Friend upgrade build LESS THAN $500 US

[zlolslavez]

My friend has a 5+ year old computer, with some upgraded parts like power supply and graphics card, he needs some upgrades now.

 

reusable parts: hard drive (750gb), power supply (good enough, 650w seasonic), 750TI.

1. Budget & Location

You may have listed a heap of parts that all add up to your preferred budget but it is easier if you just list the total amount you'd like to spend and the currency as well as if you'd consider going above that budget for more performance. We need the location as well because $US are different to $AUD and $CAD ect.

 

$500 US, Shipping to PA, Pref.vendors = Amazon/Newegg

2. Aim

What is the system going to be used for? Web browsing, 3D work? Different systems need different levels of performance - a computer based for web browsing and office use won't handle heavy graphic design and video editing and a proper video editing system isn't good for gaming. If your aim is for gaming, please list what sort of gaming. In the same way that different usage types need different systems, you'll need a lot more power to run Far Cry 3 or Crysis 2 than you would Minecraft.

 

Medium gaming, some video editting

3. Monitors

How many monitors do you plan on running? Do you plan on moving to more monitors in the future? What resolution are they at too?

 

1, 1080p

4. Peripherals

Do you also need to purchase peripherals such as keyboards and mice as well as monitors ect. Also please tell us if you'll need an OS such as Windows.

 

No

5. Why are you upgrading?

We ask this because you may see upgrading as the only path to solve an issue but things such as driver updates, reconfiguration or cleaning can boost performance without spending a cent.

Please copy and paste the major dot points into your thread as it makes it easier for us to give you better feedback.

Have fun and keep building

Computer chugs, and can't play games, and sucks at editing for school.

[aneil1998]

A complete parts list will be a bit more helpful

 

[aneil1998]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($204.99 @ Newegg) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($61.38 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($35.99 @ Newegg) 
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($172.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($44.99 @ Newegg) 
Total: $510.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-23 19:32 EDT-0400

 

[duckwithanokhat]

Slap a gtx 960 or r9 380 in there and maybe get a 120GB SSD and use it as a boot device, that's roughly $240-270 dollars. If you can find the gtx 960 for around 170 dollars, which is happening more frequently now a days, then you can get it down to around $210-240 dollars. You can use that extra money to invest in a i5 CPU which is around $200 Use whatever spare money you have to get a case you like, or pick a cheap case that performs and use the money on parts.

 

If you want to go the "editing upgrade" path then prioritize getting an i7, like the 4790k, with the current prices you can't afford a 6700k and a decent gpu for only $500, not to mention the Haswell-E cpus.

 

Just my opinion, don't flame

[Tylerebowers]

nvm