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building a computer!

DarkSymphonyDarkSymphony Registered User regular
edited February 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
ok! so i'm building a computer for my brother. I've done it plenty of times so I know the ins and outs (being that it isn't very difficult anyways), but I've been out of the loop for a while. He's looking to have a decent setup with a decent vid card and a decent sound card. He wants to get a motherboard, ram, vid card, sound card, and CPU. His budget is trying to be around $400 and well, being that I haven't been in the loop for a bit I'd like to know what I should be looking for.

DarkSymphony on

Posts

  • RuckusRuckus Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    DarkSymphony wrote: »
    ok! so i'm building a computer for my brother. I've done it plenty of times so I know the ins and outs (being that it isn't very difficult anyways), but I've been out of the loop for a while. He's looking to have a decent setup with a decent vid card and a decent sound card. He wants to get a motherboard, ram, vid card, sound card, and CPU. His budget is trying to be around $400 and well, being that I haven't been in the loop for a bit I'd like to know what I should be looking for.

    How gameworthy does it need to be?

    Ruckus on
  • ravenhexravenhex Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Try looking in http://forums.penny-arcade.com/forumdisplay.php?f=56

    Moe has some good stuff and these guys will be happy to help you find what you need with the budget you have to work with.

    ravenhex on
  • matt has a problemmatt has a problem Points to 'off' Points to 'on'Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    Skip the sound card. Most motherboards have at least 5.1 onboard, and many come with 7.1 onboard. You're not going to get a Crysis machine out of $400, but if you can stick to about $100 for the processor, $100 for the motherboard, $40 for the ram and $160 for the video card, it will at least be respectable.

    matt has a problem on
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  • RuckusRuckus Registered User regular
    edited February 2009
    matthasaproblem wrote: »
    Skip the sound card. Most motherboards have at least 5.1 onboard, and many come with 7.1 onboard. You're not going to get a Crysis machine out of $400, but if you can stick to about $100 for the processor, $100 for the motherboard, $40 for the ram and $160 for the video card, it will at least be respectable.

    I'd recommend starting with an ASUS motherboard in the $90-$150 range, with onboard nVidia or ATI video and an available PCIe x16 slot. That way he can get started with playable graphics in most games, and later he can invest more money in a full blown video card if he wants to.

    Ruckus on
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Penny Arcade Forums› Help / Advice Forum