Budget Gaming PC at $400, can it be done?

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

Antec power supplies are much better quality than Hec's. While the case is largely personal opinion the Antec 200 is very well made, has a bottom mounted power supply which is preferable imo, and offers good cooling ability for the price.

I stand by my original pick.

I agree with you on Antec being higher quality than HEC, but you know... Getting a 585w PSU that can power a nice mid range build for only $30 is a nice deal regardless.
And while the Antec 200 may be a nice case it is of my personal opinion that the Rosewill Blackbone is better.
Again...
Opinions are just opinions.

 

[aliasaid]

Muffin man's build is $418 + ~$9 shipping = $427 total.

Mine was $400 including everything, so if you include an optical @ $23 shipped, the build i suggested is still cheaper.

Main difference would be muffin included higher quality case/PSU, but i included higher quality mobo/memory.

 

[VampD]

Much thanks and appreciation to all who replied with recommendations! Is there anyone who may offer an alternate intel processor choice that is equivalent or near the same price?

 

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

Much thanks and appreciation to all who replied with recommendations! Is there anyone who may offer an alternate intel processor choice that is equivalent or near the same price?

There isn't really an equivalent at the same price... But I suppose an E3300 is what you'd be looking at? Maybe an e5300?
"The Athlon II X2 240 would wipe the floor with an E3300, and probably best out an e5300 in most cases and definitely in gaming."

The Athlon II X2 240 has an integrated memory controller that helps contribute to it's gaming performance, as well as having higher clocks than it's Intel competitors.

If you want a sub $400 for gaming, AMD is the way to go, Intel won't be up to par at this price point.

 

[VampD]

There isn't really an equivalent at the same price... But I suppose an E3300 is what you'd be looking at? Maybe an e5300?
"The Athlon II X2 240 would wipe the floor with an E3300, and probably best out an e5300 in most cases and definitely in gaming."

The Athlon II X2 240 has an integrated memory controller that helps contribute to it's gaming performance, as well as having higher clocks than it's Intel competitors.

If you want a sub $400 for gaming, AMD is the way to go, Intel won't be up to par at this price point.

interesting, our of curiosity at what price point will Intel be up to par? I'm not too familar with modern day processors, I only know of the early Intel core 2 duo days where they pretty much had the best deal at every price range.

 

[aliasaid]

perhaps starting around $800 it would make sense to go with an intel processor.

 

[orihS ‪‪‪Shiro]

Around the price point that you could afford an i3 - 530 does Intel start making sense these days.
i3 - 530 CPU is about ~$120
So a full i3 - 530 gaming system would be in the $600+ range
But so would a quad core Phenom II system.
Below that and AMD is king.