kallenin

Distinguished
Aug 10, 2002
139
0
18,680
Hi,

I liked the $500 gaming rig article, and thought it would be great if that could be updated once or twice a year, since the prices and avaiable hardware change so often. All that would be really needed are the list of parts and prices (and retailers, hopefully), some benchmarks, and some brief commentary.

-Kallenin
 

casemods

Distinguished
Sep 1, 2006
810
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Hi,

I liked the $500 gaming rig article, and thought it would be great if that could be updated once or twice a year, since the prices and avaiable hardware change so often. All that would be really needed are the list of parts and prices (and retailers, hopefully), some benchmarks, and some brief commentary.

-Kallenin

So you mean have a cheap gaming rig article more often?
 

Mugz

Splendid
Oct 27, 2006
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0
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Actually a good idea - how many people around here are stuck on tight budgets?

And I'm not talking about the kiddies with Mommy&Daddy's credit cards.
 

SebastianV

Distinguished
Feb 28, 2007
15
0
18,510
Hey guys, its me Sebastian over at the TG Labs. That is an great idea for an article and I will see if I can get that going.

Thanks,

Sebastian
 

JustPlainJef

Splendid
Feb 20, 2001
9,697
0
30,780
I'm planning a budget build next month once the GeForce 8600 cards come out. I don't think I'll be at $500, but I'm evaluating every piece to see what the benefit is, such as spending an extra $20 to go from a 160 Gb HDD to a 250 Gb HDD isn't really necessary for a gaming rig, but the $20 to go from a 40 Gb to a 160 Gb is worth it IMHO.

I think that w/o Vista, monitor, or case, I'll be about $600.

Also, it's all from one vendor (Newegg). While I don't think you guys need to endorse them, maybe pick one retailer so all the parts can be ordered at once and you can save on shipping and the hassles of ordering every piece of hardware from somewhere different.
 

RichPLS

Champion
Also would be nice if mid range and high end systems could be included in that article also.
It could be regularly updated fairly easily on a quarterly basis, taking feedback from users and experiences.
It would serve to spread knowledge and show cost advantages for different performance levels to use as a general guide to start from, instead of for some having to re-invent the wheel, or worse, enter Dell H3LL!!
 

Mugz

Splendid
Oct 27, 2006
7,127
0
25,790
I don't know precisely what you mean by 'courage' or 'maturity' but I'll try to keep my point as simple and monosyllabic as possible.

The kiddies with Mommy&Daddy's credit cards are the ones who often have carte blanche to spend what they will (if an upper limit is set, 9/10 times it's highly unrealistic) on what they will. I used to work in a PC shop as a technician and a lot of the kids who could not possibly afford a 7600 (for example) or an E6600 (e.g.) would anyway buy one - and a very harassed-looking adult hovering in the background would sign the slip with nothing more than a pained expression. Next thing we know, said 7600 or E6600 is brought back in, blown to oblivion through careless overclocking or something equally stupid and warranty-voiding. So they can't get it swapped out, oh well, let's just get mommy and/or daddy to sign another credit card slip - and this time the kid's thrown so much technical mumbo-jumbo at the parent that it's now the X6800 that's bought and paid for.

It is depressing, sad, and some of these poor bloody parents just don't know what to do anymore, the rate at which they're spending money on their brat's PC - and the kicker is that the mother/father cannot understand why their own PC just keeps on working... and working... and working... and 5 years later is still working... but the child's PC dies within 2 weeks each time. Now I - the technician - have to explain to a harassed and (often) irate parent why their brat's PC has died - again - and often I'm the one who bears the brunt of the assault because 'after all I was the one who fixed it the last time, do I work that badly, am I that useless, am I even qualified for this work' blah blah fucking blah. (That last is usually why I used to take all the certificates I possess to work with me - just to see the person's face when they see a master's and a bachelor's degree, four diplomas and God-alone-knows-how-many certificates - mostly in the field of engineering (industrial and electronic), with a few computer networking/hardware certificates thrown in for good measure.)

The point here is - if you work for something (even if it's mowing/raking the bloody lawn for your parents on a Saturday instead of sitting inside glued to the [whatever] or making a nuisance of yourself) you tend to take care of it, value it, and not ____ it up within 2 weeks. If it just gets given to you... familiar with the concept of 'easy come, easy go'? Quite.

The only reason I took that job, BTW, is due to work shortage at the time.

Your turn. 'Courage' and 'maturity' - WTF? Courage implies willingness to do brave/stupid things to prove a point, and maturity implies being old enough to think/talk/act intelligently and in an adult fashion, and/or being in control of one's emotion. By that token, I am reasonably mature, but seeing as I am very cautious and careful in nature, plus I won't do something dangerous without very good reason to be doing so, I'm not terribly courageous. I'll climb a mountain (and do every 2nd weekend on average) but I won't hunt a lion the way it should be done - Masai-style.

Context, boyo, context.
 

RichPLS

Champion
pwnt taken, but likewise there are a lot of enthusiasts who have spent years testing the limits of technology, of which some have made significant advances to the industry... and earn a decent income yet continue to buy new tech to test and torture! :twisted:
 

JustPlainJef

Splendid
Feb 20, 2001
9,697
0
30,780
...or worse, enter Dell H3LL!!
The only advantage to Dell Hell is their entry-level PC's. It's very difficult to build an entry level PC and compete with their prices, especially if you want to make some money in the deal, and especially if you have to buy an OS.

So how about a basic Dell system w/ the recommended upgrades (usually just upgrading RAM from 512 to 1Gb) and building a comperable system from scratch and comparing those prices / performance.
 

RichPLS

Champion
Now true, if someone is not willing or competent to build their own PC, and $700 is the limit consider a branding by DellH3ll, Inc. I sure as h3ll do not want to support their incompetent incessant support cries and whimpers...

But for myself and close family and friends (extremely exclusive), I would choose to build over Dell,... so I know what ya mean....
 

casemods

Distinguished
Sep 1, 2006
810
0
18,990
I don't know precisely what you mean by 'courage' or 'maturity' but I'll try to keep my point as simple and monosyllabic as possible.

The kiddies with Mommy&Daddy's credit cards are the ones who often have carte blanche to spend what they will (if an upper limit is set, 9/10 times it's highly unrealistic) on what they will. I used to work in a PC shop as a technician and a lot of the kids who could not possibly afford a 7600 (for example) or an E6600 (e.g.) would anyway buy one - and a very harassed-looking adult hovering in the background would sign the slip with nothing more than a pained expression. Next thing we know, said 7600 or E6600 is brought back in, blown to oblivion through careless overclocking or something equally stupid and warranty-voiding. So they can't get it swapped out, oh well, let's just get mommy and/or daddy to sign another credit card slip - and this time the kid's thrown so much technical mumbo-jumbo at the parent that it's now the X6800 that's bought and paid for.

It is depressing, sad, and some of these poor bloody parents just don't know what to do anymore, the rate at which they're spending money on their brat's PC - and the kicker is that the mother/father cannot understand why their own PC just keeps on working... and working... and working... and 5 years later is still working... but the child's PC dies within 2 weeks each time. Now I - the technician - have to explain to a harassed and (often) irate parent why their brat's PC has died - again - and often I'm the one who bears the brunt of the assault because 'after all I was the one who fixed it the last time, do I work that badly, am I that useless, am I even qualified for this work' blah blah fucking blah. (That last is usually why I used to take all the certificates I possess to work with me - just to see the person's face when they see a master's and a bachelor's degree, four diplomas and God-alone-knows-how-many certificates - mostly in the field of engineering (industrial and electronic), with a few computer networking/hardware certificates thrown in for good measure.)

The point here is - if you work for something (even if it's mowing/raking the bloody lawn for your parents on a Saturday instead of sitting inside glued to the [whatever] or making a nuisance of yourself) you tend to take care of it, value it, and not ____ it up within 2 weeks. If it just gets given to you... familiar with the concept of 'easy come, easy go'? Quite.

The only reason I took that job, BTW, is due to work shortage at the time.

Your turn. 'Courage' and 'maturity' - WTF? Courage implies willingness to do brave/stupid things to prove a point, and maturity implies being old enough to think/talk/act intelligently and in an adult fashion, and/or being in control of one's emotion. By that token, I am reasonably mature, but seeing as I am very cautious and careful in nature, plus I won't do something dangerous without very good reason to be doing so, I'm not terribly courageous. I'll climb a mountain (and do every 2nd weekend on average) but I won't hunt a lion the way it should be done - Masai-style.

Context, boyo, context.

Meh, I just thought you were one of the assholes that use forums to boost their ego.
 

JustPlainJef

Splendid
Feb 20, 2001
9,697
0
30,780
Dell Dimension E521
PROCESSOR AMD Sempron™ 3400+
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows Vista™ Home Basic
MONITOR No Monitor
MEMORY 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz- 2DIMMs
HARD DRIVE 80GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache™
OPTICAL DRIVE 48X CD-RW/ DVD Combo Drive
VIDEO CARD NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE Integrated Graphics GPU
SOUND Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
$419

NewEgg System
LITE-ON Combo Drive Black ATAPI/E-IDE Model SOHC-5236V-61 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827106029
$23.49

Rosewill R103A Black SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 350W Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16811147010
$25.99

Western Digital Caviar SE WD800JD 80GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822135106
$42.99

BIOSTAR NF61S Micro AM2 SE Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 uATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813138052
$48.99

Logitech 967973-0403 Black PS/2 Standard Deluxe 250 Desktop Mouse Included - OEM
Item #: N82E16823126017
$13.85

G.SKILL 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model F2-5300PHU1-1GBNT - Retail
Item #: N82E16820231106
$53.99

AMD Sempron 64 3400+ Manila 1.8GHz Socket AM2 Processor Model SDA3400CNBOX - Retail
Item #: N82E16819104313

$52.99

Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Basic for System Builders Single Pack CD - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116195
$94.99

Subtotal: $357.28

For customers for the $60, buy a Dell and deal with them for the first year.