I'm going to be spending $500 on a tower soon, but have been out of the building scene for awhile now.

I looked up Tom's GPU/CPU best bang for the buck, but that's not always accurate..

I'd like to get my current build down to $500, but am struggling to find combos/substitutions to bring it there.

I highly prefer ATX form factor mobo's, as I've had bad experiences with cramped cord management and congestion with MicroATX.
Also would like to have top ventilation on the case, along with USB 3.0 front panel and front panel I/O headers on the mobo.

Already have monitor, keyboard/mouse, speakers, OS, only need tower.

100fg reward for whichever build I end up using!
Greatly appreciate any help though.

This post was edited by Mitchymo on Feb 5 2015 07:46pm

what games are you planning to run?

i'd get something like this,
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/nvXy3C
$525 before mail in rebates, though personally i'd pay $10 extra for the 600w EVGA psu and $40-50 more for 960/285.

case is normally around 40, has usb 3 front, top vents etc.
ram is 2400mhz same price as your ram you picked due to combo
ud3p is a gg mobo for OCing which goes well with the 6300.

This post was edited by Secksii on Feb 5 2015 08:15pm

Hopefully everything on at least med-high? Is the i3-4160 not that great? I was just going off what tom's hardware was saying.. My old rig was an i5 3470 with an amd 5770 and it ran everything pretty decently on high/ultra, I don't know how the i3 fairs versus the older i5 though, but I'm pretty sure the r7 260x will be a step up?

Woah that looks like way higher specs than mine, and even cheaper! Does the case have top ventilation? I'd probably take your advice on the PSU, what do you mean by 40-50 more for 960/285 though? GPU?

I wish it didn't figure in the mail-in rebates onto the pricing D; those are kinda iffy..

This post was edited by Mitchymo on Feb 5 2015 08:20pm

pretty substainal difference, $500 is a rough take, but $600 can net you some nice 1080p gameplay

The build Secksii posted would run everything pretty well wouldn't it? It seems pretty high end for the price.. I'd really like to keep it around $550 max though after shipping/taxes if possible, and I really like to avoid mail-in-rebates.

yeah, the case has top ventilation, bottom vents, front usb 3.0, bottom mount psu, decent cable management
and ya, $40-50 more for 960 or 285 GPU, cos it's def worth it vs 270x perf.

again it depends on what game you play, if you play low req. games such as csgo, league type of games, ull be happy with 270x
but if you play like farcry 4, metro, type of games, ull be more happy with the 960.

This post was edited by Secksii on Feb 5 2015 08:26pm

I've been gaming on an Asus laptop with Intel HD4000, i5 4th gen, 6gb ddr3, hooked up to a 24" Samsung LED, with Logitech G430, G510, G700 peripherals. 270/fx6300 may not seem high-end to you guys but it'll really be a giant step-up for me. For now I'd rather stay closer to $550max after shipping/taxes to be responsible about the build :P.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7g8rnQ

just a couple changes that i liked, 1600 ram and once you go nvidia, you can tone down the psu

$2 more expencive, and an extra $10 more in mir, but you get a 960

/e $12 more, didn't see the amazon tag, keep in mind, there is 15.99 in shipping on that case as well

This post was edited by Trapslick on Feb 5 2015 08:58pm

Nice case.

EDIT: And that PSU is a piece of shit.

This post was edited by VVR4ITH on Feb 5 2015 09:36pm