$500 Gaming build

S

Superhuman

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
May 19, 2006
Messages
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Planning to put together a $500 build to keep at my parent's house. Looking for the most bang for buck performance wise of course.

I'd appreciate some build recommendations. Been outta the game for a while.


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming and web browsing. BF3 and Diablo 3.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$500 w/ tax and shipping included

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Aliso Viejo, CA. Live near a MicroCenter.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, motherboard, ram, power supply, hard drive, video card

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Case, monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
20.5" 1680x1050

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
In the next 2 weeks

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
None of these

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows 7 Pro 64 bit
 
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Head to Micro Center for:

$120 - Intel Core i3 3225
$30 - MSI B75MA-P45 (instant $40 discount when purchased with i3-3225)
$55 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 1600 DIMM
$110 - EVGA GTX 650 1GB
$65 - Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD
$60 - Corsair CX430M 430 watt PSU
=====
$440 - Subtotal
+$36 - Tax from Tustin, CA store
$476 - Total

If you want to reduce the price even further, you may have to buy some parts online:

$48 - Corsair Value Select 8GB DDR3 1333 DIMM (replaces the Crucial Ballistix Sport)
$40 - Corsair CX430 (replaces the Corsair CX430M)
 
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I don't see anything wrong with tiraides' build, but FFS: if you're going to buy a $500 gaming build, you need to replace that god awful 1680x1050 monitor that's older than the dawn of time. If you can squeeze s'more money into this by purchasing some components used, monitor + tiraides build = good to go.
 
Xinmosni said:
I don't see anything wrong with tiraides' build, but FFS: if you're going to buy a $500 gaming build, you need to replace that god awful 1680x1050 monitor that's older than the dawn of time. If you can squeeze s'more money into this by purchasing some components used, monitor + tiraides build = good to go.
Click to expand...

Why would I spend money on a monitor I'm going to use maybe every other weekend for a total of 4 days a month? Defies logic lol. And that god awful 1680x1050 res is going to be displayed on a god damn beautiful NEC 20WMGX2. No way I'm replacing it. :)

Also, nothing wrong with tiraides' build (thank you for the recommendation btw). It's just always good to get more than 1 opinion.
 
If it were me I'd save up 20-30 more and get a SSD instead of the spinner. If you are only gaming with those 2 games you should be able to use a smaller (cheaper) drive. If not you may have to go used or save a bit more but it will be (IMHO) the largest performance upgrade next for the $.
 
Tiraides' build is your best bet for a solid system.
 
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