Quote from rsharitz on July 4, 2017, 1:11 pm

I would like to keep it on a budget around 400-500 dollars.

The are a lot go good itemized builds online- my original build was based on a PC mag article – that can help you plan your budget, and you know that one has already been built that works (which, as a first time builder, is a comfort!). PC Mag often has articles on builds from cheapo to primo. Some of the lighter builds come in around $500-$600, if you're not building a heavy hitter.

Here's an article on a budget gaming PC build that comes in around $500:Â https://www.pcgamer.com/build-…..gaming-pc/

The strategy are used when I built my big machine: I didn't buy all the parts at one – it was an ongoing effort. I started with the case and a power supply, and bolted in parts as I purchased them. I mapped out what I was after parts-wise on the idea that I would only purchase one or two components per month. Keeping my budget about $200 a month – bigger items, like graphics card, I would split over multiple months, committing my unspent budget from previous purchases – like one month I would buy a $100 drive, and then save the budget remainder for the next purchase next month…

. It requires a little patience, but the payoff is big – also, component prices will drop as the build continues. Both the RAM and HD/SSD prices where cheaper by the time got around to buying them. (I use a small SSD as the boot disk for speed – my boot up time is really fast).

In the end, my build came in around $1000, and I got a machine that can handle pretty much anything I throw at it, and is somewhat future proof – by spreading the parts purchases out, I was able to go bigger on my parts (better CPU, more RAM, etc.). Since the original build, the only major upgrade I have made is a more modern graphics card (in order to run a VR rig on it), and I've had many 4 years of service from it so far, and it still runs high end things easily, so investment-wise, I think my strategy has worked well.