Good computer for $500

daChRISGUY · Jul 23, 2011

flyboy86 · Jul 23, 2011

We need to know what you will be using your pc for IE: gaming, surfing the web, watching hd videos... This will determine what components you will need

jdwii · Jul 23, 2011

No and no again

Try this build this will get you the most FPS/dollar for 500$

Case: 34.99$ (NZXT GAMMA Classic Series GAMA-001BK Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146061

Power Supply: 54.99$(Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030

Motherboard: 49.99$ (BIOSTAR A770E3 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138179

Ram: 31.99$ (G.SKILL NS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNS)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231394

Hard Drive: 39.99$ (Seagate Barracuda ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148701

Dvd-rom: 20.99$ (ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

CPU: 104.99$ ( AMD Phenom II X4 840 3.2GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor HDX840WFGMBOX)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103921

Graphics Card: 129.99$ (SAPPHIRE 100297-2L Radeon HD 5830 Xtreme 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102946

Shipping: 30$ EST

Total: 498$

manu 11 · Jul 23, 2011

amd athalon ii x3 445
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103872 75$

COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-J3 460W ATX12V V2.31 Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171046 30$ 20$ after mir.

your choosen hdd 60$

ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 20$
your chosen case 50$

ASRock M3A770DE AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157176 60$

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBRM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231275 37$

SAPPHIRE 100314-3L Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948 174$

total: around 506$

jdwii · Jul 23, 2011

if your buying a 6870 that uses 140watts at max you should NOT be using a PSU that comes with a case!!

daChRISGUY · Jul 23, 2011

jdwii :

Sounds good, except the graphics card and psu is out of stock D:
Would it be in stock by a couple weeks?

I plan to buy this soon, at least by the time school starts again.

Mainly for light/moderate gaming and high resolutions, IE 2560x1600 or something close to that.

Is this a good card?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102941
Psu?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817148008

I don't care about a color theme. I do plan to do Crossfire when i earn more money, so a different mobo would be nice.

Thanks

ps3hacker12 · Jul 23, 2011

daChRISGUY :

for the same price as the 5830 after rebates, this 6850 would be a better choice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150551

6770 vs the 6850: (i chose the 5770 because its practically the same as the 6770 +/- a few FPS)
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/291?vs=296

jdwii · Jul 23, 2011

daChRISGUY :

Sorry for the late reply

i would have to say that sense the video card is now out of stock that the 6770 would be my next choice or maybe the 6790 for about 20$ more with about 6850 performance

139.99$ 6790 a 6770 is basiclly a 5770 and a 6790 is a 6870 with disabled sharders which makes it 5-10% slower then a 6850 and puts it at the 5830 speeds but it the one card(in the 6790 series) that only needs 1 PCI-E connector
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131397

And that power supply is not nearly as good as Antec but if you want it for the looks as it does look cool get it.

if you want a board that CF you would need to spend a little bit more money and i would hate to recommend a AM3 board above 90$ sence bulldozer will not be supported on those and its coming out in the next couple of weeks

for 89.99$ you get x8 CF and this board is great for the price but its only a AM3 board

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157198

If you want a bulldozer board that 100% supports AM3 processors right now this would be you pick and this board supports CF and SLI on A amd platform
its 104.99$ and it supports the Amd 8 core bulldozer when it comes out in a month or 2 for a possibel upgrade for you in 2 years or so! just saying
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262

This power supply should do.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035

I love antec as their really efficient

P.S love Amd for giving us a free dirt 3 game and please what matter what don't use a Power Supply that comes with the case--you dont even know if it would have had a Pci-e connector

jdwii · Jul 23, 2011

"Mainly for light/moderate gaming and high resolutions, IE 2560x1600 or something close to that."

2560x1600 is not gaming lite

its gaming at a higher resoution then 1080P and a 500$ build is not going to be able to do that, you would need a 6970 or 6950(or a GTX 570 or GTX 560) to do that I would choice amd cards(6970 or the 6950) as they come with 2GB of Vram. which will be useful in gaming in the next couple of years as textures get bigger and resolutions start to go up.

The Amd build at 500$ WILL get you playable performance in every game at 1080P with decent settings.
And 2560x1600 should be ok on this build at low-mid setting in games

daChRISGUY · Jul 23, 2011

Well seeing as I wont be able to do any sli/crossfire graphics at high res unless i raise my budget, would $600 do it? It would take me much longer (Currently I only have $160

) but would it be worth it?

I would like to stay at $500 if i can.

jdwii · Jul 24, 2011

600$ build will help if your willing to turn the settings down to MED-High and turn AA And AF down to resenable settings a 500$ pc should be able to handle the resolution. sad really how much money you have to spend to get a kick ass gaming rig i would have to say the bare bottem video card you should get is a a Nvidia GTX 560 or Amd Radeon 6950 2GB edition at to play at those resolutions if you want to turn the resoution down to 1080P(1920/1080) this 500$ pc should be able to max most settings in almost all games.

OR OR you can get a 6850 today and play all games at mid settings at that resoution and when your ready buy anouther 6850 and you will be able to max out ever setting in almost all games including the resolution!!

AMD 6000HD series scales very well compared to the 5000HD series dual Amd radeon 6950's come close to the nvidia gtx 570 sli and some times beats it.

I thank you should buy a Amd 6850 when you can and then buy anouther or CF later!

daChRISGUY · Jul 24, 2011

Thanks

flyboy86 · Jul 24, 2011

Use this psu for daChRISGUY latest post. Antec is a good company.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

jdwii · Jul 24, 2011

don't recommend the power supply scene it has low amps for the watts on the dual rails and amps matter more then watts for gamers.

also a 6770(same as 5770) will play dirt 3 very well

Remember that the board you pick will not do CF very well i would get the asrock one i described above

sence the 6770 has the same performance as the 5770 here is a review you can check out

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_5770/30.html

BY the way the Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

is a great power supply- try to get a power supply with high efficiency like Most antec PSU

daChRISGUY · Jul 24, 2011

That brings me up to about $525 including shipping, which is too far past my budget.

This cpu any good?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103886

Thanks

jdwii · Jul 24, 2011

yes thats a good budget processor same as the last one but one less core most games only use 3 cores or less anyways and their wont be much of a diffrence on the plus note some people can unlock these tp phenom x4 II 955

i got that processer for my friend and his pc is fast and plays games fine i even got him a video card weaker then the one your getting

the Athlon II x3 is a great choice and you will be happy with it

If your a gamer the Graphics card is the most important

here is a review on the processor

http://www.techwarelabs.com/amd-athlon-ii-x3-450-cpu-processor/

daChRISGUY · Jul 25, 2011

Thanks! The review was very helpful and it gives me some good news about a budget processor. Like I said, light-medium gaming, and this processor delivers.

I am going to buy here in a few weeks. Thanks to you guys, this saved me money, and better bang for buck.

jdwii · Jul 25, 2011

daChRISGUY :

If you have any questions about a computer parts or build just remember to connect me and don't forget my name is jdwii

I hope you love your PC build

daChRISGUY · Jul 25, 2011

Urgggggg Tomshardware needs a friends list!

Do you have an msn?

jdwii · Jul 25, 2011

daChRISGUY :

no but i have a yahoo username wii166

My email is wii166@yahoo.com

daChRISGUY · Jul 25, 2011

my email is xxxxxx

ps3hacker12 · Jul 25, 2011

if you two have got each others email addresses, i would reccommend editing them out once you both have it to avoid spam....trust me i remember....

vishnumrao · Jul 26, 2011

Go for the AMD Fusion platform. They consume very little power and perform as good as the Phenom II x4s

ps3hacker12 · Jul 26, 2011

vishnumrao :

you mean they perform as well as the Athlon II x4s.

Zero_ · Jul 26, 2011

Try the $600 build in my sig. Includes OS. You cant get more bang for buck than that.

Good computer for $500

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