< $500 budget gaming build

[ann0yanc3]

I only need CPU, Mobo, RAM, Video Card, PSU.

CPU: Core i5-2400 for $150 ($165 w/tax) @ MC

Need suggestions for the rest. Mobo must be mATX. 4GB of RAM should be enough. I'll be gaming @ 1080p. I'd like for most of the eyecandy to be on.

The more I can get @ MicroCenter, the better.

If you'd like to help me, thank you so much in advance.

 

[asyork]

I built most of my computer at MC, but the only thing they had way overpriced was the memory. It may not still be the case, but I saved ~$60 on 6GB of DDR3 by getting that from Newegg and the rest from MC.

As for the rest, at that price point I would probably just go to Microcenter and pick up whatever parts fit into my budget the best. They run a lot of CPU + mobo deals there. RAM is getting to be super cheap these days, and you should be able to run a computer like that on a pretty low wattage PSU.

If you really want the best bang for your buck, I would suggest keeping an eye on the FS/FT forum here. A lot of people like to keep on the bleeding edge, and sell off their "old" gear at very reasonable prices.

 

[E4g1e]

For $500, you'd be better off with an AMD build at this time because the least-expensive worthwhile Intel build would cost you significantly more than $500. Plus, the i5-2400 is not so good of a buy even at $165 because the "overclockable" i5-2500K costs just $30 more. However, if you pick the 2500K and the least-expensive worthwhile motherboard, you would have spent at least about $374 with tax on just the CPU and mobo. That leaves you with only $126 with tax for the rest of the build (GPU, RAM, PSU, HDD, optical drive and case). So, there is no way at all whatsoever to go with the least-expensive Intel combo without having to severely downgrade everything else (you'd get a really shitty PSU that can't handle even the relatively low power draw of that rig and graphics card, in this case). Even if you stick with your original choice of the i5-2400, you'd still have to pay $100+ on the motherboard. leaving you with less than $215 for the rest of the system combined. That's still nowhere near enough to buy a decent GPU, a decent PSU and an HDD that's of a good price to performance and capacity ratio. So, you'll have to increase your total budget by about $300 (making it about $800) for the least-expensive worthwhile Intel Sandy Bridge build (since Micro Center's pricing is relatively high on everything except for the CPU and the HDD after sales tax).

Also, answer the questions in the sticky above.

 

[tonytnnt]

OP doesn't need a complete build. Just CPU, motherboard, GPU, PSU, and RAM.
$500 Build:

$43 (before $10 MIR) - PNY Optima 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$50 (before $10 MIR) - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 (CMPSU-600CX) 600W (use coupon code MARCHEND10 to get $5.50 the $54 price.)
$220 (before $30 MIR) - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit (comes with a free USB2 TV tuner. But I chose it for the price and lifetime warranty.)
$170 (before $15 MIR) - Intel Core i3-2100 with ECS H61H2-M2
Total (including shipping to Nebraska since you DIDN'T FILL OUT THE STICKY ): $485.35
Total after mail in rebates: $420.35

For gaming, even the lowly Core i3-2100 is keeping pace with the fastest AMD chips currently out there. Notice I didn't use Microcenter for any of the above prices. Theres a few reasons for this: 1) It's easier for me to use Newegg's search. 2) I don't know where you live, so I can't select your local store. 3) I can't find any solid numbers on Microcenter's current combo deals. However, it might be possible to save more money if you can convince the store to give you this combo deal (which expired 4 days ago.) Or you might be able to get some other combo deal with a Core i5. Just keep the CPU+motherboard under $185 and you'll be in budget without even having to worry if the MIRs come back.

Also if you're subscribed to Newegg's promotional emails it's possible to shave a bit more off this. (The hard drive goes to $36 and there's 4GB of Kingston Hyper-X for $45 before a $15 MIR.)

 

[ann0yanc3]

OP doesn't need a complete build. Just CPU, motherboard, GPU, PSU, and RAM.
$500 Build:

$43 (before $10 MIR) - PNY Optima 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$50 (before $10 MIR) - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 (CMPSU-600CX) 600W (use coupon code MARCHEND10 to get $5.50 the $54 price.)
$220 (before $30 MIR) - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit (comes with a free USB2 TV tuner. But I chose it for the price and lifetime warranty.)
$170 (before $15 MIR) - Intel Core i3-2100 with ECS H61H2-M2
Total (including shipping to Nebraska since you DIDN'T FILL OUT THE STICKY ): $485.35
Total after mail in rebates: $420.35

For gaming, even the lowly Core i3-2100 is keeping pace with the fastest AMD chips currently out there. Notice I didn't use Microcenter for any of the above prices. Theres a few reasons for this: 1) It's easier for me to use Newegg's search. 2) I don't know where you live, so I can't select your local store. 3) I can't find any solid numbers on Microcenter's current combo deals. However, it might be possible to save more money if you can convince the store to give you this combo deal (which expired 4 days ago.) Or you might be able to get some other combo deal with a Core i5. Just keep the CPU+motherboard under $185 and you'll be in budget without even having to worry if the MIRs come back.

Also if you're subscribed to Newegg's promotional emails it's possible to shave a bit more off this. (The hard drive goes to $36 and there's 4GB of Kingston Hyper-X for $45 before a $15 MIR.)

Thanks so much! I was looking at that MC Core i3 combo deal for $99, but I wasn't sure if it was good enough for gaming. I don't want to overclock. I'm in California BTW.

Also, Microcenter will pricematch Newegg, unless Newegg is running some crazy special.

 

[E4g1e]

OP doesn't need a complete build. Just CPU, motherboard, GPU, PSU, and RAM.
$500 Build:

$43 (before $10 MIR) - PNY Optima 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$50 (before $10 MIR) - CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 (CMPSU-600CX) 600W (use coupon code MARCHEND10 to get $5.50 the $54 price.)
$220 (before $30 MIR) - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit (comes with a free USB2 TV tuner. But I chose it for the price and lifetime warranty.)
$170 (before $15 MIR) - Intel Core i3-2100 with ECS H61H2-M2
Total (including shipping to Nebraska since you DIDN'T FILL OUT THE STICKY ): $485.35
Total after mail in rebates: $420.35

For gaming, even the lowly Core i3-2100 is keeping pace with the fastest AMD chips currently out there. Notice I didn't use Microcenter for any of the above prices. Theres a few reasons for this: 1) It's easier for me to use Newegg's search. 2) I don't know where you live, so I can't select your local store. 3) I can't find any solid numbers on Microcenter's current combo deals. However, it might be possible to save more money if you can convince the store to give you this combo deal (which expired 4 days ago.) Or you might be able to get some other combo deal with a Core i5. Just keep the CPU+motherboard under $185 and you'll be in budget without even having to worry if the MIRs come back.

Also if you're subscribed to Newegg's promotional emails it's possible to shave a bit more off this. (The hard drive goes to $36 and there's 4GB of Kingston Hyper-X for $45 before a $15 MIR.)

Thanks for the clarification. However, if the OP wants a true quad-core CPU, he would still have to spend more than $500 for the CPU, mobo, RAM, GPU and PSU upgrade. There will be newer games coming out later this year that will absolutely require a quad-core CPU just to even run at all. Such games will detect the i3 as only dual-core, and will error out back to the Windows desktop if one even attempts to install or run it at all.

 

[asyork]

People don't build <$500 computers to run games that aren't even out yet. I would also be *very* surprised if games started to absolutely require 4 non-HT cores any time soon. Asking for 4 cores on the system requirements seems reasonable for a CPU intensive game, but adding code to detect 4 physical cores and closing the game if they aren't there.

 

[tonytnnt]

Thanks for the clarification. However, if the OP wants a true quad-core CPU, he would still have to spend more than $500 for the CPU, mobo, RAM, GPU and PSU upgrade. There will be newer games coming out later this year that will absolutely require a quad-core CPU just to even run at all. Such games will detect the i3 as only dual-core, and will error out back to the Windows desktop if one even attempts to install or run it at all.

Eesh, I didn't realize that. I can't find anything about it on Google, but if that's true, OP you've got a couple options. You can strech your budget and get an Intel Core i5-2400 with a motherboard from Microcenter (I don't know if they're giving motherboards away with anything above the Core i3-2100. If they will give you a motherboard for less than $35 you'll be in budget before taxes.) If you can strech your budget even further, a Core i5-2500k with a P67 motherboard is awesome because it can be overclocked.

If Intel just isn't going to work though because you don't want to break your budget, see this page, and get an AMD Phenom&#8482; II X4 965 Black Edition with the MSI 880G-E45 Socket AM3 880G ATX motherboard for $170 or an AMD Phenom&#8482; II X6 1055T with the MSI 785GT-E63 Socket AM2+ 785G ATX for $180. You can also get the MSI 785GT-E63 on the Phenom II X4 965 if you want to save $10.