How to build a super cheap low-end gaming rig! <£150

[SIGSEGV]

This tutorial will detail where you can get good deals for parts, what kind of parts to get and what you can cut corners on.

 

1. Case

The case doesn't need to be amazing, but you do not want to buy something brand new that is sub £30, there is a large chance that it will be crap, what would be far better would be to go on a site such as craigslist, ebay or even grab an old PC from your basement and find a used PC that is very old or dead, you will get a far higher quality case this way and if you don't like the look of it you can always paint it.

 

2. Motherboard

Motherboards usually have lots of bells and whistles that you really don't need, don't go for anything too fancy, you only want the basics. You will want at least USB 2.0, DDR3 and at least 1 PCIE 3.0 slot.Once again, this can be cannibalised from other computers (ones that you're allowed to take from, don't go grabbing motherboards from your boss' PC). If this is your first ever build get a motherboard that is slightly smaller than your case, it makes building the PC alot easier.

 

3. CPU

Athlon IIs are very good for the price, you'll be looking at 2-3 cores and 2.5Ghz-3Ghz. In this price range (under £25 for the CPU) you won't be going near the FX series CPUs. If you are doing an Intel build a INTEL XEON X5550 is great for the price and you'll be getting quad core. This again, is another part that you can cannibalise. Look on places like eBay for a CPU, you can find great offers there.

 

4. RAM

This is one of the easiest parts of the build, all you need is a 4GB stick of RAM, nothing fancy. You are better off simply getting it brand new from Amazon as the prices on eBay are basically the same for used RAM. Just make sure it's DDR3 and you'll be fine. Cannibalisation here is ok aswell.

 

5. Graphics Card

For a graphics card you'll want at least a 9800gt or Radeon HD 5770, if you can, try getting a 650Ti or R7 250 (don't bother with the X version, you can just overclock) though this will significantly increase the price of your build it is a good thing to spend your money on. Cannibalisation can be done here too, but make sure the card is as good or better than a 9800gt.

 

6. Power Supply

DON'T CANNIBALISE THIS! DON'T GET IT USED! BUY A BRAND NEW POWER SUPPLY! Getting cheap power supplies can destroy everything you built! Make sure that the power supply has the right PCIE connectors for your graphics card, is at least 500W (because no doubt you'll be upgrading this rig at some point) and I highly recommend getting a power supply that is 80+ certified or at the very least from a trusted brand. I would highly recommend the Antec VP450P 450W PSU, it is quite cheap, from a trusted brand and yet very high quality.

 

7. Thermal Paste

Thermal paste only serves to transfer heat from the CPU to the heatsink, it really isn't something that you need to spend more than £1 on. Some people will say that 'you need something high quality that won't turn hard after a lot of use', but this isn't a big deal as you can always just replace it. You don't need a syringe either, just the plain old sachet the thermal paste came in will do just fine. You can't cannibalise here, I have no idea how you'd go about cannibalising thermal paste.

 

8. Cooling

Again, not something you should be too worried about,  in this price range you really won't be looking at watercooling and you can get a pretty ok heatsink for not even £5. Just make sure it's made for AMD boards and can take the heat that your CPU produces.

 

9. Monitor

You got a TV? Good, use that.

 

10. Peripherals

Ideally you'll want a USB keyboard and mouse but PS/2 mouse and keyboard will do. Just look around your house and you'll probably find the odd mouse or keyboard, otherwise you can ask friends if they have any old mice and keyboards or get on ebay and buy something cheap.

 

11. Storage

Never buy used storage. Always buy it new. As brands go, never buy from Seagate or Toshiba, their hard drives are horrible. Despite what people say a £30 250GB WD hard drive will last you quite a while if you manage your storage well.

 

12. Everything else

As for anything else you need (SATA cables etc) you can get them really cheap by just looking on ebay.

 

 

Please feel free to give me suggestions for what I could do to improve this article!

[Guest]

Why a PS/2 mouse?

And BTW, Intel is always better than AMD. Even in low-budget builds.

[DarrenP]

-snips-doodle-

 

A lot of the things you said are opinionated. and when creating a tutorial or anything like that you don't want to be... 

[zlolslavez]

I don't like how you FORCE people to go the AMD route in this guide. As not everyone wants the FX 9XXX which is the highest route you can go on an AM3 vs an i7. And there already tons of these guides everywhere. No idea why you decided to make another.

 

edit: Can you even buy motherboards without USB 2.0? (Maybe boards with only 3.0, but people shouldn't be looking at this at this price point, and I doubt there will be a board in this age with ONLY usb 1.0 (or 1.0 and 3.0)

[minibois]

@faissaloo

Good overview.. But not that great..

 

I dunno what budget you were going for, but I don't think going AMD CPU is a great idea.

I personally think you are better off going for that Pentium or and i3 and being able to upgrade to an i5 or i7 more easily.

 

Just what I think, you want to be able to upgrade.

Also, AMD Phenom CPU's are decent for the money.. Not only Athlons

[Aniallation]

You will want at least the USB 2.0, DDR3 and at least 1 PCIE 3.0 slot. Make sure it is an AMD board, I will explain later. 

No AMD motherboard has PCIe 3.0

 

3. CPU

If you are trying to make a super cheap rig, the only logical choice for your CPU would AMD. They are far cheaper than Intel and the speed difference isn't a big deal unless you get into the higher end of the CPU list (which you won't be if you are on a super low budget). Athlon IIs are very good for the price, you'll be looking at 2-4 cores and 2.5Ghz-3Ghz. This again, is another part that you can cannibalise. Look on places like eBay for a CPU.

 

If you're looking on eBay for second-hand chips then AMD is not the only option. Depending on budget you may be able to get an Intel Sandy Bridge chip which will whoop a competing AMD chip for gaming any day.

 

DON'T CANNIBALISE THIS! DON'T GET IT USED! BUY A BRAND NEW POWER SUPPLY! Getting cheap power supplies can destroy everything you built! 

 

Getting a cheap power supply that is built like shit and can destroy your system is different from getting a used power supply that's built well.

[TheSLSAMG]

"Far cheaper than Intel"

 

While I despise the chip, the Pentium Anniversary Edition costs less than the Athlon X4 750K in some regions and it performs about as well when overclocked, which the stock cooler handles fine and you can do on almost any board (even non-Z series ones.) I wouldn't recommend it due to the core count, but it still exists and is viable for most older/non-AAA games.

 

Also, you can buy and get better deals used.

[minibois]

A lot of the things you said are opinionated. and when creating a tutorial or anything like that you don't want to be... 

Don't qoute a full post. Just a friendly reminder

[SIGSEGV]

I don't like how you FORCE people to go the AMD route in this guide. As not everyone wants the FX 9XXX which is the highest route you can go on an AM3 vs an i7. And there already tons of these guides everywhere. No idea why you decided to make another.

'Super cheap', this for low end, we won't even be going near the FX series here.

[dadasmithywinkle]

-snip-

Thanks for spending the time to write it up but there are a bunch of opinions and false details (listed in posts above me) included. 

 

'Super cheap', this for low end, we won't even be going near the FX series here.

You never specified that. If I were a n00b, I wouldve seen AMD, googled it, and wouldlve bought the FX chip.

[Xaring]

Umm, CPU wise, the pentium 3258 is the best cheap option you can get. Overclocks like hell and costs 60USD.

 

You don't state a budget at all... it can be a 400 build or a 600 build (both would be considered "low-cost") but in one you can get a 280X while in the other a 250... 

 

There is no mobo without USB 2.0 and DDR3 ram.

 

that is just from the top of my head.

 

edit: ps/2 mouse+keyboard? please you said "ideally" should change it for "As last resource". 

[Aniallation]

Umm, CPU wise, the pentium 3258 is the best cheap option you can get. Overclocks like hell and costs 60USD.

No it's not. It depends on the usage. If you want to play AAA titles and make a "console killer" gaming PC, the G3258 is not a good choice. It should only be considered for people who want to play strictly older games and MMOs

[Subduck]

You can save even more by using Toothpaste as thermal compound

[dadasmithywinkle]

No it's not. It depends on the usage. If you want to play AAA titles and make a "console killer" gaming PC, the G3258 is not a good choice. It should only be considered for people who want to play strictly older games and MMOs

I've built with and used Pentiums in BF4 and such games and while not as good as my 5820K , theres not that big of a difference. A difference yeah, but the 3258 isnt near crap.

 

You can save even more by using Toothpaste as thermal compound

Toothpaste does work pretty well.

[Sauron]

Personally, Id never build anything with:

 

-less than a pentium-k or an athlon II 740k. The price for either solution is basically identical by the way op.

-less than 8gb of ram, 4gb are NOT enough for an enjoyable experience. I'd ONLY accept this under the promise that another stick would come as soon as possible.

-a less than 80+ bronze certified psu

-a noname motherboard

-less than a 1tb hdd OR a 120gb ssd. (500gb hdds are 3$ cheaper than 1tb...)

-a dedicated graphics card that is not at least an r7 250, if you go lower you might as well get an apu or stick with intel's igpu until you can afford an acceptable graphics card.

 

These are compromises I would NOT make no matter the budget. If the person who asks me does not have enough to avoid the above, I'd suggest him to spare and come back when he has enough.

[SIGSEGV]

You don't state a budget at all... it can be a 400 build or a 600 build (both would be considered "low-cost") but in one you can get a 280X while in the other a 250...

Fixed now

There is no mobo without USB 2.0 and DDR3 ram.

There's DDR4 now, and yeah, I don't know why I specified at least USB 2.0.

edit: ps/2 mouse+keyboard? please you said "ideally" should change it for "As last resource".

Also fixed

[Xaring]

No it's not. It depends on the usage. If you want to play AAA titles and make a "console killer" gaming PC, the G3258 is not a good choice. It should only be considered for people who want to play strictly older games and MMOs

We are talking about tight budgets here, i'd recommend an 13 with multithreading if possible, but the G3258 IS a console killer. 

 

 

you can see how Op this CPU is when price/performance is involved. +intel runs AAA games far better than AMD. 

[DarrenP]

Don't qoute a full post. Just a friendly reminder

I didn't even think of that haha, 

[Aniallation]

I've built with and used Pentiums in BF4 and such games and while not as good as my 5820K , theres not that big of a difference. A difference yeah, but the 3258 isnt near crap.

So have I, with an R9 290 there was a noticeable decrease in minimum frame rates compared to a Phenom II X4 rig I had around at the time to compare with. And Phenom II X4 isn't even as good as 750K

 

Everyone just looks at the average and max frame rates for the G3258, but what people don't realize that as you live with it every day, the lag spikes and frame times really get annoying after a while, and many people on this forum have complained of this.

 

 

We are talking about tight budgets here, i'd recommend an 13 with multithreading if possible, but the G3258 IS a console killer. 

 

 

you can see how Op this CPU is when price/performance is involved. +intel runs AAA games far better than AMD. 

 

That video, and EVERY other freaking video that doesn't mention minimum frame rates on the G3258, belongs in the trash.

 

It has practically been spammed on the forum and it's pretty much made me hate Austin, it has mislead so many people.

[Xaring]

Fixed now

There's DDR4 now, and yeah, I don't know why I specified at least USB 2.0.

Also fixed

 

Make sure to change the PSU part too, you should cannibalise if your old GPU is good enough, else, change the recommended one for the 430W Corsair builder http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx430m

Its is much better and the system won't need as much power. And a bad PSU can ruin a whole system

[SIGSEGV]

Make sure to change the PSU part too, you should cannibalise if your old GPU is good enough, else, change the recommended one for the 430W Corsair builder http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx430m

Its is much better and the system won't need as much power. And a bad PSU can ruin a whole system

No, cannibalisation of PSUs is a bad idea because of capacitor ageing. But I'll change the recommendation to the corsair CX you suggested

[Aniallation]

No, cannibalisation of PSUs is a bad idea because of capacitor ageing. But I'll change the recommendation to the corsair CX you suggested

I bought a brand new EVGA 500B, around the same level of Corsair CX, and it lasted less then two weeks before dying.

 

Got a refund and spent a third of it on a used Seasonic-built Antec instead. Has been running for a year now, with a heavier load then I put on the EVGA, with no issues.

 

There is nothing wrong with cannibalizing PSUs as long as you know what you're getting.

[ManWithBeard1990]

Nothing wrong with Seagate. I've only ever had a single Seagate die on me.

[shujin]

I've done a lot of build like that for friends (bellow 80$ that run game sort of restriction) the best thing you can do is find used pc on road in trash anywhere will do. If it is at least lga 775 it will do the trick easy. so now for ram you'll be stuck with 1gb for the beginning try to find 2-3 other pc to get to 4gb (just open remove ram and leave you don't have to spend time bringing the case back at home). the first and only expense you'll be making and that'll upgrade the system is a 600W psu 80+ bronze (you know the one I'm talking about ) and the cheapest legit gpu you want (I normally go for gtx 260 cause that's the only thing that is 35$ and usable) so that's how you make a 80$(ish) pc that can run game

[Zubkover]

Real CHEAPEST BUILD EVER made by me some time ago.

MSI A68HM-E33 A68H SFM2+ 
AMD APU A4-3400 
GoodRam DDR3 2048MB PC1333 
Tacens TACRADIXECO-400SFX 
Seagate Barracuda 3.5'', 500GB 
// in total it's around 190$

(P.S. It's cheapest in terms of having only new, off the manufacturing line products)