Video tutorial of parts for building a $350 dollar PC for playing games

[froggyboy604]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRIoHhesNqc


Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-A55M-DS2 FM1 AMD A55 (has VGA and DVI) for PC $50
For a media center: ASRock A55M-HVS FM1 AMD A55 (has HDMI)
CPU: AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano 3.0GHz Radeon 6550 $120

55 fps in Crysis @ 1680x1080 (no filters)
Civ 5 1680x1050 30 fps
StarCraft II 1680x1050 62 fps

Can crossfire with 6450, 6570, or 6670 - greatly improves performance
Ram: Kingston HyperX Blu 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $24
PSU: LEPA B550-SA 550W SLI/ Crossfire Ready 80 Plus Bronze Certified with single 12v Rail - $55
Case: GIGABYTE GZ-F5HEB $20
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST250DM000 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb - $70
CD/DVD: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - $17

Total: $356

Learn more at: http://teksyndicate.com/videos/kill-your-console-350-gaming-pc-june-2012

This seems like a pretty good starter gaming computer for 356 dollars, but I think you need to buy parts from Amazon.com, Newegg.com , Tigerdirct.com and other online stores if you want the same prices for the parts since retailers like BestBuy is expensive. I'm surprise for $356 for a PC, you can play Crysis at 55 fps at high resolution.

 

[Wolfjaw]

I like this build, but I would make two changes. Newegg always has cpu and motherboard bundles, so you'd probably be able to pick up a motherboard for cheap or free. I would also spend $40 and get a case with better airflow. When you're gaming, the tower will get hot, so more efficient air flow is a must, especially if you plan on adding a dedicated graphics card at some point.

One last thing. If you are able to save some money on the motherboard, go for 2x2GB, or 4x4GB RAM. I'm pretty sure that this CPU uses dual channel memory. What that means is that it will run more efficiently if it has two sticks of identical RAM in it.

Happy hunting!

 

[froggyboy604]

I heard those computer upgrade upgrade kits which come with a case, CPU, RAM, motherboard, and Power supply are also a good for people who already own a videocard, hard drive, DVD drives from a computer which you want to upgrade.

 

[tetutato]

Lol yea right. Crysis at high resolution. All settings are probably dumped down to low on that GPU. But yea, it's decent. And of course you buy from an online retailer, everyone who knows how to build computers know for fact that online retailers is the way to go.

 

[froggyboy604]

I agree the quality settings are probably dumb down to low to medium-high. But, the graphics are probably as good or better then current gen consoles like the 360, PS3, and Wii since they are all over 5 years old.

 

[tetutato]

I agree the quality settings are probably dumb down to low to medium-high. But, the graphics are probably as good or better then current gen consoles like the 360, PS3, and Wii since they are all over 5 years old.

But games are better optimized for them compared to PC so this PC will still struggle against them.

 

[froggyboy604]

I agree a lot of newer games will struggle on high settings. But, this PC can be set to higher screen resolutions then 1080P on less intensive games like Need for Speed Carbons, World of Warcraft, Star Craft 2, Half Life 2, Counter Strike: Source, MineCrafe , etc then console based games which video resolution is 720P for most games according to a post I read online at http://community.us.playstation.com/thread/4661173?start=0&tstart=0

Current consoles only have 256MB of system RAM and 256MB of Video card RAM, and the CPUs and GPUs on them are older, so games might not be able to achieve more detailed, and higher resolution games because of hardware limitation.

 

[tetutato]

I agree a lot of newer games will struggle on high settings. But, this PC can be set to higher screen resolutions then 1080P on less intensive games like Need for Speed Carbons, World of Warcraft, Star Craft 2, Half Life 2, Counter Strike: Source, MineCrafe , etc then console based games which video resolution is 720P for most games according to a post I read online at http://community.us....tart=0&tstart=0

Current consoles only have 256MB of system RAM and 256MB of Video card RAM, and the CPUs and GPUs on them are older, so games might not be able to achieve more detailed, and higher resolution games because of hardware limitation.

But still compared to PC like this, consoles win whether or not they have weaker hardware. And 720p or 1080p, many console games will still look better compared to PC games because of their optimization.