded and overkill.

5) DVD drive, again not a lot of choices and is something you NEED and must get out of the way before choosing a video card. If you find yourself not wanting or burning a lot anymore (me for example), no need to spend the extra money on a writer if you are on an extreme budget.

6) Video graphics card. This is last because there is an enormous amount of options and is something you can find deals on, everything else above usually has relatively fixed price brackets and you are incapable of running the machine without.

If you are on a budget and have some money left over you can tweak your system afterwards to make it a bit better if need be.

I'm going to give three computers, the cheapest up to $500 the most expensive one will be no more than $700. These are gaming PC's and can play everything out very well. I dont recommend overclocking at $500, but $600 and $700 are good for it.

$500 Prce Point PC below

Case - $25

Power supply - $53

Motherboard - $55

Processor - $90

Hard Drive - $48

Memory 2gb - $45

Media drive - $31

Video card - $150

$497

$600 Price Point PC below

Case - $25