I might get my hands on some cash in a month or two and i’ve noticed my trusty old p3 500 clunker can’t run a single game i want to play anymore. I have a monitor, mouse, kb, speakers, etc… i can probably also recycle my CDRW and DVD player. So my question is what is the best barebones computer i can get for 500 bucks? and where could i find a good one? I want basically a decent gaming/surfing the web machine that won’t be used for much else.
Hate to bump my own thread but maybe this is more of a general question? think i put this on the wrong forum.
Where do you live?
If you’re in Cali or certain parts of Arizona and…Texas(?), Fry’s Electronics offers motherboard/CPU combos all the time at excellent prices. Say about $130 for a fairly kickass combo.
After that all you’d need is a case (~$70 w/ power supply), some RAM (~$60 for 512 MB, IIRC) a hard drive (are you sure recycling your current one won’t do the job? If not, plan on ~$1/GB) and a new sound (eh, ~$70) and video card (as much $$$ as you can spare 
).
Yeah, I know, it’s not a “true” barebones (mobo, CPU, case, right?), but the only thing you’ll have to do in this scenario that you wouldn’t have to do w/ a barebones is mount the motherboard, and that’s really not that tough (find a case w/ a removable motherboard tray - it’ll make things much easier).
Unless, now that I think about it, you meant “barebones” in a generic “what can I get?” sense, in which case I believe Dell and/or Gateway has a refurbished computer section that may have some deals. You’ll also want to check “deals” sites for coupon/promotional offers that you can take advantage of.
I live in florida, we don’t have Fry’s down here sadly 
Here’s what you do:
You want a good gaming machine on the cheap, go Athlon. A decent proc/motherboard combo - say, an Athlon XP 2000+ - can probably be picked up for around $100. A passable case can probably be acquired for around $40 or $50. Say another $60 (as KKBattousai - how’re you doin’, man? - said) for RAM (512 megs of DDR 2100, at least). Then go for a 60-gig hard drive with an 8-meg buffer, maybe another $80. That leaves just over $200 for a good video card, which is the most critical part for a good gaming rig. I’d recommend something like a GeForce-FX 5200 Ultra (probably around $160), since ATI’s mid-range cards (such as the Radeon 9500 or 9600) don’t really cut the cake (though their high-end cards are REALLY kickass).
This also leaves you some “spillover” cash, in case one component or another happens to need a bit more money. Also, try to get a motherboard with built-in sound… not nearly as good as a separate card, but when you’re gaming on a budget, stuff like 3D surround sound should be the first to go, in my opinion, in favor of dynamite framerates and graphics.
Most of this stuff you can pick up from Pricewatch. Try to get parts from Newegg.com… they’re really reliable.
8 megabyte CACHE, for the hard drive, rather than buffer. Don’t bother with getting one with a 2 meg cache… it may be 10-20% cheaper, but then, there’s a reason for that…
Whew, I was going to ask if you had the monitor. I’d say try and get a barebones combo deal on a CPU/MoBo/Case and just fill in the blanks with what’s left over. What about your sound card, modem/NIC, and those little things that make all the difference? Going to strip the old machine, or buy new ones? And I’m a huge fan of NewEgg too.
I think we’re all assuming you’re going to build your own, let us know if that’s not the case.
Yeah i’m going to build my own. I will reuse all the minor things like the NIC, floppy, modem and maybe the sound card. Thanks for all the tips, i had forgotten all about pricewatch somehow.
After years of building gaming systems for cheap, this is what I’ve found to be the cheapest way to smooth framerates.
First, go to AMD and check out the benchmarks for the CPU in your price range. (I would go with the Athlon XP 2500 personally) Look in their benchmark section. Look at the specs for the system they use to kick Intels ass. Try to match as closely as possible the Motherboard/HD/Ram configuration they use. This config has been heavily tested and is guaranteed to smoke. Chances are the benchmark system will be based on an ASUS MB, which I have always been happy with. Once you find your CPU/MB combo, look on pricewatch for a bundle that has what you need.
Try to stick to brand name memory. Also, I tend to go with slightly smaller but faster hard drives.
As far as video cards go, you can waste a big chunk of money going with the latest greatest cards. On identical systems (especially sub $500 systems), the difference between a $300 card and a sixth month old $100 card can be barely noticeable. I personally have a Athlon 1600+ 512 MB with a GeForce 3 64MB that will run almost any current game at maximum detail high resolution. Check TomsHardwareGuide.com for very good comparisons between cards. You might be surprised at how little difference there is.
Sorry, that’s http://www.tomshardware.com/
I think the person who reccomended the Geforce 5200 is basing that suggestion on FUTURE needs, like Doom 3, rather than present needs. It’s something to consider, but buying the latest and greatest will always cost money. I saw a GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64MB on NewEgg for about 80 bucks today, though. You might do better just having a machine that’s pretty good, then get into the Great Hardware Arms Race.
Sorry about the triple post, but wanted to show an example.
http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20021218/vgacharts-06.html has a benchmark for Jedi Knight II for 27 video cards on a decent system.
The difference between the $250 GeForce 4 Ti 4600 8x AGP and the $87 GeForce 4 Ti 4200 64 MB is .2 FPS (170.7 FPS vs 170.9 FPS)
Also, a 128 MB video card is a complete waste of money. On most benchmarks, the 64 meg version is faster.
Okay … if you build it yourself …
(Prices are from Multiwave, but they shouldn’t be much different with newegg, SVC, Directron, and other companies catering to the DIY crowd.) No skimping on quality here.
Motherboard: MSI KT3V-MB;
CPU: AMD XP 2600+;
Memory: MWAVE 512MB NON-ECC
$222.35
Videocard: GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT ULTRA650-8X 64MB GEFORCE4 TI-4200 DDR 8XAGP
$109.00
Case: COOLER MASTER ATC-710-GX2 (BLACK) MID TOWER
$96.00
Hard Drive: MAXTOR 80.0GB DX6Y080L0 EIDE ULTRA-ATA 133 8.5MS 7200RPM 2MB BUFFER
Parts scrapped from other computer: fans, floppy, cables, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, power supply
$0.00
Total: $509.35
So I’m a bit over, but consider that you’re getting a kick-ass Cooler Master case. No cheapo “Happy Panda Lucky Dragon Star” case, no bling-bling case with windows.
You might want to check out www.overstock.com
Refurb’d machines.
Reasonably equipped.
Reasonable prices.
IMO.
You can get fully configured new Athlon/Intel Celeron based 1.4 - 2.0 Ghz Compaq Presarios machines for 400.00 to 500.00 after rebate at any Circuit City. The units will come with 40 gig+ hard disks, 128-256 meg RAM, CD or CDRW, multiple, floppy, sound, USB etc etc etc. and run with the XP Home OS.
I’ve used, sold and configured 4 of these Presario 6000 series units over the past year. Operation has been flawless. Name brand 17" flat screen CRT monitors can be has for as little as 80.00 - 125.00 after rebate.
Try ebay.com search for 4550 or 2350 these are nice NEW Dell computers that people often bought using coupons, so they are sold under $500 without monitors & are all set to use.
I recommend refurb Dell systems (love those cases) for annoying relatives who only use office and web stuff, but I would never recommend them for a gamer.
And Compaq? 1.5 Ghz, 128 meg 40 gig and you still have to deal with rebate headaches?
I like elmwoods suggested configuration, but I personally would skip the 8x part of the Video Card and get a slightly cheaper case (although Cooler Masters are nice). Spend the saved money on a better Motherboard.
Plus, he forgot about shipping…I always buy my cases locally (good ones can be expensive to ship) and the rest of the parts online.
I also agree with NewEgg. My stuff always arrives faster than I expected with no problems. I highly recommend them.
Listen up.
You have a P3 500Mhz clinker. (hey thats what I’m working with now!) Heres what you can recycle:
Hard Drive - at the very least use it as a secondary drive. Always good for backups and a place to put MP3s. If you are ok with using it as the primary drive, be ready to wipe it clean and start from scratch with a new CPU and board. Dont try to use the operating system thats already in ther on the new board.
CDRW save the 40 bucks, a brand new one will work just as good.
Keyboard and mouse I bet you can type on that sucker even after you rubbed the letters off.
** floppy drive ** if you want it…
** Monitor ** hope its big enuf for your games.
** Case and Power Supply ** didnt think you could use this hunh? the case will hold the same motherboard layout as the P4s or Athlons. The power supply should be rated at 300 to 350 watts and thats also cool on the new system. If not, get a new one.
Dump the old motherboard with the memeory chips. Better yet sell them. Its good for a few bucks.
Get a tweakable motherboard with an Athlon XP 2200+ or better. Get no less that 512MB of RAM rated for the motherboard and CPU that you chose. Get a kickass heatsink (dont forget the heatsink putty) and some extra fans and pay your local geek to put it together for you. Use the leftover money for games.
Avoid Intel Celeron processors. They’ll be unusable for gaming or other performance-sensitive applications. Athlon XP is the only way to go for your needs.
I’d change the videocard suggestion to either the ATI Radeon 9100 for about $60, or the ATI Radeon 9500 non-pro for about $130. A Radeon 9100 has decent performance, the 40% higher price for the Geforce4 really isn’t worth it, IMHO. The Radeon 9500 features full DirectX9 support, which the Geforce4s don’t, and is very fast. The nVidia Geforce FX 5200 also offers full DirectX9 support for only $75, but is slower than the Radeon 9100 or any Geforce4. It’s going to be difficult to play Doom3 on anything short of a Radeon 9500.
I would suggest that you not pay attention to stuff on Tom’s Hardware Guide, as the site tends to be biased and present inaccurate information. Futuremark, the makers of the 3DMark benchmarking program, have a good chart of the top videocards on their website. The 3DMark 2003 test makes use of DirectX9, which means that it can effectively represent the kind of performance you’ll see from Doom 3.