building a $500 gaming pc (want to upgrade in the futre)

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sto_

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Sep 7, 2014
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was up toms hardware


my bother wants to build a pc but does not want to spend more than $500 on the hardware and i was wondering if i could get your help on building a decent pc to play @ 1080 p med to high settings. also something that will allow for upgrading in the future. like the cpu, ram and video card.so right now we are looking for a strong motherboard and powersupply. thanks for the help
 
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Epsilon_0EVP
I'd rather recommend a 1TB HDD over the SSD. The fast boot speed is nice, but 128GB will barely store like 4 AAA games. It's better to go with mass storage now, and we can add speed later.

I also don't like going with an i3 for gaming, but given that this looks to upgrade in the future, I think it ill be ok. Just keep in mind that the H97 motherboard will not let you overclock, which is not a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it.

Finally, the 4150 can be found for like $10 less or so. A minimal price change, but since it's also a minimal performance change and we plan to upgrade the CPU, we might as well save $10.
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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
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This will handle modern games at 1080p very well.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.97 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cougar Spike MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($33.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Windows 10 Preview
Total: $493.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-04 22:47 EST-0500
 
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Epsilon_0EVP

Epsilon_0EVP

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Jun 27, 2012
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I'd rather recommend a 1TB HDD over the SSD. The fast boot speed is nice, but 128GB will barely store like 4 AAA games. It's better to go with mass storage now, and we can add speed later.

I also don't like going with an i3 for gaming, but given that this looks to upgrade in the future, I think it ill be ok. Just keep in mind that the H97 motherboard will not let you overclock, which is not a big deal, but I thought I'd mention it.

Finally, the 4150 can be found for like $10 less or so. A minimal price change, but since it's also a minimal performance change and we plan to upgrade the CPU, we might as well save $10.
 
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sto_

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what cpu can i upgrade to later?

 
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Epsilon_0EVP

Epsilon_0EVP

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Jun 27, 2012
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Any Intel LGA1150 CPU. This includes the 4460 ($180), the 4690 ($210) and the 4790 ($320), and any variant of these. So you have quite a bit of an upgrade path now.

More importantly, the H97 motherboard will support the next generation of Intel CPU's. They probably won't have a massive performance difference, but it's nice to know you'll still be able to upgrade to the latest technology in a year or two.
 
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Epsilon_0EVP

Epsilon_0EVP

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I think either side is arguable. I'd still personally rather know I'll have the space, but I can see that having the extra speed off the bat would be beneficial. I think this is something we can leave up to sto_ to choose, though: Choosing the SSD will make the computer feel faster (specially when starting up), but it won't fit as many games as the HDD.
 
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damric

damric

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Sep 17, 2010
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There's lot's of ways to approach this, for sure. I was also considering dropping the GPU and raising up to an i5 and higher PSU, and just add GPU later.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: GeIL EVO POTENZA 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.98 @ OutletPC)
Case: Cougar MX300 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Directron)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Other: Windows 10 Preview ($0.00)
Total: $495.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-04 23:38 EST-0500
 
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Epsilon_0EVP

Epsilon_0EVP

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Jun 27, 2012
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I also considered how to fit the 4460 in there, but I would think they'd prefer to be able to game right away instead of having to wait more to get a GPU. Besides, since they seem to be ok with future upgrading, it's not that important to get them the most powerful CPU and GPU, as long as the mobo, PSU and the rest is up to spec.
 
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