Maximum PC

Hi folks this is my first post here

I am currently using a pretty old computer atleast 4-5 years old. Here goes the configuration.

Motherboard: Intel DG33FB.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2.40 GHz
RAM:Transcend 2GB(1x2GB) DDR2 @800 MHz.
HDD: Seagate 500 GB + Seagate 250 GB @4200rpm
Graphic Card: ASUS EN 8400GS (512 MB)
Power Supply: Odyssey 450W
Monitor: Sync Master WS (Maximum display is 1400x900)
Optical Storage: 2x LG DVD/CD Combo Drive Super Multi

I am planning to reuse my HDD , Graphic card , Monitor , Power supply and Optical Storage. Next is the important part budget , I don't have much money to play around with so my budget is 200 - 300 USD .

I am not sure whether to go for Intel or AMD but anything that comes within that budget will help.

Also I need something that is decent enough to play games with decent quality.

Thanx in advance.

Welcome to MaxPC forum!

You really don't have a lot to work with here and your budget is going to hard to accomplish your goal, specially to play games. Where are you from? The PSU is indicative to India so I'm going to assume Europe or Asia? Do you need an OS? win7 is pretty much a necessity to play modern games now.

If you want to reuse the PSU, make sure the PSU main connector is a 20+4 pin. It should since its during the core 2 duo age, but you never know with such a cheapy psu. It may say 450w, but how do we know the voltage standard deviation is in acceptable limits or if it will provide a true 450w output (high efficiency; doubt it). Very little info on the psu.

Personally, I'd invest the money into a decent psu; clean power output is more important for system stability, specially if you want to stress test a modern cpu/gpu. Depending on where you can buy parts from, I'd stick to a decent, cheap but reputable PSU manufacturer in the 350-500w range. You can most typically find 500w in the $30 after rebate during sales, but a low powered 350w will be more than enough power for the really cheap/budget cpu's your money is allowed to buy.

You aren't going to afford a cpu from the most current gen, even the cheap $120 x4 or i3's would be too much. You'll probably have to stick with an amd X2 or Intel G series in the $75-100 price range, honestly I'd see if you can spring for the X4 or i3 series cpus since those are the best ultra budget cpus. Anything lower and you'd barely see an improvement over your current processor (depending on the exact model).

Add a cheap motherboard and you are talking about $40-80 depending on the features. Some cheap 4gb 1333 ram (2x2gb set) is probably around $30. The best budget card on the market is the GTX 460 1gb, its a little pricey for you at around $130, but you can find them for $100 after rebate. Add the psu around $30 and the best case scenario is going to cost you $275; and that's finding everything on sale.


Shit, I'd probably just advise you to just get the GPU, a decent PSU, and maybe 2 more gigs of ram; stick them in your C2D machine now and wait till you have more money for a proper processor upgrade. Your gpu will take a performance hit since the cpu won't keep up, but you probably wont see an improvement with a cheap $75 cpu to what you have now; unless you have some pos celeron c2d.

Otherwise, maybe find a really good deal on a brand new dell, hp or whatever shitbox for $300 that'll give you a better starting base system with an os; better than what you can find for the same price in parts.