Gaming Machine
Contents |
$750 AMD
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | AMD Athlon X2 5000+ | 135 | |
Motherboard | MSI K9N-Neo V3 | 94 | |
RAM | 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 60 | |
Hard Drive | 250GB Samsung Spinpoint P120 SP2504C | 70 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS | 179 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/430W PSU | 100 | |
Power Supply | Included with case | - | |
Cooling | - | - | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 673 + Postage |
This system, despite its low price is a viable ticket to entry level gaming. It features a reasonable sized hard drive (250GB) sufficient for most users, and a decent video card, which will be plenty quick enough for most games.
$750 Intel
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 | 145 | |
Motherboard | Gigabyte P31-S3L | 99 | |
RAM | 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 60 | |
Hard Drive | 250GB Samsung Spinpoint P120 SP2504C | 70 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS | 179 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 w/430W PSU | 100 | |
Power Supply | Included with case | - | |
Cooling | - | - | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 688 + Postage |
$1000 AMD
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | AMD Athlon X2 6000+ | 179 | |
Motherboard | MSI K9N-Neo V3 | 94 | |
RAM | 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 60 | |
Hard Drive | 320GB Samsung Spinpoint T HD321KJ | 88 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT | 311 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 | 67 | |
Power Supply | SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W | 110 | |
Cooling | - | - | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 944 + Postage |
For $1000 this machine represents unbelievable value, with an 8800GT, a quick AMD 6000+ CPU along with 2GB of RAM.
$1000 Intel
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 | 145 | |
Motherboard | Gigabyte P35-DS3L | 123 | |
RAM | 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 60 | |
Hard Drive | 320GB Samsung Spinpoint T HD321KJ | 88 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT | 313 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 | 67 | |
Power Supply | SilverStone Strider ST56F 560W | 110 | |
Cooling | - | - | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 939 + Postage |
At a touch under $1000 the Intel Core 2 Duo system is quite impressive. For $1000, this system would be very quick and well suited for demanding office applications and some decent gaming.
$1250 AMD
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | AMD Athlon X2 6400+ | 259 | |
Motherboard | MSI K9N-Neo V3 | 94 | |
RAM | 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 65 | |
Hard Drive | 500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ | 129 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT | 314 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 | 67 | |
Power Supply | 620W Corsair CMPSU-620HX | 159 | |
Cooling | Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro | 35 | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 1157 + Postage |
$1250 Intel
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 | 219 | |
Motherboard | Gigabyte P35-DS3L | 123 | |
RAM | 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 65 | |
Hard Drive | 500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ | 129 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT | 314 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 | 67 | |
Power Supply | 620W Corsair CMPSU-620HX | 159 | |
Cooling | Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro | 39 | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 1170 + Postage |
$1500 Intel
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 | 219 | |
Motherboard | Gigabyte P35-DS3L | 123 | |
RAM | 2GB Kingston DDR2-667 | 65 | |
Hard Drive | 500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ | 129 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX | 620 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 | 67 | |
Power Supply | 620W Corsair CMPSU-620HX | 159 | |
Cooling | Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro | 39 | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 1456 + Postage |
This does go slightly over budget, but it gives you an excellent video card. If price is an issue, maybe drop down to an E6550 or a Radeon HD2900XT/GeForce 8800GTS instead.
$1750 Intel
Part | Model | Price | Case |
---|---|---|---|
CPU | Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 | 318 | |
Motherboard | Gigabyte P35-DS3L | 123 | |
RAM | 2x 2GB Corsair TwinX DDR2 800 | 212 | |
Hard Drive | 500GB Samsung Spinpoint T166 HD501LJ | 129 | |
Optical Drive | LG GSA-H62N 18x SATA DVDRW | 35 | |
Graphics Card | 768MB nVidia GeForce 8800GTX | 620 | |
Sound Card | Onboard from motherboard | - | |
Case | Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC-T05 | 67 | |
Power Supply | 620W Corsair CMPSU-620HX | 159 | |
Cooling | Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro | 39 | |
Additional | - | - | |
Total Cost | - | 1712 + Postage |
Probably as far as the average user needs to go to have a very decent gaming experience - top of the range graphics card with a decent CPU. If dualcore is more your thing, an E6850 is similar money.
After this point, the higher end systems are found in the Dream Machine section