Building a $1500 gaming PC

by Nathan Taylor on May 23, 2008

Tags: PC | parts | gaming | components

34 Comments

Optical drive
A low-cost LiteOn or Pioneer DVD burner will do the trick. They can typically be picked up for around $30. Look for a SATA device for simpler installation (also get one with a face plate that matches the colour of your case).

Winner: Pioneer DVR-215, $30-$50.

Hard disk
Buy as big as your budget can stand. Make sure it’s SATA II (a.k.a. SATA300) and at least 7200rpm. If we stuck to our $100 budget, you could easily get a 250Gb hard disk. The real sweet spot for drives at the moment is 500Gb, though, and if you’re willing to spend a little over $100 (or do some serious shopping), you can get 500Gb drives that don’t cost much more than that. In fact, we’ve seen a Western Digital 5000AAKS drive for even less than $100. (http://www.shoppingsquare.com.au/p_1007_WESTERN_DIGITAL_5000AAKS_500_GB_SATAII_16MB_HDD)

Winner: 500Gb Western Digital 5000AAKS, $100-$150

Graphics card
For a gaming system this is a key component, probably the key component, more important than even the main processor. You should get the best card your budget can stand. The best cards you can get without spending insane amounts of money are probably cards based on either the GeForce 8800GT or the GeForce 9600GT -- the former is typically about $50 more expensive than the latter, but is a (rather counter-intuitively) perhaps 10-20% faster in typical games.

Winner: A 9600GT-based card with 512Mb of memory, $200-$250; or an 8800GT-based card with 512Mb, $250-$300.

SLI
When we initially set out to spec this system, we started out considering an SLI system with two graphics cards. Then we checked out the benchmark scores, the prices for motherboards with two PCIe 16x slots and the cost of getting two graphics cards and realised there would have to be too many other sacrifices made, and you’d probably be better off buying a single $300 graphics card than two $150 graphics cards in any case.

OS
This is a tricky one. If you prefer XP, you can still pick it up if you're quick, before the June 30 cutoff. There’s no way you’ll get a retail copy of Vista Home Premium for $150, but system builders pay a lot less for Vista than we pay at retail, and if you get the vendor to assemble your PC for you, they will probably put an OEM copy of the OS on the system for you for a small price. They may even sell you an OEM copy of Vista Home Basic for $100-$150 or Home Premium for $120-$180 directly.

Winner: Windows Vista Home Premium (OEM), $120-$180 (and often less if the supplier is pre-installing it on a complete system).

Input devices
A mouse and keyboard are most affordable when purchased together. We’d recommend Logitech or Microsoft devices, which tend to be the best quality. You can get quite fancy with keyboards and mice, with glowing or foldable devices, but since we’re on a budget, we’d recommend:

Winner: Microsoft Wired Desktop 500 Keyboard and Mouse, $25-$60.

Headphones
Headphones beat speakers on most metrics: they often produce a better sound experience; they’re typically cheaper; you can turn up the volume without annoying the neighbours and waking the children; and they usually offer a better sense of positional audio for gaming. They can also come with mics attached, which is handy for Skype as well as multiplayer gaming. Much as with cases, the sky tends to be the limit with headphones. We’re fond of the Sennheiser products, but the ones that are worth having tend to cost more than $100. In the $50-$100 range, Genius have some decent products (though avoid the headphones with bass vibration) as do SteelSeries. Logitech’s Premium Stereo Headset is a good device at the cheaper end of the scale.

Winner: SteelSeries SteelSound 4H, $80-$90

Price Comparison
PCA's own price comparison service will let you search for prices from different online sources in one location. While we’d get all your components from one vendor (and get them to assemble it) it’s a good way to find out which vendors have the best bargains going right now.
Other price shopping sites include Shopbot, and OzBargain, a user-rating site for specific bargains and sales.

Beg to differ? Give your opinions on the best $1500 gaming PC by posting below.

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Comments: 34

kevin_watters May 24, 2008 8:19 PM	Or you could just buy an Xbox360 for $388 and it will kick that PCs butt 10 times over for frame-rate in Crysis and all other games. Comment made about the PC Authority article: Building a $1500 gaming PC? So you want to make yourself a new gaming rig, one that’s capable of playing Crysis at more than two frames per second, but won’t blow the budget? What do you think? Join the discussion.
kevin_watters May 24, 2008 8:24 PM	Oh... forgot.... and with the $1000 you saved... you can buy a new 42" plasma HD tv to go with it.
yasbad Jun 2, 2008 3:12 PM	and how are you gonna surf the net, IM, email, stream internet radio/youtube, p2p etc, not to mention the wider variety of games available on PC.
piers Jun 7, 2008 4:01 PM	I actually just got a computer for just over 1500 without extras though: MB - G-B DS3R CPU - Q6600 Quad Ram - 2 x 2GB kingston GPU - 8800GT HD - 2 x 640 WD Case - Antec P182 PSU - HX-520 Mon - LG 22 Random DVD The PSU and case I spend more on for quietness sake. All together $1550.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jun 7, 2008 5:00 PM	I just did a build for $1500: CPU: E8400 - $187 RAM: 4GB 800MHz RAM - $132 GPU: 8800GT - $231 Mobo: EVGA 750i FTW - $253 PSU: Corsair HX-620 - $149 Case: CoolerMaster COSMOS S RC-1100 (no PSU) - $297 Optical Drive: Pioneer DVR-215D - $39 HDD: W.D. SATA 640GB - $105 OS: Vista Home Premium 64-bit OEM - $132 Total: $1525 The guy didn't want peripherals, but it's easy to change it around to cater for them. Edited by .:Cyb3rGlitch:.: 7/6/2008 05:01:47 PM
Lupetto Jul 2, 2008 5:58 PM	Seeing that I work for an IT distributor I’m always setting up gaming rigs for customer’s clients for under $1500. It’s that easy, though with today’s computer technology advancing as fast as it is, you could almost treat nearly all the components as consumables. They get outdated that fast. Also my computer cost me under the $1500 AMD 6000 series Thermaltake MATRIX case M2N SLI DELUXE Mother board Kingston 667 4GB ram 600W PSU View sonic monitor G15 Keyboard & G5 Mouse Gigabyte 9600GT And I bought these before I was working for a Distributor. So there’s no Reason why anyone should go out and fork more than $2000 On a gaming system that’s just going to get outdated in the next 6 months or as soon as the next power hungry game comes out. BUT HEY!!!! If you got the cash... don’t let me stop you chances are I’m the one who is going to get a phone call to get custom parts for a gaming rig “HORRAY FOR BONUS+COMMISIONS”
islip Jul 17, 2008 8:07 PM	This guide helped me make a good bang for buck machine to replace my old one. Since I'm keeping the I/O peripherals I set my budget at $1000. Heres the parts: cpu - AMD Phenom 9500 QuadCore 2.2Ghz - $210 case - CoolerMaster Elite 331 with no PSU - $52 psu - 620W "Corsair" HX-620 ATX - $136 motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA790X-DS4 AMD - $141 memory - 4x Genesis 1G 800mhz PC6400 - $96 optical drive - liteon DVDRW20X - $35 hard disk - Samsung 500Gb SATA Hard Disk HDD 500G - $95 graphics card - Palit Radeon 4850 - $212 All up I'll be slightly over budget including postage.
DaFiz Jul 18, 2008 5:36 PM	I myself can not see the point in spending more than $800 on a gaming PC, so without going into specific products here is my budget gaming PC breakdown. CPU - $70 Case - $60 (including PSU) Mainboard - $70 RAM - $100 DVDRW - $45 HDD - $100 Video - $355 that puts me at about $800, without peripherals and monitor.
Jim.Dude Jul 19, 2008 4:14 PM	Well, without a keyboard and monitor it's going to be hard to use... :-P Computer > XBOX... why? - Waaaay more games. - Waaaay better games! - More uses, can an XBOX send e-mails and word process while burning a DVD? I didn't think so. - A more intuitive interface, keyboard and mouse ftw. And besides, everyone knows the Xbox is for dope smoking loners - if you HAVE to have a console, long live the WII!
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jul 19, 2008 4:18 PM	Jim.Dude wrote: Well, without a keyboard and monitor it's going to be hard to use... :-P Computer > XBOX... why? - Waaaay more games. - Waaaay better games! - More uses, can an XBOX send e-mails and word process while burning a DVD? I didn't think so. - A more intuitive interface, keyboard and mouse ftw. And besides, everyone knows the Xbox is for dope smoking loners - if you HAVE to have a console, long live the WII! I beg to differ. Consoles are better for people who want to play games on a small budget. Some people don't want to worry about performance issues and compatibility, and some might not want the games that Nintendo offer. Think without the blinkers.
Jim.Dude Jul 19, 2008 5:39 PM	That's like saying that a Toyota is the same as Ferrari, because some people like cheap cars. Yes, a $1500 computer is a whole lot more expensive than an XBOX, but it can do a whole lot more. So if you want a fair comparison, compare the XBOX with a similar priced console, such as the Wii. http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/wii-breaks-xbox-sales-record/2006/12/14/1165685799546.html Proof that the Wii console pwns the XBOX.
bbjai Jul 19, 2008 6:12 PM	Jim.Dude wrote: That's like saying that a Toyota is the same as Ferrari, because some people like cheap cars. Yes, a $1500 computer is a whole lot more expensive than an XBOX, but it can do a whole lot more. So if you want a fair comparison, compare the XBOX with a similar priced console, such as the Wii. http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/wii-breaks-xbox-sales-record/2006/12/14/1165685799546.html Proof that the Wii console pwns the XBOX. thats not a very smart statement in my opinion. Although my personal opinion is that the Xbox is not a better entertainment device for myself compared to say a PC, I wouldn't say the same for alot of other people. First of all your assuming that everyone can build a $1500 PC. Thats not true, any PC around the $1500 mark (with Monitor and KB/Mouse) won't actually be as good as the ones above. A standard Dell one for example at that price doesn't come up to being up to scratch with many of the latest games, hence cutting your heaps of games theory in half. Even if they could play the games it would be in lesser graphical quality where as most people would be playing high quality looking games on the XBox. Lets not mention that a $1500 Box wouldn't be able to play on a large HDMI equipped TV unless you built it specifically. Which I'm sure 80% of the population can't. Second of all, its more expensive and its not really like a console but if the stated purpose of the purchase is playing games I think the XBox is a much more cash efficient buy. It can still stream and stuff as well through its media centre streaming abilities. Sure it won't do half of what a PC will do but then you won't have to set it up either. The Xbox, Wii and PS3. Everyone buys those not everyone buys a PC for games. I think if you say just plain having a PC for games the consoles will win everytime. Just less hassle.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jul 19, 2008 6:34 PM	Jim.Dude wrote: That's like saying that a Toyota is the same as Ferrari, because some people like cheap cars. Yes, a $1500 computer is a whole lot more expensive than an XBOX, but it can do a whole lot more. So if you want a fair comparison, compare the XBOX with a similar priced console, such as the Wii. http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/wii-breaks-xbox-sales-record/2006/12/14/1165685799546.html Proof that the Wii console pwns the XBOX. It's orange and apples. They're different markets.
Jim.Dude Jul 19, 2008 10:11 PM	I'm not assuming anything, the name of the thread was literally $1500 PC and you can get a very good machine for that price. Just because DELL doesn't make one doesn't mean they don't exist! http://www.zipcomputers.com.au/store/view_product.php?product=SYS-INTEL-PERF The PC in the link is only $1300, as an example and it comes ready to go - no 'setting up' required. Realistically though it's a facetious argument; you buy an XBOX to play games but you buy a PC for numerous other reasons. I mean, you could buy a $1500 workstation that wouldn't do the first dent in a game. No, really the question is what's the best gaming platform...and according to the figures on sales, that is a Nintendo Wii. :-) Edited by Jim.Dude: 19/7/2008 10:11:58 PM
Jim.Dude Jul 19, 2008 10:15 PM	.:Cyb3rGlitch:. wrote: Jim.Dude wrote: That's like saying that a Toyota is the same as Ferrari, because some people like cheap cars. Yes, a $1500 computer is a whole lot more expensive than an XBOX, but it can do a whole lot more. So if you want a fair comparison, compare the XBOX with a similar priced console, such as the Wii. http://www.smh.com.au/news/games/wii-breaks-xbox-sales-record/2006/12/14/1165685799546.html Proof that the Wii console pwns the XBOX. It's orange and apples. They're different markets. Well, since you don't have anything to back that claim up beyond your own words, the best I can offer is the following link: http://news.vgchartz.com/news.php?id=508 Which states that both the XBOX & WII DO share the same market and that the WII is in fact the market leader. So, it appears if you wanna play games, buy a wii. If you wanna play games, surf the net, burn DVD's and video conference, buy a PC.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jul 20, 2008 10:20 AM	I'm not arguing that the Wii isn't the market leader, I know it is. I'm just pointing out that the Xbox covers another segment of gamers such as high graphic FPS and RPG titles. Some people don't want the games that the Wii offers, and they don't want to pay over a grand for a PC. The console ensures compatibility with games, unlike a PC with can have issues and frame rate drops depending on the drivers and GPU used. In other words, the ~$350 Xbox is easier and cheaper to use than the PC. That being said, I use a PC for gaming because I know the limits of my system. Edited by .:Cyb3rGlitch:.: 20/7/2008 10:21:34 AM
Slatts Jul 20, 2008 12:30 PM	Horses for courses. my personal poison is flight sims. If you can land a F16 on carrier or take off in a 747 or fly an instrument approach with all the reality settings maxed out on a console with a couple of thumb sticks or a wavy wand, I'd like to see it.
Jim.Dude Jul 20, 2008 4:43 PM	With all that said, there's really only one more point to consider. PC - DX9 and DX10 compatible. XBOX - DX9 only. Nough said.
Slatts Jul 20, 2008 5:16 PM	Jim.Dude wrote: With all that said, there's really only one more point to consider. PC - DX9 and DX10 compatible. XBOX - DX9 only. Nough said. not quite Jim;) You're never going to see a DX10 game being made for the XBOX, So the argument is moot.
Jim.Dude Jul 21, 2008 3:21 PM	Slatts wrote: Jim.Dude wrote: With all that said, there's really only one more point to consider. PC - DX9 and DX10 compatible. XBOX - DX9 only. Nough said. not quite Jim;) You're never going to see a DX10 game being made for the XBOX, So the argument is moot. Exactly...my PS1 still gets awesome FPS, but that's because the detail of the game is rubbish. The XBOX will likely be the same as more and more DX10 games arrive on the scene. Whereas a PC will be unable to run them, the XBOX won't be able to and more than likely, we'll see the arrival of a new XBOX 360. Thus, if you want to play the latest games for longer, a PC is the only option.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jul 21, 2008 4:13 PM	Well not really, because you have to constantly upgrade the PC anyway, so the total price becomes quite large. PC is better for graphics, but not for price and ease of use. Thats always going to be the case.
Slatts Jul 21, 2008 7:04 PM	.:Cyb3rGlitch:. wrote: Well not really, because you have to constantly upgrade the PC anyway, so the total price becomes quite large. PC is better for graphics, but not for price and ease of use. Thats always going to be the case. Upgrading your PC is part of the fun!=d> can't do that with a console:cry: Games consoles are sold by the manufacturers at a loss. They plan on making their money by selling games. The more consoles out there the more games they'll move. That said, the price point, if I'm not mistaken, would be set such that the people who can afford it would be the people who'd have the disposable income to buy the latest games. Bit of a balancing act;)
Jim.Dude Jul 21, 2008 7:19 PM	.:Cyb3rGlitch:. wrote: Well not really, because you have to constantly upgrade the PC anyway, so the total price becomes quite large. PC is better for graphics, but not for price and ease of use. Thats always going to be the case. Constantly upgrade? Since when and says who? I bought an XFX 7800GTX around about the same time the 360 arrived on the scene and it's still pumping away just fine in my case. And sure, I can't play DX10 games but at the moment I don't want to and since an XBOX can't play them anyways, it's a dud point. Moreover, if you do want to upgrade there are always hundreds of people willing to buy and sell 2nd hand parts on e-bay, making upgrading an easy and fun part of owning your PC. And what is this about PC's being hard to use? The kind of people who are going to buy an XBOX 360 (i.e. hardcore gamers) are the same kind of people who know how to use PC's, so it's a dead point there. As for price, we already established that the PC offers up more than enough options that the XBOX can't to wipe that point out. Like I said earlier, can an XBOX burn DVD's, browse the web, chat via MSN and play music all while downloading the latest movie on a torrent?? Ah...NO, I think not.
.:Cyb3rGlitch:. Jul 21, 2008 7:35 PM	But thats not what we're comparing. It's gaming ability vs gaming ability. Chances are console owners already have a PC for DVD burning etc. Xbox 360 = $350 - Easy to setup, easy to use, no need to worry about FPS or compatability PC = $1500+ - Harder to setup, requires tweaking to get decent FPS, may not be compatible depending on setup Yes, you can sell and upgrade, but if you kept the specs the same, the Xbox would win. Why? Because the developers optimise the game for that console and ensure it plays the best possible graphics at high FPS. On the other hand, the code for PC isn't as optimised due to the array of configurations possible. Even with your example, the 7800GTX can't do DX10, and would have cost a fortune back in its day. Not to mention that the Xbox would play modern games at a better level than it because of optimisation. Yes, you can make it look prettier on the PC, but it'll be a slideshow. Furthermore, if you upgrade and sell, you will still end up paying more than the selling price, so the cost goes up. For $350, you can go buy a basic PC for $500 with the $1150 change, and still be $650 ahead. I'm not against PCs, like I said before, I use mine for games too. But the argument about price vs performance will always go to a console, even if the graphics aren't as good. Just look at an Xbox 360 playing Gears of War, the graphics aren't anything short of amazing. And for $350, you're laughing.
Jim.Dude Jul 21, 2008 10:48 PM	Even if we we're to leave aside the many other uses a PC offers and just compare gaming ability, the XBOX still losses since it can't run DX10 games, which is what all the newest games are being written in. Lol, I remember when Crysis first appeared, they had to make a special version just to get it to run on the XBOX. So what's the point of that? You have an XBOX, but you gotta wait months before you can play any new game?? And sure, you'll get better FPS but so