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Gaming PC Challenge: $500 Limit

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Brett Magnetic

Brett Magnetic

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Aug 13, 2011
Location
Wisconsin
This is quite simple and open to all!

Build the best gaming PC(tower only) that you can think of using only products on Newegg! The total price before shipping must be $500 or lower! Pictures of your shopping cart would be great! Any explanation to your picks would be greatly appreciated as well! Have fun!

Build must include a case.
 
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You can't build a gaming PC for $500. It'd be a pig. Mostly composed of last gen and/or open box parts. Many have tried. There are numerous threads of people trying to make a 5 or 600 dollar rig. You can't do anything really decent for less than about 750. Ideally 900, pre software.
 
I'm not asking for a top of the line rig here. Just give me the best of what you got for under $500.

And software does not need to be included in your build. Again, this is just a chance to use your imagination to build the best rig with what you have(theoretically if you have $500). It doesn't matter if it's last gen models.
 
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Was bored at work, so decided to give it a go. I could have got it under 500 by going cheaper on the mobo, video card, or power supply, but didn't like the results. As Theocnoob said, it's hard to build a "gaming machine" in that price range without major sacrifices. Tried to do components that would allow future upgrades.

Mobo will allow next gen processors to upgrade as well as crossfire (also have seen info that this mobo has a core unlocker, but couldn't verify). I have this processor in my computer in my bedroom, and it clocks quite well. Video card will hold it's own, as well as scales well with crossfire if you want to upgrade later. Case is inexspensive, but is well built for the price, and has at least some cable management.



NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Recertified: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
ASUS M5A97 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-4GBRL
AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition Heka 2.8GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Processor HDZ720WFK3DGI - OEM
XFX HD-685X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

I failed by about 34 dollars, however i felt the 34 dollars was worth it to not downgrade on the mobo and video card.

Edit: Also, just realized I selected an OEM processor, so a cooler would be needed. Probably could find a standard AMD one free or close to it lol.
Edit 2: If you count mail in rebates, comes in about 10 dollars under 500. Throw COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 in for CPU cooling, and about 18 over including MIR's.
 
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M3dley said:
@Majicplicity- nice find!
Click to expand...

Yes, and actually after the rebates you have gone below the $500 mark! I know this wouldn't be a top of the line machine, but you did exactly what I was looking for! I'm still learning a lot before I do my first build, but I feel this is a good thing to think about when friends start knocking on your door looking for a cheap computer that they can play games on! Thanks for your contribution Majicplicity! I'm interested to see if I will get any more ideas.

And hell, you even got a game in there to boot!!

Oh, yeah didn't see the lack of fan, but whatever. Close enough!

I didn't know there was Packer fans in Salt Lake City!
 
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500buckpc.jpg


I tried to build something that had the most longevity..

am3+ capable board, 8gb of ddr3 1600 ram (overkill currently), dx11 card, quad core.

Issues with this build:

OEM cpu doesnt come with a fan!
No DVD drive either.
PSU - out of stock. :( But if you can find one get it. I have put 3 of these into customer's machines. They are great!

After rebates I believe its below 500 bucks.
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129065
Antec 300 + 430W PSU 89

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808
AMD 955 120

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130608
MSI AM3+ 105

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231190
4GB RAM 30

(evga B stock GTX 460) 120

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136770
320GB WD Blue 39

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._Burners_&_Media-_-Spotlight-_-27-135-204
Asus DVD 20

$512

^ Will run any current game reasonably, has upgrade path to bulldozer. Hard drive sucks but that is easily fixed later.
Had to make a lot of compromises though. Thing needs more case fans. Mobo is a bit bleh. Optical/HD are bleh. Ram and GPU are bleh.. If the budget were 6 or 700 it'd be easier. Still think you need about 900 to make anything really decent happen.
 
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Brett Magnetic said:
Yes, and actually after the rebates you have gone below the $500 mark! I know this wouldn't be a top of the line machine, but you did exactly what I was looking for! I'm still learning a lot before I do my first build, but I feel this is a good thing to think about when friends start knocking on your door looking for a cheap computer that they can play games on! Thanks for your contribution Majicplicity! I'm interested to see if I will get any more ideas.

And hell, you even got a game in there to boot!!

Oh, yeah didn't see the lack of fan, but whatever. Close enough!

I didn't know there was Packer fans in Salt Lake City!
Click to expand...

I have three friends that are currently wanting me to build them machines for BF3. Of course like many, they have a budget of 5-600 dollars. I forwarded the build I posted to one of them, and they seemed quite content with it.
 
buildq.png

Allright so first I want to remind everyone that I'm pretty new at learning about PC's and building and what-not, but I had to give this a shot from what I know so far. I'm studying 8 - 10 hours a day so that I can actually do something with my life, so don't be to hard on me ;).

This is what I would build for someone else if they came to me with only $500 to spend. In the end AFTER rebates this system will only cost about $473, plus there is $7 shipping(which I had said was not included in this anyway). If this is for me, I would probably take that extra $27 I didn't spend and get a 60 SSD to start with and get the HDD later.

Come to think of it, I would probably take that extra $27 and get a new fan. So still, I would be under $500 before shipping.

I have managed to fit 8GB 1600 of Ram, Quad 3.2ghz processor, Good size motherboard with decent amount of (6) SATA 6Gb and (2) USB 3.0 ports, a mid tower with built in 585watt power supply, 1tb hdd sata 6.0Gb/s, dvd burner with 5 free dvd's, and what looks like a decent Video Card for the price.

How does this look to everyone else? Would you change anything?
 
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It's a time killer if nothing else, but if anything this just taught me how to find deals. This is my first "budget" theoretical build.
 
Brett Magnetic said:
How does this look to everyone else? Would you change anything?
Click to expand...

My initial thoughts: Case and hard drives are personal preference. I have used WD, Samsung, Hitachi, and Seagate over the years on the different systems, and not run into any major problems (knock on wood lol). The AMD board selected is not AM3+, which will limit future upgrades (to some people that matters, others it doesn't). It also is not set up for crossfire (again, a preference thing for future upgrades, and if you go Nvidia for graphics, it doesn't really matter). The processor selected is not a black edition, so is not as easily overclockable (not saying it's not overclockable, just more involved to do so). I am a big fan of expandability when doing a new build. With the rate tech changes these days, being able to add/swap indivdual components in out easily will make system last much longer.

I think any of the builds people have done here will play current games pretty well. Graphics intense games maxed? No, but that is a given.

My 2 Cents (actual cash value may vary)
 
Cool thanks for your thoughts!

I was basically thinking of the computer retar*ed friends in mind that probably wouldn't know what they are doing anyway... actually I'm still pretty computer retar*ed so I can't really speak. Right now I'm just trying to figure out everything I need to know about hardware, and then I'm going to move into overclocking. Still sooooo much to learn, but I am enjoying it which is why I''m doing it in the first place. It's good that I have a couple of well learn-ed friends(actually one of them pointed me to this site). I appreciate any help I can get.
 
WoW and SC2 killer for $500

Plus a GTX460 1GB FBP from EVGA B-Stock for $110. Puts this at $505 shipped.
 

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