Build Advice Building a viable system with a budget of 500 USD

[kreiawasright]

My desktop gave away after almost 15 years. It had a good run.

Now, Im planning to get a good enough PC that its able to play most of the games of the older generation of hardware and less required newer ones.

Games like Skyrim SE (with Mods), Crusader Kings 3, Football Manager, League of Legends, Dark Souls series, GTA V and prior ones from the 2000's era.

What would you guys recommend?

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Do you have a Microcenter nearby? If so they have some bundle deals. But 500 is fairly tight.

 

[Lafong]

What pieces do you need to buy other than CPU, motherboard, and RAM?

At 15 years of age, you might well need power supply? Video card? Storage?

 

[kreiawasright]

What pieces do you need to buy other than CPU, motherboard, and RAM?

At 15 years of age, you might well need power supply? Video card? Storage?

All of it. Can't salvage anything from the previous PC.

 

[Lafong]

500 dollars for all parts.

Do you insist on new parts as well as "viable"?

How far are you willing to lower your expectations?

Motherboard, RAM, CPU, power supply, drive for sure.

Possibly plus case, cooler if not included with CPU, video card if you cannot make do with whatever graphics may be included with the CPU, case fans, operating system.

My two thoughts:

1; do nothing until you can spend more than 500

2; severely lower your expectations.

You can probably cobble something together if you need only motherboard, RAM, CPU, power supply, and a drive. Five pieces. For all I know, the integrated graphics on a semi-modern CPU can do a tolerable job on those games you mentioned.

Of course, you might stumble over something on your local used market. Ebay or whatever is available.

 

[QyInvoLing]

boxed 5600 with cooler + second-handed b450, 125$
6600xt, 145$
8gx2 d4 mem, 30$
relieable 1t tlc ssd, 60$
box of your shoes as a case, 0$
reliable 650w psu, 70$
remaining 70$, raise the price of items mentioned according to your region. It's the price in my region.

 

[geofelt]

Look for lenovo refurb units.
I found this one on newegg which looks like it fits your needs at half the price:
https://www.newegg.com/p/3D5-0001-00FS9?Item=9SIAZ8YJGB0138

 

[punkncat]

This is a poor time of season to consider looking for deals this late towards Christmas. Your best bet would be to wait into next year. You might be able to build something along the lines of AM4 socket G skew. This would be on the cheapest mobo possible which will likely be A520, a sketchy Thermaltake Smart series PSU, and the absolute lowest cost case, RAM, and a small storage drive. This would also be using OS with a water mark.