New to pc gaming and building a $400 pc,i need suggestions

[luke rojas]

I am new to pc gaming and i am trying to get suggestions on the general build and what hardware to use.I have a maximum budget of $450 to $500 dollars and i want to run most games on med. to high settings and still have it run smooth.Thanks!

 

[Tactic Alpha]

Edit: I forgot to mention, you should be able to run most games at 1080p on the highest settings, with no problem on this. Also, 2 of these go over the your budget by 20 bucks. I personally think that the extra performance is worth it, but you can always downgrade the ram to 6 or even 4 if you really need to.

I made 3 variants of a parts list. One with an OS, one without, and another without the OS.

With OS:

Spoiler

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 760GM-P34(FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($55.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1066 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Other: You may want to chose a similar micro ATX case with a similar price, I just like the design of this one. (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $525.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-24 20:53 EDT-0400

Without OS 1 (GPU ~55% more powerful than 750 Ti)

Spoiler

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 760GM-P34(FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($55.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1066 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($198.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Other: You may want to chose a similar micro ATX case with a similar price, I just like the design of this one. (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $517.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-24 20:54 EDT-0400

Without OS 2 (120GB SSD in addition to the hard drive, for windows and other small programs to load quickly (also more reliable)

Spoiler

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 760GM-P34(FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($55.66 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1066 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Patriot Blaze 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Other: You may want to chose a similar micro ATX case with a similar price, I just like the design of this one. (Purchased For $0.00)
Total: $475.60
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-24 21:03 EDT-0400

Author's note: I personally would pick without OS 1, because of the more powerful GPU, and since I already have a copy of windows 8 lying around.

 

[Hochothecreamdog]

This is your best option

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 760GMA-P34(FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($49.99 @ Directron)
Memory: G.Skill NS Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($149.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($86.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $516.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-26 14:40 EDT-0400

the r9 370 is faster than the 270x, and the 270 is faster than a 750ti
This is proof of that: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-270X-vs-GeForce-GTX-750-Ti

 

[battlecreed5]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xD6fZL
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xD6fZL/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($116.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($50.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($26.73 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 400W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply
Total: $407.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-12 00:12 EDT-0400