PC buying help please

My friend needs a new desktop computer. She only has $300 to spend.
She would like one that can play the new adventure games. Like Sherlock Holmes.
I've seen you folks recommend computers before. Please help if you can. She lives in Georgia in a small town. Something with at least 500 gig hard drive. A good video card,a 650 power supply. At least 4 gig ram. She says she is wireless right now. She doesn't need a monitor or keyboard or mouse. If these things could all be upgradable in the future,that would be excellent.With windows 7 64 bit.

Cathy

If she wants to play new games like Sherlock Holmes, it won't be possible with a computer for $300. I even checked some refurbs at a couple of places.

I put together a desktop at eCollegePC with the lowest of the low end components including a 430 watt power supply with a mid-range video card and a wireless adapter and it came to about $550. The only way she will get one with Windows 7 is to have one built or find a refurb.


If she wants to stick to older casual games, I might be able to scare something up. But anything else... not possible for only $300.

Thank You.

I agree,not possible.For example Cyberpower's lowest priced computer this week is ($475)has a low end Pentium cpu and doesn't include windows or shipping among other things.
( http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/CyberPower_B85_Configurator/ )

Yup, I looked at that one too, Geo. It has a better case, but only a 350 watt power supply and a low end video card. Just not gonna happen for $300.

A computer that will play new adventure games is going to cost in the vicinity of $600 at the low end.

I don't even think you can build your own rig for that amount these days - The last rig my son and I put together was just under $2000.

I recently put together a REALLY low end rig for an elderly guy for about $550. I told him a cheap laptop would work, but he needed a bigger screen than that because of his eyesight. Got him a cheap 20" widescreen and he is in heaven. All he does is email. The last good gaming rig I built about a year and a half ago was a little over $1500. $300 won't even get you a good video card these days!

For Adventure games you don't need a $300 video card. I am using a Gforce GT 240 cost less than a hundred and I've not reached its limit on any Adventure Game. The newest game I've tested is Dreamfall Chapters and the card handled it without any issues. I only played 35% of Chapters to see how it played and what it looked like. I'm not playing the game until they release the entire thing.

Thanks for all the answers. In 6 weeks she will have $1000 to spend.
Could someone put together a computer on one of those sites,and I'll show her and see what she thinks. Thank you. She doesn't need a monitior or keyboard or mouse. It has to have Wi-Fi.She also wants at least 6 or 7 usb 3.0 slots.
Thank you in advance.
Cathy

Cathy1 this is what I put together.. with the help of Drac...it is a big case.. but I love it! E college built it for me. ssd was set up by them for my cache... and it was under 1k....

Intel Gaming Series Configurator : Intel Core i7-4770 3.5Ghz 8MB Cache Quad-Core | Cooler Master Seidon 120V Liquid CPU Water Cooling System 120mm | GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-UD3H (Intel Z87, HDMI, 3xPCI-E, 6xSATA, 4xDDR3) | 8GB (4GBx2) PC3 10666 DDR3 1333Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty | 1TB Western Digital Black 7200RPM 64MB Cache SATA3 6Gbps | 64GB Sandisk SDSSDP-064G-G25 SATA3 SSD | 24X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD /-RW/CDRW w/LG Software | 2GB GeForce GTX 770 GDDR5 PCI-E Dual-DVI/HDMI (Major Brand) | Microsoft Windows 8.1 64bit | Corsair Black Carbide Series 500R (4 5.25, 6 3.5) 4 Fans, Audio/USB 3.0 | 750watt Corsair CMPSU-750TX V2 80 PLUS CERTIFIED | Onboard LAN included | Wireless B/G/N Dual Band PCI-Ex Adapter 600Mbps | ASUS Xonar DX 7.1 PCI-ex | Internal All in 1 Card Reader | Wires and Cables ran behind case and tied up for maximum airflow | 3 Year Parts and Labor Warranty

You're absolutely right, oldmariner, that a GT 240 will play games just fine - probably for quite a while yet. But it seems like the system requirements for new adventure games are getting higher and higher. And while it would probably play the new Grim Fandango Remastered, that game requires OpenGL 3.3 or higher. The GT 240 has OpenGL 3.2. It's a fine low end card for now, but for how long...

This is a start for $934 with free shipping.

Intel Core i5-4590 3.3Ghz 6MB Cache Quad-Core
Stock Intel LGA1150 Heatsink and Fan
ASUS Z97-K/CSM (Intel Z97, HDMI, DVI, 2xPCI-E, 6xSATA, 4xDDR3)
8GB (4GBx2) PC3 12800 DDR3 1600Mhz Memory Lifetime Warranty
1TB 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA3 6Gbps Western Digital Blue
24X LG SATA Dual Layer DVD /-RW/CDRW
2GB GeForce GTX 750 Ti GDDR5 PCI-E DVI/HDMI (Major Brand)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (Includes DVD + COA)
Cooler Master Black Elite 430 (3 5.25, 6 3.5) Fan, Audio/USB
600watt Corsair CX600 V2 80 PLUS CERTIFIED | Onboard 1Gbit LAN included
Wireless B/G/N PCI-Ex Adapter 300Mbps
Onboard HD 7.1 Sound included
Wires and Cables ran behind case and tied up for maximum airflow
3 Year Parts and Labor Warranty

Cyberpower has this one as a Valentine's Day special for $899 which I realize doesn't help her now, but is just an example of what she might find later on. This one also has the GTX 750 Ti video card and includes a keyboard and mouse. She would need to add a wireless adapter to it. I don't know if they allow to to switch operating systems on these - this one had Windows 8.1.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Valentines_Day_Special_I/

Need to add a dvd drive to that package Draclvr.
Just out of curiosity,I always take the default MB offered because I don't know much about them. Is there something important I should be looking for in a MB?

It's there, Geo... right under the hard drive.

The stock motherboards are fine, but this individual wants a lot of USB ports, so I grabbed a little bit better one.

Both optical drives are marked "none".

My bad, Geo! I thought you were looking at the one from eCollegePC. Yes, the Cyberpower one would need to be customized - I just linked to the page where they advertised it. So many people are going strictly to downloads that an optical drive is not always included and you have to add one.

Cathy1 may not be aware that there are USB hubs that expand usb access almost to infinity. I counted to infinity once and its a lot!

I use one myself just because I hate always having to fiddle around in the back with USB ports. I also will upgrade the motherboard to make sure there are the correct ports available for monitors if someone is using the integrated graphics. An upgraded board will usually have much better sound too. Since it's the base for everything, unless it's very low end build, I usually upgrade the motherboard - especially for gaming PCs. Just did two low end builds from eCollegePC and used the stock motherboard for both.

I might also mention to Cathy1 that her friend won't need that many USB 3.0 ports. The biggest advantage of USB 3.0 is data transfer rates, so - at least so far! - I haven't seen any mice or keyboards that use USB 3.0.

Drac,

Another thought about USB ports to consider when building a pc is the location. I have a couple of external hard drives. My pc sits on the floor under the desk (plenty of clearance)but there is no way the short usb cables provided by those drive makers will reach ports in the back of the pc if you try to set the doggone external drive on your desk. In fact some of those cables are so short they won't reach to ports on the back of your pc if you set the darn drive on top of the pc. I have one. You really need ports placed on the front of the pc.

As you say USB 3.0 is mostly used for data transfer so sticking one on the back is not too much of an issue. I've noticed a few of the lower end MBs at E-college do not offer 3.0 ports. The nice thing about E-College is they offer the ability to link to component sites where you can check out individual details. Not many sellers do that. For this rig I upgraded the MB specifically to ensure I had at least one 3.0 usb port. It's better to have one you don't use than lament the lack of one when an unexpected need arises. USB 2.0 hardware can use a usb 3.0 port so it won't go to waste if you never have need for a 3.0. Better safe than sorry I say.

Couldn't agree more. I don't have any USB 3.0 devices right now, but I probably will some day, I made sure I have some on this motherboard. I'm still using my old Antec 900 case from my first build 6 years ago and the USB ports on the front are USB 2.0. I originally got a hub several years ago for my exterior hard drive because of the silly short cable - I guess they think only laptop users use them.

They make inexpensive short usb extension cables with male/female ends.

How do you know if your usb's are 2 or 3

The new USB 3.0 ports are blue.