$500 Gaming build

[hans030390]

Any recommendations for a ~$500 gaming build? I'm thinking of something like the following:

Athlon II X2 240 (Priced better than E5200, performs better, and I might not OC)
Gigabyte GA-MA770T-UD3P Motherboard
4GB DDR3 RAM
Radeon HD 5770 (I'd really like to had DX11)
Rosewill Conqueror Case (Looks nice, comes with a good enough PSU)
Samsung DVD burner
WD 320GB HDD (Trying to save a few bucks...don't need 500GB)

This comes out to around $527 ($507 after MIR) from Newegg. Any other suggestions? It's definitely a budget desktop...I really don't have the money to spend any more than this build, TBH.

 

[mpilchfamily]

Very few PSUs that are bundled with cases are ever good enough for more then the most basic system. You will have to buy a better PSU. You'll probably have to go with a lower end video card to copensate for the need of a decent PSU. Exspect to put about $60 to $80 on a decent PSU.

 

[Spikesoldier]

id probably go 5750 and drop another one in later

seconding the idea of getting a quality psu, get a corsair seasonic or pc power and cooling.

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
Very few PSUs that are bundled with cases are ever good enough for more then the most basic system. You will have to buy a better PSU. You'll probably have to go with a lower end video card to copensate for the need of a decent PSU. Exspect to put about $60 to $80 on a decent PSU.

If you read this article, they describe building a $500 PC similar to what I'm looking for. They use a similar Rosewill case that includes a PSU, and they claim it powers everything just fine. It's running a 4870, which eats up more power than a 5770. The case + PSU I'm looking at includes a better PSU as well, so I don't think I'll have any problems with the included PSU.

If I had the extra cash, which I don't, I'd get a better PSU. I'm not exactly willing to budge on the GPU if the included PSU should work just fine.

Originally posted by: Spikesoldier
id probably go 5750 and drop another one in later

seconding the idea of getting a quality psu, get a corsair seasonic or pc power and cooling.

I'm not planning on running Crossfire, and the 5750 seems to be a bit underpowered for what I want.

 

[Firsttime]

Ok, I spec'd this out to $523ish with $30 MiR. So less then $500.

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811147109

With your budget and reqs you have to skimp on your case.

CPU/MB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.272089

Good combo deal, BE CPU for awesome OC'ing, great for gaming, Anand has it in some of his benchmarks. MB is ATX and does DDR3.

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121350

5770 as per request.

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139008

Corsair, more then powerful enough, $20 MiR. Honestly for a budget build it's dumb not to get this PSU haha.

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227346

4 gigs of OCZ DDR3

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136098

WD Blue 320GB.


If I were building a PC that's how I would do it. The 550 BE is just a beast gaming CPU right now, competes with anything else out there, plus there is a chance it unlocks to 4 cores.

Edit: Haha forgot a burner. Seriously the performance gains are big enough with a build like this use an old CD drive someone is more then likely to have kicking around until you can save up $30 for a burner.

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: Firsttime
Ok, I spec'd this out to $523ish with $30 MiR. So less then $500.

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811147109

With your budget and reqs you have to skimp on your case.

CPU/MB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.272089

Good combo deal, BE CPU for awesome OC'ing, great for gaming, Anand has it in some of his benchmarks. MB is ATX and does DDR3.

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121350

5770 as per request.

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139008

Corsair, more then powerful enough, $20 MiR. Honestly for a budget build it's dumb not to get this PSU haha.

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227346

4 gigs of OCZ DDR3

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136098

WD Blue 320GB.


If I were building a PC that's how I would do it. The 550 BE is just a beast gaming CPU right now, competes with anything else out there, plus there is a chance it unlocks to 4 cores.

Edit: Haha forgot a burner. Seriously the performance gains are big enough with a build like this use an old CD drive someone is more then likely to have kicking around until you can save up $30 for a burner.

I don't have an extra burner. Nor does anyone else around here.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Originally posted by: hans030390

Originally posted by: Firsttime
Ok, I spec'd this out to $523ish with $30 MiR. So less then $500.

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811147109

With your budget and reqs you have to skimp on your case.

CPU/MB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.272089

Good combo deal, BE CPU for awesome OC'ing, great for gaming, Anand has it in some of his benchmarks. MB is ATX and does DDR3.

GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814121350

5770 as per request.

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139008

Corsair, more then powerful enough, $20 MiR. Honestly for a budget build it's dumb not to get this PSU haha.

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820227346

4 gigs of OCZ DDR3

HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16822136098

WD Blue 320GB.


If I were building a PC that's how I would do it. The 550 BE is just a beast gaming CPU right now, competes with anything else out there, plus there is a chance it unlocks to 4 cores.

Edit: Haha forgot a burner. Seriously the performance gains are big enough with a build like this use an old CD drive someone is more then likely to have kicking around until you can save up $30 for a burner.

I don't have an extra burner. Nor does anyone else around here.

You could also get an Athlon II X3 or X4.

 

[Firsttime]

If you go the FS/FT forums here I'm sure you could find a DVD/CD-RW drive for like $10 shipped if your budget is too tight to add the $30 too.

I prefer the 550 over a X3 or X4 for gaming, the X3 and X4 just take too much from a $500 budget and the OC'ing and unlocking potential in a 550 is just unbeatable I think.

 

[hans030390]

Another thing to think about is shipping. Some combinations cost less than $10 to ship. Some are $20+.

 

[aLeoN]

Does the 550 BE come with a HSF?

 

[BaboonGuy]

Yes.

 

[snyderrich]

My rig minus the HDDs and the DVD burners was just a little over the $500
mark, do you already have a HDD? can the DVD burner wait, they are cheap.
I'm thinking you already have monitor and OS?
I have no problem playing COD4..NFS SHIFT,..Left4dead, among others
Even on my 32 inch LCDTV graphics are as good as the tv will allow, its a 720p
I've had this for 4 months so far and no probs except 4 the cpu cooler I just
got, fan wont work, replaced fan, and bingo