$500 Gaming PC: Day 1, Component Selection

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Case, Power Supply and Optical Drive

Case and Power : Antec NSK4480B

How much would you pay for a $65 power supply and $65 case combined ? We found the Antec NSK4480B with an Earthwatts EA-380 power supply, both $65 values, at a total cost of $65. That certainly beats buying these parts separately, and we couldn’t find a better combination of separate components for under $100.

Antec NSK4480B

The power supply is the single most important component in assuring stable operation and system longevity. The Earthwatts EA-380 has a reputation for quality that should protect our investment over the long term.

Antec Earthwatts EA380

Two 17A 12-volt rails and a combined limit of 324W provide more than enough power for our system at stock speed, and we expect our overclock will reach thermal limits before we run out of power supply capacity.

Optical Drive : Phillips SPD2513BM/17 20X DVD Burner

What’s the difference between a top-model DVD burner and a second-rate model ? A savings of around $5 doesn’t seem like much, but it’s 20% of the burner’s price and just enough to keep us within budget.

Phillips DVD Burner

Peak write speeds of 20X DVD±R, 8X DVD+RW and DVD+R Dual Layer, 6X DVD-RW, 12X DVD-RAM, 48X CD-R and 24X CD-RW might not matter much in a pure gaming PC, but these drives are only around $8 more than similar quality DVD readers. For the price difference, we’d hate to be stuck without DVD backup capabilities.

78 Comments Comment from the forums
  • romulus47plus1
    Somehow I think this is a better PC than the 1000$ one.
    Reply
  • lunyone
    Is it me or was their first price list have the Phenom 9500 and when I looked at the next page they were mentioning the e2160 w/DS3L? I'd much prefer this setup over the $1k that they listed last month. I mean, I could build a $1k rig that would compete with their $1.5k or better system.
    Reply
  • Coolio_alert
    Looks cool, still better then my 3 year old $300 one but that will be changing by the summer: Armor Case, Antec 650w, Maximus Formula, E8400, BFG 8800GTS OC, 2 GB Dominator RAM, 500gb 7200.11 (Seagate Barracuda), 2 Lightscribes. Gonna run XP Home (32-bit) and no overclocking for a little bit until its needed or I feel more confident. I CAN'T WAIT!!! :D
    Reply
  • radguy
    I asked for another 500 dollar build after the last sbm. This overclocked might throw up some really interesting results. Just make sure we have some real gaming benchmarks this time please. Also I really like what you guys picked.
    Reply
  • zenmaster
    Excellent Shopping.
    Truly Impressive build.

    Gotta love those falling GPU prices.
    Reply
  • TechnologyCoordinator
    I like the article, but I'm consused by the price list on the first page, what does it reference!?!? I'd love to see the price list of the $500 build on the first page.
    Reply
  • Eric Tardes
    Nice roundup.
    Very nice configuration for 500 bucks.

    Curious about the review,and overclocking results :).

    The price on the first page is from previous "System builder marathon - Low cost system", so don't worry about the first page, it's there just for the reference!
    Reply
  • MisterChef
    a few swore by “Absurdly Cheap” components that our experience has proven are likely to fail within the first few months of use

    Yeah, I was one of those "absurdly cheap" bastards. :) But this $500 build has indeed got my interest. I eagarly await testing results.
    Reply
  • woodstock827
    there seems to be come inconsistencies in the component list on first page and the rest of the article.. the obvious ones are the CPU (AMD vs Intel?) and the Graphics card (AMD vs nVidia). It'd be great if that's fixed. ;)
    Reply
  • woodstock827
    o.. wait.. nvm.. I got confused.. the front page is for the low-cost system a month back? a bit confusing there..
    Reply