Low End Gaming PC

[Dezi]

nobody knows your Iraqi currency terrorist

every 9/11 is a dollar

[Ad Bot]

[Lugnut]

TheBlackParrot made this computer for $400:

AMD FX-8120 @ 4.2GHz
4GB DDR3
EVGA nVidia GT 640 2GB
500GB HDD

Contact him: http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?action=profile;u=24867

[Pecon]

I've put together a good starting build for you. (It has room for expansion later on)

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135351
APU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
Power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817494015
CD Drive (Optional): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135305
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233073

And then you have a choice, either an SSD or an HDD.
SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211602
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345

The HDD was 500GB of storage, but it is not very fast. The SSD costs $10 more, and only has 128GB of storage, but is extremely fast and is much more reliable. The SSD will make your computer and programs start immensely faster, but the 128GB might prove to be too little storage. You can have multiple drives, so you could start with the SSD to make your system faster and buy a HDD later on for additional storage.

The APU won't boast a huge amount of graphics power, but it's decent at least. Upgrading to a card later on will boost the graphics performance, and if it's an AMD card, you can get software that will make the APU and your new card combine their performance.

You'll also need an operating system, like Windows. If you want Windows, you might want to look at Microsoft's Windows 8 for students

[Zacks]

AMD Athlon 5350: ($65)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113364

Gigabyte GA-AM1M-S2H Motherboard: ($35)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128696

G.Skill Ares 8GB [2x4gb]: ($65)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544

Sapphire Radeon R7 250: ($80)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202052

Seagate Barracuda 1TB: ($65)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Seasonic 450watt: ($70)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151139

APEX Micro ATX Tower ($33)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811154094

total
$413

[Georges]

If your going to go with such a cheap build, I'd get 4 gigs of RAM (or maybe 6), not 8. Unless you're using a built in GPU, which I wouldn't recommend.

Don't let people discourage you from doing this saying you can't get anything good for $400, it's not true.

I built this for $407:

AMD FX-4130
Radeon HD 7770
4 GBs of RAM
320 GB 7200 RPM HDD
Asus M5A78 LX Plus Motherboard
Corsair CX-430 PSU.
Cougar Spike (this is the case)

All of this can, on some servers, run Blockland at max settings.

Do you live near a Microcenter? Because that's how I got my motherboard for $5.

[ABlockOfCheese]

Wow I never realized how little can be done with a $400 budget until I tried it myself.

Here's my attempt at it.  Yes I know the case is hideous and it has no CD drive.  Also I hope you already have an OS cd.

[AtlasBlue]

I've put together a good starting build for you. (It has room for expansion later on)

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135351
APU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280
Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277
Power supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817494015
CD Drive (Optional): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135305
Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233073

And then you have a choice, either an SSD or an HDD.
SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211602
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236345

The HDD was 500GB of storage, but it is not very fast. The SSD costs $10 more, and only has 128GB of storage, but is extremely fast and is much more reliable. The SSD will make your computer and programs start immensely faster, but the 128GB might prove to be too little storage. You can have multiple drives, so you could start with the SSD to make your system faster and buy a HDD later on for additional storage.

The APU won't boast a huge amount of graphics power, but it's decent at least. Upgrading to a card later on will boost the graphics performance, and if it's an AMD card, you can get software that will make the APU and your new card combine their performance.

You'll also need an operating system, like Windows. If you want Windows, you might want to look at Microsoft's Windows 8 for students

You've also got to remember that SSD's have limited writing times (how many times they can be edited) before they die. I think a normal SSD has around 30,000 writing times, I think?

[Pie Crust]

Aprox 30k like Atlas said but remember that SSH will try to not write in the same area again until every cluster has been written. Of course, there are exceptions but I'd go for a HDD. Cheaper $/GB and they're easy to recover data from incase of an arm/motor failure.

[Oasis]

Want a laptop? :)

[Pecon]

and they're easy to recover data from incase of an arm/motor failure.

Unless you have your own clean room, a tech shop is going to run an extremely high price for recovering data from a drive that has mechanical failure. Though it is true, file recovery from a HDD is possible while it's impossible with an SSD. But SSD's are still statistically much more resilient to sudden failure.

[devildogelite]

Don't listen to anything pie crust said, it's all butt forget handicapped. But for $400 you're not gonna get much of anything. I guess you could build one without a gpu and use integrated graphics until you have another $150 or so for a decent gpu. The Nvidia 750 is pretty rad.

[dorkdotdan]

You've also got to remember that SSD's have limited writing times (how many times they can be edited) before they die. I think a normal SSD has around 30,000 writing times, I think?

An average SSD life is about 10 years. I'm fairly certain that you would probably replace the drive before it's lifetime was through.

[Dezi]

Aprox 30k like Atlas said but remember that SSH will try to not write in the same area again until every cluster has been written. Of course, there are exceptions but I'd go for a HDD. Cheaper $/GB and they're easy to recover data from incase of an arm/motor failure.

im gonna stay far away from you