500-600 dollar gaming build

[Npfd532]

I'm looking to build my son a gaming pc, I used to do a lot of work with hardware but turned towards software development about 5 years ago and completely lost touch with the hardware technology. He does most of his gaming on Xbox so I don't need an Alienware and I was hoping to spend around 500 dollars but can go over if necessary, but not above 600. He mostly does a good amount of steam gaming and mine craft. So I'm looking for something that can still handle high end games but stays near my budget. Does anyone have any suggestions or build specs, I would like to say thanks in advance for any help, and enjoy your holidays.

 

[Beezy]

do you need a monitor and operating system included in the budget?

 

[Npfd532]

No monitor or os needed

 

[Beezy]

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2l1rG) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2l1rG/by_merchant/) / [Benchmarks](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2l1rG/benchmarks/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-fd6300wmhkbox) | $109.99 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [MSI 970A-G43 ATX AM3+ Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-970ag43) | $59.99 @ Microcenter
**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9b) | $79.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $59.98 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [Asus Radeon HD 7770 2GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-hd77702gd5) | $117.98 @ SuperBiiz
**Case** | [Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-case-one) | $29.99 @ NCIX US
**Power Supply** | [Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx500m) | $49.99 @ Microcenter
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $507.91
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-12-15 22:32 EST-0500 |


If you want to add a DVD-RW drive that's up to you, but its a waste in my opinion. Your son games on Steam and installing the OS from a USB drive is easy too, if you google a guide

 

[Npfd532]

Thanks you very much for your help, I agree with you on the optical drive thanks again for your help it is much appreciated

 

[Beezy]

Thanks you very much for your help, I agree with you on the optical drive thanks again for your help it is much appreciated

any other money you feel you want to spend should go into the GPU first, and then upgrade the motherboard to an ASUS M5A97 R2.0. If you find an HD 7870 for 129.99 get that (ive seen that deal come and go on newegg but its getting rare). The build I made is budgeting closer to the 500 price point.

 

[Npfd532]

I used all of these parts verified everything is the way it should be and now every time he plays a game he gets 10 minutes into the game and starts to get glitches and then either freezes or gets display driver stopped responding and recovered I do notice gpu% usage goes to 90% when it glitches but temp and everything else is good. Read a lot of similar problems online but no steadfast solution. Did the Regfix to allow more time for gpu to respond and updated ccc cant find a v bios update for thiscard any suggestions? I'm lost at this point

 

[Beezy]

could be a defective part...it sucks but it happens. is there any other computer to test that GPU in because i suspect its the culprit. the parts are certainly all compatible

 

[Npfd532]

Yea, I do have an old desktop that I am going to pop the card in, I figured that might be the cause, it only seems to happen with rust which is very graphic intensive, I played team fortress for about 15 minutes no glitches. I am going to have to test it in another machine to see if the gpu is the problem. I hope you didnt think I was saying the parts werent compatable I didnt mean to sound like that. I trusted that everything was fine with each other. I will try it in another desktop and see if that helps. The only thing that worries me and again I am not savvy on this whole gaming thing is here is the screen shot of afterburner when rust glitched out. Is the GPU hitting 80-90% a worry or an indicator of anything ?

http://infinitesoundsny.com/msi.png

 

[Beezy]

yeah a GPU hitting 80 or 90% isn't bad, but it shouldn't stay there for long.

 

[Npfd532]

Breezy thank you for all your help...... turned out to be a bad video card. Bought a new one and no issues, rma'd the old card. Thanks again for all your help. Have a happy and safe new year, forums need more helpful people like yourself!

 

[Beezy]

glad it worked out