NewEgg Scavenger Hunt - $350 Budget

Mugenmidget

Is it possible to build a decent PC with a budget of $350 that is able to play Half-Life 2 and Oblivion? I'm sure the person this computer is for will play more than just those games on it, but I figured those are the most high-end ones he'll probably delve into for a while.

Also, could I get some good links on parts? I'm not entirely too sure what meshes with what, or where the best buys are.

Kewop Decam

HL2, yea. Oblivion... I dunno.

I think my PC is like $350 if you built it now and it runs HL2 damn good.

MY Specs

AMD 2600+
512MB
Radeon 9700 Pro

Mugenmidget

Kewop Decam wrote:

HL2, yea. Oblivion... I dunno.

I think my PC is like $350 if you built it now and it runs HL2 damn good.

MY Specs

AMD 2600+
512MB
Radeon 9700 Pro

I might have to hook him up with Oldblivion for Oblivion, do you think that would help things?

robaal

If you stick to socket 939 and you have a spare HDD and optical drive you could get a decent system for ~$390 - Athlon 64 3200+, 1GB of DDR400 RAM, a 7600GT and a decent nforce4 Ultra motherboard. Enermax makes good PSUs, so I assume the one in their case isn't bad.

You could cut down the video card to a 7600GS/X1600Pro which would maybe save ~$30. Cutting the memory down to 512MB would save about $45 but I don't think that's such a good idea.

Lucky Cynic

Really, I would have to say Put another $150 on this badboy, get a the E6300 , a C2D Mobo and from there work, because then, if you have any spare monies, at least you can spend it on upgrading. I know, totally against the point, but thats what I feel. The 7600gt is a good graphics powerhouse to go with, might want to wait and get one on special since they can go for as low as $110-ish. I would just get a lean computer rig going. You know, keeping background processes down, runing windows classic theme, and maybe even a bit of overclocking.