Gaming pc for around $500

W

waffles

Member
Hey guys thinking about buying a desktop to play my video games on and maybe apps like photoshop/illustrator and unity but mostly video games for now.
I searched google for "$500 gaming desktop" and this came up. He seemed to be able to play most games medium/high which is what I want. I could go up to $800 if I need too. What do you guys think?
Thanks
From the video:

Intel Core i3-3220 CPU: http://amzn.to/12hqsUj

MSI B75MA-P45 Motherboard: http://amzn.to/12a7hei

EVGA GTX 650 Ti Graphics Card: http://amzn.to/12hqwDy

4GB Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz RAM: http://amzn.to/1cJjwo4

500GB Western Digital Caviar Blue Hard Drive: http://amzn.to/13hWRR9

430W Corsair CX430 Power Supply: http://amzn.to/19PZCeR
Case: random one that's on sale when I buy
 
Last edited:
That's a good build for the money. That guy normally gives out good advice, I've seen his stuff before. If I were you though I'd save up more money before building. It's "cheaper" to spend more now if that makes sense. If you get mediocre stuff now then it's going to be need to be replaced sooner, which costs more money. 800 would get you much better performance and is worth it in my opinion. Even 6 or 700 would be better.
 
I agree with Denther.
At a really low budget, you don't get that good price/performance. At around $650-800 you start getting really good price/performance. $800-1200 is also very good, but then it starts to drop a bit.
If you increased your budget, I would upgrade to 8GB (2x4GB) and a better GPU. Perhaps a 1TB instead of 500GB.
 
Denther said:
That's a good build for the money. That guy normally gives out good advice, I've seen his stuff before. If I were you though I'd save up more money before building. It's "cheaper" to spend more now if that makes sense. If you get mediocre stuff now then it's going to be need to be replaced sooner, which costs more money. 800 would get you much better performance and is worth it in my opinion. Even 6 or 700 would be better.
Click to expand...

+1 to this. I bought mediocre stuff at first and ended up replacing it. Expensive way of doing it. Better to wait a bit longer and buy what you really want.

Also agree that you should get a 7850 instead of the 650 Ti.
 
Thanks everyone! After thinking about it I have decided to push my budget to $800. With this budget what components do you guys recommend? Or should I wait for sales and stuff and slowly build my computer over time?
Thanks
 
For $833 you can get this really solid build.

FX-8320 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285
Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514
8GB 1866MHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455

Seagate 1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
Corsair CX 600M http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139048
Phantom 410 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146087
ASUS DVD-RW http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Gigabyte HD 7870 GHz Edition http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

That comes to $833, if you want it to full under $800, you can replace the FX-8320 with the FX-6300 and the whole thing comes to $794 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113286 whilst the FX-6300 is a decent CPU, I would probably be inclined to spend a bit more and buy the 8320 since it's not a lot more and you get two extra cores.

I don't know if you need an OS or not but OEM Windows 7 Home 64-bit is 100 bucks and OEM Windows 8 64-bit is also 100 bucks (140 for 8 Pro OEM).
 
If you wanted to save some money on that build then I'd advise spending a bit less on the case, although that one is fantastic, I have it and love it.

Also could save money by getting a 970 chipset rather than 990. Also could get rid of the modular power supply and just get a regular CX 600.

If you can afford it I would keep what that list has but if you need to save some cash you could try what I suggested.

If at all possible keep the 8320 and you can downgrade some other stuff to save if you wish.

Building over time isn't advisable as prices for stuff always drops while new technology is also coming out. A video card for 200 dollars today will either be cheaper in two months, or replaced by something in two months that is more powerful for the same price. Some stuff doesn't change in price as much like Cases, Hard Drives, Disc Drives, Power Supplies, and Motherboards (although to a lesser extent). Sign up for Newegg's email deals and keep an eye out for the parts you've got, as you can normally save some cash from those.
 
Last edited:
Thanks guys, what if I wanted to use components (most of them) made by american/uk companies? Could I still get the same performance for the price?
Thanks
 
Basically all computer parts are imported from Asia so you're going to be out of luck there. I can't think of a single American or British company that manufacturers computer parts.
 
Denther said:
If you wanted to save some money on that build then I'd advise spending a bit less on the case, although that one is fantastic, I have it and love it.

Also could save money by getting a 970 chipset rather than 990. Also could get rid of the modular power supply and just get a regular CX 600M.

If you can afford it I would keep what that list has but if you need to save some cash you could try what I suggested.

If at all possible keep the 8320 and you can downgrade some other stuff to save if you wish.
Click to expand...
I'm not too hot on changing the motherboard but by all means save money on the power supply and case. Strictly speaking, if you got the Phantom 410, you probably wouldn't need the modular power supply which I suggested since you can probably hide the excess cables behind the motherboard tray.

If you wanted a cheaper case the Zalman Z9 and Z11 Plus cases are good, as is the Corsair 200R and 300R.
 
Denther said:
Basically all computer parts are imported from Asia so you're going to be out of luck there. I can't think of a single American or British company that manufacturers computer parts.
Click to expand...

Sorry I didn't mean "manufactured" but headquartered.
Thanks
 
waffles said:
Sorry I didn't mean "manufactured" but headquartered.
Thanks
Click to expand...

Then you're pretty lucky cause I can't think of any companies that are not headquartered in the US. Bare in mind that for example even though Intel was created by Americans and has its headquarters in America it belongs to the Chinese right now. By that I don't mean that they literally have a Chinese CEO but rather that they moved their production to China which lets China control them. Same with apple, even though apple is considered to be American all of their products are produced by a company called Foxconn which is a 100% Chinese company and they control apple.
 
SpringWater said:
Then you're pretty lucky cause I can't think of any companies that are not headquartered in the US. Bare in mind that for example even though Intel was created by Americans and has its headquarters in America it belongs to the Chinese right now. By that I don't mean that they literally have a Chinese CEO but rather that they moved their production to China which lets China control them. Same with apple, even though apple is considered to be American all of their products are produced by a company called Foxconn which is a 100% Chinese company and they control apple.
Click to expand...
Wells theres g skill and gigabyte.
 
Why does it really matter where the manufacturers are headquarted? So long as you've got the parts and they work and do what you want them to do, it surely doesn't matter where the companies who make the parts are headquarted?

I could understand it if you didn't want to buy parts which were *made/assembled* by people on poor wages in sweatshops in Asia, and that's fair enough (but the sad truth is that's going to be hard for some components), but I don't get why you're concerned about where these companies are headquarted.

The HAF 932 looks like a decent enough case but it's very expensive. The NZXT Phantom is much cheaper so I would probably go for that and save your money. I think the Phantom looks better and has better cable management anyway http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067
 
spirit said:
Why does it really matter where the manufacturers are headquarted? So long as you've got the parts and they work and do what you want them to do, it surely doesn't matter where the companies who make the parts are headquarted?

I could understand it if you didn't want to buy parts which were *made/assembled* by people on poor wages in sweatshops in Asia, and that's fair enough (but the sad truth is that's going to be hard for some components), but I don't get why you're concerned about where these companies are headquarted.

The HAF 932 looks like a decent enough case but it's very expensive. The NZXT Phantom is much cheaper so I would probably go for that and save your money. I think the Phantom looks better and has better cable management anyway http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067
Click to expand...

You have a point, I just like supporting the American economy as much as possible.
Ok I changed a couple things tell me what you think.

HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339
MB: (same one just cheaper on amazon)
CPU: Same just no tax with amazon
And it all comes down to a little less than $800 yay :)
btw do I want sdram? and do you guys suggest windows 7 or 8?
Thanks guys
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top