How I Built a Powerful and Upgradable Multimedia/Gaming PC for Under $580

I must preface the following article by noting that the prices are in Canadian funds, that a few of the key components purchased are pre-owned, and that an operating system is not included. The used gear that I obtained are fairly common deals that can be sourced locally through Craigslist or even eBay. I think that almost anyone in North America can build something similar for roughly $600.

Let us begin with the most crucial part of a system, the CPU and motherboard. I scored an excellent deal on a lightly used, 5-month-old AMD Phenom II 965 Black Edition C3 (quad-core 3.4GHz) and a Gigabyte GA-770TA-UD3 motherboard for $200, saving about $100 from new. Unbelievably, this is my first AMD desktop ever in 13 years of computing that began with the Intel Pentium II chip! When AMD was the performance king in the late ’90s and early 2000s, I was using PowerPC Macs.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand –next up are the critical power supply and ATX tower case. Gamers should get a PSU with 80% plus efficiency rating from dependable brands like Antec, Corsair, Seasonic, OCZ, and so forth. I picked up a 700-watt OCZ ModXstream Pro for $80 (with a $10 gift card, which I used towards the case) and an aggressive looking Azza Solano 1000 tower for $65 after $25 rebate. The Azza and the OCZ are both normally $100 each.

Then, I bought 2 used modules of 2Gb DDR3-1333 Kingston memory on Craigslist for $60 (had to bargain the seller down). The RAM is not the greatest for overclocking, but it should do the job. A new 1Tb Western Digital WD10EARS Caviar Green (pretty pedestrian drive that is serviceable for gaming and multimedia) cost me $66, and a new LG DVD-writer was $23. Lastly, I cajoled a Craigslist seller to relinquish his 512Mb Palit GeForce 9800GT for $60. Yes, this card is getting long in the tooth, but it can still run most games at medium to high settings up to 1080p resolution.

So the total for this very competent build is about $580 with taxes included and no shipping required, quite reasonable considering how overclockable the Phenom 965 is, and with AMD’s support for its fabled AM3 architecture, the rig is fully upgradable to 6-cores and beyond. A few of the parts necessitated footwork and Craigslist searching, but the new stuff were all on sale at NCIX. Of course, if you are lucky and patient, you might be able to nab a used complete system on Craigslist with similar specs for $600, but choosing the most appropriate components at the lowest prices is funner and easier.

By Christmas, I plan to add something like the GeForce GTX 460 and to crank the Phenom to 4GHz (or above) with a higher quality heatsink-fan. The OCZ power supply can handle just about any upgrade.