Cheap PC Gaming - A great way to get into PC gaming.

[MRORANGE]

This thread is for people focused on building cheap PC's. That's it really.

• Cheap and mid-range parts are becoming more common choice for gaming and a great way to get into PC gaming.
• PC gaming isn't always playing on the highest settings, majority of PC gamers have mid-range systems that are non-gaming focused.
• Current RAM and GPU prices are out of whack so it makes more sense to go with cheaper options and wait for prices to stabilize
• Majority of these PC's have great upgrade paths in terms of CPU/RAM/GPU's that allow you upgrade your system when you have more money.
• The advent of good APU's mean that in most cases you can save a bit and not buy a GPU.

In this build we are going to focus on AMD, however in the future we will have an intel build once we have cheaper GPU's to compare or Intel releases a decent APU alternative. The target is under $400 / £350

What we chose:

Ryzen 2200G - 4 core 3.6Ghz APU ($99 / £85)

This is our CPU and GPU combo in one chip, rather than having to spend and extra $80/£65 pounds on a comparable GPU we can save money here and get both, this CPU has the power of a 1030 and can play most games at low-medium settings at 1080p and high at 720p (check further down for game benchmarks). The benefit of being able to OC this quite easily makes it a great choice.


Asus Prime B350 Motherboard ($70 / £62)

No particular reasons for this board but it's a cheap B350 board which allows us to overclock Ryzen CPU's and APU's. ASUS is also a reputable brand so hence the inclusion. Other than that any B350 should do the job in this regard, This board is a great fit for the build with easy upgrade paths with the Ryzen platform in the future. Please take into consideration that Ryzen motherboards may need an BIOS update to support the new generation fo AMD APU's and CPU's - Most PC stores can do this for you or you can contact AMD.

Corsair DDR4 3200Mhz ($115 / £105)

3200Mhz seems to offer the best price/performance when it comes to Ryzen APU's while higher RAM speeds will get more out of the APU, 3200MHz seems to be the sweet spot before you see diminished returns with FPS and costs relating to it. Corsair RAm is also quite well supported with Ryzen. RAM prices are crazy right now, so avoid 16GB kits right now - unless your really need it.


1TB HDD or a 128GB SSD: ($43 / £37)

Pick your poison, a 128gb SSD to make the system snappier, but limited storage for games and Apps or a 1TB that will last ages but may feel the system slightly sluggish. If it's purely for gaming I would personally opt for 1TB, however others argue that load times in open-world games benefit from SSD's. It's really up to you.


Corsair 450W PSU ($40 / £32)

450W is more than enough even with an overlcok as long as you not trying to run a GTX Titan X maxed out you should be fine. Most TDP are around 300W with PC's with hgh end cards. Please don't skimp on PSU, get one that is a reputable brand, can't go wrong with Corsair or EVGA.


M-ATX Case ($20 / £27)

Any case will do, I chose this one as it had a window. Shop around

American price under $400

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UK price under £350 (around the same for EU)

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(* Cheaper to buy parts separately from different retailers, but trying to make it more convent for demonstration purposes, PC Part Picker is a great website to see the cheapest parts.)

But what is the performance like?

Amazingly well:



Other gameplay / review videos:

PS3 Emulation test
Crysis 3
PS2 and PSP emulation
Wii U emulation
Hardware Canucks review
PUBG
Ryzen 220G various gaming tests against Intel APU
Hardware Unbowed review
3DS emulation
GTA V
Dragonball FughterZ
Overwatch

How could I make this system better in the future?

• Add a dedicated GPU, these are still expensive, but prices shoudl come hopefully...soon?
• Add an SSD if you have not, while there isn't real gaming benefit it can help the system feel a bit snappier
• Upgrade the ram to 16GB
• Add a new CPU, However the 2200G will be fine for a long time, not many games are optimisted for more than 4 cores and the 2200G should be great for years.

Before you start posting. please follow these guidelines so you don't derail it:

• Please don't argue why a $1500 PC is better than $500 PC, this thread is purely aimed at getting the cheapest price for the user.
• This is not a thread to argue about peripheral costs. Want a KB/M? here you go.
• This is not a thread to argue about OS costs, if you are one of those people then add $10-$70 to whatever the total price cost is.
• This is not a thread to discuss on why we haven't added a monitor to the build. Most modern TV's have low input latency, if you still need the urge to argue then add $70 for a monitor to whatever build is put here.

 

[MRORANGE]

reserved.

 

[MRORANGE]

reserved.

Feel free to talkabout your own cheap builds.

 

[saenima]

Watching thread as my laptop is coming up on his last legs and i want to build something on the cheap in the next few months and then upgrade it gradually.

Maybe then i can actually play a recent open world game :o

 

[Funky Dude Sparks]

Anything from Intel lately in terms of an APU?

 

[Lashley]

Great idea. Subbed.

 

[Funky Dude Sparks]

I think this thread should be stickied?

 

[Aztechnology]

Keep an eye peeled on Slickdeals for PC gaming desktop deals. You occasionally see some great places to start I'm terms of components and just a ready to go prebuilt. I used to be a huge advocate for building yourself and individual part shopping. But it's pretty much impossible to match many of these prebuilts in terms of price nowadays.

 

[Xiaomi]

Anything from Intel lately in terms of an APU?

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Nope, still limited to just their laptop chipsets as far as I'm aware.

 

[Acquila]

I'd recommend spending an extra $20-30 and start with a ~250GB SSD, and buy an HDD down the line so that you don't end up doing a fresh OS install twice. I just can't recommend installing your OS on a mechanical drive these days.

 

[Rizific]

Might be putting together a 2200g build for my brother pretty soon. Is dual channel definitely recommended? It'll only be 8gb to keep costs down.

 

[mutantmagnet]

OZTalksHW

Is probably the best YouTube channel on this subject because he focuses solely on it.

He'll good regular tip on finding the best deals on used parts and he does regular benchmarks on budget systems.


This is how I first discovered him.

 

[tiebreaker]

THE MAGIC NUMBER

I'm planning on building a cheap PC after I move to a new apartment, mainly for PS2 emulator. I think this thread will prove to be very useful.

 

[Becks']

I want to make a G4560+ 1050 Ti rig but the price of 1050 Ti is around 300$ CAD. I found the low-profile for 196$ but it feels like a scam especially now.

 

[Acquila]

Might be putting together a 2200g build for my brother pretty soon. Is dual channel definitely recommended? It'll only be 8gb to keep costs down.

Click to shrink...

Absolutely.

 

[oneils]

I tried pricing something similar in Canada, a month or so ago. My goal was to have a second pc attached to my living room tv (I have my main pc in my "office" attached to a bravia). It is pretty tough to do. The cheapest build I found was $475 with a 128gb ssd, a 400w corsair psu and no operating system.

I didn't end up pulling the trigger, as I'm not really constrained by budget. I ended up remembering that I had an old gtx770 lying around. I completely forgot about it. Then I spent about $1k building around it.

All that said...if I were limited by budget and wanted to play dota2, csgo, fortnite, pubg, path of exile or similar games with a keyboard and mouse I would definitely go this route. Great thread.

 

[MRORANGE]

Keep an eye peeled on Slickdeals for PC gaming desktop deals. You occasionally see some great places to start I'm terms of components and just a ready to go prebuilt. I used to be a huge advocate for building yourself and individual part shopping. But it's pretty much impossible to match many of these prebuilts in terms of price nowadays.

Click to shrink...

I agree, sometimes buying a prebuilt is cheaper but then you have upgrade problems, like needing new case or PSU, in most cases these pre-built systems are cheap enough that you can scrap the parts for your build in some cases.

 

[MRORANGE]

Click to shrink...

The intel chip with Radon graphics is impressive but very unlikely to get sold as a CPU, plus it would be very dear, the chip has the performance of around a 1060 but to be honest it's not really an APU or something that intel will make mass market. PLus the NUC version costs $999

 

[catpurrcat]

I tried pricing something similar in Canada, a month or so ago. My goal was to have a second pc attached to my living room tv (I have my main pc in my "office" attached to a bravia). It is pretty tough to do. The cheapest build I found was $475 with a 128gb ssd, a 400w corsair psu and no operating system.

I didn't end up pulling the trigger, as I'm not really constrained by budget. I ended up remembering that I had an old gtx770 lying around. I completely forgot about it. Then I spent about $1k building around it.

All that said...if I were limited by budget and wanted to play dota2, csgo, fortnite, pubg, path of exile or similar games with a keyboard and mouse I would definitely go this route. Great thread.

Click to shrink...

I built one (in Canada) last month for under $550 CAD. Parts you can save money on are the case (Amazon or used), PSU (frequent large discounts), and motherboards. My build essentially mirrors the power that digital foundry posted, though I went with 8GB of RAM not 16GB.

I'm very happy with the results. I already have an Xbox X for "power" gaming (see Doom thread) but it's nice to have something that can run great value priced newer indies (I'm discovering the incredible PC value on Steam), current online MMO's (Destiny 2 on high, FF14), classics like GTA V (again, on high), and pretty much everything last generation (Arkham series, for example).

Not to mention it runs smooth for productivity and desktop publishing.

I'll buy a discrete GPU in 2020 if need be.

Also MRORANGE thanks for creating this thread.

 

[JMTHEFOX]

Thank you so much for making this thread, MRORANGE. The effort that you put into this thread (including your other threads) is really well done. Subscribed.

After building and owning two PC's for 3 years, I am interested in making cheap builds along with my HTPC builds. The Ryzen 2200G's performance looks like a great CPU for budget PC builds, maybe I can build another HTPC with that one.

 

[BeI]

How valid is the idea of upgrading a refurbished PC? You can usually buy and upgrade one for quite cheap, especially if you upgrade a SFF with a 1030, not that it leaves much room for upgrades after that.

 

[Just That Simple]

Should I expect the UK prices to stay the same or are they likely to increase or decrease in the near future? I can pick up some of the cheaper components now but need to wait for my next pay for other parts?

 

[Frankfurter]

Should I expect the UK prices to stay the same or are they likely to increase or decrease in the near future? I can pick up some of the cheaper components now but need to wait for my next pay for other parts?

Click to shrink...

Should stay roughly the same. The Ryzen APU might get slightly cheaper (it's still a pretty new product) and RAM has tended slightly downwards lately.

 

[citrusred]

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I've been strongly considering building a small gaming PC for playing indie games and some newer 3D games (like the cold steel ports) on my TV. The ryzen apu sounds like a good option to start off with.

 

[Aztechnology]

I agree, sometimes buying a prebuilt is cheaper but then you have upgrade problems, like needing new case or PSU, in most cases these pre-built systems are cheap enough that you can scrap the parts for your build in some cases.

Click to shrink...

Yeah pretty much my thoughts. I still recommend in the end eventually continuing on from there. But as a place to start it can very realiatically be unbeatable.

 

[Aztechnology]

Ryzen 5 1500x is $100 with code
402NJFSCF on Newegg

 

[baron_calamity]

Here something.. Is there a monitor that looks great at 720p? That's the sweet spot for performance on some of the budget builds with Ryzen apus. I guess hooking up to a TV is just fine since consoles are often sub 1080p. Just wondering if there was something more optimal if the computer is also going to be used for homework and web browsing?

 

[MRORANGE]

I

Also MRORANGE thanks for creating this thread.

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Thank you so much for making this thread, MRORANGE. The effort that you put into this thread (including your other threads) is really well done. Subscribed.

After building and owning two PC's for 3 years, I am interested in making cheap builds along with my HTPC builds. The Ryzen 2200G's performance looks like a great CPU for budget PC builds, maybe I can build another HTPC with that one.

Click to shrink...

Thank you.

How valid is the idea of upgrading a refurbished PC? You can usually buy and upgrade one for quite cheap, especially if you upgrade a SFF with a 1030, not that it leaves much room for upgrades after that.

Click to shrink...

Depends on the motherboard chipset. the current ryzen platform is supported until 220 I believe.

Should I expect the UK prices to stay the same or are they likely to increase or decrease in the near future? I can pick up some of the cheaper components now but need to wait for my next pay for other parts?

Click to shrink...

They should more or less stay the same, the prices taht will fluctuate are RAM.

Here something.. Is there a monitor that looks great at 720p? That's the sweet spot for performance on some of the budget builds with Ryzen apus. I guess hooking up to a TV is just fine since consoles are often sub 1080p. Just wondering if there was something more optimal if the computer is also going to be used for homework and web browsing?

Click to shrink...

Ebay is your best bet for 720p monitors, most monitors these days even the cheap ones are 1080p output.

 

[MRORANGE]

Just a heads up with the build in the OP, you can chnage the items to make it into an ITX build for aropund $60 / £43 more:

Cooler Master Elite 110 ($38 / £34)

Gigabyte AB350N-GAMING Wi-Fi Motherboard ($115 / £100)

Great way to get into small ITX builds for the ling room and amazingly cheap. This could easily be an emuatlion box playing games all the way up to PS3 / Wii U:

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Would the OP build be able to handle a higher resolution monitor for non-gaming applications? Since as far as I can tell citrix will only run on one monitor at a time having a larger monitor with more than 1080 resolution seems like the best way to have a lot of desktop space to work with.

 

[Notaskwid]

How valid is the idea of upgrading a refurbished PC? You can usually buy and upgrade one for quite cheap, especially if you upgrade a SFF with a 1030, not that it leaves much room for upgrades after that.

Click to shrink...

I bought an old Dell Vostro 470 with an i7 3770, gtx 660, 8gigs of ddr3 ram (that I wish I could upgrade but not at this ram prices) and 1tb harddrive, sold the 660 and replaced it with a 960 and it has been running like a charm.
Been playing mostly Dark Souls 3 and it runs it at almost constant 60fps on 1080p with a mix of high and mid settings, am pretty satisfied.

So yes, I think it's pretty viable, just make sure the case has space enough for a graphics card, and fish around for good used deals on cards in your price range.

 

[MRORANGE]

Would the OP build be able to handle a higher resolution monitor for non-gaming applications? Since as far as I can tell citrix will only run on one monitor at a time having a larger monitor with more than 1080 resolution seems like the best way to have a lot of desktop space to work with.

Click to shrink...

Most motherboards come with hdmi and dvi outputnfor ryzen, they shoulda be hdmi compliments to support 4K 60fps.

 

[Arkaign]

reserved.

Feel free to talkabout your own cheap builds.

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Yo, it's me again :)

I helped someone in the last thread with a laptop re-do after they successfully built a Ryzen APU build.

I recently got a super budget box together for $300 all-in that's amazing :

Lenovo S20, Hex 3.2Ghz 6C/12T Xeon, 12GB Triple Channel Ram, 2TB HDD, Nvidia 780, W10 Pro (used W7 Pro key on case, which then bonded it to UEFI/digital rights). Been playing FC5, AC:O, Witcher 3, Dark Souls 3, BF1 and some others all at 1080/60, mostly medium/high, but maxed in some cases (Dark Souls 3). Definitely a ridiculous value for $300 for PC Gaming. Cons : mid-tower, heavy, has a 625W PSU and probably needs it in this config lol. But it eats games up, $ for $ probably the best thing I've ever seen.

 

[Ruruja]

I'll keep an eye on this thread, my builds always tend to be on the cheap side and I'm thinking of upgrading soon.

The kerning in the OP images made me vomit though MRORANGE, it's like you picked that font as a cruel joke.

 

[The Booktastic Bus]

Good idea, nice thread.

Personally speaking, if your budget really is the same as consoles I reckon you're better off just getting a PS4/Xbox One unless you're absolutely dying to play some RTS.

 

[Buddy]

Nice thread idea :)

Building budget PC's is one of my hobbys. The last one I have put together was for a coworker. He was on a very tight budget but wanted to play destiny 2, overwatch, rocket league and diablo 3 with us. We are in Germany so PC is always the first choice. PS4 was not an option for him...

I mainly go used, so I can get the most bang for the money.

His specs:

i5 750, R9 270x 2GB, 8GB Ram, 320GB HDD

I got everything (that includes a case, a PSU and KB/M) from eBay for 230€ and he could not be happier. He plays daily on that system... even never ones like battlefront 2 and cod ww2 are running very good on his mashine...

 

[NattyBo]

Watching this to build something for my kid later this year

 

[TheBryanJZX90]

Most motherboards come with hdmi and dvi outputnfor ryzen, they shoulda be hdmi compliments to support 4K 60fps.

Click to shrink...

Oh so the monitor output resolution would be controlled by the motherboard not the GPU or APU? Or its controlled by both but the Ryzen APU is capable of doing over 1080 as long as the motherboard has the right outputs?

 

[MRORANGE]

Oh so the monitor output resolution would be controlled by the motherboard not the GPU or APU? Or its controlled by both but the Ryzen APU is capable of doing over 1080 as long as the motherboard has the right outputs?

Click to shrink...

APU will provide the display support however since it is not a GPU card which has ports. it needs a motherboard HDMI port to send the signal to your PC

 

[Deleted member 11517]

As per the other thread, I can vouch for this to be a good option to play almost all games fluidly in 720p, some even at 1080p.

And I can also vouch for it being pretty damn difficult to find the right parts if this is your first build (no experience), though I gotta say people were very helpful and I'm grateful otherwise I would have messed up even more probably. For example I bought 3000MHz DDR4 ram and I don't even know why...

Actually, I'd love to return it for 3200mhz ram, but I don't know how feasible that is (didn't buy at Amazon).

 

[MRORANGE]

As per the other thread, I can vouch for this to be a good option to play almost all games fluidly in 720p, some even at 1080p.

And I can also vouch for it being pretty damn difficult to find the right parts if this is your first build (no experience), though I gotta say people were very helpful and I'm grateful otherwise I would have messed up even more probably. For example I bought 3000MHz DDR4 ram and I don't even know why...

Actually, I'd love to return it for 3200mhz ram, but I don't know how feasible that is (didn't buy at Amazon).

Click to shrink...

I woudln't worry too much, you are seeing about 2 fps increase in Witcher 3 from the lloks of it:

 

[LoveBug566]

What a great thread.

 

[GearDraxon]

Do not believe MRORANGE! He is luring you into the exciting world of PC gaming with his THE MAGIC NUMBER razzle-dazzle! I was once in your shoes: I thought "hey, I can buy a cheap, AMD APU-powered PC for about the same as a console, and play those smaller games that I've been missing out on!"

That's how it starts.

The next thing you know, you're buying a 3DMark license and bookmarking isthereanydeal.com, selling back consoles to Gamestop for Steam gift cards while the cashier glares at you.

Spoiler

For reals, this is a great thread. I came back to PC gaming a few years ago, after over a decade away. It's easier and better than it's ever been, and this is a solid starting point.

 

[MRORANGE]

Another $400 Ryzen build:

 

[MRORANGE]

A $130 Video Card that's FASTER than the GTX 1050 Ti!

 

[catpurrcat]

A $130 Video Card that's FASTER than the GTX 1050 Ti!

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Wow. The difference is way bigger than I thought it would be.

 

[MRORANGE]

Wow. The difference is way bigger than I thought it would be.

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This advice is even more since 1050ti has increased in price and so has the 1030.

goddamn miners.

 

[Notaskwid]

Important to have in consideration the energy necessary to feed that beast, as well as the space and airflow, compared to a 1050ti.

 

[hardcastlemccormick]

I'm so on board with this thread. Budget PC builds are where it's at. Once the prices get back to normal the usual PC building communities will go back to being fun, hopefully.

Folks who like the Youtube should check out Nerd on a Budget, Oafah, and JERMGaming for some good insight on not just the usual "oh here's a good build" but also how to think about building a good, functional PC on a budget. I'm a big fan of building exactly what you need, not more or less. Too many gaming PC building resources are obsessed with the high end, and it's easy to think that's all there is. For a random example, if your PC doesn't draw more than 200 watts at max load, then you can make do with a 350-400w power supply. Or if all you play is eSports or indie games, then you can probably be happy with a GTX 1050 or 1050ti, maybe even less.

That's where PC is the best - why pay for what you don't need or want?

 

[Acquila]

This advice is even more since 1050ti has increased in price and so has the 1030.

goddamn miners.

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Damn talk about scraping the bottom of the barrel.