Best PC Builds 2017 - $500 Budget Category

[feelinfroggy777]

Son of Kong

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4600 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($95.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-E/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin TRIACTOR 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $512.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-27 23:44 EST-0500

Minus $12.97 for Shipping
Total: $499.93

 

[MasTomi]

Balanced Gaming and Media PC with SSD

CPU: Intel Pentium G4500 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor $75.40@ Newegg
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA Premier SP550 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($48.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card ($135.39 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill FBM-02 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ NewEgg])
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $484.73

 

[ScrewySqrl]

bare minimum quad core:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6400 2.7GHz Quad-Core Processor ($182.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-E/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE4 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($42.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2GB Video Card ($114.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill FBM-05 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($33.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $495.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-28 09:21 EST-0500

 

[joz]

Out of curiosity, how are builds with Kaby Lake CPU + 100 series motherboards going to be evaluated? Regarding the BIOS requiring an update, since it's unlikely that the current stock of motherboards will be updated for Kaby Lake.

 

[weberdarren97]

Beauty and the Beast

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4520 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($90.84 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($50.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB Video Card ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Case: VIVO CASE-V01 ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Total (from site and includes shipping): $493.76
Shipping: -$4.98
The Actual Total: $488.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-28 13:48 EST-0500

 

[SvrakaEK]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($120.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus H110M-E/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE4 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card ($144.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $435.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-28 16:22 EST-0500

 

[PCGame4Life]

SSD, Max GB me ASAP

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($121.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: PNY Anarchy 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($81.34 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital RE4 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($42.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 740 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($95.98 @ Newegg)
Case: HEC 6T10LOH585 (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case w/585W Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $497.25

 

[shrapnel_indie]

Case: HEC 6T10LOH585 (Black) MicroATX Mini Tower Case w/585W Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)

tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick... >BOOM<
Goes the HEC PSU included with that case. Taking out parts with it.

 

[Lucky_SLS]

Trigger Ready mini

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($98.44 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock 980DE3/U3S3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($58.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Essentials 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 500GB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4GB NITRO D5 OC Video Card ($194.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($33.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($41.97 @ Amazon)
Base Total: $498.93
Total: $532.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-14 05:31 EST-0500
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

For those of u hesitant about FX 6300, check this out http://www.3dmark.com/search#/?mode=advanced&url=/proxycon/ajax/search/cpugpu/spy/P/1543/1092/500000?minScore=0&cpuName=AMD%20FX-6300&gpuName=AMD%20Radeon%20RX%20480
The Pentium counter-part http://www.3dmark.com/search#/?mode=advanced&url=/proxycon/ajax/search/cpugpu/spy/P/2205/1092/500000?minScore=0&cpuName=Intel%20Pentium%20G4560&gpuName=AMD%20Radeon%20RX%20480
i3 7350k http://www.3dmark.com/search#/?mode=advanced&url=/proxycon/ajax/search/cpugpu/spy/P/2197/1092/500000?minScore=0&cpuName=Intel%20Core%20i3-7350K&gpuName=AMD%20Radeon%20RX%20480

 

[Vic 40]

Ssmall,

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4600 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($89.16 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($73.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Force LE 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card ($144.24 @ Amazon)
Case: DIYPC MA08-BK MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($46.98 @ Newegg)
Total:
Base Total: $493.50
Shipping: $17.83
Total: $511.33
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-01-29 08:15 EST-0500

Doubted to enter something since really liking that first build by logainof hades,but am willing to get lesser graphics performance to include an ssd.

 

[Jsimenhoff]

Out of curiosity, how are builds with Kaby Lake CPU + 100 series motherboards going to be evaluated? Regarding the BIOS requiring an update, since it's unlikely that the current stock of motherboards will be updated for Kaby Lake.

To my knowledge all ASRock, MSI, ASUS, and Gigabyte 100 series motherboards have BIOS compatibility updates available for Kaby Lake CPUs. I see no reason to disqualify this types of builds.

 

[Jsimenhoff]

tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick... >BOOM<
Goes the HEC PSU included with that case. Taking out parts with it.

For a second their I thought you were referencing Intel's CPU update schedule.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Out of curiosity, how are builds with Kaby Lake CPU + 100 series motherboards going to be evaluated? Regarding the BIOS requiring an update, since it's unlikely that the current stock of motherboards will be updated for Kaby Lake.

To my knowledge all ASRock, MSI, ASUS, and Gigabyte 100 series motherboards have BIOS compatibility updates available for Kaby Lake CPUs. I see no reason to disqualify this types of builds.

Unfortunately until the old stock is gone , people are buying boards that won't boot Kaby because of an old BIOS , Have come across about 10 of them this weekend alone. Some of the higher end boards have the ability to load a BIOS without a CPU , but not many. People need to purchase cautiously.

 

[RylieDetchon]

■ "Ballin' on a budget"

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hC7jLD

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($49.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: ADATA Ultimate SU800 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 4GB Video Card ($184.98 @ Newegg)
Case: VIVO CASE-V00 ATX Mini Tower Case ($27.99 @ Newegg Marketplace)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($40.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $519.89
Shipping: $19.96
REAL Total: $499.93

 

[shrapnel_indie]

tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick...tick... >BOOM<
Goes the HEC PSU included with that case. Taking out parts with it.

For a second their I thought you were referencing Intel's CPU update schedule.

Nah, While Intel's upgrades to their CPUs haven't been all that exciting... It isn't dangerous.... Although I guess it could be the explosion of improvement if Ryzen actually performs as well as the demos suggest.

 

[bak0n]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($117.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($71.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate FireCuda 1TB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 460 4GB STRIX OC Video Card ($116.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 110 Mini ITX Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $497.94

 

[zilopfa]

Scorpio Repeller

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G4560 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H110M-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($73.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.49 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($144.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Raidmax Element Mini ITX Desktop Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Silverstone 300W 80+ Bronze Certified SFX Power Supply ($60.00 @ Amazon)

Base Total:$486.43
Shipping:$22.98
Total:$509.41
Prices include shipping, taxes,but not discounts
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-06 11:57 EST-0500

 

[Jsimenhoff]

Unfortunately until the old stock is gone , people are buying boards that won't boot Kaby because of an old BIOS , Have come across about 10 of them this weekend alone. Some of the higher end boards have the ability to load a BIOS without a CPU , but not many. People need to purchase cautiously.

I am checking in with the editorial staff to see if they will weigh in on this complex situation. For now we will be accepting builds with Kaby Lake processors and Series 100 boards.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Unfortunately until the old stock is gone , people are buying boards that won't boot Kaby because of an old BIOS , Have come across about 10 of them this weekend alone. Some of the higher end boards have the ability to load a BIOS without a CPU , but not many. People need to purchase cautiously.

I am checking in with the editorial staff to see if they will weigh in on this complex situation. For now we will be accepting builds with Kaby Lake processors and Series 100 boards.

I was more worried about people purchasing a bad combo right now after viewing the builds this thread. I understand allowing it though as they will be compatible.

 

[Jsimenhoff]

If according to the manufacturers their series 100 products are compatible with Kaby Lake processors, then it is their responsibility to make good on their customer's purchase.

 

[FritzEiv]

SR-71 Blackbird: Can you point me to a few of these boards, or issues? I'd be curious to know and perhaps follow up on that. Meanwhile: a.) For those choosing Kaby Lake, I'd just suggest seeing if there are motherboard issues by checking on the vendor website (and like _Johnny5 says, they should honor this) and b.) Obviously seeing if there are reported issues with that motherboard-CPU combo. We do a final check of all submissions that are finalists as well.

 

[Joe_1969]

Karthik, I deleted your last post as "off-topic," as it did not adhere to the rules. All parts must come from Newegg and/or Amazon.

Why do i also see people with no video cards? isn't this a gaming scenerio?

 

[quilciri]

Karthik, I deleted your last post as "off-topic," as it did not adhere to the rules. All parts must come from Newegg and/or Amazon.

Why do i also see people with no video cards? isn't this a gaming scenerio?

Read the rules, please.

..nowhere do they say it must be a gaming build. While most will be gaming builds, it is not a requirement.

 

[Jsimenhoff]

Why do i also see people with no video cards? isn't this a gaming scenerio?

While graphics cards are not explicitly required in the rules, please note:

"we ask the community for its help picking parts based on performance and features for the price".

You can be assured that builds without graphics cards will be judged harshly against builds that include them.

 

[quilciri]

Why do i also see people with no video cards? isn't this a gaming scenerio?

While graphics cards are not explicitly required in the rules, please note:

"we ask the community for its help picking parts based on performance and features for the price".

You can be assured that builds without graphics cards will be judged harshly against builds that include them.

If that is the case, the contest should be called best gaming PC builds, not best PC builds. I realize most discussions on this site concern gaming PC's, but there is a significant chunk that don't. I assume you don't mean to alienate those people from the build contests