how much did it cost to build you gaming pc?

[The Virgo]

Im thinking of building one and i was wondering how much it cost you guys?

I had my old computer upgraded a bit very recently. Nothing spectacular; I just needed something to upgrade from my old 1.5GB of DDR RAM, 1.6GHz CPU and pitiful-by-today's-standards GeForce 6600 GT. Let's see ... All together, minus the case and Acer 1600x900 monitor, which I already had, it cost about $400-$500 American dollars. It has an MSI motherboard, a dual-core AMD CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and a GT 250 (Not to be confused with the GTX 250).

Yeah, it's not the greatest system in the world, but then again, it never was supposed to be. However, I cannot complain one bit about it! It can run most games fine (except for the more graphic intensive games like Crysis, Metro 2033 and the like) with excellent framerates at max, or almost max, settings at 1600x900! Now I can play games that are several years old that, to me, are new, like BioShock, Tropico 3, Penumbra and ARMA 2: Free!

However, hopefully before long, I plan on having "The Beast" made. Complete with a Hexacore Processor ... GeForce GTX 580 ... more RAM than nessecary ... and several TBs worth of storage! All stored inside a Cooler Master HAF X!

I saw one of those at the local CompUSA ... it's even more incredible in person! Hopefully, all of that will come about very soon ... Here's hoping!

TL;DR version - for a GeForce GT 250, a 250 Gig harddrive, MSI Motherboard, 4GB of DDR3 RAM and an dual-core AMD CPU, it cost between $400-$500 American Moolah.

-Side Note- Speaking of the GTX 580, that's what's on the above poster's avatar!

 

[jackpackage200]

thanks for comments everyone, i desperately need a new computer. Im currently using a dell inspiron 1440 that my dad bought when i started college a year ago. If you want to know how bad it is, google it

 

[ResonanceSD]

thanks for comments everyone, i desperately need a new computer. Im currently using a dell inspiron 1440 that my dad bought when i started college a year ago. If you want to know how bad it is, google it

http://leo.speakserver.com/karma/docs/build_logs/00339/DSCF0286.JPG

I just can't identify with you

 

[Sectan]

500 USD a few years ago. Not including OS, Monitor, Keyboard and mouse.

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

Just built a computer for about 900$

OCed 4.2 AMD fx8120 8core about 210$
asus m5a97 am3+ MoBo 99$
16gb ddr3 ram about 60$ with rebate
one asus gtx580 500$
750w Powersupply 60$

i got a new gpu liquid block too to add to my exsisting liquid kit but you dont need to go liquid unless your trying for braggy benchmarks.

and i stuffed it all in my 8 year old alienware case, which still looks badass.

 

[LastHour1]

I built my machine over the course of a few years, and while she still performs great, she's getting a little...behind the curve. I think in a few months, I'm gonna put in a new processor, and GPU, and that's basically all I need. Keep in mind, I can't tell you exactly what I paid for this, because I bought it all at separate times, and kept adding to it, but I found the closest thing possible to the parts I've purchased on Newegg, so I'll give you that.

AMD Phenom II X4 820 2.8GHz CPU
PowerColor AMD Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128 bit GPU
16GB DDR3 1333 Corsair RAM (4 x 4GB...RAM is cheap, no reason not to put in as much as possible)
BioStar AMD A770E3 Motherboard
ASUS ML228H LED display, 22 inches
AOC 2036S LCD display, 20 inches
Diablotek 600W power supply unit
And a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler. That thing kicks ass.
A bunch of old SATA HDDs from old computers I had lying around, a couple 160 GB and one 250GB drives.
An old, Old, OLD IDE DVD burner, because it still works like a champ.
And I put it all inside the Rosewill Challenger case.

All together, the stuff you can actually buy from Newegg costs about $725, in US dollars. However, if you can salvage the display, and don't need two, you can cut the cost down to about $500, with shipping. For an actual $750 build, you can do much, much better, but it won't include displays or anything. Keep everything that still works from your computer. No point in wasting money on keyboard/mouse/monitor/speakers/whatever that you don't need.

 

[Snotnarok]

1400 about from what I recall, this was also 4+ years ago and it runs everything nicely still. Only upgraded the video card recently to a EvGA 560Ti, runs anything I through at it, and I can do all my art and stuff. Hard to beat that.

Upgraded to the same card myself actually, and it is definitely a beast of a card. It sounds somewhat crazy to think about being impressed at the performance it gave me in Source engine games, but when I first started up TF2, CS:S and L4D2, set everything to maximum with 16x AA and AF to boot, and it was still running at an average of about 150 FPS it blew my socks off. My last card was damn good, but that wouldn't have brought it to it's knees.

Yeah, it's the only update I've made to my PC honestly, minus you know maybe the mouse.
I mean it was 1400 with 2 monitors included I think...

But yeah, spiffy card, runs games well, Mass Effect 2 ran much better than my 9800 GTX+.

 

[Slayer_2]

$500, runs even BF3 on high like a charm. It's 2 years old, too. One upgrade/repair for $300 a year ago.

 

[AugustFall]

$450, self built. Playing Skyrim on high, never had a problem playing a game.

 

[RandV80]

That's what I'm looking towards too. I've been told that its better to build one, but I don't really know which parts are the best. (Plus, the ones on neweggs are pretty cheap from $500-to 800 bucks.

You really should take the effort to build one yourself. Maybe not physically build it if it's your first time, you can let the store do that, but at least pick out all the individual components. Any good webstore like Newegg once you start picking out individual components will only show options that are compatible together.

The thing with building a computer is there's no real intelligence or skill required, it's all just hands on practical experience. 12 years ago I was proud of myself for knowing how to plug everything into the back, now I build them from scratch. So the important thing with picking out your own parts is while it may be too much to put it all together you'll at least learn what goes into it. From there over the next few years as the need comes up or extra cash becomes available you learn how to add a new hard drive, plug in some extra ram, swap out a video card, etc, slowly building a familiarity and understanding of how it all fits and works together.

The worst thing you can do is treat it like a black box, buying a pre-built machine and never knowing what goes on in side, so when it starts falling behind the only thing you know how to do is go back to the store and buy an completely new black box. The startup price on a desktop PC can be fairly pricey, but once you got something to start with you save tons of money by salvaging parts, to the point that PC upgrades are far cheaper than buying a new next gen console.

 

[Azhrarn-101]

Im thinking of building one and i was wondering how much it cost you guys?

Mine cost around ?1700 2 years ago, but that included a rather pricey SSD and a good audio card (SPDIF surround game sound doesn't work from onboard cards, so got an ASUS Xonar D2X instead), still runs everything like an absolute dream though.

Setup:
Core i5-750 (on a MSI P55-GD65 motherboard)
8GB Kingston HyperX DDR3
ATI HD5870
Intel X25-M SSD (including 3.5" disk case, as the case doesn't support 2.5" drives)
2x 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F1s
ASUS Xonar D2X
Corsair HX-750 modular PSU
Coolermaster Cosmos C-1000 case.

 

[CyberGenesis]

I bought $900 Dell pre-built 2 years ago with the only upgrade being my GT220 vid card, and it ran crysis like a champ. I have yet to cause my computer to crap itself. Life is good

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

Originally? $3,700. It was a souped up notebook back in the day with a 3.6ghz processor (single core this was like 8 years ago)NVIDIA 7900 GTX 256MB, and 4gb of ram.

It was a beast, but eventually I wasn't so on the go anymore. So I traded it in for modest desktop. 3.2 duo, BFG Nvidia 250 GTS 1gb OC, 4gb of ram

Its almost time to upgrade again...

 

[Silas13013]

Here is the thing OP, you can either go COMPLETELY INSANE and spend thousands of dollars on hardware you will never, ever use, you can go middle of the road and run every thing that exists at pretty much max settings, or you can go el cheapo and just run basic stuff.

The nice thing is about building your own PC is that you can upgrade whenever you want. I recently picked up a 27" ASUS LED screen a few months after building my PC, and now I run the dual monitor thing and I love it. But, you don't have to do that right off the bat. You can get your stuff together and upgrade piece by piece later.

However, word to the wise: do not skimp on ram or cooling. Ram is cheap and having your gear overheat is bad.

This^^

I build a new computer once every year or two. It's my hobby to build and sell them as well as game on them. Consequently, my costs are much higher than what a normal gaming PC would cost. I usually run about $1500 on the system, not including sound, monitor, OS, keyboard, mouse or anything like that.

 

[Creator002]

Between $600 and $700,[footnote]That is including the case, screen, speakers, mouse, keyboard. Everything needed.[/footnote] just built it a few months ago. Since my cousin handled all the purchasing and we shared the actual building, I don't really know much about the hardware inside. Here's what I do know:

Intel i7 2600 Quad-Core Processor.
16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 G-Skill Ripjaws RAM.
1 GB graphics card.
2TB HDD.

 

[Liquidpaperx]

Between $600 and $700,[footnote]That is including the case, screen, speakers, mouse, keyboard. Everything needed.[/footnote] just built it a few months ago. Since my cousin handled all the purchasing and we shared the actual building, I don't really know much about the hardware inside. Here's what I do know:

Intel i7 2600 Quad-Core Processor.
16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 G-Skill Ripjaws RAM.
1 GB graphics card.
2TB HDD.

How in the world did you just spend 600-700 on that? My system has similar specs, but mine cost about 1200, and I didn't have to buy hard drives or the PSU.

I mean, the 2600k ALONE costs 300+ dollars. Did you find this stuff on sale?

 

[ElPatron]

250? about three years ago. I can play Crysis on 1680x1050 with some stuff of medium and high with good framerate (ranging from 60-100) but I don't turn AA or AF on.

 

[Weslebear]

I spent £550 on mine, runs every game on ultra. Inspired to get it due to Skyrim and Guild Wars 2, I had to have a machine to do 'em justice.

If your in the UK then Scan.co.uk is an amazing site for parts, I HIGHLY recommend building it yourself if you know a friend who can help. Super cheap comparatively.