Jump to content

Gaming Build Under $500 USD?

AlanAlan
By AlanAlan
in New Builds and Planning
 Share
Posted

I want to build a new gaming pc and I have a budget of $500. I don't know where to start with this build. Can anyone put together a build for me? Can anyone give me any suggestions? What will be the performance on the build? I will be gaming, using Microsoft office,streaming movies and videos, and browsing the web. What is the best gaming pc build I can for a budget of $500?

Link to comment
https://linustechtips.com/topic/549889-gaming-build-under-500-usd/
Share on other sites
Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
4 minutes ago, AlanAlan said:

I want to build a new gaming pc and I have a budget of $500. I don't know where to start with this build. Can anyone put together a build for me? Can anyone give me any suggestions? What will be the performance on the build? I will be gaming, using Microsoft office,streaming movies and videos, and browsing the web. What is the best gaming pc build I can for a budget of $500?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.98 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($87.95 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $535.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 15:46 EST-0500

 

The Pentium may be a bottleneck if you're doing multicore stuff, but it's probably not an issue.

 

Shameless plug: I have an i5-2320 and Z77 board for $150 if you want it.

Primary Build: i7-4790 · 16GB Hynix DDR3-1600 · Sapphire Tri-X R9 390x · NZXT S340 · Win10 Pro · Seagate Barracuda 1TB T_T

Portable: 2015 Retina Macbook Pro 13" · i5-5257u · 512GB PCIe SSD · Intel Iris 6100 T_T

If my post helped you, please rate it!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
5 minutes ago, sushisharkjl said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.98 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($87.95 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $535.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 15:46 EST-0500

 

The Pentium may be a bottleneck if you're doing multicore stuff, but it's probably not an issue.

 

Shameless plug: I have an i5-2320 and Z77 board for $150 if you want it.

that's terrible

Location: Kaunas, Lithuania, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Bubble, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Milky Way subgroup, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea, Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, Observable universe, Universe.

Spoiler

12700, B660M Mortar DDR4, 32GB 3200C16 Viper Steel, 2TB SN570, EVGA Supernova G6 850W, be quiet! 500FX, EVGA 3070Ti FTW3 Ultra.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

there's plenty of good builds out there for around this amount but I personally would say go with a nice case (maybe 30 dollars or so, nothing expensive, but a well made one.) a i3 and a decent motherboard (maybe $70 on the board). clearly a HDD is best, I personally love western digital, you can get a great 1tb drive for 50 bucks from them with low fail rating. Ram doesn't matter /too/ much, just something around 30-40 dollars at 8gbs. and for GPU, GTX 700 series, at most 960. (I am a /tad/ bit biased with GPUs tho, just saying.) 

 

power supply...just something with good reviews that can support your set up. 

 

Everything I listed should be a good start pointing for your current build, and leave a lot of options for future upgrades. I would just go on PC part picker and look around for stuff close these things. 

 

Im not going to give you specific parts because I'm still somewhat novice with computers, but these would be great starting points. 

 

Good luck with what I assume to be your first computer build c:

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Just now, ZetZet said:

that's terrible

OK, what's yours?

Primary Build: i7-4790 · 16GB Hynix DDR3-1600 · Sapphire Tri-X R9 390x · NZXT S340 · Win10 Pro · Seagate Barracuda 1TB T_T

Portable: 2015 Retina Macbook Pro 13" · i5-5257u · 512GB PCIe SSD · Intel Iris 6100 T_T

If my post helped you, please rate it!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Just now, jett473 said:

there's plenty of good builds out there for around this amount but I personally would say go with a nice case (maybe 30 dollars or so, nothing expensive, but a well made one.) a i3 and a decent motherboard (maybe $70 on the board). clearly a HDD is best, I personally love western digital, you can get a great 1tb drive for 50 bucks from them with low fail rating. Ram doesn't matter /too/ much, just something around 30-40 dollars at 8gbs. and for GPU, GTX 700 series, at most 960. (I am a /tad/ bit biased with GPUs tho, just saying.) 

 

power supply...just something with good reviews that can support your set up. 

 

Everything I listed should be a good start pointing for your current build, and leave a lot of options for future upgrades. I would just go on PC part picker and look around for stuff close these things. 

 

Im not going to give you specific parts because I'm still somewhat novice with computers, but these would be great starting points. 

 

Good luck with what I assume to be your first computer build c:

also, i3 will be fine because most of what you mentioned isn't too demanding and most games don't use multiple cores, so that's why i3 would be my choice here.

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, sushisharkjl said:

OK, what's yours?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($123.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($30.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card  ($104.99 @ Amazon) 
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($43.57 @ Mac Mall) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($89.99 @ NCIX US) 
Total: $522.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 15:56 EST-0500

 

 

with windows 

 

 

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($123.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($30.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($46.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB NITRO Dual-X OC Video Card  ($189.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Rosewill RANGER-M MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($43.57 @ Mac Mall) 
Total: $517.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 15:56 EST-0500

 

no windows

Location: Kaunas, Lithuania, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Bubble, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Milky Way subgroup, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea, Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, Observable universe, Universe.

Spoiler

12700, B660M Mortar DDR4, 32GB 3200C16 Viper Steel, 2TB SN570, EVGA Supernova G6 850W, be quiet! 500FX, EVGA 3070Ti FTW3 Ultra.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, ZetZet said:

-snip

Granted the i3 is a better choice.

What's the difference between x110 and x170 chipsets?

Primary Build: i7-4790 · 16GB Hynix DDR3-1600 · Sapphire Tri-X R9 390x · NZXT S340 · Win10 Pro · Seagate Barracuda 1TB T_T

Portable: 2015 Retina Macbook Pro 13" · i5-5257u · 512GB PCIe SSD · Intel Iris 6100 T_T

If my post helped you, please rate it!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Just now, sushisharkjl said:

Granted the i3 is a better choice.

What's the difference between x110 and x170 chipsets?

no overclocking, less ports, way cheaper

Location: Kaunas, Lithuania, Europe, Earth, Solar System, Local Interstellar Cloud, Local Bubble, Gould Belt, Orion Arm, Milky Way, Milky Way subgroup, Local Group, Virgo Supercluster, Laniakea, Pisces–Cetus Supercluster Complex, Observable universe, Universe.

Spoiler

12700, B660M Mortar DDR4, 32GB 3200C16 Viper Steel, 2TB SN570, EVGA Supernova G6 850W, be quiet! 500FX, EVGA 3070Ti FTW3 Ultra.

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Just now, ZetZet said:

no overclocking, less ports, way cheaper

Oh, thanks

Primary Build: i7-4790 · 16GB Hynix DDR3-1600 · Sapphire Tri-X R9 390x · NZXT S340 · Win10 Pro · Seagate Barracuda 1TB T_T

Portable: 2015 Retina Macbook Pro 13" · i5-5257u · 512GB PCIe SSD · Intel Iris 6100 T_T

If my post helped you, please rate it!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
13 minutes ago, sushisharkjl said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Micro Center) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($89.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.98 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($87.95 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $535.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 15:46 EST-0500

 

The Pentium may be a bottleneck if you're doing multicore stuff, but it's probably not an issue.

 

Shameless plug: I have an i5-2320 and Z77 board for $150 if you want it.

That's a terrible build and plus $150 for an i5-2320?? You having a laugh??

Looking at my signature are we now? Well too bad there's nothing here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What? As I said, there seriously is nothing here :) 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
1 minute ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

That's a terrible build and plus $150 for an i5-2320?? You having a laugh??

with motherboard

Primary Build: i7-4790 · 16GB Hynix DDR3-1600 · Sapphire Tri-X R9 390x · NZXT S340 · Win10 Pro · Seagate Barracuda 1TB T_T

Portable: 2015 Retina Macbook Pro 13" · i5-5257u · 512GB PCIe SSD · Intel Iris 6100 T_T

If my post helped you, please rate it!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

You could try checking craigslist or ebay for some slightly used parts. Got an AMD FX-8350 and motherboard for 200. I bought some RAM for $34 along with a water cooler for the CPU, an R9-380  4GB and a decent case for 550. Obviously without the water cooler that would be a 500 PC.

You know how it is, the cow goes "moo", the dog goes "woof" and the gamer goes "The PvP is unbalanced."

Spoiler

Personal Computer: CPU: i7-4790 Mobo: Asrock Z97 Extreme6 Graphics Card: MSI R9-380  Memory: 16GB (8GB x2) G. Skill Sniper Gaming Series PSU: Apevia Warlock 750W Case: NZXT Phantom 410 Series Storage: 240GB SSD (OS) 3TB HDD (data and such) 500 GB SSD (Movies and Large Data Transfers (I'm constantly moving this one around to other computers))

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($123.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($46.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($39.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.89 @ OutletPC) 
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case  ($22.99 @ Micro Center) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.98 @ Newegg) 
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit)  ($87.95 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $507.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 16:11 EST-0500

 

Reweighted components.

Primary Build: i7-4790 · 16GB Hynix DDR3-1600 · Sapphire Tri-X R9 390x · NZXT S340 · Win10 Pro · Seagate Barracuda 1TB T_T

Portable: 2015 Retina Macbook Pro 13" · i5-5257u · 512GB PCIe SSD · Intel Iris 6100 T_T

If my post helped you, please rate it!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
Just now, sushisharkjl said:

with motherboard

Whoops,I just saw the prices on used hardware in Merica...$90 for a i5-2300...I got my i5-2300 8 months ago for $55~...I thought used prices would be quite a bit higher in the UK...

Looking at my signature are we now? Well too bad there's nothing here...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What? As I said, there seriously is nothing here :) 

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted
2 minutes ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

Whoops,I just saw the prices on used hardware in Merica...$90 for a i5-2300...I got my i5-2300 8 months ago for $55~...I thought used prices would be quite a bit higher in the UK...

Haha, no problems mate

Primary Build: i7-4790 · 16GB Hynix DDR3-1600 · Sapphire Tri-X R9 390x · NZXT S340 · Win10 Pro · Seagate Barracuda 1TB T_T

Portable: 2015 Retina Macbook Pro 13" · i5-5257u · 512GB PCIe SSD · Intel Iris 6100 T_T

If my post helped you, please rate it!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

Here:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($123.88 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($51.89 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($30.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Toshiba Product Series:DT01ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($44.99 @ NCIX US) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($169.99 @ Newegg after mail-in rebate) 
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($36.99 @ SuperBiiz) 
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($35.98 @ Newegg after mail-in rebate) 
Total: $522.30 ($494.71 after mail-in rebate)
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-17 16:12 EST-0500

 

Hope this help!

Link to post
Share on other sites
Posted

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JhknZL

 

Thats a good $500 build, you should be able to run most games, such as fallout 4 ATLEAST 30fps, but probably in the range of 40's. you can get the operating system on microsofts website, use a flashdrive, and theres an application that removes the "activate windows 10" watermark and it allows you to customize your personal settings, which in a non activated windows 10 you could not do. the legality is somewhat questionable, but will not get you in trouble at all. I enjoy saving money to get much better preformance, if you had a higher budget I would consider buying windows 10 however. You will require an Ethernet connection unless you want to splurge an extra $20 to buy a decent network adapter. beware, you only fall below the $500 budget with the $70 mail-in rebates.

 

CPU 61921421e30d92bf7518f831d3a5de78.med.256 $98.89       $98.89 OutletPC   Buy  
 
CPU Cooler ddea57de9797549e80d05fb3acb2e83d.med.256 $34.75 -$10.00     $24.75 OutletPC   Buy  
 
$10.00 mail-in rebate
 
Motherboard e5035b29b7711b5ac19db6969ae5b324.med.256 $111.89 -$20.00     $91.89 OutletPC   Buy  
 
$20.00 mail-in rebate
 
Memory b9b0134c8b547839cf1400e0702220bd.med.256 $38.99   Free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime   $38.99 Amazon   Buy  
 
  Add Additional Memory  
Storage cfae225dd3e43bf766ab1468189a4703.thumb.2 $49.89       $49.89 OutletPC   Buy  
 
  Add Additional Storage  
Video Card 32e8e0e9413a81a2ac1f6f4eec6c0640.med.256 $119.99 -$20.00 FREE   $99.99 Newegg   Buy  
 
$20.00 mail-in rebate
 
Case 9cca2b9b7f79b61485d0d48c5a1bf96c.med.256 $64.99       $64.99 Directron   Buy  
 
Power Supply eef663938df153c01c33a06d93a69726.med.256 $44.99 -$20.00 FREE   $24.99 Newegg   Buy  
 
$20.00 mail-in rebate
 
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing New Builds and Planning

×