Budget Estimate

[Philosomanic]

I'm looking for a rough estimate (nearest $50-100) of how much it would cost to build a new computer for gaming.

I'm currently using an old budget laptop. It runs LOTRO just fine (25-30 FPS on low settings), but I started up SWTOR yesterday and got horrible results. On all minimum settings, I was getting 1-1.5 FPS. I'm willing to deal with minimum settings and a low framerate (I play RIFT at ~10 FPS), but that low is simply unplayable. Rather than attempt to upgrade my crappy lappy, I'd like to get a basic gaming desktop.

This computer will be primarily for gaming. I'd like to be able to play SWTOR on medium settings and get more than 20 FPS. Although I'll need a fast hard drive (obviously), a large one isn't important to me. My laptop will work just fine for everything else; this computer will be for gaming only.

So I'm not looking for anything extremely powerful, just enough to get the job done. I'm on a tight budget right now, so price is my biggest concern. However, the ability to upgrade is also important to me, because I'm going to be saving up and upgrading frequently. I already have a mouse, monitor, keyboard, and speakers that will work, so only look at the cost of the tower.

I'm not asking for a specific build, just a rough estimate of cost. About how much would I be paying for a computer like that if I assemble it myself? About how much would a prebuilt system cost?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Outlander_04]

You can build a very effective gaming computer for around $700 , not including monitor, keyboard speakers and operating system . So probably $1000 all inclusive

On an budget you can do it at about $550 + the peripherals and OS

Its even possible to go cheaper , but you start having to compromise quality and the ability to upgrade

 

[geekapproved]

$500 is what the cost would be to start building your own. Not including Operating system.

If you want specifics, you would need to fill out the new build form in the new build section. We would need more information from you in order to give suggestions.

 

[Philosomanic]

Okay, thanks guys. That was all I was really looking for.

It appears that this will actually be something that's within budget for me. I'll be asking for a new build (with the form and everything) pretty soon.

This will be my first computer I've built, and I'm really looking forward to it. I just had no idea how much it was going to cost.