Gaming PC for 1000$

[N_reverie]

I'm looking into building a gaming pc for 1000$

I've done some research but everyone seems to have there own opinions on whats best out there. Processors, graphic cards, sound cards.

It'll mainly be used for games, and pictures. I figured a good graphics card will do both those things. My parents use it alot to download music, browse the internet, all that typical stuff.

I'd love to be able to run games like City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, Sims 2. It would be awesome if I'd be able to run the newer flashy games out there, not exactly half life 2, but possibly close to it.

If I could get your opinions on what processor, motherboard, graphics card, sound card, or anything else out of the ordinary, extra cooling fans, dont mix this with that.

THANKS ALOT.

[piXel]

Originally Posted by N_reverie I'm looking into building a gaming pc for 1000$ I've done some research but everyone seems to have there own opinions on whats best out there. Processors, graphic cards, sound cards. It'll mainly be used for games, and pictures. I figured a good graphics card will do both those things. My parents use it alot to download music, browse the internet, all that typical stuff. I'd love to be able to run games like City of Heroes, World of Warcraft, Everquest 2, Sims 2. It would be awesome if I'd be able to run the newer flashy games out there, not exactly half life 2, but possibly close to it. If I could get your opinions on what processor, motherboard, graphics card, sound card, or anything else out of the ordinary, extra cooling fans, dont mix this with that. THANKS ALOT.

Everquest 2 needs much better specs then Half life 2 , just curious do you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse and any optical drives you can salvage?

[Alaron]

Here is the usual list we start with.

Motherboard: Asus P5B
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo e6300
RAM: 1GB Corsair DDR2-667
Video Card: eVGA Geforce 7600GT
Case: Antec Sonata II with 450w power supply
Hard drive: Seagate 7200.10 250GB SATA
Optical: LiteOn 16x DVDRW
OS: Windows XP Home

Total from www.newegg.com is around $850.

[coreywhite]

My thoughts:

Case: COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail - $44.99

Power Supply: XClio 450BL ATX 450W Power Supply - Retail - $39.99

Motherboard: ASUS P5B Socket T (LGA 775) Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $134.99

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail - $182

Graphics Card: eVGA 256-P2-N624-AR GeForce 7900GS 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 KO Video Card - Retail - $179.99

Ram: CORSAIR ValueSelect 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model VS2GBKIT667D2 - Retail - $199.99

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $89.99

Optical Drive: LITE-ON 16X DVD±R DVD Burner Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SHW-160P6S-04 - Retail - $31.99

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Home Sp2b 1pk w/Upgrade Coupon for Vista - OEM - $89.99

Total: $998.92

Ha! That's what I call hitting a price target. Anyone know anything that costs $1.08?


EDIT: My list is very similar to Alaron's. Serves me right for taking a food break in the middle of a post . . . You should take his advice though. I'm new, whereas I'm pretty sure he's a minor deity or at least a demigod of some kind around here.

SAME EDIT: Has anyone else noticed that Newegg has increased the price of the e6300 by 2 dollars? That just strikes me as odd . . . I mean seriously, why bother?

SECOND EDIT: I just noticed that you mentioned a sound card. The prevailing wisdom seems to be to at least try the onboard sound from your motherboard before buying one . . . that seems to be more than enough for the large majority of people.

[newbuilder14]

Corey, the C2D e6300 price will fluctuate as Newegg stock changes and demand increases/decreases.

[N_reverie]

Originally Posted by piXel Everquest 2 needs much better specs then Half life 2 , just curious do you have a monitor, keyboard and mouse and any optical drives you can salvage?

really? I figured half life 2 was like a monster or something, atleast graphically. I do have an old monitor, keyboard and mouse. I'd maybe be able to salvage my cd-rom drive and my dvd-rom drive, but they're dells and I've heard that I cant do that because Dells a bitch and they only work with their computers. Something with the drivers?


Thanks alot to everyone though. That helps alot.

[newbuilder14]

HL2 and CS:S are more highly CPU intensive.

[freakitchen]

You can salvage the optical drive from the dell - they're not propriatory.

Coreywhite's part suggestions are excellent, that's a great system for your budget.

FK

[N_reverie]

cool. I was able to drop the harddrive size, 300 gb is a little overkill for me. I still have 13 gb open on my 30 gig drive. I also dropped the ram to a 1 gig Kingstone because I'm be transfering over my 512mb kingston from my other comp. Any problems with this?

One more question. Is this ALL I need? Besides keyboard, mouse, speakers, all that. Do I need a fan? wires? Will a sound card really make a difference? Any cheap, but good speakers to reccomend?

Thanks

[newbuilder14]

You probably don't have matching DDR2 memory from your old computer unless it is very new.

That is all you need - fans come with case, cables with motherboard. I picked up some Logitech R-10 speakers and they are awesome budget speakers.

[chuck4456]

You need a dual channel kit with that. Get the 2 gigs of Corsair or the CRUCIAL equivalent. I'd go up a couple of notches with that XClio and get (at least) the GREATPOWER 500w; or look at PSUs by Seasonic or Silverstone. 450 w is borderline power with a lot of graphix cards. If you upgrade, you'll be buying another PSU as well. Get one that can handle it from the get-go.