Want to build a PC on a budget? Meet the $500 gaming rig...

[michael87cn]

OP, that's great and all, but is Tom's Hardware going to sell me that $500 PC pre-built?

No? Didn't think so.

It's $500 because you have to build it yourself.

Not everyone can do that. (myself included)

Edit:

So you're thinking I'm an idiot by now, "what's this guys point?" you say? To get the same thing, we have to YES pay $1000-1500.

I'll stick with my $299 xbox 360 that has greater compatibility and can do HD gaming just fine.

 

[MrGalactus]

Still waaaay more expensive than a PS3 or Xbox. $500 is just far more than I can spend.

That's why people who can't afford $500 have the XBox though, isn't it? So they can game on a budget, I'm pretty sure that was the point.

The graphics card proposed here can run things much prettier and cleaner than a console, so that's what the investment is for.

If this machine had a sticker on it saying "Playstation IV" people wouldn't complain though, I'd put money on it.

I don't have a console specifically because PC is too expensive, I have one for reliability, nice big TV and a sofa capability, a proper controller, and simplicity. Also I don't have to manually update it with crap every time a new flashy game comes out, because developers have to make the game to the specs of the console, rather than the other way around.
If it was PS4, I wouldn't complain, you're right. I wouldn't complain, but I wouldn't buy one either. The reason I didn't buy a PS3 was because they're too bloody expensive.

Still waaaay more expensive than a PS3 or Xbox. $500 is just far more than I can spend.

Is it? $300 more than a stock console, without games. While the multiplatform games are all $60 new, you can find a plethora of fun games for cheap, and I don't just mean flash based games either. For example F1 2010 is $20 on Steam right now. Black Ops is $45. Witcher 2 is $45 to preorder. First Witcher is only $10. There's 957 games under $10 on Steam, including games like Gothica, Magicka, Neverwinter Nights... I bought Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for my PS3, used, for $55 2 weeks ago. Saving anywhere from 10-40 dollars on games means in the long haul, you save.

That's a far more valid point, but I won't save up for another few months to get a machine I'll have to keep updating that could crash at any time, and is less comfortable to play on. Also, It's very, very rare for me to buy a game for more than $30, and the cheap little downloadable games will play just fine on the semi-rubbish laptop I'm using now.

Still waaaay more expensive than a PS3 or Xbox. $500 is just far more than I can spend.

Way more expensive several years after they've been released.

I'm not seeing your point here? You can buy a brand new Xbox for $200-ish.

Still waaaay more expensive than a PS3 or Xbox. $500 is just far more than I can spend.

Remember the good old days when PS3 cost over a thousand dollars?
*nostalgia*

Christ, where do you live, 1920's Germany? I didn't buy a PS3 back then specifically because they are too expensive, anyway.

 

[michael87cn]

OP, that's great and all, but is Tom's Hardware going to sell me that $500 PC pre-built?

No? Didn't think so.

It's $500 because you have to build it yourself.

Not everyone can do that. (myself included)

Edit:

So you're thinking I'm an idiot by now, "what's this guys point?" you say? To get the same thing, we have to YES pay $1000-1500.

I'll stick with my $299 xbox 360 that has greater compatibility and can do HD gaming just fine.

Nobody is going to charge you $500 to $1000 to put that thing together for you. At most $100 to $200. So total you're still looking at $600ish. Even better, get a PC nerd friend to do it for $50. I know that I love to put them together. And NOTHING has greater compatibility than a gaming PC. You can play games from the early nineties on Windows 7 with no problems. Last I checked, even the vast majority of original Xbox games aren't compatible with the 360.

I have never heard of a place that lets you pick out custom PC parts from anywhere and then puts them together for you. I also think expecting people to all have a nerd friend on hand is a bit silly.

And compatibility. What really? Every xbox game made for the xbox (and subsequently the 360) were completely compatible with their respective console.

You CANNOT say that for PCs. There are PCs you buy brand new that won't run games, give you blue screens of death, etc. It happens and you know it.

If you really know about a company that will let me buy PC parts scattered from different vendors and then will let me pay them 100-200 dollars to put it together for me, please tell me because I WOULD pay that.

 

[ZombieGenesis]

Christ, THEJORRG, OW.

You made me facepalm so hard I think you might have broken my nose.
Seriously, ow...

 

[Chibz]

There's no way in hell you spent only $200 on your Xbox 360.

If you'd like I can try to dig up my receipt for the 360 & photograph it for you. It was actually more like $140. I would know, giving that I had $200 available for buying games & game systems and I bought it and 2800 microsoft points.

I forgot to mention, this was actually done in Canada. And everything where I live is typically more expensive.

Christ, THEJORRG, OW.

You made me facepalm so hard I think you might have broken my nose.
Seriously, ow...

You're right, heaven forfend he not want to pay large sums of money for gaming hardware! That's totally unreasonable!

 

[gustcq]

People forget that PCs are more than gaming devices. I built a mid-high box in early 2010. My laptop has seen much less use (from late 2009) because of it. A proper keyboard, a full sized mouse, and best of all the ability to customize.

When your Xbox 360 (for which you pay more for games) is succeeded by the next model (if it lasts that long) it will essentially be useless. That gaming computer you built even if you spent $1000 will still be at least a good office machine. If not a lower end gaming rig. I would also like to point out that since the gaming market is more console focused your rig will be in business for a long time. A 500 PC will get better than console graphics on a normal sized screen. Plus in a few years that graphics card you put in will be dirt cheap making an X-fire a great upgrade path.

[People forget that PCs are more than gaming devices. ]

^^ he said it all there! simple!

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

You also forgot to add that games are much cheaper on the PC which brings down price a lot in the logn run. People say hardly anyone buys new on console well that is a lie. A game must be bought new for it to be preowned maybe you don't but others do. Even at preowned PC games fall in price much quicker than console games.

Also in this exact topic I posted deals for a 360 slim with kinect and PS3 and Move each with 1 free controller. 360 I threw in live Gold and +200 for HD TV as I was going from having nothing to full start up costs of top of the range. Consoles came up to 450 roughly on average.

 

[Chibz]

Yea, way to intentionally ignore the rest of the post. I know you bought it for around $200. Because I did the same. What you aren't including is all the extra bells and whistles you have to buy afterward, over time. Unless you bought your 360 MUCH later, and that $200 included a harddrive, extra controllers, etc. And I highly doubt it.

It included a hard drive, a single controller. This was the $140-$150. Thereabouts.

 

[Wolfram23]

I have never heard of a place that lets you pick out custom PC parts from anywhere and then puts them together for you. I also think expecting people to all have a nerd friend on hand is a bit silly.

And compatibility. What really? Every xbox game made for the xbox (and subsequently the 360) were completely compatible with their respective console.

You CANNOT say that for PCs. There are PCs you buy brand new that won't run games, give you blue screens of death, etc. It happens and you know it.

If you really know about a company that will let me buy PC parts scattered from different vendors and then will let me pay them 100-200 dollars to put it together for me, please tell me because I WOULD pay that.

Err...there are plenty of custom PC websites that do just that (see end of post).

Yes, one format compatible with one console. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have compatibility for seven generations of games (PC) than true compatibility for one (Xbox 360).

I can indeed say that for PCs. I've never seen a brand new PC that can't run the newest games. Unless we're talking about a netbook here. Nor have I seen one that gets BSODs right out of the gate. If that happens, you have a defective part and should return the PC immediately. But I've seen a lot more 360's RRoD right out of the box, personally. The cooling is to blame there, whereas if you build or customize your own PC, you can guarantee that won't be an issue.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/AMD_Quad_Core_Configurator/ - starts at $585.

Or you could always use Google: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS283&q=custom+gaming+pc&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

Just to give my 2 cents here. If you're interested in it, it's actually extremely easy to put all the parts together. I did it all for the very first time last May when I built my current rig. I took my time and had it up and running in 2 hours. Took a little more time to install Windows and update drivers and all that good stuff, but it's not that bad.

Also, my PC hardware store of choice is Memory Express (Canadian), and they offer to install your CPU and heatsink for free, and they'll put the whole thing together for you as well for ~$100-150. That's where I bought all my parts. I'm sure the states would have similar companies.

And finally, if it appeals to you, I'm actually going to spend some time making a few how-to videos on how to assemble a PC, how to get it running, how to pick parts etc. I'm going to start this weekend

 

[EHKOS]

Yeah, I still only have a Radeon 4550 and it plays Crysis 2 just fine. Although for some reason my quad core isn't doing alot these days. Had to disable explorer.exe to move the FPS up to a desireable level.

 

[Vausch]

I can go cheaper, just replace the Phenom II with an Athlon II and go to a local college to get some help in getting a near free OS

 

[enriquetnt]

I dont thing PC is EVER gonna be a as cheap as console gaming, i mean 300 dollars for a 5 year run? thats IMPOSSIBLE on PC, sure there are people who still play whit 8000 and 9000 series video cards from five years ago, but HOW MUCH THEY DID PAY FOR THOSE CARDS BACK THEN?, and how many times they have changed them, i believe the power curve for PCs has quieted down since the introduction of the corei7 (i tought well be seein 14 cores in less than a year but no, matter of fact is been a lot longer than a year and no significant jumps have been made, nvidia launch the 400s series back then and now theyr launchin the 500s series not exactly know what for, is there ANY pc game out there that can push one of these, (outside of ridiculous 5000p resolutions in 3 simultaneous monitors and such, things which are unrealistic and UNNECESARY **cough-3d-cough**) sure a 500 dollars PC that can run crysis on high is good news but lets face it, outside of the graphics crysis is a subpar fps NOT worthy of a 500 dollar investment, is a much intelligent move to buy the other 2 consoles if you only have one and youll get a truckload of exclusive games (wichever consoles there are, all 3 consoles have GREAT games and MANY right now) i paid nearly 300 dollars for the video card of my PC ALONE, just to play Starcraft 2 maxed out, im sure this card could easily hold for 4 years (about when Diablo 3 gets released and i got to expend another 300 to run it properly) and im sure that by then im gonna still be playin games on my PS3, and maybe a have a spanking new PS4

 

[Sangreal Gothcraft]

PC isn't that expesnive compare to console, with console you pay for that interet Service, Xbox live, there are also games which aren't that cheap....60$(65$ tax included) so yeah i say people who are gamers and have consoles probably spend 2k-5k on games and console alone.

 

[michael87cn]

I have never heard of a place that lets you pick out custom PC parts from anywhere and then puts them together for you. I also think expecting people to all have a nerd friend on hand is a bit silly.

And compatibility. What really? Every xbox game made for the xbox (and subsequently the 360) were completely compatible with their respective console.

You CANNOT say that for PCs. There are PCs you buy brand new that won't run games, give you blue screens of death, etc. It happens and you know it.

If you really know about a company that will let me buy PC parts scattered from different vendors and then will let me pay them 100-200 dollars to put it together for me, please tell me because I WOULD pay that.

Err...there are plenty of custom PC websites that do just that (see end of post).

Yes, one format compatible with one console. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have compatibility for seven generations of games (PC) than true compatibility for one (Xbox 360).

I can indeed say that for PCs. I've never seen a brand new PC that can't run the newest games. Unless we're talking about a netbook here. Nor have I seen one that gets BSODs right out of the gate. If that happens, you have a defective part and should return the PC immediately. But I've seen a lot more 360's RRoD right out of the box, personally. The cooling is to blame there, whereas if you build or customize your own PC, you can guarantee that won't be an issue.

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/AMD_Quad_Core_Configurator/ - starts at $585.

Or you could always use Google: http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS283&q=custom+gaming+pc&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=

Okay here's what you're not understanding, that site you linked? I don't understand it. I don't understand PC parts, what ones are good, what ones are bad. I shouldn't have to. It shouldn't be that complex. It might seem simple to you, but to me it's a headache. I often see computers like the one you linked and right within the comments people are saying the power supply is weak, the GPU needs replaced, etc.

Basically, like I said to begin with, you need to have technobabble know-how to get a cheap PC.

 

[Continuity]

Its the same old story, we've known for years now that for a hardcore gamer (someone who buys shit-tons of games) the PC works out cheaper in the long run but has a higher up-front cost.

However, I doubt anyone buys a PC for gaming with cost overly in mind. people buy gaming PC's because they want to play PC games... they want to use a mouse and keyboard.

 

[michael87cn]

In case you want to know what I'm talking about without clicking his link... here's a summary of what the page looks like:

Asus M4N68T-M V2 AM3 DDR3 NVIDIA Geforce 7025/nForce 630a Chipset mATX w/ Onboard Graphics and Core Unlocker, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 2.0, SATA-II RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [-45]
GigaByte GA-770T-USB3 AMD 770 Chipset Support DDR3 Ultra Durable?3 Socket AM3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-II, RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 4 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI [-15]
GigaByte GA-880GM-USB3 AMD 880G Chipset Support DDR3 Ultra Durable?3 Socket AM3 mATX Mainboard w/ Built-in ATI HD4200 Video, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, HDMI, USB 3.0, SATA-II, RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI [+0]
GigaByte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870/SB850 chipset DDR3 Ultra Durable?3 Socket AM3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Audio, GBLAN, Support 6-core CPU, CPU Auto Unlocker, USB3.0, SATA-III, ON/OFF Charge for IPod, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI [+0]

-----------------------------------------------------SLI Ready------------------------------------------------------
Asus M4N98TD EVO AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI Chipset DDR3 ATX w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB2.0, IEEE1394, SATA-II, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+45]

--------------------------------------------------CrossFireX Ready--------------------------------------------------
ASUS M4A87TD EVO AMD 870 Chipset CrossFireX Support DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX w/ 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, IEEE1394a, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1, & 3 PCI [+0]
Asus M4A89GTD Pro/USB3 AMD 890GX Chipset Hardware Core Unlocker CrossFireX Support DDR3 Sckt AM3 ATX w/ Built-in ATI HD4290 Graphic, HDMI, DVI, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, IEEE1394, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X4, 1 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI [+60]
(3-Way CrossFire Support) Asus Crosshair IV Formula AMD 890FX Chipset CrossFireX Support DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX w/ 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, IEEE1394a, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 3 Gen2 PCIe, & 2 PCI [+132]
GigaByte GA-890XA-UD3 AM3 AMD 790X Chipset Support CrossFireX DDR3 ATX w/ 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, IEEE1394, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 3 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+36]
GigaByte GA-890GPA-UD3H AMD 890GX Chipset CrossFireX Support DDR3 Socket AM3 Ultra Durable?3 ATX w/ Built-in Integrated ATI Radeon HD4290 Graphic Video, HDMI, DVI, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, IEEE1394, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 3 PCIe X1, & 2 PCI [+42]
(3-Way CrossFire Support) GigaByte GA-890FXA-UD5 AMD 890FX Chipset Support CrossFireX DDR3 Ultra Durable?3 Socket AM3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, eSATA, Dual GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-III, RAID, IEEE1394a, 4 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1, & 1 PCI [+96]
MSI 890GXM-G65 AMD 890GX Chipset CrossFireX Support DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX w/ Built-in Integrated Graphic Video, HDMI, DVI, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1, & 1 PCI [+37]
(3-Way CrossFire Support) MSI 890FXA-GD70 AMD 890FX Chipset CrossFireX Support DDR3 Socket AM3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 HD Audio, eSATA, Dual GbLAN, USB 3.0, SATA-III, RAID, 5 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1, & 1 PCI [+118]

YEAH REAL SIMPLE AND EASY.

 

[purity]

I can go cheaper, just replace the Phenom II with an Athlon II and go to a local college to get some help in getting a near free OS

Very good advice. I got Windows 7 Professional for free from the University of Oslo (where I study full-time). LOTS of other software available for free as well.