The global economy may be experiencing inflation, but the prices of key PC components are actually very low, often low.because GPU prices are falling rapidly SSDs, RAM (at least DDR4 RAM), and power supplies are still cheap, but it’s rarely a better time to build a low-cost gaming PC. At today’s price, you can configure a robust 1080p-enabled gaming PC with both discrete graphics and a 12th generation Intel CPU for less than $ 500. You can also use AMD integrated graphics to configure a very high-performance gaming PC for less than $ 400.
Introduced below How to make a gaming PC With parts available from the major US retailers today, it’s less than $ 500, or even less than $ 400. Please note that the prices we list are up to date at the time of this writing, but may fluctuate slightly by the time you read this. Since these lists are primarily based on pricing, we have not tested all the specific parts of the list, nor have we tested them all together.Operating system costs are not included, but you can get Free or cheap Windows 10 or 11.. Also, if you are willing to pay well over $ 500 Best PC build For stronger recommendations.
Gaming PC for less than $ 500 with discrete graphics
Gaming PCs under $ 500 with Intel Core i3-12100F CPU AMD Radeon RX 6400-Powered graphics card (made by XFX, but should work with RX 6400 as well). Other parts are cost effective, but you can easily replace a PSU, SSD, RAM kit, or H610M motherboard with similar specifications to get the same performance.
With four performance cores, a 4.3 GHz boost speed, and an affordable price, Intel’s Core i3-12100 Best cheap CPU Currently, the Core i3-12100F is a variant that doesn’t come with integrated graphics (this isn’t necessary).In our writing Intel Core i3-12100 ReviewAfter running various benchmarks on Intel processors, we found that single-threaded performance, the most important type of game, outperforms processors that cost twice as much. Ryzen 5 5600X And Intel’s final generation Core i5-11600K. The Core i3-12100F also comes with a CPU cooler, so you don’t have to spend more money on it.
we Radeon RX 6400Because it is the cheapest current generation GPU on the market Best graphics card.. In our tests, the RX 6400 averaged very playable 56fps when benchmarked in eight popular games at 1080p resolution at medium settings. It’s not that fast, but it’s enough to play AAA titles uninterrupted.
I chose the RX 6400 so that I could configure my gaming PC for less than $ 500, but if I could extend my budget by another $ 20, the much faster Radeon RX 6500 XT would be available for just $ 179, 30% faster. Much faster. Better purchase. Both GPUs have a 2.8GHz boost clock and 4GB of VRAM, but the 6500 XT has 1024 GPU cores compared to the 6400’s 768, which runs at 18Gbps instead of 16Gbps.
To support 12th generation Intel CPUs, you need an inexpensive motherboard with an LGA 1700 socket. The cheapest chipset with that socket was the Intel H610, which was found cheaply on the $ 89 MSI PRO H610M-G. This is a basic board with two RAM slots and one M.2, PCIe Gen3 slot for storage. I saw a board that was $ 10 cheaper, but didn’t have the M.2 slot needed to select an SSD.
The storage drive we chose is the TeamGroup MP33 with 512GB capacity.we Confirmed TeamGroup MP33 Back in 2020, we discovered that it offered really good performance for money, and it’s now more affordable than it was then. This NVMe SSD boasts rated sequential read and write speeds of 1,700 and 1,400 MBps, respectively, about three times the speed available from SATA SSDs.
To reach the $ 500 price, I had to use modest 8GB of RAM in the form of Crucial’s 2x4GB DDR4-3200 kit. A low-priced kit with DDR4-3200 RAM fits your bill here. However, if you can add an additional $ 15 to $ 20, you’ll get 16GB of RAM because you’ve found TeamGruop’s T-Force Zeus DDR4-3200 RAM in a 2x8GB kit for just $ 48. Given that the motherboard has only two RAM slots, it’s wise to spend a little extra now instead of upgrading later.
In our case Rosewill FBM-X2 (Opens in a new tab) At the time of writing this, it was $ 44 in Newegg. Sure, this is a very low-end case and there is no window to display the components. However, there is plenty of space for four 120mm fans or two 120mm fans and a 240mm radiator. Its smooth gunmetal gray color is at least a solid look, and you’ll have to make some sacrifices to build a gaming PC for less than $ 500.
The final piece of a gaming PC for less than $ 500 is Thermaltake’s 430W power supply. A 400-500W power supply from a reputable brand gets the job done here. The Thermaltake Smart 430W is over 80 certified, but not bronze or gold. In other words, some efficiency is taken into account.
If you can raise your budget a bit and go from $ 20 to $ 80, it’s a good idea to replace your RAM, GPU, and storage with slightly better parts. Since the motherboard has only two DIMM slots, you will have to discard the current RAM if you upgrade later, so your top priority is from 8GB of RAM to up to 16GB. Moving to TeamGroup’s $ 48, 16GB (2 x 8GB) kit costs less than $ 20 and simplifies every aspect of your computing life, from web surfing to document editing and gaming.
Adding an additional $ 20 to move from the RX6400 to the Radeon RX6500 XT is another easy thing to do. Get about 30% better performance at minimal cost.
The lowest priority upgrade, which is still fine, is migrating from 512GB SSD to 1TB capacity. That’s only $ 30 more for TeamGroup MP33. Sure, a 512GB SSD will work, but if you install 3 or 4 or more AAA games, you may need additional storage.
Gaming PC for less than $ 400
If you want to build a gaming PC for less than $ 400, you can’t afford a graphics card. Therefore, you need a relatively inexpensive CPU with excellent integrated graphics. in this case, AMD Ryzen 5 5600G.. The $ 160 65 watt CPU has 6 cores, 12 threads, and a maximum boost clock of 4.4 GHz. The box also comes with a cooler box so you don’t have to spend money.
In multi-threaded application testing, the Ryzen 5 5600G beat many competitors’ pants, including the quad-core Core i3-12100 used in gaming PCs under $ 500.
More importantly, the Ryzen 5 5600G’s integrated RX7 Vega GPU is enough to play games in 720p, and definitely 1080p. In the 720p game test suite, the 5600G averages 75.4 fps, which is more than playable. When I increased the resolution to 1080p, the average fps dropped to 43.5fps, which is still fine. However, in many games you can dial down a few more settings to increase the frame rate.
The motherboard for gaming PCs under $ 400 is the ASRock B450M-HDVR 4.0. Please note that not all B450 motherboards will run at 5600G as-is, as the B450 chipset is older than the Ryzen 5000 series CPUs. After updating the BIOS, everything supports these CPUs, but if you don’t have an older Ryzen CPU, you may not have a way to boot and perform the update. However, the B450M-HDV R4.0 (make sure it is R4.0) promises compatibility on first boot.
Keep in mind that ASRock’s board has only two DIMM slots, so if you use 8 GB of RAM, you need to keep it under $ 400, so you can’t upgrade without replacing the memory. However, apart from that limitation, the B450M-HDV R4.0 has other basic features, including support for the M.2 PCIe Gen3 SSD.
Our case, RAM, storage and power supply are the same as a gaming PC for less than $ 500. This means using 8GB of DDR4-3200 RAM, a modest 512GB SSD, and a 430W power supply. The Rosewill FBM-X2 is a less than ideal case, so if you find another case that sells for less than $ 60, it’s worth considering.
As with gaming PC builds under $ 500, spending another $ 20 to upgrade to a 16GB (2 x 8GB) kit, or less important to performance and adding another $ 30 for game storage space , Configurations under $ 400 are significantly improved. Move to 1TB SSD.
