Cheapest capable gaming rig.

[Anesthetize]

So my little cousin in interested in PC gaming, and I was wondering what the cheapest possible gaming rig would be priced at. I'd be building it for him, juar need the parts priced up.

Games don't have to run at the highest settings, just run at a decent framerate. The games he has in mind is stuff like Call of Duty and Team Fortress 2 (source engine titles...) Stuff like that. It's mostly for multiplayer first person shooters.

The ability to play Battlefield 3 would be nice, even if on very low settings, but if that would bump the price up quite a bit, then leave it out. I understand the specs can only be estimated for this release though.

He has a monitor, keyboard and mouse etc. Just needs the cheapest possible gaming rig that's still fairly capable of decent framerates.

Cheers

 

[Eric's collar]

This would be a good option if you don't need an os.

 

[Bwaaa]

+1 to Eric's build.

 

[Reaper 392]

does he need an operating system?

no operating system
YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £99.98
1 x AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £71.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
1 x MSI GF615M-P33 GeForce 6150SE (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £32.99
1 x OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1333LV4GK) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £361.51 (includes shipping : £10.50).

if you want to save a bit more, then go for the triple core version of this processor. however, the quad core was only £11 more, so theres really no reason not to go with the quad

*edit*
heres the build with an operating system:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5830 Extreme 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **OcUK Exclusive** £99.98
1 x AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.00GHz (Socket AM3) - Retail £71.99
1 x Microsoft Windows 7 Bundle - Home Premium 64 Bit £68.40
1 x Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB SATA 6Gb/s 16MB Cache - OEM (WD5000AAKX) £32.99
1 x Cooler Master Elite 430 Windowed Case - Black (with 500w Elite Power PSU) £64.99
1 x MSI GF615M-P33 GeForce 6150SE (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard £32.99
1 x OCZ Platinum 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C7 1333MHz Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3P1333LV4GK) £29.99
1 x Sony Optiarc AD-5260S 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £15.98
Total : £430.81 (includes shipping : £11.25).

 

[djshauny1]

Erics build sounds about right

 

[Anesthetize]

Don't know about the OS, but I know where to get Win 7 at a fair price if he needs it.

Cheers guys, I'll let him have a look and see what he thinks

 

[honosuseri]

AMD is really the way forward if you want to build "on the cheap". I think erics spec is pretty good.

I would personally go for the radeon 5850. If you swap the mobo for the gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 you will save a tenner and put that towards the 5850.

I have mentioned this on other "budget" amd gaming builds. That 955BE can be made into a 965BE. Up the multiplier by 1 in the bios and hey presto you have a £15 more expensive processor for gratis Also you can OC the 5850 slightly to get it close to 5870 spec.

Good luck with the build, any probs come back to us

 

[Reaper 392]

AMD is really the way forward if you want to build "on the cheap". I think erics spec is pretty good.

I would personally go for the radeon 5850. If you swap the mobo for the gigabyte GA-M68MT-S2 you will save a tenner and put that towards the 5850.

I have mentioned this on other "budget" amd gaming builds. That 955BE can be made into a 965BE. Up the multiplier by 1 in the bios and hey presto you have a £15 more expensive processor for gratis Also you can OC the 5850 slightly to get it close to 5870 spec.

Good luck with the build, any probs come back to us

but will the OP need the extra processor power he is getting over my suggestion
he did say as cheap as possible (without being rubbish quality)

 

[honosuseri]

Sorry I still agree with Eric for the most part. That coolermaster PSU supplied with the case only has 1 PCI-E power connector......doesnt the 5830 need 2? I think it does and not sure it would come with a molex adapter.

The AM3 socket is at the end of it's life so it makes no sense to upgrade the cpu later better to get the best bang for buck solution now which is the 955BE.

He mentioned Battlefield 3 aswell so I figure it's best to spend that extra £20 on the cpu (my tip saved him £15 on the 965BE) and again on the GPU to give some "breathing room" for future titles. The L3 cache of the phenom II will help for gaming also which the athlon doesnt have.

I know he said cheap as poss fella, I'm suggesting the Black edition also for it's overclocking ability. It's multiplier is unlocked, which is how we manage the 965 trick and will help boost the rig once it starts to show it's age....well that's my opinion anyway

*edit* the OP can easily google for a benchmark comparison between the 5830 and 5850. I think it's worth the extra £20 myself, especially as it can be pushed closer to 5870 spec which will help power BF3!