Building a gaming PC for 500$ or less

ZaneSeven

Honorable
Jul 11, 2012
7
0
10,510
Approximate Purchase Date: (sometime this month or next month)

Budget Range: (>500) After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: (gaming specifically for guild wars 2 )

Parts Not Required:

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (e.g.: newegg.com, ncix.com -- to show us selection & pricing)

Country: ( USA)

Parts Preferences: by brand or type (e.g.: I would like to use an AMD CPU & Biostar mobo with a 24" LCD and full tower case)

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: (e.g.: 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1440x900, 1600x1200, 1680x1050, 1920x1080, 1920x1200)??

Additional Comments: (need windows 7 preferred )

Ok here is the thing I am new to the pc gaming scene for the most part and am primarily a console gamer however guild wars 2 looks sick and I would love to play it when it comes out. Problem is all I have is a laptop that is not strong enough to run it. So what I need is a pc that will run guild wars 2 for me at decent resolution and performance I don't want to be lagging all over the place. I don't need to play it top specs though. Also I'm probably going to continue to play console primarily so this not going to be my primary platform for gaming. I don't care about over clocking or anything like that purely out of the box gaming. A plus would be to play whitcher 2 at medium but that is a secondary goal as I can play that on console. On a separate note would I be better off buying a desktop at best buy or something? I need the works mouse keyboard monitor. I would love not to have to spend 500$ and 300$ would be the sweet spot. Perhaps I am asking the impossible, but that is why I am here to submit to your wisdom gentlemen.
 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H61M/U3S3 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: G.Skill Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec 380W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($37.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $479.90
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
 

ZaneSeven

Honorable
Jul 11, 2012
7
0
10,510
Lol yeah my eternal dilemma I guess budget is the name of the game for me I just can't justifiably drop 800$ on a pc at this time especially since I already have a laptop. I need a job lol.
 

Merueth

Honorable
May 24, 2012
412
0
10,810
Radeon HD 7750 $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%204027&IsNodeId=1&name=%2475%20-%20%24100
Pentium G860 $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116405
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB $64.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769
ASRock H61-M-DGS LGA 1155 Motherboard $44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157315
GSkill 4 GB RAM $22.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231253
NZXT Source 210 $39.99
http://www.amazon.com/Technologies-Source-210-Computer-Black/dp/B005869A7K
Corsair CX 430 V2 $19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026
Acer 20" Monitor $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009256

$472.92

Try looking for a mouse and keyboard at a garage sale or at a local store for $5-10. Do the same for an optical drive, if necessary you can get them online for ~$17. As for an OS, ask around to see if you know anyone that might give you one, or use linux for a little bit until you get the money for Windows 7.
 

amkronos

Honorable
Jun 15, 2012
80
0
10,640
This is pretty low end. It will play the modern games but you'll be low-med settings. It's a little over your budget but doable.

Barebones kit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.956683

Win 7 64Bit OEM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Radeon HD 6570

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102942

17" Refurbished Monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176246

Total: $545.76 with a $10 rebate on the GPU if you bother. Go to walmart/best buy whatever is local to get a cheap mouse/keyboard.



 
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD A8-3870K 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock A55M-HVS Micro ATX FM1 Motherboard ($54.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Wintec One 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Hitachi Deskstar 160GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.81 @ Compuvest)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 370 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply ($34.98 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer V193WEJb 19.0" Monitor ($91.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($90.65 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: V7 CK0M1-6N6 Wired Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($10.19 @ Amazon)
Total: $510.55
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)

shoudl have no problems gaming on the 1440x900 monitor with this build
 

ZaneSeven

Honorable
Jul 11, 2012
7
0
10,510
Ok I decided to put this together via newegg and amazon and it is looking good, but I made a few changes so just checking on compatibility this is based off of screwysqurl's build. Also I don't need a graphics card because it comes with my CPU correct?

CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819106001
memory http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161474
motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157277
optical drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153
monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009235
new egg register 367.95$

hard drive http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=lh_ni_t
power supply http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004IZN3K2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
os http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004Q0PT3I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER
amazon register 190.62$

total 558.55$

changed the hard drive and case is this hard drive considered a bare drive and if so what would i need and am open to smaller hard driver options or any other compatibly issues I may not know about.