Overclock.net banner

$200 Challenge

2K views 25 replies 22 participants last post by  breadcrums 
#1 ·
Anyone can make a $1400 rig. Heck most can make a $700 rig. But what if your budget is $300 bucks, including OS ($200 bucks)?
$200 bucks is little money, less than most good things out there. But can you make a running, 1080p sustainable pc for under it? It can be AMD or Intel. It only needs to be able to play games at lowest setting at 1080p stable. Upgrades will be few so it has to be stable. This is a hard challenge. Let see what you guys can come up with.
 
#3 ·
Including OS... that's basically the computer... can't build anything for 80ish
 
#4 ·
Yeah, at 1080p, not going to happen. Maybe invest that $300 and make more money from it. Any computer build for <$500 isn't going to be satisfactory, especially for gaming.

Unless you find some idiot selling off his rig on CL (99% of the time they over price the rigs) for $300, you're SOL
 
#9 ·
Well get used parts, parts from ebay, open box and recertified from newegg and you probably could. The biggest challenge is the os. Win 7 home 64-bit Is $99, but you can get vista for $60 and Ubuntu is free. I think you can use someone else win 7 disc and just buy a product key.

I have less than $50 invested in my rig soon ill upgrade to a better graphics card. Im aiming to only spend $20-30 and get one with 1gb memory. The computer(tower, monitor, keyboard, mouse) was given to me. It was not working and my friend was moving so she just gave it to me. The problem was the psu. It was only a 250w so I grabbed a 300w that was from an old junk computer modified the cables and yay. I found my graphics card at a yard sale for $15. I just got 2gb OCZ Gold ram from ebay for $17. I have a 2ghz celeron in the rig but I have a 1.8ghz Pentium dual core that Im going to put in it as soon as I can get some conductive ink(for bsel overclocking)
 
#11 ·
There has been a rig I planned as HTPC, but I was floating around $350.

Intel Pentium G620 $80
MSI H61M $65
2GB stick of any brand DDR3, around $15.
mATX PSU 250w to 300, $25
mATX case, $50
HDD? Yeah, no way.

That's around $250 for a working box
 
  • Rep+
Reactions: jacobwt226
#13 ·
#14 ·
Challenge accepted!
Warning: THIS COMPUTER WILL EXPLODE!

700

This is the worst PC i have ever speced out, bit it should play a game @1080p.
Dual core CPU
2GB memory
GT240
lol
 
#15 ·
I have something WAAAAAAAY better if you can come up with a bit more for shipping.
C2Q M-ATX Gamer

CPU: Intel Q6600 @ Stock 2.4
GPU: Intel GMA X4500
RAM: 4GB (1x4GB) Supertalent DDR3
MoBo: Asus P5G41T-MLX
Optical: CD/DVD Burner
Case: NZXT Vulcan
PSU: Antec Earthwatts 450w
Cooling: 120mm front intake, 2x 120mm top exhaust w/ integrated case fan contoller

You are not going to find a better $300 computer than that anywhere!!!
 
  • Rep+
Reactions: jacobwt226
#17 ·
Yeah. I'm sneaky like that!
 
#19 ·
It's possible. If you have a big Flea Market anywhere near you, or even small ones, you could find a good computer that only need some minor fixes. My dad got most of the computers in my house from Flea Markets. The one my little brother has is running an AMD Quad Core, got it for like, screen and everything, $30? Just added a new GPU and we were good. Another one he found was supposedly built for gaming or something (idk looked like one) the cpu on this, even though it was a dual core, it was clocked at 3.2GHz..which I think is pretty good..he bought that for $40! He just bought a new HDD for it. So yes it is possible. Just as long as you're fine with a used non - custom built computer.
 
#21 ·
480
thats the cheapest things i could get together
tongue.gif
 
#22 ·
#23 ·
I posted that q6600 system from right here on the OCN marketplace about 8 posts back. Its a great deal and you can't go wrong with it.
 
#24 ·
I made one for people in the Netherlands and I decided to at least take a reasonable brand psu and a reasonably rated case if I didn't it would have been more expensive. my first thought was to cheapscate the hdd by using a 32gb usb stick instead but I decided that within reason it at least had to have 80 gb so I went for a hdd in the end. on the matter of ram while 2gb could work it is hardly recommendable especially if 4gb is just 4€ more. I also looked out that I didn't pick stuff that was not going to get in stock anytime soon so I ended up with only stuff that was in stock somewhere. It had to run windows and it had to do it on its own (no need to borrow someones usb stick and install it from usb) so it also had to have a optical drive. in the end I did not manage to get close to the 300€ all in let alone 300$ but its a fair build that is actually suitable for someone wanting a very cheap gaming pc that really does the job. The final price was 340,84€ including Shipping within the Netherlands. The thing is in dutch but you should be able to understand what it means.
#ProductPrijsSubtotaal
1Asrock A55M-HVS€ 48,04€ 48,04
1Samsung Spinpoint M5 HM160HC, 160GB PATA-100, 8MB, 5400rpm€ 50,50€ 50,50
1Samsung SH-S222AB Zwart€ 13,40€ 13,40
1Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (NL OEM 32bit)€ 82,22€ 82,22
1Fractal Design Core 1000€ 28,70€ 28,70
1be quiet! System Power S6 300W€ 26,20€ 26,20
1GeIL Value PLUS GVP34GB1333C9SC€ 16,82€ 16,82
1AMD A4-3400 Boxed€ 54,09€ 54,09
Bekijk collectie
Importeer producten
Totaal€ 319,97
http://tweakers.net/gallery/358083?wish_id=242610#tab:wenslijst
 
#25 ·
This will work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856119061 - $129.99
Runs onboard Radeon 6310
Quote:
The system is capable of flawless full HD (1080p) and 720p video playback. A Transformers Movie Trailer played via YouTube in both 1080p and 720p resolutions consumed between 29% and 37% of CPU resources. When played in Windows Media Player, the Coral Reef Adventure in full HD produced approximately 10-15% CPU load, while with 720p version it was between around 8 and 13%. In both cases the playback was completely smooth.
Source
So that's case, mobo, cpu(apu), and a PSU, now we need memory:
G.Skill 1066 DDR3 for $19.99

And we're up to $149.98, now the question is do you want to run an OS from a HDD? SSD? USB device? or "The Cloud" ( think Jolicloud)? Well that's your choice but personally I like to have some form of local storage regardless. I'd go with this here: 80 GB Re-certified WD SATA HD for $49.99.
Totaling now: $199.97.
With $0.03 to spare I would suggest you borrow a USB stick from a buddy (since $0.03 won't buy you much
tongue.gif
) and follow the directions here to install Ubunu from a USB device. I would say burn it to a disc and install it, however we've now met our $200 budget and cannot afford to purchase an optical drive.

I've now completed your challenge, what's my prize?
wink.gif
 
#26 ·
used parts..look out for deals for 2-3 months.

for a decent pc at that price,u will have to be patient.

and for 1080p u WILL need a midrange GPU and for that you will need an 450-500W psu.

not to mention a 1080p monitor.

its not impossible,but u will have to patiently wait deals online.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top