I've been out of the loop for PC hardware and stuff, so someone please make me a cheap gaming pc with a preferred HDMI port, but not required, that can handle such games as Modern Warfare 2/L4D2/Dragon Age and all that other cool shit you guys play without so much of a sweat, but I need it cheap too.

Also, old computer part donations are accepted. I know you have some Jay, Edmund, & Penis. BD

Ballers like you aren't supposed to have the word cheap in your vocabulary. What's your budget J.Trow?

$500 give or take, preferably $400, but the cheaper the better...

Save your money for your poker nights.

But if I lose, then I'm out of $ for a desktop...

Yeah im trying to build one too. Mostly use it for light gaming and internet browsing...

Check your gmail JC. Can't post the build from my phone.

I just saw it. I'll make due without the mouse, keyboard, dvd burner, Windows 7, chasis and hdd for now. I'll get them later. I have a $150 in gift cards at BestBuy, which should I swap for a better processor or video card?

Imo get everything in one shot or otherwise wait. Those tjings you want to skip out on are all going to be needed at some point. And newer parts are always gonna come out impacting the price and value of parts you may or may not have been considering. Btw you can get win7 for $30 if you're a student off MS' website.

I can really only afford the essentials right now, cept for Windows 7. Also, I'm pretty sure that MS deal is for a Windows 7 upgrade disc, not the full copy.

Might as well wait then till you have the funds.

Techreport makes good builds (based on Newegg prices).
Here are their most recent recommenadtions:

http://techreport.com/articles.x/17787
and
http://techreport.com/articles.x/17571

The econobox is something near your needs.

Yeah not too different from what I suggested. He basically needs to up his budget to $600 no matter what and double it if he wants something that'll last substantially longer.

Oooh... helpful links

Are Intel or AMD processors better nowadays?

PC Guru Extraordinaire Skillzpay says Intel, as well as ATI with the video cards. From what I somewhere the only leg up nVidia has over ATI is the PhysX engine they use.

Intel's i7 range of processors are the best these days.
For a cheap PC AMD becomes more viable though.

AMD has recently retaken the lead in the graphics card race. The current top-end king is the Radeon HD 5970. It's about the size of an airplane hangar and costs more than you're willing the spend on the entire PC.

It's less of a race on the subject of hard disks. Western Digital isn't planning on giving up it's top position anytime soon.

I was about to mention the new AMD Graphics Card. Thing is a beast. I've always preferred Nvidia cards though.

I know I read somewhere that it's $600. So how long do you suspect a price drop in the 5970?

You're interested in it? A card like that isn't really fit for the kind of PC you want to build. You'd better have a 20+ inch screen (maybe even 2 or 3 of them) as well or the benefits are lost.

That being said, graphics cards age faster than fruit flies so by mid 2010 it will probably be well within your budget. :v

I'm not interested now, but I will be then...

It won't fall fast enough for you to afford it next year J. Sizzle. Nvidia's fermi- based cards will more than likely top ATI's next year. It's a tit for tat game, one always out does the other but only for a moment.