Looking for a Price Estimate and General tips...

[Shoe44]

I am thinking of building a new computer but don't have a ton of money right now to use on it. If I could get it for around $500 that would be best. I am really looking for a system that can play some of today's PC games. I mainly play RTS (C&C series, AOE3...) games but I wanna be able to run games like WoW and HL2 in high settings and even play C&C3 (though not necessarily on the highest settings.

I plan on re-using my hard drive and cd-r/dvd-rom drive from my current computer. I don't plan on upgrading to Vista anytime soon and outside of those games I don't do anything real demanding, mainly just internet, office and media player.

How much do you think I'd be looking at to build a computer that could do the above things? Also I figure NewEgg.com is a good place to go to buy everything but is there any good sites that would help me with compatibility issues and overall deciding what to buy?

Thanks for the help and if you have any questions just let me know.

[LeftyAce]

$500 is a bit tight....what are the specs of the computer you're using now? You may do better to save your money 'till you can put closer to $1000 into a build. Again, depends on what you're upgrading from.

Newegg is great; good prices and good customer service. We can advise you on compatibility and overall part selection, and there are "first time builder" howtos on this site as well.

[Shoe44]

Right now I'm using a E-Machines I bought a few years ago

512 Mb RAM
Intel Celeron CPU 2.66 Ghz
64 MB Intel (R) 82845G Graphics Controller
80 GB Hard Drive w/ a 160 GB External Hard Drive

It works for everyday stuff and for older games like Starcraft and Red Alert but I can't even run WoW on it anymore

[glc]

You will need case, power supply, motherboard, cpu, video card, and ram. Unless it's a standard front bezel on it, that eMachines CD drive is gonna look pretty funny sticking out of a standard case. It's not really recommended to reuse a IDE hard drive.

Can you save up some more money by, say, the middle of June? By that time the new low end Intel Core 2 processors will be out.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Shoe44 I am thinking of building a new computer but don't have a ton of money right now to use on it. If I could get it for around $500 that would be best. I am really looking for a system that can play some of today's PC games. I mainly play RTS (C&C series, AOE3...) games but I wanna be able to run games like WoW and HL2 in high settings and even play C&C3 (though not necessarily on the highest settings. How much do you think I'd be looking at to build a computer that could do the above things?

At least twice what you want to spend. Anytime someone mentions they want to play the latest games on a computer I'm going to build them I generally tell them the price starts at $1000 and goes up depending on how smooth they want the games to play. Most serious gamers think nothing of spending $2500 or more for a decent gaming rig.

Originally Posted by Shoe44 but is there any good sites that would help me with compatibility issues and overall deciding what to buy?

We can help you with that.

Cricket

[Shoe44]

so it sounds like I should save up until I get to at least $1000 before building my PC. You mentioned the new Intel processors but I always heard the AMD processors were better for gaming? Also, if I spent around $1000, how long could I reasonably expect that computer to last?

Finally, on my current computer, is there any short term fixes that may let me play some games like WoW and C&C Generals more smoothly? The main thing that is bad is that my motherboard only accepts PCI graphics cards which I've heard are kind of pointless to upgrade since its nothing significant

[perkster]

im no expert like most people on this forum, but seems to me the 2 main areas you could upgrade woudl be:

RAm to 1GB
better graphics card, 64mb isnt that good.

your processor itself isnt all that slow.

[Hazaro]

Well the Core2Duo is preforming great for the price, and there's going to be a drop in early/mid April. It would help if you listed some games that you are thinking of. I'm trying to build one myself, but it looks like it might be closer to $900.

[glc]

There are no short term fixes for that eMachine. A PCI video card will not do much for you at all, it cannot be reused, and more ram is not cost effective, it can't be reused either.

[Shoe44]

Originally Posted by Hazaro Well the Core2Duo is preforming great for the price, and there's going to be a drop in early/mid April. It would help if you listed some games that you are thinking of. I'm trying to build one myself, but it looks like it might be closer to $900.

I spend most of my time playing more old school RTS games like Red Alert and Starcraft. However some of today's games that I would like to play more efficiently are WoW, C&C Generals and possibly Tiberian Wars (though I know its pretty demanding) and other RTS games like Age of Empires 3 and maybe Rise of Legends. I would play some FPS games too, like Half Life 2 and F.E.A.R. and possibly some others though since I can't play them I haven't really looked in to it.

[flanzig1]

Many of the games you mentioned need video card power/1gig of ram or more/pretty good CPU power. You will need to include a new copy of Windows into your shopping list.