Building a Compact and Powerful Gaming PC: A $500 Budget Guide
When it comes to building a gaming PC on a tight budget, there are many factors to consider. In this guide, we'll take a look at how to build a compact and powerful gaming PC for around $500.
Choosing the Right Components
For the RAM, I found it to be one of the easiest parts to pick in 2017. All you need is 8 GB for gaming, and if you're spending more on a higher spec system, say $800 and above, you want to go for 16 gigs. In terms of ram, I went for one 8 GB DIMM from Crucial's Ballistic SP series. This RAM has the necessary DDR4 speed and better DDR4 ramp for this build. Having one 8 GB DIMM instead of two 4 GB DIMMs does allow for much better upgrade paths and greater future proofing.
When it comes to storage, I opted for a Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB drive. It was cheaper than the Seagate Barracuda 1 TB Drive, but still has slightly better reviews at the moment. A 7200 RPM speed is as fast as mainstream hard drives get, but isn't going to match the speed of any form of SSD.
Choosing the Right Graphics Card
In terms of graphics cards, this was definitely a tricky choice. NVIDIA's GTX 1050 and 1050 TI are great alternatives, but due to slight volatility in pricing, I opted for AMD's RX 470 instead. The RX 470 is a direct competitor to the two and sits right in the middle of the 1050 and the 1050 TI.
I went for MSI's Gaming Variant of the RX 470, not only does it have a nice side panel window to view all of your hard work and your PC while it's running, but also performs very well. If you're interested in seeing what kind of performance numbers and different cooler designs you can expect from the RX 470 line of cards, I reviewed XFX and ASUS is RX 470s, which you can view on the channel.
Choosing the Right Case
For the case, I chose Corsair's Carbide Series Spec M2. This case has a nice side panel window to view all of your hard work and your PC while it's running, and also has a conclusive front panel with USB 3.0/USB 2.0 and HD audio for plugging in headphones, microphones, headsets that kind of thing. It also supports full-size ATX power supply form factor, which means it isn't massive and won't take up loads of room in your bedroom gaming room studio living room.
Choosing the Right Power Supply
Finally, I chose a 500 W 80+ certified unit from EVGA. This unit has been featured recently in my $350 gaming PC build guide, which also gives you a tutorial on how to build that PC as well. I've had no problems with this unit since, and it's really reliable. The 80+ certification done by an external company guarantees that this is going to perform very efficiently even under 100% load.
Adding the Final Touches
One final thing I would recommend if anyone has another kind of money they wish to spend is Cooler Master's Hyper 212 Evo. This is one of the highest rated CPU coolers out of all time, with thousands and thousands of reviews on Amazon or Newegg. It allows for plenty of overclocking headroom if you're using a CPU that can be overclocked, and keeps things nice and quiet so that your rear drums don't get deafened while you're having that great gaming experience.
Building this PC has been a pleasure, and I hope it's helped you in some way. If you did enjoy this build guide, you know what to do - smash that like button, subscribe, follow me on Twitter for behind-the-scenes look into my personal life, and a whole load more. Make sure to have a look at the Amazon links in the description below to all the products mentioned if you're interested in building your own gaming PC.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwelcome back to another geek video and today I'm taking you over the very best $600 gaming PC build for 2017 specifically one that uses brand new cable eight parts from Intel so make sure to drop a like R And subscribe but with any video let's kick it off with the performance numbers you can expect and then the parts I chose and why this build really is capable of 1080p High to ultra settings providing turn aliasing down and Ving off you're going to be getting great frame rates of over 60 frames per second and even the likes of GTA 5 and OverWatch if you did want to play some of the older games such as csgo World of Warcraft and Eagle Legends you're looking at well over 100 FPS in many cases at 1080p ultra settings so let's kick it off with the CPU for the CPU I chose Intel's brand new core I 37320 now I know what you're thinking a $600 build with a core I3 now don't underestimate this I3 processor what many people think of i3s they think of old laptops with really crappy I3 CPUs and this really is far from it this would definitely outdo a lot of the i5s from previous Intel generations and it's a 7320 model it's got hyperthreading so whilst it is physically only a dual core it actually acts like a quad core making it compatible with the games that ask for at least four cores not only that it has an incredibly High stock clock speed of 4.1 GHz so whilst it isn't overclockable you won't need need to overclock it anyway to get any more performance in terms of motherboards since we've gone for a more budget oriented kbl Lake chip and one that you won't be able clock in we don't need to opt for a b170 A z270 or a z170 chipset instead we can go with msi's gaming h110 microatx motherboard I went for the microatx form factor as it gives you all the features and functionality in need and means that you don't pay a premium for very small and compact nor you pay a premium for big and very feature rip it has everything we need from Plenty of ram dim slots PCA 3.0 x16 for even the most bandwidth intensive of graphics cards and plenty of SATA 6 uh sata 3 sorry 6 GB per second ports for adding hard drives and ssds in that kind of thing in terms of ram it really was kind of the easiest part for me to pick in 2017 all you need is 8 GB for gaming and if you're spending more on a higher spec system say $800 and above you want to go for 16 gigs I went for one8 GB dim of crucial's ballistic SP for outt of course in that ddr4 standard you need that faster ddr4 speed and better ddr4 ramp for this cake CPU and motherboard and by going with 1 8 GB dim as opposed to two 4 GB dims you don't see very much performance difference but it does allow for much better upgrade paths and much greater future proofing now what that means is in 6 or 12 months time you got a bit of extra cash just go and buy an identical dim again to give you 16 gigs total you don't need to disregard or throw away or waste B that initial 8 GB stick storage once again was quite an Easy Choice you can either go for Western digitals caviar blue 1 TB drive or say Gates Barracuda 1 tbte Drive I opted for the WD drive because it was cheaper and has slightly better reviews at the moment although it does kind of swing back and forth between the two a 7200 RPM speed which is as fast as mainstream hard drives get but isn't going to match the speed at all of any form of SSD that being said it's got a terabyte of space which is great for your steam Library movies and games just an overall great product at a brilliant price point in terms of graphics cards this was definitely a tricky Choice nvidia's GTX 1050 and 1050 TI are great Alternatives and I'll link them below but due to slight volatility within the pricing of those cards I instead opted for amd's rx470 a direct competitor to the two and one that sits right in the middle of the 1050 and the 1050 TI I went for msi's gaming variant which not only looks fantastic but performs very well I reviewed X fxs and Asus is rx 470s and you'll be able to view those on the channel if you wish to see what kind of performance numbers and different cooler designs you can be expecting from the rx470 line of cards for the case to how this system I chose corsair's carbide series spec M2 not only does it have a nice side panel window to view all of your hard work and your PC while it's running it has a conclusive front panel I/O USB 3 usb2 and HD audio for plugging in headphones microphones headsets that kind of thing it also supports fulls sizee ATX power supply form factor it supports up to Micro ATX form factor motherboards as well which means it isn't massive and isn't going to take up loads of room in your bedroom gaming room studio living room that kind of thing overall a really solid choice and finally for the power supply a 500 W 80 plus certified unit from EVGA is more than good enough I featured it recently in my $350 gaming PC build guide which you can view on the channel which also gives you a tutorial of how to build that PC as well and I've had no problems with that unit since evj stuff is really reliable and that 80 plus certification done by an external company guarantees that this is going to perform very efficiently even under 100% load and that basically wraps it up there is one more thing that I would recommend if anyone has another kind of $30 that they wish to spend and that's caller Masters hyper 212 Evo this is the highest rated call out of all time it's got thousands and thousands of festar reviews just check it on Amazon or new egg or whatever and links as always will be in the description below it's an incredible CPU caller which will allow plenty of overclocking Headroom if you CPU is overclockable and keep things most importantly nice and quiet so that your rear drums don't get deafened whilst you're having that great gaming experience and that wraps it up for this build if you did enjoy it you know what to do smash that like button subscribe follow me on Twitter at geek for behind the scenes look into my personal life and a whole load more make sure to have a look at the Amazon links in the description below to all the products mentioned if you did want to buy them and as always we'll see you in the next geeko videowelcome back to another geek video and today I'm taking you over the very best $600 gaming PC build for 2017 specifically one that uses brand new cable eight parts from Intel so make sure to drop a like R And subscribe but with any video let's kick it off with the performance numbers you can expect and then the parts I chose and why this build really is capable of 1080p High to ultra settings providing turn aliasing down and Ving off you're going to be getting great frame rates of over 60 frames per second and even the likes of GTA 5 and OverWatch if you did want to play some of the older games such as csgo World of Warcraft and Eagle Legends you're looking at well over 100 FPS in many cases at 1080p ultra settings so let's kick it off with the CPU for the CPU I chose Intel's brand new core I 37320 now I know what you're thinking a $600 build with a core I3 now don't underestimate this I3 processor what many people think of i3s they think of old laptops with really crappy I3 CPUs and this really is far from it this would definitely outdo a lot of the i5s from previous Intel generations and it's a 7320 model it's got hyperthreading so whilst it is physically only a dual core it actually acts like a quad core making it compatible with the games that ask for at least four cores not only that it has an incredibly High stock clock speed of 4.1 GHz so whilst it isn't overclockable you won't need need to overclock it anyway to get any more performance in terms of motherboards since we've gone for a more budget oriented kbl Lake chip and one that you won't be able clock in we don't need to opt for a b170 A z270 or a z170 chipset instead we can go with msi's gaming h110 microatx motherboard I went for the microatx form factor as it gives you all the features and functionality in need and means that you don't pay a premium for very small and compact nor you pay a premium for big and very feature rip it has everything we need from Plenty of ram dim slots PCA 3.0 x16 for even the most bandwidth intensive of graphics cards and plenty of SATA 6 uh sata 3 sorry 6 GB per second ports for adding hard drives and ssds in that kind of thing in terms of ram it really was kind of the easiest part for me to pick in 2017 all you need is 8 GB for gaming and if you're spending more on a higher spec system say $800 and above you want to go for 16 gigs I went for one8 GB dim of crucial's ballistic SP for outt of course in that ddr4 standard you need that faster ddr4 speed and better ddr4 ramp for this cake CPU and motherboard and by going with 1 8 GB dim as opposed to two 4 GB dims you don't see very much performance difference but it does allow for much better upgrade paths and much greater future proofing now what that means is in 6 or 12 months time you got a bit of extra cash just go and buy an identical dim again to give you 16 gigs total you don't need to disregard or throw away or waste B that initial 8 GB stick storage once again was quite an Easy Choice you can either go for Western digitals caviar blue 1 TB drive or say Gates Barracuda 1 tbte Drive I opted for the WD drive because it was cheaper and has slightly better reviews at the moment although it does kind of swing back and forth between the two a 7200 RPM speed which is as fast as mainstream hard drives get but isn't going to match the speed at all of any form of SSD that being said it's got a terabyte of space which is great for your steam Library movies and games just an overall great product at a brilliant price point in terms of graphics cards this was definitely a tricky Choice nvidia's GTX 1050 and 1050 TI are great Alternatives and I'll link them below but due to slight volatility within the pricing of those cards I instead opted for amd's rx470 a direct competitor to the two and one that sits right in the middle of the 1050 and the 1050 TI I went for msi's gaming variant which not only looks fantastic but performs very well I reviewed X fxs and Asus is rx 470s and you'll be able to view those on the channel if you wish to see what kind of performance numbers and different cooler designs you can be expecting from the rx470 line of cards for the case to how this system I chose corsair's carbide series spec M2 not only does it have a nice side panel window to view all of your hard work and your PC while it's running it has a conclusive front panel I/O USB 3 usb2 and HD audio for plugging in headphones microphones headsets that kind of thing it also supports fulls sizee ATX power supply form factor it supports up to Micro ATX form factor motherboards as well which means it isn't massive and isn't going to take up loads of room in your bedroom gaming room studio living room that kind of thing overall a really solid choice and finally for the power supply a 500 W 80 plus certified unit from EVGA is more than good enough I featured it recently in my $350 gaming PC build guide which you can view on the channel which also gives you a tutorial of how to build that PC as well and I've had no problems with that unit since evj stuff is really reliable and that 80 plus certification done by an external company guarantees that this is going to perform very efficiently even under 100% load and that basically wraps it up there is one more thing that I would recommend if anyone has another kind of $30 that they wish to spend and that's caller Masters hyper 212 Evo this is the highest rated call out of all time it's got thousands and thousands of festar reviews just check it on Amazon or new egg or whatever and links as always will be in the description below it's an incredible CPU caller which will allow plenty of overclocking Headroom if you CPU is overclockable and keep things most importantly nice and quiet so that your rear drums don't get deafened whilst you're having that great gaming experience and that wraps it up for this build if you did enjoy it you know what to do smash that like button subscribe follow me on Twitter at geek for behind the scenes look into my personal life and a whole load more make sure to have a look at the Amazon links in the description below to all the products mentioned if you did want to buy them and as always we'll see you in the next geeko video\n"
