Low budget Gaming PC

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zakdoc89

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Hi
I have a friend who is currently oversees, and wants a quote, in SA, for a gaming PC, He wants this to compare the prices of components where he is, (india) to ours. and make the purchase there if necessary. His budget is $400.
This is the best I could come up with but its like twice his budget, any help, PS: prices are from prophecy and PCint

Processor: Intel Core2 Quadro Q8200 - quad core 2.33ghz- If its too expensive get the Core 2 quadro Q6600 (its older but good) approximate price in SA R2000

Motherboard: Asus P5K SE/EPU ( Note that the motherboard has to support the processor in the case of the Q8200, it is 45nm processor, and the Q6600 is 65nm) be-careful, which motherboard you choose. approximate price in SA R1200

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9800GT (any brand, but the good brands are: Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and XFX my recommendation would be to go for ASUS as a brand.) This graphics card is the minimum you should get to play all the new games at good graphics. Better cards are the 9800GTX or the newer GTX-200 series. Approximate price of 9800GT in SA is R1700 (remember motherboard must be able to support it.

RAM: Kingston ValueRam KVR800D2Nx/2G , 2Gb/2048mb ddr2-800 (Any DDR2-800 is good, best would be 1x 2Gb module and a 1x1Gb module. ( Remember XP 32 bit does not support more that 3GB of Ram. Total price for RAM in SA approximately R500

Hard Drive: Seagate or Western Digital hard drive ( 500Gb is good enough) I recommend : "seagate barracuda 7200.12 st3500418as , 500gb, s-ata2 , 7200rpm" Any SATA hard drive (SATA 1 2 or 3) will do. Again remember that The motherboard must have a SATA port. Approximate Price in SA is R700. 1.5 times the size of the HD

Power supply: This system will not use too much power so a 400W-500W power supply will be the maximum you'll need. But make sure its a good brand. Recommended brands are (coolermaster, thermaltake, isonic, antec, vantec, gigabyte, zalman, enermax,omega and corsair.) any one of them will be perfect. Approximate Price in SA R500

Case: Approximate price without power supply in SA is R300

Other Requirements: DVD writer KB, mouse, Windows XP and screen,( he has all of these)
Total approximation in South Africa: R6900
 
zakdoc89 said:
Hi
I have a friend who is currently oversees, and wants a quote, in SA, for a gaming PC, He wants this to compare the prices of components where he is, (india) to ours. and make the purchase there if necessary. His budget is $400.
This is the best I could come up with but its like twice his budget, any help, PS: prices are from prophecy and PCint

Processor: Intel Core2 Quadro Q8200 - quad core 2.33ghz- If its too expensive get the Core 2 quadro Q6600 (its older but good) approximate price in SA R2000
Click to expand...
As said Q6600 is EOL, if you find one it's probably overpriced. Could go Duo too, depends to what extent it's a "gaming PC".
Motherboard: Asus P5K SE/EPU ( Note that the motherboard has to support the processor in the case of the Q8200, it is 45nm processor, and the Q6600 is 65nm) be-careful, which motherboard you choose. approximate price in SA R1200

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 9800GT (any brand, but the good brands are: Asus, Gigabyte, MSI and XFX my recommendation would be to go for ASUS as a brand.) This graphics card is the minimum you should get to play all the new games at good graphics. Better cards are the 9800GTX or the newer GTX-200 series. Approximate price of 9800GT in SA is R1700 (remember motherboard must be able to support it.
Click to expand...
HD4770. Better, cheaper, new tech etc. Red Team > Green Team at the moment.
RAM: Kingston ValueRam KVR800D2Nx/2G , 2Gb/2048mb ddr2-800 (Any DDR2-800 is good, best would be 1x 2Gb module and a 1x1Gb module. ( Remember XP 32 bit does not support more that 3GB of Ram. Total price for RAM in SA approximately R500
Click to expand...
Just get 4GB. Costs like nothing, and 32bit OSes are obsolete already.
Hard Drive: Seagate or Western Digital hard drive ( 500Gb is good enough) I recommend : "seagate barracuda 7200.12 st3500418as , 500gb, s-ata2 , 7200rpm" Any SATA hard drive (SATA 1 2 or 3) will do. Again remember that The motherboard must have a SATA port. Approximate Price in SA is R700. 1.5 times the size of the HD

Power supply: This system will not use too much power so a 400W-500W power supply will be the maximum you'll need. But make sure its a good brand. Recommended brands are (coolermaster, thermaltake, isonic, antec, vantec, gigabyte, zalman, enermax,omega and corsair.) any one of them will be perfect. Approximate Price in SA R500
Click to expand...
Should probably check some reviews of the specific PSU rather than just go by brand. Some of the above have made some rubbish PSUs, along with good ones.
Case: Approximate price without power supply in SA is R300

Other Requirements: DVD writer KB, mouse, Windows XP and screen,( he has all of these)
Total approximation in South Africa: R6900
Click to expand...
 
Thanks people. Ok so the Q6600 is obsolete, What will be a good alternative, What about the E7400.
He plays a lot of sports games and FPS, occasionally RTS. What about the motherboards support for ATi GFX cards.
Is the PSU power too high, and can we just go for the cheapest one, bundled with the case?
PS: The 4770 is not cheaper than the 9800GT.(according to prophecy)
 
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zakdoc89 said:
Thanks people. Ok so the Q6600 is obsolete, What will be a good alternative, What about the E7400.
He plays a lot of sports games and FPS, occasionally RTS. What about the motherboards support for ATi GFX cards.
Click to expand...
Motherboards don't care which card you use. Can get ATI now and upgrade to nVidia next gen. nVidia's motherboards might be an exception, but those are pointless anyway.
Is the PSU power too high, and can we just go for the cheapest one, bundled with the case?
Click to expand...
Antec's are pretty solid, but pretty much everything else is rubbish sadly.
PS: The 4770 is not cheaper than the 9800GT.(according to prophecy)
Click to expand...
Sorry, was thinking of the GTX+. Whatever would we do without nVidia's marketing department!

Anyway, the 4770 should be cheaper than that, and it's better anyways.
 
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How would the ATi Force 3D HD4670 stack up against the Nvidia 9800GT, at +/- R900 it seems real good, this review shows it isn't that bad: http://xtreview.com/review229.htm
so I suppose on I tight budget that would be perfect.
As for processor, the E7400 seems like what I woul recommend, but it seems too expensive at R1500 for just R500 extra he can go quad core, so i feel like I'm misguiding him.
As for power and case I can Kill two birds with one stone with this one, http://www.prophecy.co.za/isonic-classic-2003-chassis-with-ispc300w-black-p-28489.html but what about the power supply quality.

Finally I get the feeling that all this is really a waste of time and money, when he can probably pick up an Xbox360 for about the same price and get better performance!!
 
I would say the E5200 is the best price/performance dual core, the E7400 is much more, but not much faster. The 4670 is competitive with the 9600GT/9600GSO but the 9800 series is still faster. That said the 4670 is a great card for the $$$.

Gaming wise, I would recommend a faster GFX card at the expense of a slightly slower CPU - so an Intel E5200 with a 4850 or GTS 250 is a good balance.
 
zakdoc89 said:
Thanks people. Ok so the Q6600 is obsolete, What will be a good alternative, What about the E7400.
He plays a lot of sports games and FPS, occasionally RTS. What about the motherboards support for ATi GFX cards.
Is the PSU power too high, and can we just go for the cheapest one, bundled with the case?
PS: The 4770 is not cheaper than the 9800GT.(according to prophecy)
Click to expand...

Go with a Q8xxx to be future-proof.

ATI graphics cards will be fine on any mobo. Again, check out the G31 mobos and see if they offer enough for what you need.

For PSU I recommend a Cooler Master Extreme Power 460watt. Rather buy a separate PSU. The Cooler Master Elite chassis series have some nice cases.
 
Here is a new spec that i've arranged:
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo E7300 - dual core 2.66ghz box cpu , no VT , 45nm R1365

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE® GA-G31M-ES2C - "S Series" G31 & ICH7 Express Chipset - R650

Graphics Card: ATi Force3D HD4670 512mb R880

RAM: OCZ PC2-6400 DDR2 2GB Value Series - CL 5-6-6-15, 1.8 Volts, Life R270

Hard Drive: seagate barracuda 7200.12 st3500418as , 500gb, s-ata2 , 7200rpm, R680

Power supply and case: iSONIC CLASSIC 2003 ATX CHASSIS with IS-PC400W+ PSU, BLACK R280
total about R4200, so it isn't that bad
 
I only have two things two say.

Isonic is NOT a recommended psu brand.

A console is the most expensive way to get into gaming. The game prices will kill him. That's besides the fact you can use a pc for work stuff too...
 
OK, so I won't encourage him to get an xbox then. I just sent him both the specs that I've compiled and told him to go bargain hunting, let's see what prices he can comes back with. I'll post update as soon as I get them, if anyone has some specs that I can send him, Ill appreciate it.
 
Qwikslver said:
I only have two things two say.

Isonic is NOT a recommended psu brand.

A console is the most expensive way to get into gaming. The game prices will kill him. That's besides the fact you can use a pc for work stuff too...
Click to expand...

iSonic is made in South Africa, I have one, running my gaming pc, and so far no problems, they are cheap, have a warranty, and work... So if your looking for a cheap gaming pc, I think its a good brand to considor....
 
Looks good but I would still swap the E7300 for a E5200 and get a beefier GPU.
 
zakdoc89 said:
Finally I get the feeling that all this is really a waste of time and money, when he can probably pick up an Xbox360 for about the same price and get better performance!!
Click to expand...

Just to clarify for random readers: Regardless of ones opinion on the console vs PC issue, the fact is consoles use pretty old (in computer terms anyway) technology. The Xbox uses a modified X1950XT or so, and the PS3 uses a hardly-modified 7900GT. An entry level GPU is already better than that, and with the next gen coming up the difference will become rather stark.

Consoles have certain advantages of their own, like the Cell being able to take some load off the GPU, and developers being able to design for a known system. It doesn't make up for it anymore, though. PC tech is simply better right now, as it always is after a console generation has been out for a while.
 
Qwikslver said:
I only have two things two say.

Isonic is NOT a recommended psu brand.

A console is the most expensive way to get into gaming. The game prices will kill him. That's besides the fact you can use a pc for work stuff too...
Click to expand...

+1.
 
SlyFly said:
iSonic is made in South Africa, I have one, running my gaming pc, and so far no problems, they are cheap, have a warranty, and work... So if your looking for a cheap gaming pc, I think its a good brand to considor....
Click to expand...

Just a bit of correction...it is made im china and relabeled in south africa.
Can check on alibaba.com to see the oem you can buy to start ur own brand :D

Just get a 550w coolermaster extreme plus, a E5200 oced to 3.6ghz, a hypertx 2, g31 board, 4gig ram and a hd4770...thats around 4k here.
Can probably get it for 3k overseas

By the way. Thats a budget gaming pc...if u want a budget rendering/office work pc, the swap the hd4770 for a 4670 and the E5200 for a Q8200...
 
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