Budget PC build under $500?

I'm looking for a full setup—roughly $3,200 total—including a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and a decent Wi-Fi card (it needs enough range to pick up a signal from a neighbor's apartment above him). He’d likely pick this up in Chicago—maybe hit up Best Buy or Micro Center to get everything at once... he'll play some CoD occasionally, so please keep that in mind. I realize the budget is tight for a complete overhaul, but if you could try to piece something together... thanks.

Here’s what I’m looking at:

1 x Philips 226V4LAB/00, 21.5", 16:9, 1920x1080, 250 cd/m2, speakers
1 x Genius KB-110X, spill-resistant keyboard, black, USB
1 x Genius Xscroll optical mouse, black, USB, 400 dpi
1 x Intel Core i3-4130 Processor, 3.60GHz, 4 cores
1 x Seagate BarraCuda 500GB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB
1 x Corsair RM450, EVGA SuperNOVA Series
1 x Zalman ZM-T4 micro tower case. 189(W) x 427.5(H) x 364(D)mm. MB
2 x DDR3 2048MB (1x2GB) Kingston Hyper X, 1600MHz, CL9
1 x Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3, S.FM2+, Intel B860, DDR3/2133, PCIe

$1070

www.newegg.com

plus some USB Wi-Fi dongle

So, with that specific CPU and GPU combo, I assume I'll be able to run COD: Warzone reasonably well enough? And regarding those USB Wi-Fi adapters—what kind of range are we actually looking at here? Is it roughly the same as what you'd get with a standard laptop?

1 x AOC E2250SWDAK
1 x Airlive Hi-Power B G N USB Dongle with Detachable Antena
1 x Genius KB-8000, keyboard and mouse combo, black, usb
1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 cooler 1156/775/FM1
1 x Intel Core i3-4130
1 x ASRock FM2A75M HD+, FM2
1 x KINGSTON DDR3 (4GB,1600MHz(PC3-12800) CL11
1 x Corsair RM450
1 x Zalman ZM-T4, USB3.0, micro atx
1 x Seagate BarraCuda (3.5", 500GB, 16MB, SATA II-300)

$1094
futura-it

Thomas Martin4 said:So, with that CPU and GPU combo, I should be able to run COD fairly normally, right? Also, how's the range on those USB Wi-Fi sticks? Is it about the same as a laptop?

Well, depends on which COD you mean. Older titles should run smooth, but newer ones will probably need to stick to low or medium settings... honestly, for that price, you aren't going to find better graphics. If you want more power, just grab a beefier GPU later and call it a day.

As for the range, it really varies by card... the ones with an external antenna usually do better, and since they're USB, you could always use an extension cable to get it higher up for a better signal, I guess.

Alright, thanks. He went ahead and ordered that processor—as long as it actually works, that's the main thing. I suppose he'll deal with the Wi-Fi issues later on... thanks again.