Help With Upgradable 500 Dollar Starting Rig (For Gaming) - Page 2

Originally Posted by MagnesV 

Well, good news is that now my budget seems to be 500 bucks. I'm not upgrading this current computer because it's complete crap now and only supports two processors (Two very old Athlons). But your post really does put things into perspective. My processor is so old I can't even properly view a Silverlight video.
Since my budget is 500 bucks, I'm seriously considering just getting a prebuilt Cyberpower PC, though they seem to have rather low service reviews from what I've seen on PCWorld, not sure how true that is. While I'm also rather sure that I could build something quite nice myself for 500, this would be my first full build and I'm not sure if I should risk the money building a system until I already have a reliable PC to fall back on, if that makes any sense.
I know prebuilt things are often frowned upon (And I can certainly see why, having seen what a rip off Dell and such are with their prices), but if I go that route, what would be the best recommended?
edit: I have a year old 450w power supply in my current PC, so I probably won't need to buy a new one for a potential build.

Originally Posted by MagnesV 

Well, from what I've seen, especially from using my current piece of crap PC (It's an Athlon 3000+, in case anyone was wondering, which is crap), one of the primary factors in power needs is resolution. Even with a badass PC in the future, I don't really have intentions of playing at super high resolutions. I can play Mass Effect 1 on this ****ty PC at medium-high settings (Though that is largely due to my graphics card). So I'm thinking that, after seeing what I can get for 500 bucks, I'll most likely be able to play most games at high settings. It's rare that I go over 1000x800 (Not being exact with the numbers, but you know what I mean), because I frequently play in windowed mode due to my single monitor setup. And quite honestly that's more than enough screen space for me (Though I'm sure I'll change my mind once I have a dual monitor setup, that's not the situation currently).
Apparently I do have a Micro Center (I just checked, I live in Philadelphia), I had no idea before. So I'm gonna check that place out and see what I can do as far as parts, or if they have any nice prebuilds. But so far these suggestions have been very helpful, so keep them coming!
edit: My PSU is an Earthwatts. EA-430D. And apparently 430w, I mis-remembered. The prebuild I'm considering is: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/CyberPower_H67_Configurator/ A configuration of that, to bring it up to about 500 (Though keeping in mind shipping and such). I didn't save the configuration I did before, since there were Valentine's deals and I figured the price would change.

Originally Posted by LuckySe7ens 

Your PSU is more than enough for a rig like your planning. That prebuilt you linked is an i3 2100 h61 system with an unnamed case, slow generic ram, an unnamed 500gb 7200rpm (Thank goodness) HDD, and no graphics card. Both of the builds i linked would be better for less money. The first one you could drop the PSU and save $28(since yours is pretty good), and the graphics card (since your current one may be fine for your needs now) and that would save another ~$75. And the xion predator is available elsewhere if you really like that case.

Originally Posted by LuckySe7ens 

Microcenter has some good motherboard bundles on AMD Bulldozer setups: http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

Originally Posted by LuckySe7ens 

The first one you could drop the PSU and save $28(since yours is pretty good), and the graphics card (since your current one may be fine for your needs now) and that would save another ~$75.

Originally Posted by Nintendo Maniac 64 

But even a Pentium G630 is faster, and is much more upgradable. Also Microcenter has the Pentium G620 (just 100MHz slower) for only $50
And obviously Sandy Bridge uses less power than Bulldozer, which means he could get by with his current PSU for longer.
Heck he could then even channel the $100 saved into a 64GB (or larger) SSD!

Originally Posted by LuckySe7ens 

At stock clocks yes the intel offerings in this price range are a much better choice.

Originally Posted by Nintendo Maniac 64 

Seeing how he's coming from an Athlon XP @ 2.1GHz, I REALLY don't think he's going to need to overclock.