The PC has long been ridiculed as a gaming console, with PC gaming critics readily quoting the high prices and complexity of the device to negative effect. Now ArsTechnica is reporting that Maximum PC has constructed a full gaming PC, which can handle Crysis, for just a little over 500 USD, which comes out to be slightly less than 25,000 rupees. And calculated after rebate, the total cost comes out to be only 479 USD (approx. Rs. 23,925). Maximum PC even lists the parts used and their prices as well as detailed instructions on how to build the system yourself.
In building this super saver gaming PC, they only consider parts for the CPU, factoring out the price of things like an operating system. And taking into account the tight budget, they were forced to refrain from choosing high-end premium parts. The parts that they used were the PowerColor AX4870 512MB Videocard which cost 175 USD (approx. Rs. 8,720), the Intel Pentium E5200 2.5GHz Wolfdale processor for 71 USD (approx. Rs. 3,540), the MSI P43 Neo3-F LGA 775 motherboard for a price of 90 USD (approx. Rs. 4,485), the Crucial 2GB DDR2 SDRAM 800 memory which was obtained for just 23 USD (approx. Rs. 1,145) and the Samsung SH-S223F 22X DVDR optical drive for a nominal fee of 25 USD (approx. Rs. 1,245). In addition, the Western Digital Caviar SE WD3200AAJS 320GB hard drive which was obtained for 50 USD (approx. Rs. 2,490) and the Rosewill TU-155 II 500 Black case and power supply for 75 USD (approx. Rs. 3,740) were also used.
About how the PC handled Crysis, the Maximum PC article says, “The big test, of course was Crysis, which is still the most GPU-intensive PC game. We ran our Crysis tests at three different resolutions: 1920×1200, 1680×1280, and 1280×1024; each one gave us a smooth picture and was void of any choppiness. At 1280×1024, the standard resolution for most 19″ monitors, Crysis ran at over 44 frames per second, an impressive number that’s more than playable. Even at 1900×1200, Crysis didn’t stutter and pushed out 36fps. Not bad at all!”
With the detailed instructions even you can build your gaming PC which comes at a very affordable price. Knowing exactly which parts you need does help in building such a PC. Plus, having a good idea what to expect from the PC, this seems like an interesting summer holiday project to keep you busy.