$400 Gaming PC

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Recently updated Gaming PCs:

$1000 Gaming Build, $1250 Gaming Build, $1500 Gaming Build and the $2000 Gaming Build.

The Rosewill TU-155 II: The Case featured in this Build.

Upcoming Updates:

Starting today, I’ll be updating all the lower-end Gaming PCs, with the $400 Gaming Build today, the $500 tomorrow, along with the$600, $700 and $850 Gaming Builds next week.

Later this month, all of the Workstation Builds, as well as all of the HTPCs Builds, will be updated. I’m also planning a few updates to our popular Best PC Parts articles, where I point out which parts offers the best performance for a given price or the best value.

For more details on what is coming up in March, read the following article: Recap of February and the Schedule of March 2010.

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What is the secret of building a Gaming Computer for $400?

It’s quite simple: Be realistic. For $400, you won’t get that huge tower, with flashy neons, LEDs and water-cooling (Although that’s available as an upgrade ).

However, you can and will get very respectable performance, plenty enough to handle gaming at a 1440 x 900 or lower resolution with good graphic quality and still a very nice case. Mind you, gaming at a resolution of 1680 x 1050 is possible with most games if you’re ready to sacrifice some visual quality.

This version compared to the previous version of the $400 Gaming Build:

In order to keep costs in check with the $400 budget, the RAM was changed from a kit of G.Skill 2×2 GB DDR3 1600MHz to a kit of G.Skill 2×2 GB DDR3 1333MHz. Rest assured, 1333MHz is plenty fast enough and you won’t see see a difference unless you run benchmarks (Which will show only a few % difference at worst.)

The DVD Burner was changed from a LITE-ON 24x to a Samsung 24X model, which is $2 less expensive.

The Case and Power Supply were changed from a Cooler Master Elite 310 and Antec Neo Eco 400W to a Rosewill TU-155 II which comes with a very decent 500W power supply. The reason for this is that the Antec Neo Eco 400W power supply went up in price, to $50 and with the $40 Cooler Master Elite 310, it was bringing the cost for these two parts to $90. At $70, the Rosewill TU-155 II and its included 500W power supply will get the job done just as well while costing $20 less.

Other than that, the build now costs $410 instead of $421, a $11 reduction.

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:

• Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
• Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
• Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
• And many more…

You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

About Gaming PCs:

Gaming Computers are all about playing video games. Every year, new video games that pushes the boundaries of visual effects are released and demand more and more power from your computer to run. Being so powerful to handle cutting-edge video games, they are also very good all-around computers, capable of handling photo/video edition, web development, High Definition content playback and much more.

This is why our Gaming Builds Designs focus both on current performance for today’s games, as well as being ready to upgrade, to be ready to handle future games. For Gaming Builds Designs, a big portion of the budget goes to the Video Card and the Processor to ensure high performance in video games, as well as a solid power supply with a case with good cooling abilities, to ensure reliability.

Upgrades will usually focus on the processor and video card for enhanced performance, as well as on the power supply and cooling, to enhance overclocking capabilities. You may choose to upgrade the hard drive for more capacity, or change the case to get one that matches your personal preferences, such as look, cooling, size, etc.

Is this the right type of PC for me?

If you’re looking for a PC to play video games, you’re at the right place. If this is not what you’re looking for, check out our other Computer Systems instead.

$400 Gaming computer hardware parts recommendations, short version:

Explanation:

• In the left column, you have the component type, such as the Processor, Video Card, etc.
• In the middle column, you have the specific brand, model and a quick look at specifications for that part.
• In the right column, you’ll find the best price that I found after double-checking at various trustworthy online sellers such as Amazon.com, NewEgg.com, Buy.com and others.
• In Bold, you’ll find my recommendations for the parts that you should buy in order to have the best overall performance while fitting the overall budget.
• In Italic, you’ll find the best possible upgrades if you have money to spare. These are the parts that offer better features or more performance, while still being relatively affordable in regard to the overall budget.
• In simple terms, if you want a more powerful CPU or video card, pick it from the list of recommended upgrades that are in Italic.
• All upgrades are compatible with the rest of the system, as well as other upgrades, meaning that you can choose one or many upgrades without a problem.
• If upgrades just don’t cut it, visit the Gaming PCs page, where you’ll find our other gaming computer custom build designs.

Components	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
CPU/Processor	AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Dual-Core AM3 65W AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Dual-Core AM3 65W AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Dual-Core AM3 65W AMD Athlon II X3 425 Rana 2.7GHz Triple-Core AM3 95W AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz Triple-Core AM3 95W AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz Quad-Core AM3 95W	$59 $61 $65 $70 $75 $100
Motherboard	ASRock M3A770DE: Socket AM3, AMD 770 Chipset, ATX	$60
RAM	G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333	$94
Video Card	Radeon HD 4670 512MB DDR3 Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 DirectX 10.1 Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11 Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11	$63 $95 $140 $155
Hard Drive	Western Digital 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Western Digital 500GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Western Digital 640GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s	$39 $50 $65
Optical Drive	SAMSUNG SATA 24x DVD Burner	$25
Power Supply	Rosewill 500W Power Supply Included with the Case	Free
Case	Rosewill TU-155 II w/ 500W Power Supply	$70
Cooling	AMD CPU Stock Cooler included with CPU COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU Cooler ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound CORSAIR All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler Rosewill RFA-80-K 80mm Case Fan	Free $35 $8 $78 $2
Sound	8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard	Free
Network	Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps: Integrated on the motherboard	Free
Total price	Not Including OS, Shipping nor handling. Within -/+ 5% of Budget	$410

$400 Gaming Computer Hardware parts recommendations, detailed version:

Motherboard:

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX

A basic, yet reliable motherboard at a great price that supports everything in this system. Come with six USB ports, two of them being Hybrid E-SATA/USB ports, S/PDIF Out via Optical and Coaxial, two PS/2, Gigabit LAN and 8 Channels audio on the back.

Two PCI-Express 2.0 16X (Green at 16X, Orange at 4x), one PCI-Express 1X and three PCI slots, four SATA ports and the usual IDE port, etc.

If you wonder who is ASRock, they belong to ASUS. Simply put, they are their budget brand, offering the same reliability known from ASUS, but with lower prices.

CPU:

AMD Athlon II X2 240 Regor 2.8GHz Dual-Core AM3 65W

The other contenders in the same price range would have been the Intel E5300 (2.6GHz $70) or E5400 (2.7GHz $90).

I picked the AMD Athlon II X2 240 over them for the following reasons:

• The motherboard & CPU ($58) is less expensive with the AMD platform.
• The AMD Athlon II X2 240 outperforms the more expensive E5300 ($70) and even the much more expensive E5400 ($90) when it comes to gaming in five benchmarks out of six.
• Here are the said benchmarks comparing the E5300/E5400 and the X2 240/245 for you:

1. Half-Life 2
2. Crysis
3. FarCry 2
4. Unreal Tournament 3
5. H.A.W.X.
6. Left for Dead 4

• You get more value out of upgrading with AMD CPUs as you can see below.

Recommended upgrades:

1. AMD Athlon II X2 245 Regor 2.9GHz Dual-Core AM3 65W – For $2 ($61) more, you get the same CPU, but with an additional 100MHz.
2. AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz Dual-Core AM3 65W – For $6 ($65) more this time, same CPU again, but an additional 200MHz
3. AMD Athlon II X3 425 Rana 2.7GHz Triple-Core AM3 95W – For $11 ($70) more, you lose 100MHz, but gain a very valuable third core. Most games use two cores, which mean that the third core handle background programs, allowing the two first cores to focus on the game, thus increasing the performance compared to a dual-core processor.
4. AMD Athlon II X3 435 Rana 2.9GHz Triple-Core AM3 95W – For $16 ($75) more, you get an extra core and an extra 100Mhz.
5. AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus 2.8GHz Quad-Core AM3 95W For $41 ($100) more, you get 4 cores running at the same frequency as before.

Video Card:

Radeon HD 4670 512MB DDR3

For $63, you’ll not find a card that offers as much performance. The Radeon HD 4670 also happens to be one of the most powerful cards that does not a power connector, a testimonial to its lower power consumption.

It is capable of handling the vast majority of games at 1440 x 900 with high visual quality or at 1680 x 1050 if you’re ready to sacrifice some visual quality.

Finally, it is HDCP Ready and will handle Blu-Ray and other 1080p content playback, with audio over HDMI as well.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 DirectX 10.1 – The Radeon HD 4850 will allow you to play the vast majority of games at a resolution of 1680 x 1050 without having to lower visual quality or at least, not nearly as much as the Radeon HD 4670.
2. Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11 – The Radeon HD 5750 performs a tad slower than the Radeon 4850, but it offers DirectX 11 support for new games coming out this year and its 1GB memory buffer will help you for games such as GTA: 4
3. Radeon HD 5770 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 DirectX 11 This one offers performance on the level of the 4870 1gb, while consuming way less power at idle (15W!) and at load (108W) than any card offering this level of performance thanks to the 40nm process it’s based on. Support DirectX 11 as well.

RAM:

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1333

4GB of RAM is pretty much mandatory to handle the latest video games along with Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web broswer, music/video player, etc.

Considering the price of RAM these days and the ever-expending memory use of games and programs, 4GB of high-speed DDR3 memory is a no-brainer.

I went with G.Skill for their high reliability and compatibility with the majority of motherboards. I chose these particular sticks due to their low price.

In my opinion, there is little incentive to move to faster frequency RAM, as it brings only a small performance increase (According to Tom’s Hardware ) for a much higher price.

Hard Drive:

Western Digital Caviar Blue 3.5″ 160GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

A standard SATA hard drive, that offers 160GB of storage, plenty enough to handle your video/music collection and all your games.

I went with Western Digital because their hard drive offers the highest reliability in my experience, being less prone to failure on average. The Blue Caviar series drives come with a 3 year warranty.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Western Digital 500GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - ($50) Over three times the capacity for $11 more.
2. Western Digital 640GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s – ($65) Four times the capacity for $26 more.

Optical Drive:

SAMSUNG SATA 24x DVD Burner

This drive is able to read and burn CDs and DVDs. Silent, compatible with all major formats including DVD-RAM.

The motherboard includes two SATA cables (One will be used for the hard drive and one for this DVD Burner), so no need to worry about cables.

Also, seeing as DVD Burners are often go out of stock lately, here are a two alternatives that you can use to replace it. All are SATA based.

1. LITE-ON Black 24X SATA Black CD/DVD Writer
2. HP Black 24X SATA 24X CD/DVD Writer – Retail

Case:

Rosewill TU-155 II w/ 500W Power Supply

For $70, this case from Rosewill also comes with a very decent 500W power supply, making it an excellent choice for this $400 Gaming PC. It offers a relatively nice design (It all depends on your tastes right?), it’s solid (not flimsy metal usually found on cases at this price), a side window and includes a 80mm Blue LEDs case fan.

The case comes with one 80mm case fan on the back. That’s nothing spectacular, but for a $70 case that comes with a decent 500W power supply, I wouldn’t complain.

Power Supply:

Rosewill 500W Power Supply Included with the Case

This power supply is capable of delivering up to 500W, not that should rely on this information only as I often point in posts such as Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply, but more importantly 31A on the 12V line, the most important factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for a gaming computer.

Best of all, it is 80 PLUS certified, meaning that it’s always at least 80% efficient, resulting in less heat, more silence and a lower electricity bill for you.

Power Consumption:

According to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, it is estimated that this system will consume at load (peak usage):

• 212W with the recommended Athlon II X2 240 and the Radeon 4670.
• 238W with an Athlon II X3/X4 and a Radeon 5750.
• 256W with an Athlon II X3/X4 and a Radeon 5770.
• 309W with an Athlon II X3/X4 and a Radeon 4850. This is the worse case scenario.

This goes to prove how efficient these new Radeon 57xx cards are, especially compared to the older Radeon 4850. The power supply will have no problem handling any of the recommended upgrades, even in the worse case scenario. However, if you intend on overclocking, I cannot recommend enough that you upgrade the power supply.

Cooling: Stock cooling

To save on costs, I recommend using the cooler included with the CPU. While there are better coolers, the one that is included is good enough to handle the cpu under normal operation. The case includes cooling fans as well to help you keep your system cool.

However, there are two reasons why you may choose to upgrade your cooling system:

1. To keep your computer components cooler, which in return extend their lifespan and allows you to overclock to higher speed.
2. To keep your system silent, as the stock cooling can get noisy at times, especially during prolonged gaming sessions.

Alternatives:

1. Cpu Cooler: If you have any intention of overclocking, I cannot stress enough the importance of a good cooler.The COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU Cooler offers the best value regarding performance for the price.
2. Thermal Compound: Use the ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound either with the stock cooler or better, with the upgraded CPU cooler to lower your CPU temperatures further more. For $8, this is a wise investment.
3. Case cooling:You can add up to two additional 80 mm fans in the Rosewill TU-155 II, both in the front. At $2 a pop, you should consider adding at least one, if not two Rosewill RFA-80-K 80mm Case Fan in order to improve airflow.

Sound Card: 8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this sound card will handle many different sound setups, including headphones, a microphone and more. While integrated audio on a PC used to be absolutely horrible, it has gotten much better in the last few years, thus why I have no trouble recommending it.

Network: Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this network adapter will allow you to access your local network and Internet.

Recommended operating systems:

The operating system cost, if there’s one, is not included in the total cost. The two reason for this are:

1. The budget only considers hardware.
2. You may be able re-use a previous license, go with an open-source OS such as Linux or , if you’re so inclined and are aware of what you’re doing, use torrents.

If you decide that you need a need OS, here are some recommendations:

Windows 7

Despite Linux gaining more and more support, Windows still is the platform of choice for compatibility at the moment. Considering that you’ll have 4GB of RAM or more, along with a dedicated video that also has memory (512MB or 1GB), you’ll need a 64-bit version, as 32-bit is limited to 4GB of memory for the entire system, which is not enough now, nor in the future if you decide to upgrade.

Windows 7 is by far better than Windows Vista, looks better, more functional, less annoying, consumes less resources and brings DirectX 11 to the table.

Three Available Versions:

1. Windows 7 Home Premium: The basic edition, with all the looks, most of the functionality and DirectX 11.
2. Windows 7 Professional: If you want the virtual XP mode, you’ll need at least the Professional edition. Also required if you want to backup to a network, using the built-in backup mode in Windows.
3. Windows 7 Ultimate: To help protect data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker and to work and switch between 35 languages.

OEM vs Retail:

The OEM version allows you to only install it once on a computer. You cannot transfer the license to another computer in the future and you do not receive support from Microsoft. It’s the same type of license you get when you get Windows on a desktop or laptop that you buy from Dell, HP and such. It’s less expensive, but gives less flexibility. Ideal if you intend on keeping your computer for many years.

The Retail version is the full version, which allows you to transfer the license to another computer in the future and you can call Microsoft if you need any form of support. Ideal if you intend on upgrading/changing your computer down the road.

Other than that, you get the same features on both, only the license differs. The price between the two differs obviously.

OEM Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM – $105
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM – $140
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM – $175

Retail Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Retail – $184
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Retail – $275
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Retail – $292

Linux

A lot of people these days boots more than one OS. Linux is a wonderful choice: powerful, cool, and cheap. Take your pick of distributions and have fun! For Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, and Mandrake, try Distrowatch.com, Cheapbytes.com, LinuxQuestions.org or one of the many others.

While Linux does not offer the wide compatibility of Windows with video games, gaming on Linux is still possible, through projects such as Wine, Cedega and Crossover. For more on the topic of Linux Gaming, I invite you to read this excellent article from AnandTech: Linux Gaming: Are we there yet?

What about Word processing, Excel and other Windows-based programs that you need? Linux being an open platform, there are many free alternatives that will answer your needs. For Word/Excel and such, try OpenOffice.

Cost: Free

Conclusion

What do you think of this updated version of the $400 Gaming PC?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Building this system?

Do you need a guide on how to build a computer or do you have some questions?

Consult our: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?

Did you enjoy this build? Support me and Hardware Revolution

For each article, I spend many hours of research and many hours of writing/editing and I generously offer it to you and everyone else for free.

In the last few months, My current “workstation” from which I manage Hardware Revolution and write articles on, an HP tx1000 tablet laptop, has been plagued with problems for the last few months and could now fail at any time. Despite various attempts to fix it, the problem remains.

My solution is to build a new Workstation PC from scratch, based on a mix of the $500 and $1000 Workstation Builds.

Starting today and until the end of March, I’ll be raising funds toward building this new Workstation in order to replace my failing laptop and to help me keep improving Hardware Revolution for you.

My goal is to raise $1000, which will cover the build, a monitor, shipping and taxes.

To learn more details about this, read: Raising Funds for Hardware Revolution’s New Workstation PC

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Donate what you can (I suggest $5 to $20, but it’s up to you) via the ChipIn widget below (Which will track the donations), which will bring you to a secure Paypal page where you can donate.

Thank you very much for your support,

Mathieu

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