Budget Gaming PC Build Help

sterlingh78

Honorable
Feb 17, 2013
5
0
10,510
Hello, I have a budget of about $500 and I want to build a PC that can run games like Skyrim and Battlefield 3 on pretty good settings. Any help? I already have a 400 GB HDD and a 37 inch monitor, I just need the remaining parts. Thanks
 
generic entirely off newegg based build:

(pushing the budget a bit)
Pentium G2130 Newegg has it at the same price as g2120
Biostar TZ77B + free 2x4 gb corsair ram you may think im weird for recommending a z77 board, but its because it comes with free ram. a 110$ board with free ram is a slightly better investment vs a 70$ board with 40$ ram
Win8 64 bit oem you may find it less on a different site, idk.
Corsair Builder 430w bronze(newer version)
NZXT Source 210
HIS IceQ 7850 1gb with tomb raider + Bioshock infinite


total before rebates is 546.94. I forgot to add a dvd drive if you needed one. if the budget MUST go under 500$, then get a HD 7770. rebates on corsairs cx line is 20$
 
If that machine's main purpose is for games, keep as strong of a video card as possible. My humble suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Pentium G860 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor ($68.76 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-E33 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: MSI TC- (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($27.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)

Total: $491.67 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

enjoy!
 


^+1
Nice find, dudewitbow!
/steal

Replace the mobo & RAM in the build I suggested with that. Should put you right at $500

I normally wouldn't recommend a Biostar board, but this is a little too good of a deal to pass up. Trading slightly longer CAS latency RAM for a Z77 is a serious win in this budget. Full ATX will give you a cooler running system, and you have more expandability options, not to mention overclocking support if you decide to upgrade the CPU later to something multiplier-unlocked.
 
biostar isnt bad perse, its just less used. What biostar needs to work a bit more on is software, as the quality of parts is pretty good.(the TZ77XE3 and the Asrock Extreme4 are similar in use, I believe the XE3 has better quality hardware, while the Extreme4 has better software, which helps it overclock better generally)