Prebuilt Gaming PC, $500 budget, ideas?

[BeastMode335i]

So I've always built my own over time, however a friend of mine is asking for an ideal gaming pc for her teenage son for Christmas. She wants a plug and play setup, and has a $500 budget, so would guys recommend something like Cyberpower or something along the lines of that..?? I've always ran my settings on high, but a lot of these prebuilt's seem to have components that would limit that capability, hence why I'm here asking for advice...

She's going to get him a monitor on Black Friday, so for now she just wants to know which desktop gaming pc is the best bang for buck..

Thanks!

[cxp213]

You're not running anything at max/high settings with a $500 budget.

What are they looking to buy with that $500? If it's just a PC, then you can build a decent enough one to game on for a kid. Even better if you're upgrading an existing build.

Many prebuilt systems are ok, but they tend to come with crap you don't need, thereby wasting money that could've been spent on something else. There will be compromises here and there, but you do gain convenience and warranty for the entire system (vs components).

[FutureHendr1x]

You will barely run any games with a 500 pc...what are the specs? i spent 1500 for mine pre built, gtx1080, 16gb ram, i7 7700 etc liquid cooling,,etc

[Crimson92]

May I recommend the Xbox One X?

[cxp213]

The main thing you want to keep in mind is the GPU since it's going to be used as a gaming rig by a kid. Stick to something more modern like GTX 1050Ti or 1060 (or AMD's RX 580) and you'll be fine. You'll also want to get one that ideally has a SSD and a modern CPU as well, but you'll go beyond $500 pretty quick once you start nitpicking.

[te37]

Check craigslist in your area. Used PC hardware is cheap

[Banana Hammock]

Originally Posted by te37

Check craigslist in your area. Used PC hardware is cheap

This is a great idea. Find something inexpensive with a CPU from previous generation then spend as much as you can on a graphics card.

[theriz]

Better off getting an xbox or playstation. Like someone said before maybe search craigslist for parts or a whole computer.

[Joe240]

tell her to combine the cost of the monitor and the computer and buy a cheap semi gaming laptop. can easily find a decent one for around $750ish, especially on black friday.

newegg has an MSI GL62M 7RDX-NE1050i5 right now for $724. 7th gen i5 with 8gb of RAM and a 1050 videocard. Like others have said, won't run things on max settings, but you could get away with medium on some games.

[peterparker]

You may be better off with those prebuilt options. Blackfriday is coming up!

[3rdcoast228i]

Forget $500

You need $350 to $500 just for the video card.

If you are only spending that much then dont even bother as the kid will be highly disappointed.

[theriz]

Originally Posted by 3rdcoast228i

Forget $500

You need $350 to $500 just for the video card.

If you are only spending that much then dont even bother as the kid will be highly disappointed.

I was going to say that i spent 500.00 alone on my GPU... but i can run GTA fairly easy.

[BeastMode335i]

I agree with you all, and I told her that many of my single items alone cost $500 when I built my old alienware, but these "out of the box" gaming PC's are stating that they handle most all games at 60+FPS included most all top name titles.. Not sure I'm believing it, but again she said he's 14, has friends who do PC gaming, and he wants to play with them.. He has an Xbox 1 but it doesn't play the games he's trying to play, H1Z1 I believe is what he's after..

I saw BestBuy had those CyberPowerPC's with good reviews but like many of you, I'm a DIY'er, and a lot of those specs seem so entry level.. Many had 8gb ram, AMD graphics, etc etc.. My build from 6 years ago even had 16gb ram lol, so that's why I figured I'd ask the masses what you'd recommend to someone with that budget..

PC in question - https://www.bestbuy.com/site/cyberpo...?skuId=6072200

[3 Stripes]

Here is what i would recommend.
https://elitegamingcomputers.com/goo...-computers/#21

[BeastMode335i]

Originally Posted by peterparker

You may be better off with those prebuilt options. Blackfriday is coming up!

I mentioned this to her as soon as she asked me lol..

[3rdcoast228i]

Not enough texture memory on the video card.

Need to push that budget to $800 to $1000

[BeastMode335i]

Originally Posted by 3 Stripes

Here is what i would recommend.
https://elitegamingcomputers.com/goo...-computers/#21

I saw that as well and actually sent her that link with the message, "if he enjoys gaming, he'd take pride in building this himself" lmao..

[Uber Commuter]

Originally Posted by 3 Stripes

Here is what i would recommend.
https://elitegamingcomputers.com/goo...-computers/#21

^That.

My son and I built his gaming PC together about a year ago; it was ~$1200 including a monitor (reasonable 22" one on sale at the time); but we focused on components that would allow him to upgrade the performance as he went forward so he could make it stronger where he needed to.

The pre-built systems won't even come close.

[M2Rush]

I suggest adding another $200-300 if that is possible and you'd likely be able to manage.

Check out pcpartspicker and their builds for ideas, just move the slider to the maximum dollar amount you'd like to spend and it'll show you a bunch of different builds. Mind you I just checked and there are nothing around the $500 range.

Otherwise just use the site as a template and start adding parts, the build price is automatically updated with the current cost of every part added, I find it very useful for budgeting.

[M2Rush]

https://pcpartpicker.com/guide/

[BeastMode335i]

Originally Posted by Uber Commuter

^That.

My son and I built his gaming PC together about a year ago; it was ~$1200 including a monitor (reasonable 22" one on sale at the time); but we focused on components that would allow him to upgrade the performance as he went forward so he could make it stronger where he needed to.

The pre-built systems won't even come close.

Yeah I think she assumed I was lying when I told her I spent $2k on a basic setup hahaha..! I showed her your responses and she believes me now..!

[M2Rush]

Originally Posted by BeastMode335i

Yeah I think she assumed I was lying when I told her I spent $2k on a basic setup hahaha..! I showed her your responses and she believes me now..!

Lol, unfortunately the times have changed... My monitor alone was over $1200.