Super-cheap gaming PC

B.MasterGeneral

Wanting to build a cheap gaming PC, I have been searching the internet for information and I have stumbled across this http://gamechalkboard.com/forum/showthread.php?t=96. And what I am wondering is it possible to go any lower? While it wont be high, how much will it cost to make a computer that can hold its own with modern games?

Solitaire

Nope, it would be far more expensive as Europe pays much higher import charges and tax, thus all components have a much higher base price.

The actual amount you'd have to spend depends on if you have an OS/monitor/peripherals/drives/case/PSU/memory etc. you can salvage for the new build, but I suspect it'll come to well over €250. That's living in Europe for ya :rolleyes::(

B.MasterGeneral

Unfortunately I think your right! And hunting these things on ebay does seem to be very hit or miss and you generally get crucified for delivery if you don't live in the UK

Solitaire

You might get lucky and find an outdated gaming rig going cheap on Adverts.ie for €300-450 but otherwise I think we'd better plan on making a new rig with a minimum of money What stuff could you salvage?

B.MasterGeneral

Unfortunately, I've moved out of the country, still Europe but not Ireland. I have some stuff at home (maybe I can get a couple of sticks of ram sent out!) but I think I will have to go more or less from scratch.

Solitaire

Please God tell me you've got a monitor and OS at least?! :eek:

B.MasterGeneral

OS yes, monitor is a maybe! But I'm thinking of it as a challenge :pac:

Jonny7

Which European country are you in?

Basically I needed a 4th PC for the house (god knows why) but I wanted something that wouldn't be totally useless..

I went on the local ebay, scoured it well, checked feedback, badly listed items e.g. 'pc pour vente', found a nice little AMD X2 with decent HDD and ram for about 100 euros delivered, then I grabbed an ATI 4770 graphics for about 60 euros and voila complete gaming budget PC for 160 euros, inc monitor, stained keyboard and crappy mouse.

If you know very little about PC's then it can be difficult, but basically when you start entering 200 to 300 euro territory it may be best to go for quality second hand or refurbished PCs

A dualcore with 2 gigs of ram and a card like I listed above will run everything quite smoothly (bar GTA4) on a 22 inch monitor.

B.MasterGeneral

I'm in Portugal. In the past I was reasonably knowledgeable (several builds) when it came to components but in recent years I haven't kept up with the technology so I am playing catch up to some extent!

Thanks for all the replies by the way!

B.MasterGeneral

OK, so a couple of weeks on eBay and I've picked up this lot;

Core 2 Duo E6400 2.13 GHz
Gigabyte GA-G31M-ES2L Rev. 1.1 775 Intel Motherboard
Crucial RAM (1GB x2), Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC2-6400
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4850 1GB GDDR3
And a small 100gb HD

Including delivery, 150 euro. I'm still short PSU, case, dvd drive, and a monitor. From what I can see the monitor will be the most expensive thing of the lot. I was thinking of a new Cooler Master Elite 310 case, and maybe a Cooler Master 450w PSU. But does anyone have any suggestions.

I dont think I have done to badly for the money, but if anyone thinks otherwise I would like to know why.

Solitaire

You're gonna need at least a decent 400W PSU and preferabl;y a decent 450W model along the lines of the Amazon 450W or the Corsair VX450 to run a HD4850. Its a good, cheap card, but its always been reasonably thirsty

I just hope the RAM turns out okay... Crucial had a horribly bad run of DDR2 a few years back :(

Monotype

That's impressive for €150. Watch out for those coolermaster psus. A lot of them are complete arse. Good value, good quality, cheap PSUs are are a rarity at the moment.