Budget gaming PC build ($500-$600 range)

Hey there,

A buddy of mine is looking to pick up a PC for his son, so I figured I’d run his specs by the experts here on the forum.

Here is what I'm working with:

- The main goal is gaming. He mentioned titles like World of Tanks and League of Legends, plus some FPS games. He also plays on an Xbox 360, so I know these aren't exactly heavy-duty AAA titles, but I'm hoping you guys can help me find the perfect component balance to avoid any obvious bottlenecks.

- The GPU needs an HDMI output since it'll be hooked up to a TV (just a standard HD-ready set for now).

- An HDD doesn't need to exceed 500 GB, as they plan on using an external drive for movies.

- Since we're building a new rig anyway, let's just jump straight to 16 GB of RAM.

- We should probably throw in a WLAN PCI Express card too.

- No need to buy Windows; they've still got a Windows 8 license from their old machine. Also, no need to include a monitor, keyboard, or mouse in the budget.

Budget-wise, we're looking at $3500 - $1333. That said, if spending, say, $67 more gets us a significantly better machine, I'm willing to stretch it up to $1400.

I'm currently looking at Micro Center and Best Buy as the two main options.

Thanks in advance for the help!

16GB of RAM is massive overkill here; at this budget level, you’re just butchering the rest of the build to afford it. For those specific games, there isn't any real difference between 4GB and 16GB of RAM. If they really want to be safe for newer titles, maybe bump it to 8GB, but that's about it.
A 1TB HDD is barely more expensive than a 500GB one, so going with the smaller drive makes zero sense. Storage capacity doesn't impact the price of an HDD nearly as much as people think.

I didn't get these from those specific stores, but here is a suggestion I saw yesterday downtown click. You can expect a WLAN adapter to run you around $10 depending on the shop.

Those shops won't have that i3 in stock, especially not at that price point. However, if you absolutely have to use them because of how they handle payments, just grab a weaker GPU—something like a GTX 950—and whatever the cheapest i3 they carry is. Just make sure you double-check the processor socket, specifically whether it's a 1150 or 1151 slot on the motherboard, and verify if it requires DDR3 or DDR4.

I guess it's an ASRock H110M-HDS, s1151 socket.
It’s an Intel Core i3-6100 (3MB Cache, 3.80 GHz) on the s1151 socket, comes in the box. I guess it'll do.
So, I'm looking at this ASUS STRIX-R7370-DC2OC-2GD5-GAMING card. It’s got 2 GB of DDR5 and a 256-bit bus, running at about 1050/5600 MHz, I think.
It’s a Zalman Z1 mid tower case. Dimensions are roughly 199mm wide, 432mm high, and 457mm deep. It supports both standard ATX and Micro ATX motherboards, I guess.
It's a Fortron 400W unit, specifically the HEXA plus 400. It features a 12cm fan, uses Active PFC, and I think the efficiency is rated at over 80%.
It’s an Edimax EW-7612PIn V2 wireless card, using PCI Express. It supports IEEE 802.11b/g/n and comes with those two high-gain 3dBi antennas. I guess that should be enough for basic stuff.
Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD, 3.5", 7200RPM, 64MB Cache, SATA3, ST1000DM003
Crucial DDR4 8GB (1x8GB) PC3-17000 2133MHz CL15, CT8G4DFS8213.

Total: ~$1330 ADM

16GB is probably overkill, especially for those specific games and just general everyday use. Plus, it’s so easy to upgrade later on. I usually hate putting an i3 in a build, but I guess this might be one of those rare exceptions where it actually makes sense because of certain titles.

+1

World of Tanks only uses about one and a half cores. Honestly, those 3.7 GHz Skylake chips are overkill for a game like this.
GTX 950 is the sweet spot.

An AMD build featuring a GTX 950

1x AMD X8 FX-8300 (16MB Cache, 8 core up to 4.20 GHz), sAM3+
1x LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95
1x Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P, sAM3+
1x Gigabyte GTX 950 OC 2GB DDR5, 128-bit, 1241/6600 MHz
1x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz
1x HDD 500GB Toshiba, 3.5", 7200RPM, 32MB Cache, SATA3
1x FORTRON 400W, HEXA plus 400
1x Zalman Z1 mid tower case
1x Edimax EW-7612PIn V2, WLAN network card

TOTAL: $1395
Free assembly and shipping, ADM

swiftfalcon89 said:An AMD build featuring a GTX 950

1x AMD X8 FX-8300 (16MB Cache, 8 core up to 4.20 GHz), sAM3+
1x LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95
1x Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P, sAM3+
1x Gigabyte GTX950 OC 2GB DDR5, 128-bit, 1241/6600 MHz
1x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz
1x 500GB Toshiba HDD, 3.5", 7200RPM, 32MB Cache, SATA3
1x FORTRON 400W, HEXA plus 400
1x Zalman Z1 mid tower case
1x Edimax EW-7612PIn V2, WLAN network card

TOTAL: $1395
Free assembly and shipping, ADM

Maybe all five, but for the games he mentioned, an i3 will push better than this—often faster than a slightly lower clocked i5
Plus, you probably won't be able to OC that FX anyway

Hey there,

Thanks a ton to everyone for the help and all the solid advice. Now comes the fun part—hunting down some actual quotes and getting the financing sorted out!

All the best, you guys were a huge help!