If you want to build cheap gaming
computers, you've come to the right place! This article gives you the low down
on the specs of 3 different cheap gaming computers you can build.
Why build a gaming computer at
all? Well, for one thing, it saves a lot of money because you need not pay for
labor. Also, computers in the market are usually loaded with many unwanted
programs that are not required for games and causes performance degradation.
The downside? Well, since it is
not made by any manufacturer, there won’t be any warranty. If any repair is to
be done, you have to bear the cost.
Anyway, enough talk. Let's now
look at three cheap computer gaming rigs that you can build - great performance
at minimal cost.
Cheap Gaming Computer Rig 1
For our first cheap gaming computer, we will consider some an AMD based system.
The specs here exclude a monitor, keyboard, mouse and operating system. However,
these components are easily recycled from an old PC.
You'll be amazed at the total cost here - only $484 for the gaming PC at current
market prices!
Component
Product
Price
CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
$125
Motherboard
ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
$70
Memory
Corsair Value Select 512 MB
(256 MB x2)
$52
Video Card
eVGA 256-A8-N340-TX Geforce
6600 256
$110
Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar SE
WD800JD 80 GB
$57
Optical Drive
LITE-ON Black 16X DVD-ROM
$19.99
$20
Case
Antec ATX Mid-Tower Case
$50
Total
$484
Cheap Gaming Computer Rig 2
For our second cheap gaming computer, we will consider some an
Intel based system. Again, the specs exclude a monitor, keyboard, mouse and
operating system. The system here is slightly pricier but still very affordable
- only $642.
Component
Product
Price
CPU
Pentium 4 630 (3.0 GHz) Retail
$170
Motherboard
ABIT GD8 (i915P)
$82
Memory
1 GB (2x 512-MB) Corsair Value
PC3200
$67
Video Card
NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GS 256MB (PCIe)
$181
Hard Drive
120GB Western Digital SATA
(WD1200JD)
$65
Optical Drive
Gigabyte GO-B5232A Combo Drive
$27
Case
Aspire X-Dreamer II (with 420W
PSU)
$50
Total
$642
Cheap Gaming Computer Rig 3
Here's another budget gaming
computer setup based on the AMD Athlon processor. Total cost of ownership? $656
- which is still amazingly cheap isn't it?
Component
Product
Price
CPU
AMD Athlon 64 3000+
$143
Motherboard
MSI K8N Neo4-F
$85
Memory
1GB Kingston PC3200 (512MB x2)
$82
Video Card
XFX GeForce 6600GT 128MB
$163
Hard Drive
Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 80GB
$58
Optical Drive
Lite-On
SOHD-167T
$30
Case
Antec Performance TX 640B with
SmartPower 2.0 400W
$95
Total
$656
Other Points To Note
Your PC configuration must meet the
gaming requirements in order to enjoy sights and sounds of the hottest games. In
my opinion, video cards are a critical component, along with the CPU and memory. For faster response
in games, you should have a minimum
512 MB of RAM - perhaps even 1 GB. Also, it's good to go for a 17-inch LCD
screen for the best gaming visuals.
Conclusion
If you are a game lover, you should definitely consider building a cheap gaming
computer. You'll be surprised at the prices you get if you build your own. I've
seen games that scream on gaming computers built for under $1000. So do be
careful in your component selections, build that gaming computer and start
enjoying your games the way they're meant to be played!
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