need decent gaming pc setup for under $500

[wmpl.markie]

right now i have a stock t5062 emachine adn a stack t3256 emachine.. the 5062 has vista and i don tlike it.. the t3256 has something wrong with it so it restarts whenever it wants to... but i play cs:s enemy territory. diablo, warcraft, hellgate london. so i need some help on gettin agood cheap gamin system...


this is the box i will most luckly be using


Open Box: MSI MBOX K9N6SGM-V AMD Socket AM2 AMD Athlon 64 X2 / Athlon 64 / Sempron NVIDIA GeForce 6100 /nForce 405 chipset 2 x 240Pin GeForce 6100 Barebone

[Alaron]

Welcome to PCMech. The $500 limit is going to be a bit low for a gaming machine. Especially if you need a copy of Windows, thats $90 right there. But we can try to get close. Do you have any parts you can re-use? I assume you have a monitor and peripherals already.

I'd skip your MSI openbox. Check out the Asus M2N-E motherboard instead, pop in an AMD 5200+, 2GB DDR2-800, a Geforce 8600GT video card and a Corsair 450watt power supply. Choose any case you like. You can save a lot if you can re-use your drives.

[wmpl.markie]

i have a 19" lcd 2000:1 contrast moniter... i have two 512 ddr umm 2700 i think.. i have a 160 gb hd i can reuse along with the cd rom and the dvd rom... umm but about everything else on this pc sucks nad needs to go



and i need a new case to by the way ^^....

sorry if this isnt how im suppose to put what i need and have i never used a forum for pc buildin b4

[glc]

Son, you aren't going to build or buy a gaming machine for $500 that's any better than the newer of those 2 eMachines you have.

[wammy_bar]

ya srsly you're gonna be spending closer to 800 or 1000.

[wmpl.markie]

ive seen people spend less then 800 on a gamin pc... i mean i dont need 8800 gtx or gt or gts... i dont need more then 2 gigs of ram i have power supplys cd roms hard drives memorys.. i have a 6200 geforce and a 6600 geforce... and if i can reuse my emachine case then i just need motherboard cpu prosser... i have windows cd so i odnt need that...

[Lespaul20]

Most likely you won't be able to reuse the memory, power supply or Windows. If either of those cards are AGP you motherboard choice would be severely limited.

[wmpl.markie]

ok here... can i get a decent set up that i can upgrade later for under 800... this is what i have



mouse- g5
keyboard-g15
moniter- LG 19" widescreen 2000:1 contrast
memory- 2x512 or whatever it is
hard drive- 160gb seagate
o/s- i have vista and windows xp i would love to stick with xp
case- i have a emachine and some old custom case


i dont need an 8800 vid card thats overkill for now.. so whats would be the next best thing for the money?

i would like to stick with amd athlon since i love the three pcs i had with it

i dont know much about buildin

[glc]

Exact specs on that memory, and is that hard drive IDE or SATA? Is the old custom case standard ATX? Does it have a PSU in it, and if so, what exact brand and model? Is your XP a standard CD or a name brand recovery CD?

Even if you can't reuse any of that, 800 bucks is probably doable.

[wmpl.markie]

umm idk its ddr 2700 i think for the memory... sata is the new lil plug right? if so no i have the old big plug.. idk anything about the old case.. and the xp is one i bought at bestbuy for 100 like 2 months ago... glc if u cna help me out i would appreciate it alot

[wammy_bar]

as far as building http://www.pcmech.com/byopc

[glc]

DDR 2700 will not be usable. The hard drive will be reusable. Do you have optical drives that can be reused (that do not have custom bezels)? XP will be reusable. NEED details on that case and power supply.

[wmpl.markie]

umm idk what details u need bc honestly its a stock case and power supply.. so ... maybe i need a new case?

[glc]

Maybe you can tell me if it's a standard ATX case and the brand and model of the power supply?