1. #1

    Help With Building Cheap PC

    I'm a college student who plays WoW on a laptop and now that I'm not moving from dorm to dorm anymore I think its time to purchase a decent desktop.

    I'm on a major budget, would like keep the total cost under $500. I will be playing WoW, D3, various steam games and do not really care for graphics. Low-medium settings are fine with me as long as the game runs smoothly with a solid fps (25 man raids especially).

    I do not need a monitor, mouse, or keyboard as I have these already.

    I have windows Vista on my laptop but don't know if its possible to transfer it to my desktop... if its not possible then I will need an os.

    $500 is my limit, if I can make it cheaper then all the better. After this summer I will be interested in upgrading it to a higher quality, but for right now I just need to be able to play my games on low/medium settings at a solid fps.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    (USA btw)

  2. #2
    So I would say look into the AMD A8 Series. They have a decent graphics onboard and are not expensive. You are basicaly getting an Athlon II X4 CPU + Radeon HD 6550 in one package.

  3. #3
    Tbh I know nothing about computers and don't even know what all parts I need, but that is a processor?

  4. #4
    this set up here http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16883227392

    is probably what your looking at this is just an example that you can copy it would come under 500$ if you were to build it yourself

    or if you dont want to build it your self
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2E16883229296R

    is well under budget and should suit your needs well
    Last edited by prankstar; 2012-05-04 at 02:50 AM.

  5. #5
    A basic computer is built inside a computer case. The case typically contains:
    1 power supply
    1 motherboard
    1 CPU(processor)
    1 hard drive
    1 optical drive(cd/dvd-rom,bluray drive)
    1 graphics card

    What coldfiredragon is referring to is a motherboard/CPU with a decent onboard graphics chip. Which means you wont need a graphics card. Which will cut a decent part of your overall price. Keeping your system under 500 is going to be some what difficult since you have no parts to reuse. You are also going to need a monitor, mouse and keyboard. To be honest, I dont even know if you will be able to stay under 500.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by coldfiredragon View Post
    So I would say look into the AMD A8 Series. They have a decent graphics onboard and are not expensive. You are basicaly getting an Athlon II X4 CPU + Radeon HD 6550 in one package.
    I would have to agree with this, I built an A8-3850 rig that currently doesn't have a video card (is on the integrated)and runs Elder Scrolls: Skyrim on near max settings at way above playable FPS. As well as many other new games.

    All i got to say is get a Good Power supply. I have lost too much money to shitty power supplies..

    BUT the drawback with the FM1 core processors is that they simply AREN'T up-gradable, as they have ceased upgrading the CPU's for that socket, since FM2 is about to drop some time here, it may be worth the small few month wait to get a more current and/or up-gradable CPU.

    Also i would recommend a mid tower case if you are building your first computer. The less plastic the better.

    ALSO http://pcpartpicker.com/ is a Phenomenal site for planning your build.
    Last edited by Wolfshark; 2012-05-04 at 03:20 AM.

  7. #7
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Krowz View Post
    I'm a college student who plays WoW on a laptop.

    I do not need a monitor, mouse, or keyboard as I have these already.

    I have windows Vista on my laptop but don't know if its possible to transfer it to my desktop... if its not possible then I will need an os.

    (USA btw)
    Are you not able to get Windows 7 for free or very cheap since you're a student?

  8. #8
    I took the liberty of designing a pc for you, http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7ILU

    CPU:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-hdz965fbgmbox
    MOBO:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-...rd-970extreme3
    RAM:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-...12800cl8d4gbrm
    HDD:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western...ive-wd2500bekt
    GPU:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-hd677xznfc
    CASE:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/zalman-case-z9plus
    PSU:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair...y-cmpsu500cxv2
    Disk:http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-op...rw24b1stblkbas

    took me all of 5 mins, i am sure there are some better decisions to be made. but i like that PSU and GPU, in all honesty you might be better off getting a pre-built, and going from there if you wanna upgrade.
    Last edited by Wolfshark; 2012-05-04 at 03:40 AM.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

    CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($116.99 @ SuperBiiz)
    Motherboard: ASRock H61M-VS Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($71.50 @ Amazon)
    Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($21.99 @ Newegg)
    Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.99 @ SuperBiiz)
    Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 460 1GB Video Card ($124.99 @ Newegg)
    Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha ATX Mid Tower Case ($41.60 @ NCIX US)
    Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Microcenter)
    Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
    Total: $497.04
    (Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
    (Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-05-03 23:55 EDT-0400)

    This is assuming you can find a solution for the OS and there is a few MIR so might go slightly over budget.

  10. #10
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    OP,

    If you decide to build one of the 2 computers above please choose Notarget's

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Krowz View Post
    I'm a college student who plays WoW on a laptop and now that I'm not moving from dorm to dorm anymore I think its time to purchase a decent desktop.

    I'm on a major budget, would like keep the total cost under $500. I will be playing WoW, D3, various steam games and do not really care for graphics. Low-medium settings are fine with me as long as the game runs smoothly with a solid fps (25 man raids especially).

    I do not need a monitor, mouse, or keyboard as I have these already.

    I have windows Vista on my laptop but don't know if its possible to transfer it to my desktop... if its not possible then I will need an os.

    $500 is my limit, if I can make it cheaper then all the better. After this summer I will be interested in upgrading it to a higher quality, but for right now I just need to be able to play my games on low/medium settings at a solid fps.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated!

    (USA btw)
    You might want to check the Cheapest Gaming Build thread ($420 currently). You could get a cheaper graphics card than the one mentioned there. Also, if you are a student in college, most of them have a deal with microsoft that you can get 2 free versions of windows professional. It's called MSDNAA or something like that (its like MicroSoft something something Academic Alliance). Contact a computer administrator at your school or a computer science counselor and he should be able to point you in the right direction.

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