Need a budget replacement gaming PC for $500

[raubon]

Hi Everyone,

My budget as stated is $500 max. I had a very unpleasant mishap with my gaming PC and a can of coke but I think the video card is OK.


I'm looking for a PC that

-- will house an Nvidia/EVGA 460 v 2 GPU
-- will play today's and yesterday's games
-- works well with heavy, heavy use (hours, I don't OC or play much Crysis)
-- Prefer Windows 7, because of compatibility, but may not have much choice
-- Supports 1080p and 1920X1020 resolution. Monitor is 24"or 26" inches.

I have
-- Monitor, Keyboard, Speakers GPU, DVD, Mouse, RAM (but it's not very good) an ISO of my last drive, but probably still need the OS.


I had an i7 860 and I don't know what degradation to expect with an i3??

I mainly play games like Mount & Blade, Crusader's Kings, Civ, EVE, Witcher, Skyrim...and vintage games (one reason Win 8 scares me).

I'm not in a position to get my components tested and am very hesitant to build/rebuild a PC on this budget. I have zero margin for error and haven't built one since the 1990s.

But I'm also leery of most the brand names...I don't know what's rumor and fact though.

I found this but imagine there is something better. I heard Dell was as bad as HP but I have no idea on that.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883155555

Many thanks in advance!


P.S. I live in a very rural area and no real access to used PCs.

 

[MotherFerJones]

Its doable if you can salvage the case of the old computer or have an extra laying around.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ThnF

Had to use last gen components but it should meet or exceed your expectations. I wouldn't be too stoked about using a graphics card that had coke on it could fry the nice brand new mobo.

 

[burritobob]

Its doable if you can salvage the case of the old computer or have an extra laying around.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ThnF

Had to use last gen components but it should meet or exceed your expectations. I wouldn't be too stoked about using a graphics card that had coke on it could fry the nice brand new mobo.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ThAj

-$60 cheaper
-Same peformance

 

[MotherFerJones]

^^^^ Touche.

 

[raubon]

Thank you kindly for your recommendations but a couple things: The case was soaked from the front end so anything there including USB ports, SD slots, power cables etc. were destroyed. I can live w/o the SD slots but wouldn't want to reuse the case.

I think the PSU was damaged unless it is unplugged...the fan isn't working. (I can't make sense out of the manual) The rest looks OK, but the MB doesn't beep, it's a shame I can't test everything ... unless I can find an inexpensive case/PSU.

I'm guessing the HD drive was ruined as well.

Otherwise, I don't think the coke reached the video card but I'll keep that in mind that it would be a risk to use it. I have another one I can get by with as well.

The other thing is that I've heard nothing but bad things about WD hard drives over the last years. I'd want to go with a Seagate, unless there is a compelling reason to not do so.

I've been looking at Intel i5 2500K builds...I can get close to my budget but not close enough --I"ll explore this site some more.

Many thanks.


Edit: Burritobob's configuration looks good (with MotherFer's HD) Is there somewhere you recommend for a case?

I don't know if this includes all the cables and stuff either ... if possible I'd rather have it built, too -- due in part to bad eyesight and dexterity.

I don't know how much labor would cost or where to get it online with these prices.

Also, if my RAM works I'm not sure if it will fit, it seems the board ran different type of memory. I can't find it online but it is
Rendition PC8500 1066MHz 2GB DDR3 240 -- 256X64 Pin PC3-8 It was for a P55-CD53 MB.