Building Guide: The Best Cheap PC Game

A great PC for games for as little money as possible.

We understand. PC games can be expensive, especially when you're new and you do not have a previous computer to upgrade or upgrade. This compilation is aimed at creating a gaming PC that performs decently well for the least possible money. It cuts corners on any type of bells and whistles, opting for purely for components that provide the best performance at the lower price level. Long Short Story: This is the best gaming PC to build under $ 500.

To be clear, this compilation will not break any performance records, but you can expect to throw about 30 to 60 FPS average at a maximum setting of 1080p in recent games. There is nothing to note, but when considering the full platform checks at less than $ 500 / £ 500, it is quite impressive.

For this, the construction uses a low-budget motherboard, a relatively low-level CPU and an economic case, choosing to spend money on the best (budget) options in the GPU and SSD category. It will boot and load games quickly, and will work well enough in the latest games. What it will not do is let you play in 1440p or 4K, and your upgrade options in the future are quite limited.

Take into account that this is also a "barebones" build. It eliminates storage and cuts an optical drive and other optional features to save money. If you're interested in that kind of add-ons, we've included recommendations everywhere.

The price point does not take into account the operating system or the peripherals. Check out our buying guides for the best mouse, keyboard and game monitor for our favorite selections to match with your new platform.

A little about the prices: this construction was done with a price of sub- $ 500 / £ 500 into account, no accounting of sales prices. That being said, prices fluctuate over time, and you may be able to build a computer of this caliber for even cheaper by waiting for sales. You will find the region-specific current prices in the parts of the table above.

Components

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100

Intel Core i3-6100 is a dual-core CPU with 3 MB cache, Hyper-Threading, and a clock speed of 3.7GHz that sells for less than $ 120. By comparison, the i5-6400 is a CPU of four Cores with a base clock of 2.7 GHz (and a turbo up to 3.3 GHz) and 6 MB of cache that costs around $ 183. Although both CPUs have the same number of threads, the i5 does with cores Physical rather than Hyper-Threading. That means that each thread gets its total of 1.5 MB of cache, instead of having to split that cache with a second thread.

Even with its lower 2.7GHz base clock and a 3.3GHz turbo, the i5 on its surface looks like a worse buy than the i3, which is not true if you look at all the variables in the game. However, considering that the i3 is over $ 60 cheaper than the i5, we decided to go with the i3 part. After all, this is a super-budget minded build. If you have a few extra dollars to spare, the i5-6400 or i5-6500 are two decent enhancements to this construction.

GPU: GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB

Thanks to Nvidia's Pascal architecture, the GTX 10 series of graphics cards incorporates improved performance compared to the more expensive models last year, while decreasing power consumption. Translation: This is a great thing when you are looking for a solid performance at the price of bin-bin.

Through our benchmarking of 15 games, the GTX 1050 Ti shoots at an average of 69 fps for 1080p media and 42.4 fps for ultra 1080p. That's the same or better performance than last year's GTX 960 while using less power. It is also compact, which is good for MicroATX in which we are building.

We are not recommending a specific GTX 1050 Ti manufacturer, but Zotac, MSI and EVGA are good options. In our tests, we found that the three are mostly the same card, which varies only in deck and fan design. As it is a budget construction, the best variant Ti 1050 to buy is the cheapest. Going with any model costs less when you're ready to buy.

If you have a bit more budget breathing space and are willing to spend an extra $ 70- $ 100, the GTX 1060 3GB or RX 470 4GB are sensitive upgrades that will give your system a little more power. Both can constantly block 60 fps to ultra 1080p (with a few exceptions), and should last for a few years.

Motherboard: Asus H110M-A / M.2

Like most components of this construction, the Asus H110M-A / M.2 is a motherboard with a limited budget. That said, this Asus model is one of the most respectable boards in the Intel H110M line. It is sturdy and does the job, which is nice considering the price.

A notable advantage is that this motherboard has a M.2 slot, which means you can opt for the 2.5 "SATA or M.2 option for our chosen SSD. It also features a fairly simple BIOS UEFI, weather.

Of course, the board is not without drawbacks. It has only one fan port, which will be used by your CPU fan. That means we will need an adapter for our box fans, and those fans will not be temperature controlled. It also only has one PCIe x16 slot, which will be used by our GPU. And like all H110 motherboards, there is no overclocking support, so if you're ever in the market for a faster CPU, keep that in mind.

Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133

Not much to say about our RAM selection here. Crucial is a respected name in the memory game, and this simple 2 x 4 GB DDR4-2133 kit is cheap, reliable, and get the job done.

Of course, again the best option is to choose any kit is cheaper or on sale at the moment. There are a plethora of DDR4-2133 options all available within $ 5 each. If two competition kits are similar in price, capacity and speed, check the times. Finally, choose a kit that matches the aesthetics you want in your case. (That sometimes means paying a little more for a different color, though).

Storage: Crucial MX300 SSD (275GB)

Let's face it, even though the SSD storage is much more expensive than the hard drive, we think that an SSD as its main unit is an essential part of any gaming PC. The speed difference between SSD and HDD when booting your system is huge, and with current prices even a moderate SSD has room for a few games, which will also load faster.

The Crucial MX300 SSD is not the absolute fastest SSD available, especially compared to the high-end M.2 options. But what it lacks in speed compensates in price and capacity. For around $ 75, this 275GB SSD is enough inexpensive to fit our budget while providing enough storage to serve as a primary drive alone for our build. (It is also our first choice for the best budget SSD.) Sure, you will not be able to keep a huge library of loaded games at the same time, but it's enough for a handful of games on top of your operating system.

If 275GB is not enough for you, you can jump up to a 525GB model for double the price, or pair it with a Western Digital Black 1 TB HDD for about the same price increase.

The MX300 is also available in a M.2 form factor around the same price point, which supports our motherboard. Although it does not offer an increase in performance (it is a SATA M.2 unit and not based on PCIe), the compact form factor of M2 means fewer cables to treat, something especially pleasant considering the case of MicroATX that We are building inside.

Power Supply: EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze PSU

Free Power On Self Tester Power Supply Pack

A power supply is a required part of every construction, and this EVGA model offers a good set of features for price. 80+ Bronze is a respectable level of energy efficiency, and 450 watts is more than enough juice for all of our components. Unfortunately it is not a modular PSU, which would be a useful feature to help manage cables in our MicroATX case. If you do not mind spending a few bucks, that's where we'd see each other.

Case: Rosewill FBM-02 Micro ATX Mini Tower

Rosewill is known for its budget cases, and the FBM-02 lives up to that reputation. It is small, lightweight, and gets work done for only $ 25. It also has two built-in fans in the case, which is a very nice inclusion for a budget case. Unfortunately, we can not turn off the rear fan of the motherboard, since it only has one fan connector (for the CPU), but Rosewill at least includes a 4-pin Molex adapter on the front fan. You can pick up a $ 3 adapter cable from Newegg if you want to power the second fan.

Measuring 13.86 "x 6.89" x 15.04 "(including the front panel) and weighing just 7.85 pounds, the box has room for an external 5.25" drive, two internal drives of 3, 5 "and has four expansion slots USB 2.0 ports as well as audio output and microphone input For USB 3.0 you will need to rely on the motherboard panel on the back.

For around $ 15 more, you can upgrade to the Fractal Design Core 1000, which is a bit higher quality as well as a bit larger. The extra space is both a professional and a con-it gives you a little more space to build, but it takes up more space and makes it less portable as well.