Under $500 gaming build help

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Evan Miles

Honorable
Dec 7, 2013
13
0
10,510
I'm going to be building my first desktop,and I have done a TON of research and asked other forums and they are suggesting I go with the AMD build because it is more bang for buck, which I understand, but I can get the Intel build (depending on the GPU) much cheaper and amd not sure what to do. Help! would be appreciated! Thanks guys
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Video card choices:
$129.99
EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P4-3656-KR GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 SLI Support Video Card

$169 ($119 sale)
XFX Core Edition FX-785A-ZNL4 Radeon HD 7850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

$189
MSI N660-2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

or

$179
MSI R9 270 GAMING 2G (V305) Radeon R9 270 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

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INTEL BUILD:
$49.99
Rosewill RANGER-M Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case (Model:RANGER-M)

$59.99
Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - OEM

$39.99
MSI H61M-P31/W8 LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS (Model:H61M-P31/W8)


$49.99
Thermaltake TR2 TR-500 500W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply

$124.99
Intel Core i3-3220 Ivy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 55W Dual-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637i33220 (Model:BX80637i33220)

$39.99
G.SKILL Value 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C11S-4GNT (Model:F3-1600C11S-4GNT)

$19.99
SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM
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AMD BUILD:
$39.99
NZXT Source 210 S210-002 White w/Black Front Trim “Aluminum Brush / Plastic” ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

$49.99
Thermaltake TR2 TR-500 500W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Suppl

$59.99
Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive - OEM


$19.99
SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM SATA Model SH-224DB/BEBE - OEM


$59.99
MSI FM2-A75MA-E35 FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

$47.99
CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9B

$79.99
AMD Athlon X4 750K Trinity 3.4GHz Socket FM2 100W Quad-Core Desktop Processor - Black Edition AD750KWOHJBOX
 
Solution
RedJaron
You've got an Ivy Bridge CPU on a Sandy Bridge based board. That could cause problems during the build. Those older boards usually take a BIOS update to support Ivy Bridge, but you generally need a CPU in the board just to POST it to update the BIOS. There is a chance that the board received the BIOS update when it was manufactured, but it's not a given.

Of the GPU chocies, I like the 7850 and 270 the best. Definitely get the 270 over the 660.

The 750K isn't bad for gaming, but it lacks an L3 and loses pretty bad to the i3 in most demanding things. Let's try this as a base:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i3-3240 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($118.12 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro...
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RedJaron

RedJaron

Splendid
Sep 20, 2011
4,225
0
23,160
You've got an Ivy Bridge CPU on a Sandy Bridge based board. That could cause problems during the build. Those older boards usually take a BIOS update to support Ivy Bridge, but you generally need a CPU in the board just to POST it to update the BIOS. There is a chance that the board received the BIOS update when it was manufactured, but it's not a given.

Of the GPU chocies, I like the 7850 and 270 the best. Definitely get the 270 over the 660.

The 750K isn't bad for gaming, but it lacks an L3 and loses pretty bad to the i3 in most demanding things. Let's try this as a base:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i3-3240 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($118.12 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $526.05

This is a little over budget, but it's a very solid gaming machine with room to grow. The PSU is enough to support even a high-end GPU and if you really want, you can upgrade to an i5-3000 in the future. The H77 board limits overclocking, but I really don't think that's a requirement. You could also alter this to an FX-6300 for around the same price. If you want an aftermarket cooler for overclocking, that'll be a little extra.
 
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