"Games for the gamer in you"
Welcome to the budget PC section of Silver Dollar Gamers. My name is Sable Drakon and over the next few, or more, installments I’ll be offering up a series of machines targeted for various budgetary constraints. I’ll be explaining why I’ve chosen each part, along with potential upgrades if there’s a bit more funding to work with. Please note that none of these lists are going to include an OS, but are meant to be run under Windows 7. On average, depending on the license, a copy of Windows can add about $100-200. For this installment I’ve chosen to start at the literal rock-bottom.
The core of the build itself is centered around AMD’s A-Series APU. While they’re not my personal favorites by any stretch of the imagination, the hardware itself does have some uses and this is most certainly one of them.
We start things off with an AMD A8-5500 APU, primarily because it’s one of the cheapest quad-core CPUs on the market. While it lags behind it’s more expensive and powerful counterparts, this chip shouldn’t be dismissed so easily. When paired off with an Asus A55BM mainboard and 4GB of Corsair XMS 1600MHz RAM. I’ve started this build off at 4GB as it really is the bare-minimum these days. While the vast majority of games are still written for 32-bit systems, having 4 gigabytes at minimum will help the games you do play run smoother than they would on 2 or even 1. With this you start getting the basics of a machine that can at least play games. Even if the performance leaves a lot to be desired when trying to play at 1080p or above Medium detail for newer games. For the case, I’m choosing a Raidmax Cobra Z. A lot of this choice is because of the level of heat generated by a PC when playing intensive games. Airflow and cooling is paramount, so picking a case that’s able stand up to what’s needed should be the first thing on your mind. Power is also another thing to consider, since gaming PCs have much higher power requirements when compared to the average ‘big-box’ system. The 300 watt power supplies in those machines simply don’t have what it takes to drive the rest of the system. So for this build, we’re going up to a 500 watt Corsair CXM for a few reasons. One is to make sure that the system has sufficient power, second is to minimize the cost of the first upgrade the machine is going to need aside from RAM, and that’s a truly dedicated video card, the final reason is that this part is modular. This translates into less of a mess when building the computer and fewer useless cables that need to be tucked away and impede airflow. Lastly we come to the system drives. The DVD drive is literally the cheapest part of the build and it’s so common that no real consideration needs to be done. Just pick one with decent reviews and you’re good to go. Hard drives on the other hand have the potential to be hit and miss, depending on builder and series. This can even vary between revisions. Thankfully Western Digital has been one of the more consistent drive makers for desktops, leading to my selection of their 1TB Blue series (formerly Caviar Blue). It’s more than cavernous for most any game on the market and is zippy enough to do the job, even if it lacks the performance of the Black series or the reliability of the Red series drives.
And there you have it. A simple and effective gaming PC that’s ready to go for just over $400. While it’s not going to keep up the big boys, it is an effective starting point and some of the parts in this list can be retained when upgrading the machine later on. Remember that this list DOES NOT include an OS and adds a minimum of $100 to the price of this machine.
Components List:
CPU: AMD A8-5500
Mainboard: Asus A55BM-E
Case: RaidMax Cobra Z
HDD0: Western Digital Blue 1TB
DVD-RW: Asus DRW24F1ST
PSU: Corsair CXM 500W