Help building a gaming pc

Jun 17, 2014
5
0
4,510
Approximate Purchase Date: within next two weeks

Budget Range: $500

System Usage from Most to Least Important: strictly gaming

Are you buying a monitor: no



Parts to Build: all

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: doesn't matter

Location: Toledo, Ohio.

Parts Preferences: Intel

Overclocking: no

SLI or Crossfire: no

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: building this for my son. will only be used for gaming. plays games such as the Sims, Elder Scrolls Online, Civilization. Doesn't have to run the highest graphics, he is fine with medium settings running smoothly for future games. He also has keyboard and mouse, he doesn't need wifi adapter, and doesn't need bluray playback.
Any help is appreciated.
 
Solution
This is what I would aim for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2V Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($56.69 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($37.97 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total:...
This is what I would aim for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2V Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($56.69 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($36.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec 450W ATX Power Supply ($37.97 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $503.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

The i3 is a dual core that is hyperthreaded so it acts like a quad (but not quite, the HT cores end up being a little more than 1/2 as powerful as the actual cores).

Note: there is no optical drive in this build, Installing windows would have to be done with a USB or an optical drive could be installed (usually cost around $20)
 
Solution