PC build for around $600?

Hey everyone, here's the deal: my kid (he's in high school) just had his laptop kick the bucket while he was gaming on it—stuff like Madden NFL 16, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Halo, Forza Motorsport, you know the drill—so now he needs a proper setup. Since we're looking at a budget of roughly $500, I highly doubt I'll find a decent laptop, so I figured a desktop might be the smarter move. I've been poking around some pre-built configurations online, but honestly, I'm totally lost because I haven't touched this kind of stuff in forever. He does a bit of messing around in Photoshop too, if that matters. I realize I'm not going to get some sci-fi supercomputer for this price, but it would be awesome if there's some room to upgrade later on when newer games start demanding more juice.

Here’s some of the stuff I've been eyeing:

If any of you geniuses feel like putting together something better for that kind of cash, I'll give you a massive high-five.

I don't need any peripherals, I've already got all that gear lying around the house.

It’s hard to beat this setup:

AMD build:

1TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD, 3.5", 7200RPM, 64MB Cache, NVMe
EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 4GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI, HDMI
Intel Core i5-3570K (14M Cache, up to 4.10 GHz), sAM3+
ASUS M5A97 motherboard, sAM3+
Zalman Z1 mid tower case
EVGA Pro Series 450W Power Supply, ATX 2.0, P1-450S-X2B9
LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/1150/AM2/AM3
8GB (1x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz CL9 Corsair Vengeance, CMZ8GX3M1A1600C9

Total: $1.50 - AMD

Intel build:

1TB Seagate BarraCuda HDD, 3.5", 7200RPM, 64MB Cache, NVMe
AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (3MB Cache, 3.80 GHz), s1151
ASUS H110M motherboard, s1151
EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 4GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI, HDMI
Zalman Z1 mid tower case
EVGA Pro Series 450W Power Supply, ATX 2.0, P1-450S-X2B9
8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 PC3-17000 2133MHz CL15 Crucial, CT8G4DFS8213

Total: $1.50 - AMD

You really can't go wrong with either. Personally, I might lean toward the Intel side, mostly just because the platform is newer and offers slightly better upgrade paths. That said, those 6 (weaker) cores on the Core i5-3570 might actually help out in multiplayer modes for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.

I’d go with the AMD route. It's a more balanced build.

Build - AMD

Stronger CPU, slightly better cooler. If you want to play something heavy down the road, you just swap out the GPU. No need to mess with the processor.😁

Robert Rodriguez2 said:I’d go with the AMD route. It's a more balanced build.

Build - AMD

Stronger CPU, slightly better cooler. If you want to play something heavy down the road, you just swap out the GPU. No need to mess with the processor.😁

I like this one, Core i3-8100... 🙂 It would be worth stretching out for that build...

Robert Rodriguez2 said:I’d go with the AMD route. It's a more balanced build.

Build - AMD

Stronger CPU, slightly better cooler. If you want to play something heavy down the road, you just swap out the GPU. No need to mess with the processor.😁

Why didn't you just link the Core i3-8100 instead of the whole setup?😬

The cooler isn't actually any better, tbh...

Hey,

Intel

Would it make sense to swap out my Intel Core i5-3570K (14M Cache, up to 4.10 GHz), sAM3+, for this one, the Intel Core i5-3570K (14MB Cache, up to 4.20 GHz), sAM3+? Is there really much of a difference $100... and would I need to mess with my cooler at all?

Thanks!

It makes absolutely no sense. It’s the exact same processor. Just bump up the clock speed by a few hundred MHz in the BIOS and boom—you basically have an Intel Core i5-3570K.

Thanks for the quick reply!

EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti, 4GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI, HDMI (GV-N105TD5-4GD) vs ASUS GTX 1050 Ti 4GT OC, 4GB GDDR5, DVI, HDMI... are these basically the same thing or what?? I'm having a hard time tracking down that first one with those specific model numbers, and the price on the second one is $493.

Are you just picking up a GPU, or are you putting together a whole new build?

Basically, it comes with a two-year warranty.

With three years.

You can grab the Gigabyte model right here.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Are you just picking up a GPU, or are you putting together a whole new build?

Basically, it comes with a two-year warranty.

With three years.

You can grab the Gigabyte model right here.

I'm putting together a full build, and I really want something that can hold its own against a PS4 Pro. I liked the setup suggested, but since I'm not exactly an expert on this stuff, I could use some pointers. I'd probably ditch my old 250GB HDD and go with an SSD instead—definitely seems like the better move. It's super important for me to buy everything from one store so I can pay in installments. I was looking at options from Best Buy.$1333 I don't care much about the latest AAA titles unless they're Madden NFL 17, Formula 1, or some rally game... Regarding the Core i5-3570 and the motherboard, do you think I should upgrade to something like a Core i7 series or a beefier board?
Thanks!

You don't really need those games for this setup. Honestly, following crimsonstag84's advice, I’d ditch the HDD entirely and swap in an SSD—whether you go with 128GB or bump it up to 240-275GB depends on how much extra you want to spend beyond $1333. Alternatively, if you want to stick within $1333, just grab the cheapest RX 460 you can find with a 3-year warranty (depending on which retailer you hit up). Now, the 1050Ti is undeniably the superior GPU, but it is definitely over 30% more expensive

Kimberly Gomez34 said:You don't really need those games for this setup. Honestly, following crimsonstag84's advice, I’d ditch the HDD entirely and swap in an SSD—whether you go with 128GB or bump it up to 240-275GB depends on how much extra you want to spend beyond $1333. Alternatively, if you want to stick within $1333, just grab the cheapest RX 460 you can find with a 3-year warranty (depending on which retailer you hit up). Now, the 1050Ti is undeniably the superior GPU, but it is definitely over 30% more expensive

Thanks for the tip! I was assuming it'd be a build similar to crimsonstag84's setup. It should be plenty good enough—I saw the PS4 Pro uses an AMD Jaguar 8-core chip running at about 2GHz (unless my old data is totally off), and since the Core i5-3570 has 6 cores at 3.5 GHz, it should easily hold up for the next few years. As for the graphics card, I think I'll stick with the pricier option. Thanks again...

It’s honestly a mistake to try and compare console hardware directly to desktop PCs. They operate on completely different principles; developers squeeze every last drop of performance out of consoles by optimizing specifically for that fixed hardware, whereas PC gaming is more of a "whatever works" situation where they just throw a port at you and hope for the best. Like I mentioned earlier, I’m leaning much more toward that Skylake i3 route—it's more budget-friendly, generally superior for gaming, offers a much better upgrade path, and sits on a newer platform. However, if you are truly planning to stick with that specific processor for several years without ever moving on from an i3 or a Core i5-3570, then sure, go with the Core i5-3570 because it will likely hold its own better during heavy workloads and benchmarks.

Got these two power supplies on hand... can I actually use one of these for something, or do I definitely need to step up to a beefier unit?

EVGA 400W Power Supply V2.2 grey
by EVGA
Amazon 5-star rating from 1 customer
Currently out of stock.
No idea when this item will be back in stock...

EVGA 400W Power Supply LC-POWER LC-5400 12cm red V2.x, 20+4 Pin layout specifically for Midi-Towers, 31 cm cable length - Includes Disclaimer.

› More product details.

[Dell Industrial Motherboard gaming psu]
Release period
Release Period - Release date unknown
Dell Industrial Motherboard Platinum MS-400ATX Review

The Platinum MS-400ATX model delivers 400W and features a 12 cm cooling fan. It comes with a 24-pin main motherboard connector (with a detachable 4-pin section), 2xNVMe, 6-pin PCI-E, 4-pin 12V, and 2xFDD connectors.

Nah, don't bother swapping it. They're only pushing 14A or 15A on the +12V rail, and honestly, the build quality is pretty questionable to begin with.

Hey guys,
I'm torn between these two motherboards—should I grab one of them or is there a better third option out there? There’s about a $30 difference between these two. If you think I should swap anything else out, just let me know. I'll pick the GPU later since prices are all over the place online, so I'll just hunt for the best deal on the exact same card.

ASUS B250M Motherboard, AM4

ASUS H110M Motherboard, s1151

AMD Athlon Processor (3MB Cache, 3.5GHz), s115

EVGA Pro Series full wired edition 450W Power Supply, ATX 2.0, P1-450S-X2B

LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/1150/AM2/AM3

DDR4 8GB (1x8GB) PC3-17000 2133MHz CL15 Crucial, CT8G4DFS8213

Thanks..

totally forgot!!!
Comparing an AMD Athlon vs. a slightly better one... the difference is like $50 bucks.

Definitely go with the g4560 and nothing else. If you stick with the h110, you’ll need a BIOS update—just have the guys at Micro Center handle that for you. The big advantage of the first option is having four RAM slots, an M.2 slot for your SSD, and a VRM cooler (though honestly, that won't matter much for this specific build). You won't even need to bother with an aftermarket cooler.