You must of put legos together at some point, if you can do that you can put your own computer together. Really is not that hard to do. Check this video out on
youtube and it will show its not that bad to do.
By building your own computer you are getting more bang for your buck compared to systems built by say Dell or HP. I wouldn't be recommending this otherwise. From the looking I have done thus far I have not found any worthwhile deals that will beat what I have put together for your build. However if we wait for a sale to come up on Dell Outlet website for refurbished desktops or scratch and dents that could also be an option. These do come with a 1 year warranty as well like new ones. Just a matter of waiting for it to come up.
In the mean time here is what I put together:
CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 - ~
$120 (combo)
Motherboard (Mobo): ASUS H81 - ~
$55 with coupon 1127BF166 (combo)
Video Card (GPU): AMD HD 7790 -
$89.99
Memory: GSkill 2x4GB DDR3 1600 -
$49.99
Hard Drive: WesternDigital 1TB -
$63.99 (Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 210 -
$35.97 (Amazon) (We can change the case to something you may like more as well)
Power Supply (PSU): Corsair 430W -
$44.99
Monitor: Hanns-G 21.5 inches 1920x1080 -
$89.99
DVD Drive - Samsung -
$14.99
OS: Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium -
$79.99 with coupon code 1127BF220 (Can do Windows 8.1 for another $20)
Total =
$635
Total after mail in rebates = $635 - $20 (PSU) - $20 GPU - $15 (Mobo) =
$580
This build will be far more capable of playing PS2 and any other games compared to laptops in your price range. I think over all the machine is fairly capable, but don't expect to be running max graphics in most games. The beauty of the desktop however is that you will be able to upgrade down the line. Improvements in the future you can do is put in a quad core. Chances are you can get one on the cheap used via ebay, so the cost will not be bad. You can also upgrade your video card easily enough once you are not getting the game experience you desire.
Let me know what you think.
I'll keep checking around though to see if something else pops up.