Budget Gamer for $600 and under

[Ludichris1]

Intel and Nvidia are slightly more expensive, but are much better (Well, like I said, the ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 beats out NVidia, but it's also $500 for one card)

The Core 2 Duo is better than the AMD X2 so I've given you more processing power.
Also, I don't personally have a card reader, but if you think you need one, I think you can get one for around $30. Also, power suppressor? I think you mean Power Supply, and it comes with the case, 500W is more than you need for this setup.

I think it was a surge suppressor, which is power protection. Like if a lightning striked the house, then the computer wouldn't fry, and instead the "surge" of electricity would be "supressed" by the surge suppressor.

Oh and btw the card reader was just for in case. I got to admit, on Far Cry 2 the GTX+ GeForce card (everyone was talking about) is like 13 fps better, but... $55 more expensive? And you forgot speakers and operating system. Piracy IS as crime, and I don't plan to do that :angel:

 

[Ceroscuro]

Mine was like $400 total (not including OS or speakers, since I already had those)... it may be pretty lightweight, depending on what kind of gaming you're looking to do, but you could throw in a stronger PSU and gfx card and be just around/under $600.

 

[Venetia]

you're not going to find a very decent monitor for under 200 bucks unless you're willing to go small or happen to find a used CRT somewhere, so that's going to really eat into your budget.

remember that with gaming PCs, the LCD monitor (I'm assuming LCD as these are cheapest) you get will need to have a tiny refresh rate. under 5ms. typically monitors with refreshes of 2 or 3ms are more expensive. will it make a huge difference? Not giant, but in a lot of 3D games you'll notice "ghosting", which is an afterimage that follows a 3D rendered moving object. The more ms, the more "ghosting" you'll notice.

speakers, if you go on the cheap, you can find for like 15 bucks. they'll suck but they will produce sound!

also surge protectors, the regular ones, only cost like 10 bucks. but they don't do shit. i've had my comp destroyed from power surges before WITH high-end surge protectors. some of them come with warranties though so if your shit gets fried they might replace it (though your hardware'll come with warranties that're better anyway).

if you're concerned about power surges destroying your comp then you need a UPS or Uninterruptable Power Supply. They have battery charges inside them to detect surges as they happen, and divert power to the battery instead, giving you time enough to shut down safely.
These range usually from $50 to $500.

 

[DeM0nFiRe]

Oh, yeah forgot about OS because I already have extra OS licenses :D

Also, if you get a 5ms monitor, you should be fine. That's 200hz. I think you'd only start to get a problem at like 9 or 12 ms. I could be wrong, if you want to be safe, go with what Venetia says. And yeah, if you want to cut out a huge cost you can get a CRT. It's not as bad as it sounds, I use a CRT my only complaint is I can't have a 1280 x 1024 desktop with a 75Hz refresh rate (60hz gives me a huge headache)

As for speakers, you can get those on craigslist no problem.

If you are going to try to cut out some cost then you can go with AMD and ATI (Actually, ATI is owned by AMD now so I guess it's the same difference XD) But trust me, they won't last as long as the 9600 GTO and the Core 2 Duo. Intel procs are always good quality. I am still using a Hyper-Threaded P4 3.06Ghz, it's old but it is still plenty powerful enough to play today's games (Though tomorrow's games may cause it some trouble XD)

The other thing to note about ATI's cards is that they are all very power hungry and hot. I was going to get like a 4760 when I got my 9500 GT because I saw it was about the same cost for a seemingly better card, but then I noticed it was very hot, and my PSU would not have been able to support it.

 

[blakependragon]

i've been looking at rebuilding my computer (long story) so i have bookmarked in newegg what i'm getting. first, you need an intel cpu...

$110 cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819115206
$75 mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813157137
$33 ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6820148149 but if you're building a budget one, why go for 4gb? 2 should do it
$115 graphics: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130339
or for $20 more get 1gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130440 <---this one has a review that says "For game play; it plays Cyrsis on high 54fps, Assassin's Creed on full graphics, same for COD3, Left for Dead."
or $80 after rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130424
$55 HDD: your 320 for $50 or they have 500 for $55
$55 Case: you can get a cheapo for 45-55 w/ power supply
$90 OS: remember, vista needs more specs than xp. even so yours marked was $110 because of premium, the home is $90
Monitor: if you're going to upgrade in 2 years get a cheap non-lcd from craigslist
$20 CD/DVD Drive: the one you posted
Media Card Drive: don't need... if you do decide later you need it then get it then.
$20 Speakers: Keyboard & Mouse: get some cheap ones from walmart or something... if you get a combo they're $20
$6 Surge Protector: ok
$524 ($489 w/ cheaper graphics) ($544 w/ better video card) or add $33 for extra 2gb ram. so all that's left is the monitor. leaving... $25-100