Building a $500 Intel Gaming PC

[JordB]

It’s only been 9 months but AMD and Intel have both launched new processor lines. How far will our $500 go if we want to use the latest CPU technology in a new budget gaming PC?

 

 

 

Intel system as built: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/6DJ4xs

An AMD AM4 option: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/mYg7Kp

 

Check out the Parts of this $500 Rig:
Intel Core i3-13100F CPU: https://geni.us/ctkl
ASRock B660M-HDV Motherboard: https://geni.us/mD5Ns
Patriot Viper Elite II DDR4 3200MHz CL18 8GBx1 RAM: https://geni.us/yXyl0oB
Intel 670p 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD: https://geni.us/LsAg
DIYPC F2 Micro-ATX Case: https://lmg.gg/RWSoW
Enermax CyberBron 500W 80+ Bronze PSU: https://lmg.gg/dS2h5
ASRock AMD Radeon RX6600 Challenger D GPU: https://lmg.gg/LwG9j

Buy an ID-COOLING SE-214-XT CPU Cooler: https://geni.us/EUFXL
Buy a Thermalright Assassin X 120 SE CPU Cooler: https://geni.us/HhYfVfZ
Buy a Vetroo V5 CPU Cooler: https://geni.us/2Iylbpv
Buy a SURALLOW NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Super GPU: https://geni.us/R0tHPa
Buy a Gigabyte Radeon RX6600 Eagle GPU: https://geni.us/jbAca
Buy a Seagate ST500DM002 500GB Hard Drive: https://lmg.gg/0PL2y
Buy a Seagate ST1000DM003 1TB Hard Drive: https://lmg.gg/00uX6
Buy a Gioneda 257GB NVMe M.2 SSD: https://lmg.gg/qFyBs
Buy an AMD Ryzen 5 7600 CPU: https://geni.us/BBSLeys
Buy an AMD Ryzen 5 5600 CPU: https://geni.us/YVGO7G

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

[SignatureSigner]

*Havent watched the video yet just going by the links in the description*

 

I feel like a used 1080 would thrash that 1660

 

[filpo]

7 minutes ago, SignatureSigner said:

*Havent watched the video yet just going by the links in the description*

 

I feel like a used 1080 would thrash that 1660

 

*discontinuation is typing*

[SignatureSigner]

1 minute ago, filpo said:

*discontinuation is typing*

well your not wrong... but they still have a few years of software support left and that's not counting the year or so that they would still have fairly good game support after they are discontinued

[SorryBella]

1 minute ago, SignatureSigner said:

*Havent watched the video yet just going by the links in the description*

I mean technically its not even 500$, its more like 575$ after things said and done. If we're not strained by the other reason the build cant be better (procurement department time and logistical limit, accounting for availability and dodging promos, assuming the build will be perpetually kept at stock settings in its entire life, etc.), this is what a hypothetical new builder can do for AM4 path at similar true budget.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor  ($88.90 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($88.00 @ Newegg) 
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($32.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Mushkin Helix-L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($43.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake Versa H17 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($66.98 @ Amazon) 
Total: $565.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-16 13:40 EDT-0400

 

More storage, dual channel memory, a bigger PSU that could accommodate 6700XT, and also an upgrade path for 5800X3D with a bit of luck and a far better airflow case in the future. And here's one for LGA1700 for fairness, but personally speaking id go and eat the EOL of AM4 now than having to force myself to be in a platform that might also be no longer as well if we assume the same cycle of 2 CPU 1 LGA for Intel CPUs.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-12100F 3.3 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($99.97 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock B660M Pro RS Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard  ($94.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: TEAMGROUP T-Create Expert 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  ($32.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Mushkin Helix-L 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive  ($43.99 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Gigabyte EAGLE Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake Versa H17 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($66.98 @ Amazon) 
Total: $583.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-05-16 13:46 EDT-0400

[37748585862723896]

So we are not going to see all intel build?

Rip intel gpu

[OhYou_]

so it was $872 cad for the intel?

and ignoring windows license, cool. 

I build one with a 13100 a month ago by going sort cheapest and buying whatever first showed up and it was over 500 US with windows 11 pro without a gpu. 

*also havent watched the video yet

[swimtome]

3200 RAM --- I dont know why thats controversial anymore.  3600 is significantly more (when I went looking at least) and it seems like its not even worth the bump cause the real world first word math works out to the same.

 

When I wanted to upgrade from  2x16 3600, I first looked for another 2x16 3600 to match and it was shocking how much more it was.  I bit the bullet and had issues with XMP.  So I looked for 2x32 3600 and the price was like $100+ over the 2x32 3200. 

 

General advice replies were yea just go for it its not gonna be any noticeable difference.

 

(Or in fairness the 3600 part wasnt Linus's point soooo....)

[RednGold21]

Nice build list. I do think in a real world scenario you would find another $10 to get a dual channel 16gb set. Other than that I think this is a solid build for a budget machine.

[AndreiArgeanu]

The cyberbron power supply isn’t even for sale anymore at any price. It hasn’t been for over 2 weeks. Not to even mention the motherboard. I’m surprised there’s a heat sink on the chipset given how naked the rest of the board is. I wonder how the board (more specifically the VRMs) will hold up if you try upgrading later to a 13400, or 13700, especially in that case. Also the 13100F is 110$ now, the B660M HDV is 95$ now and there’s a possibility it will come with an older bios which doesn’t support 13th gen meaning you’ll need to somehow borrow a 12th gen chip to upgrade it since it lacks any kind of bios flashback features that allows for flashing without a compatible cpu installed. The cheapest case is now 43$ instead of 38$. The 670p 512gb has dropped 5$ price. And all of a sudden your 500$ system at the release date of the video is a 550$ system.

[Failure 101]

Wouldn't a 12100f and 16gb of ram be a better deal?

[Alvin853]

48 minutes ago, Failure 101 said:

Wouldn't a 12100f and 16gb of ram be a better deal?

Yes it would be, but then you can't point at AMD saying they don't have any budget current gen options, and you'd have to resort to last gen for a comparable build. Too bad Linus doesn't know that a 13100F is Alder Lake and so also technically last gen, it just got a new name. 

[hojnikb]

You guys should also check out these cheap Xeon 2011-3 kits from aliexpress. You can get amazing value for money for the mobo+cpu+ram combo. Some kits like this one can be had for as little as 75$. If you want something newer, faster and a little bit nicer, you can also pick one of the 14 core broadwell kits for around 100$.

 

I think if you look past used cpus and non brand name motherboards, you can get an amazing value for money system (especially if gaming is not the primary focus) for quite literally dirt cheap. For 500$ you could easily fit a 3060/3060Ti, a decent PSU and a case in this system and you'd get a pretty good gaming setup, albeit with some cpu bottleneck, where single core performance matters more. In multithreaded applications, this 14 core cpu is very close to 8 core ryzen 5th gens (i measured ~13000 points in cinebench r23 with dual channel), which isn't so bad for 100$ all in.

[Radium_Angel]

37 minutes ago, hojnikb said:

You guys should also check out these cheap Xeon 2011-3 kits from aliexpress. You can get amazing value for money for the mobo+cpu+ram combo. Some kits like this one can be had for as little as 75$. If you want something newer, faster and a little bit nicer, you can also pick one of the 14 core broadwell kits for around 100$.

 

I think if you look past used cpus and non brand name motherboards, you can get an amazing value for money system (especially if gaming is not the primary focus) for quite literally dirt cheap. For 500$ you could easily fit a 3060/3060Ti, a decent PSU and a case in this system and you'd get a pretty good gaming setup, albeit with some cpu bottleneck, where single core performance matters more. In multithreaded applications, this 14 core cpu is very close to 8 core ryzen 5th gens (i measured ~13000 points in cinebench r23 with dual channel), which isn't so bad for 100$ all in.

You can do better than that, I built a 300$ gaming rig with a Xeon e5-2699 v4 and a GTX 1060 6GB using AE and had an absolute blast putting it together and running it. Lots of fun, very stable, and with an AIO CPU cooler, it ran very cool.

but we are comparing apples to oranges, with used vs new, but if you are on a tight budget...used Xeons are the way to go

[hojnikb]

37 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

You can do better than that, I built a 300$ gaming rig with a Xeon e5-2699 v4 and a GTX 1060 6GB using AE and had an absolute blast putting it together and running it. Lots of fun, very stable, and with an AIO CPU cooler, it ran very cool.

but we are comparing apples to oranges, with used vs new, but if you are on a tight budget...used Xeons are the way to go

2699v4 seems a pretty bad value right now, because CPU alone is pretty expensive and no kits are based around it. Might be a better idead to pick up one of those dual socket boards with 2680v4 combo cpus (for a total of 28 cores) but that's a pretty specific workload to use all of these cores and such setup comes with it's own challenges.

 

But you're correct in the sense, that these are not comparable, given that aliexpress option is half used (cpus at least). But if you're chasing a budget, used should always be considered an option, as Linus himself hinted at. But all things said and done; aliexpress choice of used CPUs and motherboards is pretty amazing.

 

 

[Radium_Angel]

52 minutes ago, hojnikb said:

2699v4 seems a pretty bad value right now, because CPU alone is pretty expensive and no kits are based around it.

True, I did pick this combo up during an xmas sale last year. Used parts always fluctuate and the key with AE of course is patience. 

[LykosOfficial]

After watching the vid. I decided to go onto partspicker to see if I can get a decent AMD build below $500. I was able to go below today's Intel build. Though I chose the RX 6400 over the 6800 because it's cheaper, lower TDP, and higher clock speed. Though you will lose more performance when comparing to the 6800

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Kc4JY9

[DarrenM01]

I understand taking the keyboard, mouse, and monitor from your old PC.

 

But isn’t it difficult to take a Windows 10/11 install and load it on the new PC. I think even if you have the license attached to a Windows account the installer checks if the hardware has any major changes?

[Crunchy Dragon]

6 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

True, I did pick this combo up during an xmas sale last year. Used parts always fluctuate and the key with AE of course is patience. 

Same rule goes for Ebay and really any used market.

 

The nice thing is that Xeons aren't typically too expensive due to the "all at once" nature of server and workstation upgrades. The Core i7s on the same socket tend to hold their value fairly well, though.

[SteveGrabowski0]

10 hours ago, swimtome said:

3200 RAM --- I dont know why thats controversial anymore.  3600 is significantly more (when I went looking at least) and it seems like its not even worth the bump cause the real world first word math works out to the same.

 

When I wanted to upgrade from  2x16 3600, I first looked for another 2x16 3600 to match and it was shocking how much more it was.  I bit the bullet and had issues with XMP.  So I looked for 2x32 3600 and the price was like $100+ over the 2x32 3200. 

 

General advice replies were yea just go for it its not gonna be any noticeable difference.

 

(Or in fairness the 3600 part wasnt Linus's point soooo....)

Are you running a 12th or 13th gen locked Intel chip? I couldn't get DDR4-3600 stable with my i5-12400F in Gear 1 so had to drop to DDR4-3200.

[silentdragon95]

13 hours ago, SignatureSigner said:

I feel like a used 1080 would thrash that 1660

Or a 5700XT. Although really, once you start shopping for used parts alongside new ones, it very quickly becomes a giant rabbit hole to go down, since there are now multiple generations of different segments of at least two manufacturers competing against each other, with prices sometimes changing rapidly and varying depending on where you are located and not everyone wants to deal with the associated risk of not having a warranty and so on.

 

That being said, if you are in the market for an affordable gaming PC and are willing to consider buying used parts, it is certainly worth checking out, especially for GPUs and anything AM4, since it will enable you to upgrade to the 5800X3D later.

[Radium_Angel]

17 hours ago, DarrenM01 said:

I understand taking the keyboard, mouse, and monitor from your old PC.

 

But isn’t it difficult to take a Windows 10/11 install and load it on the new PC. I think even if you have the license attached to a Windows account the installer checks if the hardware has any major changes?

Not really, Windows has made great strides in ease of transfer to new systems. Really only the GPU drivers can pose issues (if you are switching GPU platforms) 

[SangCR7]

Looks like Linus has sacrificed some of his AMD Fanboy from his soul to make this video. That's great. By the way, 8GB of RAM is no longer enough to game.

[swimtome]

On 5/17/2023 at 12:14 AM, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Are you running a 12th or 13th gen locked Intel chip? I couldn't get DDR4-3600 stable with my i5-12400F in Gear 1 so had to drop to DDR4-3200.

No, I'm on Ryzen 7 5800X

[infigo]

On 5/16/2023 at 8:53 PM, Failure 101 said:

Wouldn't a 12100f and 16gb of ram be a better deal?

I had the same thought. Newegg even have it at 83$ and now I can’t even find 13100f for 100. 13100f is slightly faster but with dual channel 16 vs only single 8 gigs 2023 I would rather get the memory. 
I had problems back in 2020 in battlefield on 16 gigs of ram and a 3570k before I upgraded. So can’t see 8gig as feasible