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[SeriousConcentrate]

So, a friend of mine recently asked me if I wanted to play Borderlands 2 with him, and I had to decline for a few reasons, two of which are easily fixable (one is getting the game, the other is the subject of this thread ). Problem is, I do want to play with him when I can, so I'm thinking that it might be time to get something better. My computer is just a off-the-shelf Walmart cheap one, and has severe slowdown when playing most games, even with graphics on low/lowest if the option to lower graphical quality is available.

So that brings me to my question... assuming a budget of $600 or less, and keeping in mind I'll settle for cheap casing so long as it's sturdy and functional, what's the absolute cheapest I can get a PC that could run newer games with good FPS and decent graphics? I have absolutely zero knowledge of building my own computer, so I'd have to get one pre-made... or if there's a place out there that would make one from parts you pick out and ship it to you, that would be cool, though I have no idea what the best stuff to get would be. Also, do newer games run on Windows XP? If so, that might be a good option as well, since I preferred XP to 7.

EDIT: Changing topic title to reflect new question.

[Skyrunner]

XP support has been discontinued. You'll need to upgrade sooner or later.

What are your current computer specs?

[SeriousConcentrate]

Well, that sucks. Let's see. On the side of the tower it's...

Windows 7
AMD Athlon II X2 255 dual core processor
4GB DDR3 memory
1TB hard drive
DVD-Super Multi drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9200 graphics card

and that's about all I know about it. Like I said, fairly computer illiterate. ^^^; It's an Acer Aspire model of some sort if that helps.

[nenjin]

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

That build you're proposing is woefully inadequate in the memory and GPU departments. That 9200 won't get you anywhere, and 4 gigs while enough to start isn't enough to make most modern games run smoothly at moderate settings, because with Windows 7 running you've only got ~2 gigs of memory to play with.

The $666 line on that page is what you should be aiming for out of a prebuilt. Also, you have to have at least Win 7 I think, due to Direct X versioning of new games.

If you need more juice, bump the memory to 8 gigs, and go shopping for a better video card. Without knowing the model of the motherboard in that computer, it'll be hard to suggest on that's compatible. But in prebuilts, generally the motherboard is your biggest upgrade bottle neck, and manufacturers love using cheap/shitty motherboards.

[SeriousConcentrate]

That's not what I'm proposing, that's what I have. XD But thanks for the advice (having at least 8 gigs). I'll keep that in mind.

[nenjin]

If you can get us your mobo specs, we can probably get you to the point where you can upgrade to play things like BL2. It all depends on what generation of mobo is.

Reading through some stuff, your Nvidia 9200 seems like on-board video. No wonder everything plays like crap, you don't actually have a standalone GPU, it's integrated into the motherboard. You're going to want a stand-alone card, and that's all up to your motherboard for what kind it will take. If you don't have at least a PCI-Express 1.0 port on that board.....your options are slim to none.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Yeah, I'd probably be better off just starting from scratch than trying to upgrade this hunk of junk, honestly.

[nenjin]

Well like I said. If you want to buy a pre-built, compare the hardware inside it to that Logical Increments page. A "Great" computer in there gets you an mid to upper end gaming PC. If you're looking at a PC for $1000 dollars that has hardware off the $400 line, you know you're over paying.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Hmm. This is what I came up with off logicalincrements and pcpartpicker. Anything I could do better to cut costs? I'm not sure if I'm getting 'too much' or what.

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor  ($109.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($72.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($50.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card  ($205.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Azza CSAZ-206 ATX Mid Tower Case  ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer  ($13.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: Encore ENM232-6VIA 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card  ($19.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Encore ENLWI-N3 802.11b/g/n PCI Wi-Fi Adapter  ($10.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($2.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $767.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-01 22:30 EDT-0400

I'm also looking at some other sites for pre-built ones, since I'm not sure if I want to try building one myself or not. :I I mean I'm willing to give it a shot to save some money, but I'm not too confident in my abilities and YouTube guide videos.

What's your thoughts on this one?

[lordcooper]

Get 2x4GB instead of 1x8GB.

You can build a PC.  Everyone knows nothing until their first attempt.  Shit's easy.

[SeriousConcentrate]

I've been leery of trying to do such things since I attempted to fix my old PS2 and ended up breaking it completely. :X

[Skyrunner]

Building a computer is easy.

You plug everything into everything else* ** ***.

* Some things need to be plugged in carefully--mainly CPUs.

** Some components need screws.

*** Some components are fragile.


Get 4 x 2GB instead of 1 X 8GB, like lordcooper said.

You can opt for a Radeon R9 270x if you want to shave 50$ off the price, but the 270 is slightly less performant than the 280. I have the 270x 2GB, and it's good enough to run Skyrim with a ton of graphics mods and very high quality at 55 to 60 FPS, though it lacks memory to have fast loading screens >_>

I actually recommend an Intel CPU, because generally they are more supported than AMD's. Make sure to get a "k" version to be able to overclock them.

You don't need 750 W of power if your graphics card is a 280x.   I have a 500W PSU which works perfectly for a 270x. 280x needs 550W, and 290x a 600 W. If the 600W is cheaper than the 750W version, go for it.

[SeriousConcentrate]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I'm clumsy and not much of a gentle touch, plus work leaves my hands sore, so it's probably not a good idea to try to build one myself. Hmm. What sucks is all the decently good prebuilt ones are a little out of my current price range, and I don't get my next paycheck until Friday... after the labor day sales. >.<

[Skyrunner]

Well, go ahead and try. It's actually not hard at all. Most of the tiny wires have text on them, and you need to find the corresponding text on the motherboard. It's mostly in the manual, too. And if you search for CPUs on wikipedia, you'll see that their plugs are infixed so that it's harder to break them off. I think.

[nenjin]

That video card specifies a PCI-Express 3.0 slot. That board only has PCI-Express 2.0. I don't think that matters too much, but you might want to read up on the differences. I think it just runs the card at a lower clock speed or something.

Also note you're buying an OEM license of Windows 7, so you might get hassled trying to activate that copy if you start changing around a lot of hardware in the computer and re-install. Certainly the motherboard. They don't offer full licenses of Windows 7 that I'm aware of anymore.

Other than that, everything looks ok. What did that total out to?

On that prebuilt, no way a 350-Watt power supply is going to run all that. No idea on the liquid cooling it says it has either. I've never had someone build me a PC so I wouldn't know how all that might turn out.

Building a PC is like legos with voltage. There's tons of guides on how to do it well on the internet. There's also the heart-stopping terror when it turns out you do something wrong and it won't start or makes horrible beep codes. But you generally have to really be doing shit wrong to stand a chance of breaking something. The hardest part is just going through all the steps methodically, and some gotchas like having the front panel connectors to the motherboard jumpers on backwards, or something. Andi f you're really unlucky and get a bad part, for a first time computer builder that can be really disconcerting because you don't have all the information and experience to know what to look for. But bad part are generally rare in my experience.

I'd say build it yourself. I've built several over the years and gotten incompatible parts and such, and Newegg never batted an eye when I RMA'd it for the right parts.