Windows 7: Building a gaming PC for $250

You can get a ps3 for $250 and XBOX 360 for $200. And they look pretty good for the most part. If you want a gaming video card that looks better then dedicated consoles you're gonna have to get $350+ video card with DX11 that's capable of rendering those extra bits of eye candy.

no you can max games with a 150$ video card at dece3nt resloutions like with a gtx 460 you dont need a $300 card......

He could max out games with around $400-500usd by using a decent quad core and 4gb of ram

A decent monitor would also help.
I have a GeForce GTS 450 cost ~$110. Although I'm not a gamer I believe it can handle most.
WEI Gaming Graphics: 7.2
Cinebench OpenGL : 53.

See the second part of this amazingly helpful post:

http://www.sevenforums.com/vip/20679...ml#post1736399

DX11 and Quad Core, baby!

It is a big question whether your Windows 7 on the HDD will work. If it is an OEM, it will not work. If you have a retail installation disc, you can reinstall it. Else you will have a driver problem.
I think that graphics card I linked is pretty decent. No need to spend more unless you want to go to the extremes.

This is a good build. The OP could get away with $350 since he alrerady has the HDD - but no optical drive.

See the second part of this amazingly helpful post:

http://www.sevenforums.com/vip/20679...ml#post1736399

DX11 and Quad Core, baby!

...That thread is in the VIP section ...

I'm thinking maybe an FM1 system from AMD:


Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-A75M-S2V FM1 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - $70 (after rebate)

Newegg.com - AMD A8-3870K Unlocked Llano 3.0GHz Socket FM1 100W Quad-Core Desktop APU with DirectX 11 Graphic AMD Radeon HD 6550D AD3870WNGXBOX- $145

Newegg.com - Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory with heatshield Model PSD38G1600KH - $36

Newegg.com - Antec Basiq BP500U 500W Continuous Power ATX12V Version 2.01 Active PFC Power Supply - $55

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GZ-KF03B Black SGCC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $17

Newegg.com - Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $125 (includes free MSI DVD Burner!)

That adds up to $448 and gives you a Quad Core CPU at 3.0GHz along with DirectX 11 Graphics, an adequate PSU and the cheapest doggone case I could find to hold it all. The CPU is the top-of-the-line FM1 processor, so you could save some money there if you wanted. You could also drop from 8GB RAM to 4GB, though you wouldn't save much. Wait a few months for Hard Drive prices to return to normal and that's probably another $50 off right there.

Well OP wanted better than consoles. $150 card is probably on par with consoles. That's what I'm basing it on.