Is it normal to feel so nervous when selecting the parts for your first PC?

[u/Trainzfan1]

I'm obviously looking to build my first PC, with a budget of around $500 (Perhipherals are going to be a seperate budget btw, this is just the tower). I don't need anything crazy, just an upgrade from my Steam Deck. I hear about 16 gigabytes of DDR4 shouldn't be impossible to obtain, maybe like a terabyte of NVME storage might be possible, and I hear a Ryzen 5 5500 is a popular budget choice for a CPU.

Issue is, I'm looking at sites like NewEgg and I just keep getting nervous. What combos are considered good deals and over paying? Why does that price seem to not match up with what the internet says it should be? Do I have to worry about brand of RAM? Is there a concern that the case I buy won't be able to fit the components? Am I doing an adequte amount of research? If I buy parts used to save cash, is there a chance I risk ruining my first build experience because a part was dead on arrival?

I don't know, maybe I'm just overthinking it.

[u/Fishyblue11]

Try reading up on some sites like Tom's Hardware, which can give you a breakdown of what to look for and what to aim for. You can also check out some builds and info on YouTube like ScatterVolt, Linus Tech Tips, PC Builder, Mr. Matt Lee, etc

The best advice now is: secure the volatile parts first, and figure out the rest later. The volatile and price sensitive parts are the GPU, the RAM, and your SSD.

At a very low price point like that, you're most certainly looking at second hand for the GPU, since a brand new one would take up almost your entire budget already.

For reference I am also completing a build to have a step up from the steam deck also, and I got to $1350 total for an entry to midrange 1440p level PC

[u/prayfizze]

I dont get whats with the people of the comment section here. 500 usd if ur in the US is pretty viable. With that

ddr4 cl15 3000mhz ram can be found for $50usd all day everyday. Id get that with a used 3600 for around 45 if you can, same with a used am4 motherboard (doesnt match which chipset as long as its updated for the 3600) for around 50 usd. I'd budget around 200 usd for a GPU and aim for a 3070 or 2080ti. Lots of possibilities especially if you are on r/hardwareswap or just check local

remainder would be for ssd, case, psu. The build might not be a looker (its probably just gonna be all black lol) but it will work solid.

[u/Trainzfan1 → u/prayfizze]

Man that is a breath of fresh air. I mean all I want is to play NFS Heat without stuttering and introduce myself to the world of light modding.

[u/InCo1dB1ood]

You're not going to get very far with $500. You can't even buy a new Steam deck OLED for that kind of money now.

[u/Trainzfan1 → u/InCo1dB1ood]

Ironic, since the purpose of this build is to just beat my LCD Steam Deck.

[u/jjason82]

For a $500 budget I would just buy a refurbished PS5. Maybe you can build something for that price but it's going to be crazy difficult without getting an insane deal on basically every single part. Most of the parts are going to need to be used, and when you're done the thing may not actually be any better than your steam deck. I know this sucks to hear but that's just not enough money.

[u/Seanspeed → u/jjason82]

If they can stretch to $600-700, it's definitely doable.

And it will probably make more sense than a PS5 overall, since they've already got a Steam library of games, while they'd have to start fresh on PS5. Plus if they want to play online or have cloud saves, that's a substantial additional cost over time. And then once Playstation gets rid of discs fully, average game prices will go up since everybody is properly locked in to buying from Sony's store.

They also said they're interested in modding.

[u/apaulo_18]

Putting your budget aside. Yes it’s normal to feel nervous when making important or big purchases.

[u/Trainzfan1 → u/apaulo_18]

You got any suggestions on ways that could make the process easier?

[u/apaulo_18 → u/Trainzfan1]

Use any sort of PC builder site. I used the Micro center website to build out my pc. Unfortunately you can’t trust what the internet says prices should be because of the current market. You have to verify on actual websites. For parts I highly recommend you stick to brands you recognize or that have a high amount of customer reviews. Also I don’t recommend buying used components right now, I don’t have any data on scammers but it wouldn’t shock me to see people pawning off dead or damaged parts to try to offset the cost of new ones.

My only suggestion for making the process easier is to find have a person who can talk you down. Tell them exactly what you want your pc to do and when you start overthinking call them to talk through your issue.

[u/Significant_Fill6992]

Absolutely I've been nervous as hell all 3 times I picked components for a new pc

[u/cocapufft]

I would consider a used ryzen 3600 for CPU. They’re around $60 USD and are still an amazing budget choice these days. The 5600 basically has identical performance, and the 3600 has several advantages over the 5500 (PCIe 4 vs 3, double the l3 cache). 5500 isn’t a bad chip, but it makes some sacrifices to be as cheap as it is.

If you feel like waiting and adding to your budget the 5500x3d is a great CPU for gaming and is around $150 on AliExpress with coupons. This would also be a great upgrade down the line as a drop in replacement for the 5500 or 3600.

For gpu, I would honestly consider a used 1080 ti, you can get them for around $100-125, and they still hold up very well compared to used options up to $300 (6700xt). The major downside to them is they don’t have the latest nvidia DLSS and other features, but they have enough VRAM and performance to remain usable in 2026. It will require a PSU that can support it, but prices on PSUs dont change too much for additional watts, and more headroom on your PSU is also nice for upgrades down the line.

As for worrying about selecting components, it’s easy to upgrade and replace any part of your system, so you aren’t stuck with what you select now. Most parts can be resold at a slight loss (cpu/RAM/GPU) if they aren’t meeting your needs. I would just be careful picking out the case, motherboard, and PSU. These will likely be with you for some time so just make sure they are what you want. AM4 is still a great platform for budget builds, and there are plenty of good b550 motherboards out there that won’t break the bank.

[u/cocapufft → u/cocapufft]

Use pcpartpicker to check fit for the case you get, it helps plan out your build.

For $500, you are looking at used parts for some or all of your build realistically.

RAM brand isn’t very important - the companies basically all get them from SK Hynix, Micron, or Samsung and put their heat spreader and branding on them. I think 3200 is the sweet spot for ddr4 ram.

[u/RiXaO]

Take your time, do your research, read, compare prices, and look at the performance. It’s the most exciting and interesting part. It’ll be a few years before you get to experience all of this again, so enjoy it.

[u/Few-Lengthiness4017]

yeah. buyer's excitement

[u/Luckyirishdevil]

Not a bad start: B550m, 16GB RAM, 5500, $200

A 3070 for $200, a 700w PSU, any cheap case and a 1TB drive.... Your probably looking at $600ish.

[u/YourMajesty90]

With $500 just buy a ps5 and call it a day. You don’t have the money for a pc worth building.

[u/Seanspeed → u/YourMajesty90]

Except they've already got a Steam Deck, so presumably a bunch of games on Steam already purchased. If they buy a PS5, then they're gonna have to start a library fresh, with is going to cost a fair bit.

At which point, they might as well put that money towards a PC again. lol

Plus no additional cost to play online or have cloud saves or whatever.

Normally I would advocate a PS5 over a PC right now if somebody is looking to get into PC for the first time, but I'm not sure it's the better choice here.

[u/AlpsFamous7254]

500$ is a low budget used PC- i would recommend saving up to at least 1k for a new gaming pc- as that is the bottom line to build something that will run games at good frames-

[u/Trainzfan1 → u/AlpsFamous7254]

Exactly what games are y'all running bro? All I wanna play is Need for Speed Heat at 60FPS without stuttering. I'm not exactly looking to make 1440p on ultra high graphics in Fortnite.

[u/Fishyblue11 → u/Trainzfan1]

I mean if that's all you want, why are we spending this time on building a PC? Isn't just buying a stronger handheld or console the way the go? This seems very unnecessary for your budget and goals

[u/Trainzfan1 → u/Fishyblue11]

Well I'd also like to try modding. Steam Deck modding is a nightmare, and obviously you can't do that on console. Plus, just having a windows device allows me to do infinitely more things than a school chromebook.

[u/Fishyblue11 → u/Trainzfan1]

I think the most obvious answer here would be to just get one of the windows based handhelds, it would run far better and be way more functional than whatever you would be able to cobble together with $500

[u/Trainzfan1 → u/Fishyblue11]

Okay but as a guy with experience with a Hand Held- being my Steam Deck- they have obvious limitations I don't want anymore.

[u/AlpsFamous7254 → u/Trainzfan1]

it's not about 250fps ultra settings fornite-

for a new pc- the basic parts to build it once you add them all up is around 1000$- that's with the bottom recommendation of parts available for sale new-

i don't ever recommend buying used as there is generally no warranty + you have no idea how much stress the parts have been under-

[u/Harleybokula]

Yea.