$500 gaming pc

[B3ng1]

I need help selecting components for my very first build. I would really appreciate it.

Will be playing APB, AOE online, league of leyends, and a couple valve products

Approximate purchase date: by the end of the month

budget range: $500

system usage from most tio least important: mmo gaming, light 3d modeling, photo editing, internet

parts not required: monitor, keyboard, mouse and maybe hdd. I have an 80gb hdd from my broken laptop with vista installed. Not sure which of those can be salvage

preferred website for parts: newegg, amazon

country: US

parts preferences: 2nd gen intel for cpu if the budget allows it

 

[sadams04]

MB - ASRock H67M (B3) - $80
CPU - i3-2100 - $125
MEM - Corsair XMS 4GB DDR3-1600 CL9 - $20 after MIR
GPU - Sahpire HD 6770 - $90 after MIR
HD - Seagate 500GB - $95
OPTICAL - 24x DVD-RW - $18
PSU - CORSAIR CX430 - $35 after MIR
CASE - Cooler Master Elite 430 - $40 after MIR
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium x64 - $100

$603 is about as close as you are going to get with the OS cost included. If you can find a used hard drive you can get back to $500. I would not reuse that 80GB from the laptop. Its performance will most likely be dismal...

 

[B3ng1]

Im unfamiliar with amd thats why I said intel but I guess ill have to go amd considering my budget.
Maybe with amd I might be able to get a quad-core and 8gb ram. Right?

I had a similar set up than what you said sadams but without gpu, sorry I can't post it i'm using my cel phone to post

 

[sadams04]

Yes. You can get into an AMD quad core for that price, but the i3-2100 would game better unless you overclock the AMD. 8GB of memory is overkill. Go with 4GB for now and add an additional 4GB if your system resources start to get low. You will probably notice you are good with 4GB...

Aim for the Intel build, but fall back on the AMD system. The Intel system would allow for more upgrades throughout its lifespan as well as be a good gaming system today.

 

[Pherule]

You can drop the processor down to a dual-core 2nd gen (Sandy Bridge) Pentium, which should be nearly on-par with the i3. That may allow you to go for 6850 graphics. Go heavier on the graphics than the CPU if you can.

 

[B3ng1]

Going heavier on gpu mmmm, wont that make the cpu try to reach gpus level? In other words I would be paying for a gpu that will perform as good as my cpu, so if I go low on cpu and high on gpu it would be a waste of a gpu cuz it would have low performance thanks to the low cpu. am I correct? Im Still learning here.

 

[goatsword]

Yeah if I were you I'd get the cheapest Intel CPU I could, even a sub $100 dual core 1155 based proc would be better than skimping on GPU. the 1155 will allow you to up to 17-2600k + in time.

 

[B3ng1]

What cpu would be recomended with what gpu

 

[Pezcore27]

Antec TWO HUNDRED S Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - 44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129074

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - 44.99 (before $10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

Intel Core i3-2100 Processor + LG Super-multi 22x DVD Burner Combo - 132.98 (before $15 promo code on i3-2100)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.822291

GIGABYTE GA-H61M-S2H LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - 69.99 (before $10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128524

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory - 22.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396

SAPPHIRE 100328L Radeon HD 6770 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - 99.99 (before $10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102940

Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - 84.99 (before $10 promo code)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - 99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

TOTAL = 545.91 (after all promo codes and MIR, shipping not included)

Closest I could get you to your budget while keeping an i3 and still having to buy an OS. You could drop down to a G850 for 87.99 and save $30 if you wanted to, but if you did that, take that $30 in savings and buy a 6850 instead.

 

[Pherule]

No, the CPU shouldn't bottleneck the graphics card because Sandy Bridge CPU's in general are overpowered for games. If you're going to be doing heavily multi-threaded tasks then look at the i3, otherwise go for the dual core SB Pentium (1155 socket)

Hyperthreading is almost completely useless anyway. I wouldn't choose the i3 personally. If you want more CPU power from the dual core Pentium then the next step up is the i5 2500K, which is a bit out of your budget range.

I did a CPU test on an i3 the other day, and with hyper-threading disabled to enabled, I saw at most a 5% performance increase.

Most games will be bottlenecked by the graphics card rather than how many CPU threads it can handle. You do get the odd one that will make use of all cores on a quad core, but the 6770 is definitely the bottleneck for 90% titles unless you're planning on running on a reduced resolution.

 

[Wisecracker]

Going heavier on gpu mmmm, wont that make the cpu try to reach gpus level? In other words I would be paying for a gpu that will perform as good as my cpu, so if I go low on cpu and high on gpu it would be a waste of a gpu cuz it would have low performance thanks to the low cpu. am I correct? Im Still learning here.

Not really. It's the video card! (repeat after me) It's the video card! If gaming is your thang focus on the best video card you can afford.

Corsiar CX600 AMD Athlon II X3 455 Rana: $142 before $10 rebate

ASRock 970 EXTREME3 AM3+ 970 & Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600: $122

That's a good start.

What is your screen resolution? For your video card in the $100-$120 range you should probably snag a new HD7750. It will only get better with a few driver updates. At $130-$140 an HD6850 (or a GTX460) can probably be found. This XFX HD68702GB is $164 after rebate with promo code EMCNHJC45.


edit -- CM 500w & X3 Rana: $115 before $10 rebate

 

[Pherule]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html

See this regarding CPUs.

 

[IH8U]

AMD budget:

Case:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233072
$20 GIGABYTE GZ-F3HEB Black SECC Steel / ABS ATX Mid Tower (cheap case, save a bit, and get something better later)
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194090
$45 ENERMAX NAXN ENP450AST 450W ATX12V Power Supply
MB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128458
$77 GIGABYTE GA-880GM-D2H (REV. 3.1) AM3+ AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103911
$80 AMD Athlon X3 455 Rana 3.3GHz
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822144514
$60 Maxtor MaXLine Pro 500 7H500F0 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5
DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151244
$17 SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner 22X DVD+R
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144509
$18 GeIL Pristine 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (grab another later for 8GB)
GFX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161395
$90 HIS H675FS1G Radeon HD 6750 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1
OS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
$100 Windows 7 home 64bit

Total: $507 + S&H (not counting MIR, or combo/special)

 

[Pezcore27]

Here I did a build like this earlier and kept the i3-2100:

GIGABYTE GZ-F5HEB Black SECC Steel / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - 19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811233073

Antec VP-450 450W ATX 12V v2.3 Power Supply - 39.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045

Intel Core i3-2100 Desktop Processor + LG Supermulti 22x DVD Burner - 132.98 (15.00 off promo code on processor ends 2/20)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.822291

ASRock H61M-VS LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - 54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157241

G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory - 22.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231396

SAPPHIRE 100328L Radeon HD 6770 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - 99.99 (before $10 MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102940

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - 89.99 (10.00 off promo code ends 2/20)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit - 68.99
http://www.softwaresupplygroup.com/microsoft-windows-7-home-premium-64-bit-oem-branded.html

TOTAL = 504.92 (after 25.00 in promo codes, shipping and MIR not included)

 

[B3ng1]

I gonna go with the cheap i3 build for now. Just have more Q. Is it good to swap mobo or not recomended?

You guys have benn of great help... THANKS

 

[Pezcore27]

If you are going to swap boards use the gigabyte board I posted earlier for a budget board.