400-500$ best build gaming desktop

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ttran1490

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Oct 6, 2013
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Hi experts in this forum,

I'm thinking about building a gaming pc. I have to say that I'm considering this as my first building gaming desktop project. I got the money for much more costly system but you know, sometime it is cool to build a system at low cost and get the best out of it in term of performance/$. As the title said, i'm thinking between 400-500. My main focus are the GPU. My friend used to build a cheap pc for me with the ATI 5770 and to me, it was powerful enough (2-3 years ago). I gave that system to my cousin as his birthday gift last few months and so I need to build a new one now to use. Also, since I have not built one before, please let me know any cable, wires that i need to order because I'm not sure if they are included in the packages of other components. Another thing is that I would like the system to be upgradable (crossfire graphic) and I'm not much into OC at all. Games that I play are like Fifa, PES, diablo 3, starcraft 2, call of duty etc...and the ATI 5770 really done the job super well before

Thank you so much

 
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It only says "some", but that motherboard in particular supports ivy bridge CPUs. Also, the Intel Celeron is not in any way "weak". It performs equally core to core to an i7 with the same clockspeed. It will also perform as good as a 3.5ghz AMD processor at dual core games. Not all games utilize quad core yet. Maybe in 3 years they will. But when that time comes, you will be donating that PC to someone else already as you will be building a new one. And as for the bottleneck, on graphically intensive games like Crysis single player, you...
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filippi

filippi

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Oct 18, 2012
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can you go $ 550?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1LqPC
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1LqPC/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1LqPC/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-4300 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock 990FX Extreme3 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($48.96 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($153.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $552.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-06 04:21 EDT-0400)
 
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ttran1490

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Oct 6, 2013
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Thanks for your suggestion. I will keep this in mind but at the same time would like to get more input from other members to see if I can get cheaper. As I said, I'm able to build a system much more costly than this. Originally I thought about 400$ only but make it 400-500$ in case something is a bit more costly
 
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james77

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Aug 26, 2013
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Sorry if this build is overly cheap. But it will play all the latest games at high - max settings. Including Crysis 3 the most graphically intensive game for me.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Celeron G1610 2.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($42.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H61M-S1 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($41.97 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7790 1GB Video Card ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Sentey CS1-1410 PLUS ATX Mid Tower Case ($19.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $360.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-06 06:26 EDT-0400)

This is the best bang for the buck that you can get right now. And the good thing is, after 3 years, you can also donate this baby away then build another one at the same budget. For a $1000 you will be having 9 years of high - max settings of gaming.
 
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ttran1490

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Oct 6, 2013
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pcpartpicker said that there might be some compatibility issue with this built, can you help me check to make sure. Also, is intel celeron too weak of a CPU, will it bottleneck the graphic card?
 
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james77

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Aug 26, 2013
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It only says "some", but that motherboard in particular supports ivy bridge CPUs. Also, the Intel Celeron is not in any way "weak". It performs equally core to core to an i7 with the same clockspeed. It will also perform as good as a 3.5ghz AMD processor at dual core games. Not all games utilize quad core yet. Maybe in 3 years they will. But when that time comes, you will be donating that PC to someone else already as you will be building a new one. And as for the bottleneck, on graphically intensive games like Crysis single player, you will not be experiencing any bottleneck. But on games like, DotA 2, you might experience them, but no so much. You will still achieve 60+ FPS even if you are experiencing a bottleneck.

If you would wonder why I chose a decent GPU and an ultra cheap CPU is because of this. Imagine it like this:

For the same budget:

Assumption 1: Decent CPU + Cheap GPU
CPU can do 100 FPS
GPU can only do 30 FPS
You will only be getting 30 FPS on max settings and 100 FPS on lowest settings.

Assumption 2: Cheap CPU + Decent GPU
CPU can do 60 FPS
GPU can also do 60 FPS
You will be getting 60 FPS on max settings and still 60 FPS on lowest settings.

To conclude: Getting a cheap CPU and a decent GPU will give you the best bang out of your buck. Unless you will be doing something else aside from gaming thus needing a powerful CPU. ie: Rendering, Multitasking, and etc.
 
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Digestive97

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Sep 20, 2013
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This build will max out those games you play easily but don't expect it to run metro last light because even the high-end single gpu cards can't even handle that game too well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($72.91 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7790 1GB Video Card ($113.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 431 Plus (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $496.82
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-07 09:38 EDT-0400)
 
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exodasius

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Dec 25, 2012
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I might be a little late, but don't buy a gaming PC if you're only going to spend $550 at tops.
See, unless you need a computer for things besides gaming, you'd be better off with a console, since the new gens are as strong as a $630 pc, and meant exclusively for gaming.
 
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Digestive97

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Sep 20, 2013
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Funny joke, but seriously even though the makers of the new gens promised a console that would compete with nVidia and AMD on gaming graphics performance they still didn't manage to get close because every time they did nVidia and AMD just took a bigger step just increasing the gap. The 700 series and 7000 series high mid-range cards have already surpassed them.
 
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TBC1

TBC1

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Sep 2, 2013
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Consoles are pieces of shit, no offense...

 
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Digestive97

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Too bad the joysticks feels so comfortable playing on... ;( They should make xbox 360 joysticks for PC so you could plug them in to a USB port or something.

 
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TBC1

TBC1

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($72.91 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($130.66 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($35.94 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $515.44
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-07 16:34 EDT-0400)
 
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ttran1490

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Oct 6, 2013
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I know xbox or playstation are quite interesting but I always like to use computer to do games. Controller, for some reasons always hurt my hand when I play for long time

Honestly, there are too many options now to choose and they are all good. My question now is, is there any cables or wires that i need to order as well to use in the building process
 
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Digestive97

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Sep 20, 2013
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Nope! Everything is included! Though cabalemanagement might need some wires to tie up all those cables nicely so they don't get in the way for the airflow. Don't know if they get included. But my build was the best p/p one so far IMO, no hard feelings guys..
 
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Digestive97

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Sep 20, 2013
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Nope! Everything is included! Though cabalemanagement might need some wires to tie up all those cables nicely so they don't get in the way for the airflow. Don't know if they get included. But my build was the best p/p one so far IMO, no hard feelings guys..
 
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exodasius

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Dec 25, 2012
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This guy is right :) Cables are almost always included, and the mother board will contain one for each slot most of the time. But emphasis on cable management. Do it right the first time, and you'll be good for the next 5 years.
 
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exodasius

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Dec 25, 2012
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This guy is right :) Cables are almost always included, and the mother board will contain one for each slot most of the time. But emphasis on cable management. Do it right the first time, and you'll be good for the next 5 years.
 
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ttran1490

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Oct 6, 2013
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Can I use the 7850 2gb in this build, it cost only 20$ more
[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1M1es) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1M1es/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1M1es/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-fd6300wmhkbox) | $119.99 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-970ag43) | $59.99 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cml8gx3m2a1866c9b) | $64.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm003) | $59.98 @ Outlet PC
**Video Card** | [MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r78502gd5oc) | $130.66 @ Newegg
**Case** | [NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-s210001) | $35.94 @ Amazon
**Power Supply** | [Corsair CX 500W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx500m) | $35.99 @ Newegg
**Optical Drive** | [Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas124-04) | $14.98 @ Outlet PC
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $502.52
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-08 14:48 EDT-0400 |
 
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emj503

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Oct 7, 2013
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What a joke, consoles are for children and scrubs. anyways you can make your xbox360 and or ps3 controller work with your pc... google motionjoy and so many other software out there enable you to do it. i personally own and built a arcadecade stick my self with 8 button Japanese layout/joystick which is great for all my emulated games but really a mouse and key board out perform controllers by far especially on fps games just cannon't get that precise of movements with the joystick compared to the mouse. but like I said you can do it.
 
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