Need a $500-600 PC

[QuantumBit]

My friend's getting a PC for his birthday, but it has to be within the 500-600. I would go help him build it, but with what prices are now, it'd be very hard.

But hey if you have a sub $600 build on pcpartpicker send it over.

[Colty]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TYVJzM

Get this and then look for a GTX 970 in your area on Craigslist, otherwise, this is a good option while GPU prices are crazy high. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GALAX-Nvidia-Geforce-GTX-960-2GB-Gamer-OC-96NPH8DND8VZ-Video-Card-GPU/122935793281?hash=item1c9f8b5681:g:TFAAAOSwtBdaa-dC

[Trap Bot]

check this. i just built a system for you. couldn't go for a better gpu because of the high prices.

PCPARTPICKER

[Himommies]

Just now, Colty said:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TYVJzM

Get this and then look for a GTX 970 in your area on Craigslist, otherwise, this is a good option while GPU prices are crazy high. 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GALAX-Nvidia-Geforce-GTX-960-2GB-Gamer-OC-96NPH8DND8VZ-Video-Card-GPU/122935793281?hash=item1c9f8b5681:g:TFAAAOSwtBdaa-dC

Are you trying to burn down his house and your not getting anywhere with that RAM and Ryzen

I would get a lower end CPU that hopefully does not end in as many insurance claims

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Wd36nn

[emosun]

prebuilt + gpu is how you do a 500-600 build

buying everything separate is going to be the least efficient way to spend the money at that price point

[Trap Bot]

4 minutes ago, Colty said:

Get this and then look for a GTX 970 in your area on Craigslist, otherwise, this is a good option while GPU prices are crazy high. 

can't recommend used parts. can have some serious problems.

[emosun]

3 minutes ago, Trap Bot said:

can't recommend used parts. can have some serious problems.

ignore this

used parts are part of the way of life for budget builds as every pc guy on earth knows. new untested parts "can have some serious problems" lol

[Trap Bot]

Just now, emosun said:

new untested parts "can have some serious problems" lol

i agree. but you will never know if the part you're buying worth the money. with new parts you get warranty. used parts basically you get nothing.

[QuantumBit]

4 minutes ago, emosun said:

ignore this

used parts are part of the way of life for budget builds as every pc guy on earth knows. new untested parts "can have some serious problems" lol

What parts would you recommend used? Besides PSU...

[emosun]

2 minutes ago, Trap Bot said:

with new parts you get warranty. used parts basically you get nothing.

you get sellers warranties with used parts where the hell are you buying parts from a back alley? 

 

1 minute ago, QuantumBit said:

What parts would you recommend used? Besides PSU...

the entire machine

that why i said buy a prebuilt then drop a gpu into it which is exactly what they say to do on ltt all the time. 

[Colty]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kBQtxY

And then that GTX 960 I linked earlier. 

[mariushm]

Wait until AMD releases the Ryzen 3 2200g and Ryzen 5 2400g  on February 12

 

You'll have Ryzen 5 2400g at $169 , basically Ryzen 5 1400 (4 cores, 8 threads) with integrated graphics close to RX 560 / GT 1050 , which should be good enough until the video card prices go down.

 

So all you have to do is get a decent B350 board (~70-100$) , the cpu up to 200$, 8-16 GB of memory for 100$ or more, a decent power supply for 50$ or more, a case for around 30-50$ and you'll probably have some money for a hard drive or SSD as well.

 

[Auror]

This.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/C2VhD8

And like people have mentioned previously, go through the used market for GPUs. 960's go for relatively cheap and perform similarly to a 1050 ti. With the current build(windows not included and after MIR), you have an extra $170~ to play with for a GPU.

 

To explain the rest.

 

The 1200 matches performance nicely with GPUs in this price range.

You get 4 cores, and overclocking will easily get you to the stock performance of the 1300x/1400 or a little better depending on your chip.

 

For Ryzen, RAM speed matters more than dual channel vs single channel. So a single stick of G.Skill 3000 will do fine, for about $15 more you can do dual channel 3000 if you'd prefer.

 

ADATA makes decent budget SSDs and it'll do fine for a boot drive and some games.

 

WD Blues are extremely well rated and companies like WD/Seagate will be better about any issues you may have.

 

The Corsair SPEC-01 is a great budget case and is only $30 after MIR, you get a decent looking case and better features than some of the other budget cases.

 

The EVGA 500W is a great 80plus rated PSU for any introductory build, again, EVGA has excellent customer support and has a very high QC standard.

 

In general, this is slightly more expensive than the bare minimum you could go with, but you get the backing of better overall brands, with good ratings, a higher QC, and typically better customer support.

 

Other than this, you could also look around locally for people selling reasonably priced parts, you may be able to find a great deal. I've gotten full systems(albeit a little older) for very reasonable prices by shopping around locally. Depending on where you live, you may find some amazing deals on GPUs. For example, a guy in my area was selling a 960 for $80.

 

The final option would be to wait until GPU prices to calm down(hopefully we get a huge dump of cheap GPUs one Ebay) and for Ryzen with Integrated Graphics.

 

Let me know if you have any questions!