That processor costs at least $350 alone over here, comparable stuff around $320...

Really? No fking way man i payed 200 for it, its an old one mate. was lucky to fin a out of stock not sold part and bought it but didnt pay taxes for it lol

but seriously a decent i5 processor is about 160  with a 150 GPU you should achieve PS4 multiplats performance easily ....by now

Hmmm, everyone else so far as contradicted this. Are you sure?

If starting from scratch? No. This is not my opinion, it just is.

Add $100 for a Windows license.

$60 would buy a poor mouse and keyboard combination. If you want a quality gaming keyboard and a quality gaming mouse or just a quality mouse, the two will cost well north of $100.

$300 for a PC CPU (the assembled box, not the central processing unit) will buy an individual crap, again, assuming starting from scratch.

Unfortunately, it doesn't exist yet in the wild, but a pre-made Steambox may be the best price/performance buy in the PC gaming world once vendors begin selling them. Assuming they're sold for $500 including controller.

All that said, one can build a perfectly capable PC box (without Windows or input devices, etc.) for around $500. See Tom's Hardware for their current budget build. Their Q3 2013 $650 build (no OS, no input devices as is norm for build pricing) will produce well over 1920x1080 @ 60fps for games like Skyrim and BF3.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-a-pc-fx-6300-overclocking,3617.html

If one installs Steam OS (Valve's Linux), that knocks $100 off a build without a Windows license. The problem is everything is not ported for Linux. You'll have to wait. Support should be good in the future though.

If one buys used parts, uses donated parts, old stock parts being liquidated, etc. one can build a decent gaming PC for almost nothing. 

Of course this requires a lot of scrounging around and resourcefulnes and patience will dictate the final build. 

I've given away $800 PCs; that doesn't mean the recipient built theirs for free or for the cost of whatever additional parts they chose to upgrade or put in them. 

Similarly, one can pirate a copy of Windows and use a donated mouse and keyboard or find old stock for a lot less than original MSRP. 

I guess I should have mentioned this first but, I have a mouse, keyboard,case and a windows license already. So none of those would factor into the total cost. 

conclusion?

seriously mate? are you going to tell me what i see? my PC is 600$ and it just rips PS4....by now as i said. due to its closed environment nature the PS4 will out perform mine PC in a couple of years maybe.

if mine is 600 and kills PS4 and you have a 500 limit i think is fair to say you can match PS4. thats my logic

of course im talking just about the box not Screen included in my price. plug it in your TV mate

Totally different situation then.

If all you're buying is CPU, VGA card, RAM, MoBo, PSU(?), HDD, DVD drive, you'll be able to build a gaming PC on budget at $500 that will give you 1920x1080 @ 60 fps for just about every game released. 

Your VGA card is the most important component and up to half of your budget should go towards that.

I don't monitor these things hawkishly anymore because I have no current interest in building any more gaming PCs, but check Tom's Hardware for the best information on these things.