$500 Budget PC Help

isandy · Sep 10, 2012

HELLO! AND THANKS!

One question before the build, when is a quad-core more useful than a dual core?
I was planning on getting a Phenom ii x4 965 and overclock but people say the Intel dual cores would *poop* on it..

Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: ASAP

Budget Range: $500!

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming(ex: Lol, Minecraft, Civ5, Dirt 3) , Youtube, Facebook and casual stuffzz

Are you buying a monitor: NO

Do you need to buy OS: Yes. I will use Linux and if I have TOO many problems i will buy a $30 copy of Windows7

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Legitimate websites please

Location: Omaha, NE, USA

Overclocking: Yes if possible.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: I will play @ 1920 x 1080

Additional Comments: Quiet and slick looking case :kaola:

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Laptop is becoming old and overheats too much.

zared619 · Sep 10, 2012

Alright, for $500, you won't destroy games in ultra settings, and in general Intel processors are far better at gaming, but for games like this with the exception of Civ, a good AMD won't make a ton of difference. The bottle neck will most likely be the GPU because well, you can't get a really good one for under $200, but you can certainly get capable GPUs. Here is an AMD build and if you want an Intel, I could try to recommend one of those too.

CPU- AMD Phenom II X4 965 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

MOBO- ECS A880GM-M7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135278

GPU- MSI N560GTX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127593

GPU (2nd Choice)- ASUS ENGTX550 TI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121435

RAM- Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB 1333
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148543

Case- Rosewill CHALLENGER
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

PSU- RAIDMAX HYBRID 2 RX-530SS 530W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028

HD- Western Digital WD5000AAKX 500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769

I will be honest, I don't know much about this motherboard, but it has decent reviews on Newegg.
Total for build with 560- $544 (without rebates)
Total for build with 550 ti- $504 (without rebates)

Hope this helps!

g-unit1111 · Sep 10, 2012

zared619 :

Absolute, definite *NO* (double emphasis) on that power supply - the words "cheap junk" don't even remotely begin to describe what Raidmax makes, and I've had their PSUs blow up, short out, fail to start up, and what have you, on me. Go with a Corsair CX600 or Seasonic S12 II 520W, but avoid Raidmax like the plague.

For $500 I'd suggest this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1GB Video Card ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $543.48
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-10 13:55 EDT-0400)

A little bit over but that PSU is way better than Raidmax garbage, the GPU isn't as good but is still perfectly capable and will get the job done.

quilciri · Sep 10, 2012

Guest · Sep 10, 2012

I have had my raidmax 500w PSU that came with my Smilodon case since 2009 and have gamed on it heavily for 3 years and have never had a problem with it. While I agree its not a top tier brand, for the price its good enough. And i have an Overclocked CPU, and GPU running on that PSU(for 3 years also).

To the point of this topic, follow this guide for $500: (Really not sure how/why people don't see these for reference first when coming to this site)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-pc-overclocking-pc-building,3273.html

It gives you a great starting reference. If you want a cooler looking case you can get one, and I'm sure the prices have gone down slightly on most of those parts, just look for the cheapest one, or parts with rebates. Hope this helps you.

BTW the build in the first post was very good.

g-unit1111 · Sep 10, 2012

Here's a gaming beast. You can get good framerates, high-to-max settings @1920x1080 with this rig.

Pentium G840 is a gaming beast? :heink:

I have had my raidmax 500w PSU that came with my Smilodon case since 2009 and have gamed on it heavily for 3 years and have never had a problem with it. While I agree its not a top tier brand, for the price its good enough. And i have an Overclocked CPU, and GPU running on that PSU(for 3 years also).

Where I work we use a lot of Raidmax crap and their cases are so poorly constructed that they fall apart easily. I had one case where the LED lights fell off and the front USB ports shattered. The cases I've seen - I moved one from one desk to the other one day and the door fell off in the process. And don't get me started on the PSU that had neon green cables... :lol:

vehlor · Sep 10, 2012

Hello

If your main concern is gaming, then go for 2nd or 3rd gen core i3. They outperform AMD.

If you are on a budget, just get 4 GB of RAM, you will save $20 doing this and you don't really need more than 4 GB.

Try to get a GTX 560 or a HD 6870. If they take you over your budget, get the HD 7770 instead. The GTX 550 Ti is not a good choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127687

NEVER buy a cheap power supply. That is the most important part of your build. These are better choices:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371033
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139026

When you are on a budget, you try to get a not to expensive case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235026
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811320008

An optical drive is not necessary in my opinion since you can install OS from Flash Drive. When you have $20 to spare you can just add the DVD Burner.

You can also save $10 getting a 320GB hard drive. This is not worth it in mi opinion.

quilciri · Sep 10, 2012

g-unit1111 :

The rig as a whole is a gaming beast, esp. for $500.

With a 2120 and a 6850 , the video card will run out of juice long before the processor (especially at 1920x1080 - any demanding game will have to run at pretty low settings with that card). with an 840 and a 7850, the rig is much closer to balanced. Both the CPU and GPU will top out around the same time (and at higher settings than the 2120/6850 combo).

g-unit1111 · Sep 10, 2012

quilciri :

What do you mean by "top out at the same time" you mean in terms of what the build can handle?

NEVER buy a cheap power supply. That is the most important part of your build. These are better choices:

Those are all far better choices than Raidmax crap but anything under 500W will be vastly underpowered for any sort of good GPU.

quilciri · Sep 10, 2012

g-unit1111 :

I mean in most games, when either the CPU of the GPU reaches 100% utilization, the other will be near 100% utilization as well. That's a balanced gaming rig.

Having either reach full utilization often while the other has considerable headroom left constitutes a bottleneck.

A few games are CPU-heavy (skyrim) and a few are GPU-heavy (Metro 2033), but unless you want to build the rig to focus on those few games, you're better off with a balanced system if you want the most game performance for your money.

quilciri · Sep 10, 2012

The G840 is roughly equivalent to my x3 oc'd to 4.0 ghz (the 840 is better in any game that uses 2 cores or less - the vast majority). With my 7850 oc'd to 1200mhz, I'm posting 61.6 FPS average (1600+ score) in uniengine heaven 1920x1080 with 4xAA.

enjoy!

quilciri · Sep 10, 2012

g-unit1111 :

The corsair 430w (28a on the +12v) is plenty for a single 7850. The rig as I built it will barely top 300w under absolute full load.

Only reasons I've got a bigger supply is because

1) it used to support 3x 6770's

2) I plan to pick up a 2nd 7850 whenever my catleap comes in (microstuttering be damned, 2x7850's is too sexy) and overclock the crap out of them.

- the 2nd 7850 will of course necessitate a processor switch. I'm hoping the piledriver reviews are out by then so i can decide whether to buy one final amd cpu before they exit the enthusiast space, or bail to intel early.

zared619 · Sep 10, 2012

In reference to my original build post: I never have had any issues with my raidmax as I have the same one I recommended for two years. If indeed a switch would be necessary, this is what I would recommend.

Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030 (+$25 from raidmax)

Rosewill micro tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147123 ($-20 from challenger)

And a third GPU choice to keep price lower. ASUS HD7770
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121644

Here is a GPU reference guide. The 560Ti is #33, the 560 is #40, 7770 is #50, and the 550Ti is #63
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h5nc (includes 560Ti)

idroid · Sep 10, 2012

Hey! buy this:

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($119.99 @ CompUSA)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7770 1GB Video Card ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 430W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($26.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $481.90

if you can push your budget to include something like a 6870 and bit better power supply it would be awesome!!

btw... this might come in handy

quilciri · Sep 10, 2012

decent build, and i really like the 7770; but the rig has the same problem as the 2120/6850 combo (and 90% of the builds on these forums) - Way more CPU than the video card solution can make use of.

idroid · Sep 10, 2012

quilciri :

What are you talking about? an if you compare an i3/3850 with an i5/6850 you will definitely see a performance gain.

quilciri · Sep 11, 2012

idroid :

I'm assuming you mean i3/6850. Yes, you'll see a performance gain there. However, an i3/7850 will perform better in the vast majority of games than an i5/6850 combo.

likewise, a G840/7850 will do better than an i3/6850.

isandy · Sep 11, 2012

Any thoughts about this combo breaker?

ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Free OCZ 60GB SSD w/ purchase, limited offe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296

zared619 · Sep 11, 2012

It's a good deal, but then with that expensive of a board, you will sacrifice CPU & GPU power, and/or storage space. Z77's are excellent boards though.

idroid · Sep 11, 2012

isandy :

BS, nothing is free.

g-unit1111 · Sep 11, 2012

quilciri :

I was able to get a Corsair CX430 to work with my Radeon 5830 today so I can see where GPU manufacturers get screwed up with their power requirements.

BS, nothing is free.

It's an Agility 3 too, and OCZ has a history of bad firmware updates. :lol:

isandy · Oct 4, 2012

Best answer selected by iSandy.

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