I'm not surprised by that. The second you add 'and by the way, I want to play this (recent to new) game on it too', anything you can get for under $500 is suddenly going to become less than adequate.
It might be best to get everything but the video card, and then ask for birthday money to remedy that later. Video cards are just about 5% shy of being as easy to install as RAM. Or, as Jpub said, look out for the Black Friday and After Christmas specials, and see if that brings the total price to where you want it to be.
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"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
It might be best to get everything but the video card, and then ask for birthday money to remedy that later. Video cards are just about 5% shy of being as easy to install as RAM. Or, as Jpub said, look out for the Black Friday and After Christmas specials, and see if that brings the total price to where you want it to be.
--
"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor