Around $500 USD Gaming Rig

[Solid Knight]

I'm going to build a new PC for some gaming. I haven't researched anything since 2006 (when I built my last one). Don't need drives, case, or PSU. Any recommendations?

[remus_lupin]

I did this quick... Others will probably give better recommendations

Are you looking at playing the newest FPS type games, or more along the lines of latest MMO's (if MMO's then this GPU is overkill)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/10iy6

Also, depending on price, and what you may want, you can substitue the i5 for a cheaper dual core i3 instead, then either keep the savings, or spend more on a better mobo.

Also I just chose the cheapest RAM ($/gb)... There are many other options/configurations for around the same price.

[The Evil Overlord]

Personally, you could do a lot worse than grabbing an old AMD chip, Phenom X6 (or one of the newer Bulldozers,) and an ASUS crosshair V it is older tech but it will do the job, you will need to shell out for a graphics card, but I guess you already knew that, one of the higher end nvidia 600 range would chug along quite nicely, delivering good to high fps on medium to high settings (not max)

My own is pushing 10-11 years old now, (I checked this pc I'm using right now was a gift from me to my wife for our first born <my first born, her second, she had a son from a previous relationship>)

It's a dual core athlon with a gt430 nvidia card, it handles both starcrafts at the lower to middle graphics settings quite well, wow at mid to high, tera at the lower end graphics (just to name some games I play on it)

[Andre S. Veteran]

Best CPUs for the money

Best Graphics Cards for the money

Should get you started :)

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

Just to make sure, what PSU do you have?

[remus_lupin]

Another one here: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/10iMU

Better CPU, RAM is a bit faster, only have two RAM slots on MOBO but the RAM is an 8GB stick so if you got another 8GB down the road that will be plenty.

**Note** The mobo MAY need a bios update in order to work with the CPU. (note per pcpartpicker)

Edit: I am not as familiar with the amd video cards, I know you can find some with great performance for the price, so check those out too.

[Sandor]

I'm going to build a new PC for some gaming. I haven't researched anything since 2006 (when I built my last one). Don't need drives, case, or PSU. Any recommendations?

Dangerous assumptions to make.

Are your drives higher speed SATA? (including the opticals)

Case got good airflow?

PSU modular and of a quality efficiency rating? (also if it's 7 years old you might want a new one anyway)

[YounGMessiah]

And possibly his PSU might not have the proper connections for a GPU.

As suggested a full modular PSU would be helpful for cable management. Antec has great ones, but some will suggest the Corsair line.

We really cant help you much without details. (The RAM I randomly picked, like above you have many choices and might want to think about what you need)

[Solid Knight]

Are your drives higher speed SATA? (including the opticals)

They were the best that was available for that year. SATA 3.0. Are there better ones?

Case got good airflow?

Yeah. I got a Lian-Li PCV2000 series. The temps are low in my existing PC.

PSU modular and of a quality efficiency rating? (also if it's 7 years old you might want a new one anyway)

It's a fully modular Antect NeoPower something. I might replace it though. You are right about its age. They're not too much so I might as well.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i know im crapping all over this thread, but i see these threads so much - how cheap can i build a gaming rig?

gaming rigs and cheap do not mix. sure, you can spend $500 but you wont be happy w/ the outcome. you'll be thinking, wait, i can only play my games at low-to-medium settings at 1280x720?

The setup that YounGMessiah posted actually looks pretty good. The only problems i see are only 4GB RAM and that 7770 video card.

Solid Knight - if you think that PSU is that old, you might need to replace it. it might not even support 6 or 8-pins.

Last comment, if you dont think you need hard drives, you might want to check just how old they are. Are they 7200rpm, SATA1, 2, 3??? even though hd's are slow, theyre still way faster today than in the last decade.