Looking for cheap low-intensity gaming setup

[QuikMiner]

Hello! I am very new to building PCs and I am looking into building my second one. My father helped me out with my first one a while back but parts have changed and things have become more demanding. I am looking for a setup around $250 for my 12-year-old friend (next Christmas) who really wants a PC for Minecraft, Roblox, Fortnite, etc. (willing to go 720 - we prefer 1080p but if needed for 60 FPS for the price range then we will go with it)

Willing to use an unactivated copy of windows or a grey market one (windows does not have to be included in the price). It might also be used for recording while playing games, so a bit of headroom would be nice. I considered this setup but I am not sure.

(USD, mouse and keyboard not needed)

CPU | AMD Athlon 240GE | $77 | 2 cores, 3.5 GHz (nice clock speed, but would prefer a quad-core... this might do though) | https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Athlon-Graphics-Processor-YD240GC6FBBOX/dp/B07L9Q7DLQ/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_2?keywords=AMD+athlon+240GE&qid=1554274937&s=gateway&sr=8-2-fkmrnull

 

GPU | GT 1030 (not low profile I don't think) | $90 | 2GB of GDDR5 64 bit memory | https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GV-N1030OC-2GI-Nvidia-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B07646VQ6T/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=gt+1030&qid=1554275088&s=gateway&sr=8-1

 

RAM | 8 GB of DDR4 | $40 | https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820232722&Description=RAM&cm_re=RAM-_-20-232-722-_-Product

Motherboard, other stuff | Undecided

 

Note: If you are more experienced than I am (almost no experience building PCs) you do not have to work off of this list - I prefer Intel builds but it doesn't matter if AMD's processors are cheaper and more efficient. RGB not needed if it adds to the cost, we do not care about that. If you need any more info please let me know.

[GoldenLag]

9 minutes ago, ChaseCraft said:

I am looking for a setup around $250

you options honestly involve the Used market. you cant get a decent new PC at that price. while the Athlon GPU is good, its not that good. 

9 minutes ago, ChaseCraft said:

12-year-old friend (next Christmas)

so you are buying this in 8 months (ish)?

[LukeSavenije]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Athlon 200GE 3.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$55.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2800 Memory	$47.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$28.99 @ Amazon
Case	Thermaltake - Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$34.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$277.82
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$267.82
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-03 03:26 EDT-0400

this is about the best you can get brand new for that price...

 

you're probably better off with a second hand setup

X5650+rx 290x for example

 

[QuikMiner]

Just now, GoldenLag said:

you options honestly involve the Used market. you cant get a decent new PC at that price. while the Athlon GPU is good, its not that good. 

so you are buying this in 8 months (ish)?

Yeah, maybe a bit before then. We don't need this setup for more than youtube, minecraft and such. Maybe recording while playing minecraft but that's it. 

[QuikMiner]

2 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Athlon 200GE 3.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$55.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2800 Memory	$47.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$28.99 @ Amazon
Case	Thermaltake - Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case	$34.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$277.82
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$267.82
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-03 03:26 EDT-0400

this is about the best you can get brand new for that price...

 

you're probably better off with a second hand setup

X5650+rx 290x for example

 

Used prebuilt? That would be cool especially if it's cheaper, I might look into it but we live in a suburb near Chicago and computers aren't often for sale around here. I will try using newegg though, thank you for the recommendation.

[MeatFeastMan]

Very difficult to reach that 250 mark. If you can stretch just beyond 300 you could get this:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$99.57 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	GeIL - EVO SPEAR 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	$39.99 @ Newegg
Storage	SanDisk - SSD PLUS 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$34.82 @ Amazon
Case	Thermaltake - Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case	$40.82 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$325.17
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$315.17
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-03 03:30 EDT-0400

I wouldn't recommend that dual core above, it's not great. So this is the best system you're gonna get that's anywhere near 250 if you're willing to pay this sort of money.

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, ChaseCraft said:

Yeah, maybe a bit before then. We don't need this setup for more than youtube, minecraft and such. Maybe recording while playing minecraft but that's it. 

get yourself a prebuilt system in a somewhat standard formfactor from the used market. Dell optiplexes are popular choices. 

 

then get a cx550 (2017) for new for 50$

 

get a 120GB SSD (20$), and if there isnt a hardrive included, you may have to get one of those aswell)

 

and last pick up a R9 290x/290 for about 80-90$ used. 

 

spend any leftover on a 2nd to 4th gen i5 prebuilt system. 

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, ChaseCraft said:

Used prebuilt? That would be cool especially if it's cheaper, I might look into it but we live in a suburb near Chicago and computers aren't often for sale around here. I will try using newegg though, thank you for the recommendation.

prebuilds are a option, or just something from the used market

 

tho I would recommend a new psu if you're doing some heavier graphics cards, something like a cx550 can be had for around 40 bucks. a 290(x) for around 80 (which has the power of a 1060), a ssd around 30 bucks, and maybe a cpu swap if needed.

 

there's so much to try

[QuikMiner]

1 minute ago, GoldenLag said:

get yourself a prebuilt system in a somewhat standard formfactor from the used market. Dell optiplexes are popular choices. 

 

then get a cx550 (2017) for new for 50$

 

get a 120GB SSD (20$), and if there isnt a hardrive included, you may have to get one of those aswell)

 

and last pick up a R9 290x/290 for about 80-90$ used. 

 

spend any leftover on a 2nd to 4th gen i5 prebuilt system. 

Might try that!

1 minute ago, MeatFeastMan said:

Very difficult to reach that 250 mark. If you can stretch just beyond 300 you could get this:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$99.57 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$59.99 @ Newegg
Memory	GeIL - EVO SPEAR 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory	$39.99 @ Newegg
Storage	SanDisk - SSD PLUS 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$34.82 @ Amazon
Case	Thermaltake - Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower Case	$40.82 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$325.17
	Mail-in rebates	-$10.00
	Total	$315.17
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-03 03:30 EDT-0400

I wouldn't recommend that dual core above, it's not great. So this is the best system you're gonna get that's anywhere near 250 if you're willing to pay this sort of money.

Thank you so much for the recommendation, I might be able to save up that much by then. Seems nice for the price, but I have never experienced an AMD cpu integrated graphics system. How good is it? Just about as good as intel's?

[MeatFeastMan]

Just now, ChaseCraft said:

Might try that!

Thank you so much for the recommendation, I might be able to save up that much by then. Seems nice for the price, but I have never experienced an AMD cpu integrated graphics system. How good is it? Just about as good as intel's?

The integrated graphics are much more capable on AMD than on Intel. Minecraft will be more than playable on this. Roblox should be fine too. Fortnite is more of a struggle and you're probably going to need to go to 720p to get that 60fps mark.

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, ChaseCraft said:

Might try that!

Thank you so much for the recommendation, I might be able to save up that much by then. Seems nice for the price, but I have never experienced an AMD cpu integrated graphics system. How good is it? Just about as good as intel's?

better actually, it should do the 1080p 60 fps you wanted, but of course a 290x is better

[GoldenLag]

2 minutes ago, ChaseCraft said:

AMD cpu integrated graphics system. How good is it? Just about as good as intel's?

about twice the performance or more. (uhd 620 vs vega 8 ) 

[LukeSavenije]

1 minute ago, MeatFeastMan said:

The integrated graphics are much more capable on AMD than on Intel. Minecraft will be more than playable on this. Roblox should be fine too. Fortnite is more of a struggle and you're probably going to need to go to 720p to get that 60fps mark.

Fortnite is more cpu bound from my experiece, but 60 fps might need some lower settings, i got it around 50 on 1080p mid-low with a gtx 745

[QuikMiner]

1 minute ago, MeatFeastMan said:

The integrated graphics are much more capable on AMD than on Intel. Minecraft will be more than playable on this. Roblox should be fine too. Fortnite is more of a struggle and you're probably going to need to go to 720p to get that 60fps mark.

 

Just now, LukeSavenije said:

better actually, it should do the 1080p 60 fps you wanted, but of course a 290x is better

Okay, I see. I will try and get an AMD processor since getting a GPU might be out of the question if I am mistaken for $300

[GoldenLag]

1 minute ago, ChaseCraft said:

 

Okay, I see. I will try and get an AMD processor since getting a GPU might be out of the question if I am mistaken for $300

best option is going with a used prebuilt and plopping in a GPU and a new PSU

[QuikMiner]

1 minute ago, LukeSavenije said:

Fortnite is more cpu bound from my experiece, but 60 fps might need some lower settings, i got it around 50 on 1080p mid-low with a gtx 745

On this setup I get bottlenecked by my CPU because of the low clock speed, but it ran fine at 60+ FPS at 1080p on the highest settings

[QuikMiner]

Just now, GoldenLag said:

best option is going with a used prebuilt and plopping in a GPU and a new PSU

I am going to try that out - would newegg or amazon be a better place to get a used desktop?

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, ChaseCraft said:

I am going to try that out - would newegg or amazon be a better place to get a used desktop?

refurbished ones are a option, but just looking around on the used market in general (ebay, craigslist, things like that) is recommended too

 

just have a test suite ready

[GoldenLag]

2 minutes ago, ChaseCraft said:

I am going to try that out - would newegg or amazon be a better place to get a used desktop?

craigslist and local used market. school PCs often gets tossed out for new ones, as such they are a nice pickup.

[BigRom]

Its slightly over your $250 budget, but I sacrificed a discrete video card in favour of getting a much better processor whose integrated GPU isn't actually that bad compared to a GT1030 anyway But really at that price point, you probably have to go used to get better bang for buck.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($99.57 @ Amazon) 
Motherboard: ASRock - B450M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($63.88 @ OutletPC) 
Memory: G.Skill - NT Series 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($43.98 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Kingston - A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($28.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($46.89 @ OutletPC) 
Total: $283.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-04-03 03:45 EDT-0400

[QuikMiner]

2 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

refurbished ones are a option, but just looking around on the used market in general (ebay, craigslist, things like that) is recommended too

 

just have a test suite ready

Ah alright, marking this as solved, I will try out several things ( @LukeSavenije's, @GoldenLag advice on the used market and such and I am going to probably aim to get @MeatFeastManand / or @BigRom's spec list and such)

Thank you all! Didn't expect that many replies hahaha

[BigRom]

Just now, ChaseCraft said:

Ah alright, marking this as solved, I will try out several things ( @LukeSavenije's, @GoldenLag advice on the used market and such and I am going to probably aim to get @MeatFeastManand / or @BigRom's spec list and such)

Thank you all! Didn't expect that many replies hahaha

If you do get the 2200G build with a B450M board, you can probably get away with some minor overclocking on both the CPU & RAM to get a little more juice out of it.

 

The AMD stock cooler thats bundled with Ryzen chips are decent enough to handle some minor OC

[ISmokeAir]

I would buy these:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Strix-Rx-470-Radeon-4GB-GDDR5/264257497462?hash=item3d86f96976:g:r-0AAOSwES1cm8Fh

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Core-i5-2500-2500K-BX80623I52500K-Processor-Full-box-BNIB-HEAT-SINK/273786632542?epid=111105980&hash=item3fbef4795e:g:d70AAOSww7NcoLJF

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/ASRock-Motherboard-Z77-Pro3-LGA-1155-Intel-Z77-Chipset-DDR3-Memory-ATX/303112185881?epid=116369380&hash=item4692e4e819:g:P3YAAOSwWiJcn6Rv

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Kingston-8GB-PC3-12800-DDR3-1600-DDR3-SDRAM-1600-Mhz/273715144761?epid=114476046&hash=item3fbab1a839:g:gE0AAOSwAclblRWO

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Sharkoon-Tower-ATX-Micro-ATX-Mini-ITX-PC-GEHAUSE-Computer-Case/323693191440?hash=item4b5d9e2110:g:cIgAAOSwVVlcZASJ

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/CRUCIAL-MX500-2-5-SSD-500GB-SOLID-STATE-DRIVE-NEW-BOXED/163626411244?epid=5012774614&hash=item2618e4e4ec:g:9QsAAOSw8X9coSIi

 

This pc will have 60 fps on 1080p in most games. I don't know where do you live so I didn't care about the shipping price.