Building a home computer or a gaming computer very cheap

by Emir Dervisevic
(Bosnia and Herzegovina)

I have built my first computer at the age of 15. Building your own computer from scratch is always a better idea than buying one of the computers built by the store. Before building a computer you have to know what is it going to be used for if you don't want to waste money. For example, if a computer is not going to be used for video games than spending a couple of hundred dollars on an expensive graphics card is a bad idea.
Here are some configurations of computers:

- For office and home use(from typing a document to watching a DVD) not meant for playing the newest video games:
Processor:
Intel Pentium E2160 Processor

RAM: 1GB DDR2 800MHz
HDD:
HITACHI Deskstar 7K160 160GB 3.5" SATA-300 Hard Drive

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce 8500GT
Motherboard:
Intel BLKDG31PR

DVD RW:
Pioneer 18X DVD/DVD Burner SATA Model DVR-212D

Monitor:
SAMSUNG 740N-BK 17" LCD Monitor

The mouse and keyboard is your choice, this computer is very cheap and does the job well, you won't be able to play the most demanding video games like Crysis, but you can do anything from watching a movie, editing pictures and video, to surfing the web and playing music on it.

- This one is made for games, but it's not high end, because I believe that people who buy high end throw their money away, this is also quite cheap and get the job done.
Motherboard:
ASUS P5K ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor:
Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 Processor

RAM: 2GB DDR2 667/800MHz
Graphics Card: HD3850 256MB
HDD: 160GB SATA2 (Hitachi, WD, Samsung, Seagate)
DVD RW (Benq, Nec, LG or Pioneer)
Monitor LCD 17" (LG, Acer, or Samsung)
Keyboard and mouse (Logitech, Microsoft)
You'll be able to do almost anything you imagine on this kind of computer and you don't need to spend a fortune on it, this is cheaper than $1000