Ok so I think im gonna get a pc this year or get the Xbox One so i was thinking on getting a pc since people say pc is much better so can someone build me a pc with a $500 budget. I planned on playing games like NBA 2K, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, and Battlefield. Thanks
Does this 500 include a monitor?
Does this 500 include an OS (windows 7 and 8 are not the cheapest).
Do you have any parts (keyboard, mouse, hard drives, DVD drives....) you can use for a while?
Are you amenable to building a PC and then continuing to add to it/buy better parts when more money comes in (a basic $40 graphics card will do most games released in the last few years* which gives you a month or two to save up for a proper graphics card).
*games tended to be really held back by consoles and though you might not get full 4xAA, 1080p, max settings with all effects @ 60fps it will certainly be playable.
If you do not need a monitor or OS then it is tight but doable if you want a gaming grade rig. If any of the others happen to be the case then it is quite a lot easier (I specced a moderate gaming grade thing with the potential to be upgraded as part of a thought exercise the other day and it came out in the the 550 range, you might get a nice combo deal though and my thought exercise was not done shopping around for the cheapest prices everywhere I could).
Does this 500 include an OS (windows 7 and 8 are not the cheapest).
Do you have any parts (keyboard, mouse, hard drives, DVD drives....) you can use for a while?
Are you amenable to building a PC and then continuing to add to it/buy better parts when more money comes in (a basic $40 graphics card will do most games released in the last few years* which gives you a month or two to save up for a proper graphics card).
*games tended to be really held back by consoles and though you might not get full 4xAA, 1080p, max settings with all effects @ 60fps it will certainly be playable.
If you do not need a monitor or OS then it is tight but doable if you want a gaming grade rig. If any of the others happen to be the case then it is quite a lot easier (I specced a moderate gaming grade thing with the potential to be upgraded as part of a thought exercise the other day and it came out in the the 550 range, you might get a nice combo deal though and my thought exercise was not done shopping around for the cheapest prices everywhere I could).
Most TVs will come with VGA and/or HDMI (DVI is just HDMI without the sound and maybe without HDCP).
Short version is yes. You might need to read the manual or mess around in the settings to activate PC/gaming mode (modern TVs do a bit of processing which adds lag) but I see many people doing this.
Short version is yes. You might need to read the manual or mess around in the settings to activate PC/gaming mode (modern TVs do a bit of processing which adds lag) but I see many people doing this.
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If you look around for deals at Tigerdirect or Newegg and such, you should be able to build a pretty good budget gaming PC. Basically you'll want to spend the most money on your GPU, go for an Intel i series for a CPU (my recommendation), 4GB+ of RAM, and a motherboard to match the CPU. I was able to build a nice budget rig for about $500-$600 thanks to some good deals on Newegg.
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This gets interesting
Hard drives. I very much doubt you will have a hard time picking up sata drives for several years yet so yes you can and assuming one does not die (always a possibility with any hard drive) the most trouble you will face is transferring files and program settings to a new hard drive (not the hardest task by any means).
RAM. The new standard is upon us and when things go legacy it has a nasty habit of increasing prices (very often more RAM will notably speed up a system so you get to pay a premium for this). You will not have a hard time picking things up though.
Motherboard. If you upgrade the motherboard you have changed the computer as far as most are concerned. Replacing it should it die.... should be doable though probably not for as long as the others.
CPU. This gets tricky as the CPU makers do switch things up somewhat regularly which means you are more likely to end up limited by this (and replacing the motherboard to allow upgrades means you probably also get to replace the RAM). Still a top of the range* I7 (which your motherboard should support if you buy into the i? ranges as suggested) should be available and do serious damage for years to come.
Graphics. Kind of tough call. Like RAM you can face a new standard from time to time but PCIe is likely to kick around for a while and have some legacy stuff after that so yeah upgrades are possible. It might see you need to upgrade the power supply depending upon what goes but that is also easy.
*proper proper top of the range stuff may stay high but its two steps down cousin which is almost as powerful usually sees prices drop like a stone.
Everything else usually just hangs off USB or such like so should be fine.
Unlike a 1500 USD machine your 500 will not get you a PC that stays relevant to the highest of high end games for several years but done properly you should be able to upgrade a bit here and there and get things done for quite some time to come.
as long as it can run call of duty i can upgrade it every now an then thats the main game i want to play
I just picked up one of these machines for a relative. Might be interesting to you too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883256744
10GB's of RAM, 1.5TB hard drive, 6 core 3.8Ghz AMD cpu, Radeon 7570 2GB model (not the best GPU on the planet but its not horrible either, beats the pants off of any on board graphics from Intel lol) It's refurbished and it costs 479.99 shipped, no taxes and with out shipping it would be 475 bucks.
The one thing that is driving me absolutely insane is how it has 10GB's of RAM.... 2 sticks of GB and 2 sticks of 4GB's?
Anyway the RAM is DDR3 1600 so thats pretty nice the mobo is a brand name (forgot what brand but its a reliable one) has built in Blutooth and wireless.
No monitor but if your using a TV thats not an issue, has HDMI out on the video card.
Edit: Remembered its a Gigabyte mobo so it's pretty nice the power supply is 480 watts so you could even upgrade the graphics card down the road if you wanted too.
Edit 2: If you wanted to go insane for some odd reason the mobo supports up to 32GB's of RAM and has 4 slots with dual channel mode so it is amazingly feature packed for something so cheap.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883256744
10GB's of RAM, 1.5TB hard drive, 6 core 3.8Ghz AMD cpu, Radeon 7570 2GB model (not the best GPU on the planet but its not horrible either, beats the pants off of any on board graphics from Intel lol) It's refurbished and it costs 479.99 shipped, no taxes and with out shipping it would be 475 bucks.
The one thing that is driving me absolutely insane is how it has 10GB's of RAM.... 2 sticks of GB and 2 sticks of 4GB's?
Anyway the RAM is DDR3 1600 so thats pretty nice the mobo is a brand name (forgot what brand but its a reliable one) has built in Blutooth and wireless.
No monitor but if your using a TV thats not an issue, has HDMI out on the video card.
Edit: Remembered its a Gigabyte mobo so it's pretty nice the power supply is 480 watts so you could even upgrade the graphics card down the road if you wanted too.
Edit 2: If you wanted to go insane for some odd reason the mobo supports up to 32GB's of RAM and has 4 slots with dual channel mode so it is amazingly feature packed for something so cheap.
Motherboard used in OEM like HP has never been that good compared to retail one.
That HP pre-built has two problems, not optimal RAM configuration, and HD7570 2GB (non-gaming GPU, not that much faster compared to APU).
That HP pre-built has two problems, not optimal RAM configuration, and HD7570 2GB (non-gaming GPU, not that much faster compared to APU).
The GPU is better than an APU by a mile at least according to the benchmarks I have read about it. My Radeon 4870 1GB GDDR5 beats it but not by as much as I was expecting...
The RAM being non optimal? if its all DDR3 1600 in dual channel mode its just fine, as long as both sticks in the same channel are the same size and speed they will be interleaved just fine. Just an odd configuration that winds up being 10GB's lol (maybe HP needed to dump some 1GB sticks.)
HD7570 is a rebrand of HD6570. Don't confuse HD7570 to HD7750.
Perhaps the biggest problem is the motherboard,
VRM is exposed (no heatsink). Not a good idea to run 95 to 125 W CPU on exposed VRM (this is looks like a 3+1 VRM setup, low phase count). Granted it is impossible to overclock on these motherboards, but I imagine there will be throttling at full speed.
The OEM versions are tied to the first motherboard they are installed on, from what I've read. Retail can be installed on different systems; but will only work on one system at a time.
HD7570 is a rebrand of HD6570. Don't confuse HD7570 to HD7750.
Perhaps the biggest problem is the motherboard,
VRM is exposed (no heatsink). Not a good idea to run 95 to 125 W CPU on exposed VRM (this is looks like a 3+1 VRM setup, low phase count). Granted it is impossible to overclock on these motherboards, but I imagine there will be throttling at full speed.
Your not going to get a complete machine packed with an OCing mobo and top end graphics card for under 500 bucks.
Still stands as a great deal for whats in the box.
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