Cheapest pc that can run basic games...

[star_pilot475]

Ok, so I might be building a new pc for my little bro soon. Pretty much all he plays is Roblox.  

 

So, maybe some of you very helpful fellows out there could give me some suggestions on what the cheapest pc is that could run this very demanding game. (I don’t know if ROBLOX will run without at least an RTX 2080 ) I was thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 if possible. If that’s too little let me know! 

[kdawwgg1221]

3 minutes ago, star_pilot475 said:

Ok, so I might be building a new pc for my little bro soon. Pretty much all he plays is Roblox.  

 

So, maybe some of you very helpful fellows out there could give me some suggestions on what the cheapest pc is that could run this very demanding game. (I don’t know if ROBLOX will run without at least an RTX 2080 ) I was thinking somewhere in the neighborhood of $200 if possible. If that’s too little let me know! 

honestly just find an older Office PC online, used (Dell Optiplex, HP Office, Lenovo ThinkCentres), and slap in a GTX 680 or something in there. Perfectly, capable to run a decent amount of games and will only cost you around $250. You can find deals out there to meet your $200 range.

[star_pilot475]

1 minute ago, kdawwgg1221 said:

honestly just find an older Office PC online, used (Dell Optiplex, HP Office, Lenovo ThinkCentres), and slap in a GTX 680 or something in there. Perfectly, capable to run a decent amount of games and will only cost you around $250. You can find deals out there to meet your $200 range.

Thanks for the suggestion. I kinda wanted to build him a new one though, would an amd athlon 200ge be capable of running basic games? I was looking and saw those were pretty darn cheap. 

[Oalei]

how about LGA 1356 with a old GPU likie GTX 460 or soemthing along those lines, oh yeah it uses ECC DDR3 RAM so you safe money more.

[Fasauceome]

4 minutes ago, star_pilot475 said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I kinda wanted to build him a new one though, would an amd athlon 200ge be capable of running basic games? I was looking and saw those were pretty darn cheap. 

The Athlon 200GE has similar graphics horsepower to Intel chips, but you do have the advantage of an upgrade path.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Athlon 200GE 3.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$49.49 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$68.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	Patriot - Signature Line 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory	$37.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Patriot - Burst 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$17.99 @ Newegg
Case	DIYPC - P48 ATX Mid Tower Case	$33.93 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.88 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$263.27
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$248.27
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-21 10:07 EDT-0400

Try this out

[kdawwgg1221]

11 minutes ago, star_pilot475 said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I kinda wanted to build him a new one though, would an amd athlon 200ge be capable of running basic games? I was looking and saw those were pretty darn cheap. 

Honestly, If you are looking at AM4, might as well go with the Ryzen 3 1200 for like $60. Then find a 670-680 online for like 40-50. You can grab a 500w watt power supply on EVGA mid-week madness for $15. There are always cheap case deals on newegg. Mobo for like $50 on B350 chipset. You can find some DDR4 RAM for $40 as well. Maybe even better deals on Used marketplaces. I have a guy selling 2x4 Corsair Vengeance LPX for $25. Plus. you can upgrade in the later future.

[star_pilot475]

5 minutes ago, fasauceome said:

The Athlon 200GE has similar graphics horsepower to Intel chips, but you do have the advantage of an upgrade path.

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Athlon 200GE 3.2 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$49.49 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$68.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	Patriot - Signature Line 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory	$37.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Patriot - Burst 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$17.99 @ Newegg
Case	DIYPC - P48 ATX Mid Tower Case	$33.93 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Corsair - CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.88 @ OutletPC
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$263.27
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$248.27
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-21 10:07 EDT-0400

Try this out

This looks awesome! Some upgrade-ability later on in case he gets into real pc gaming! Thanks a bunch! 

[Lalit Kumar]

2 minutes ago, kdawwgg1221 said:

Honestly, If you are looking at AM4, might as well go with the Ryzen 3 1200 for like $60. Then find a 670-680 online for like 40-50. You can grab a 500w watt power supply on EVGA mid-week madness for $15. There are always cheap case deals on newegg. Mobo for like $50 on B350 chipset. You can find some DDR4 RAM for $40 as well. Maybe even better deals on Used marketplaces. I have a guy selling 2x4 Corsair Vengeance LPX for $25

I have a ryzen 3 1200 paired with a GTX 1050 2GB since I was short on budget. The Ryzen is a beast. I can handle most of the new games. I played BF V without much stutter at High Settings.

[Oalei]

if you want to save more money there is always used DDR4 or EVGA Midweek Madness for PSU's

[kdawwgg1221]

1 minute ago, Lalit Kumar said:

I have a ryzen 3 1200 paired with a GTX 1050 2GB since I was short on budget. The Ryzen is a beast. I can handle most of the new games. I played BF V without much stutter at High Settings.

They are quite good processors. Great price/performance Platform overall. (Thanks AMD!)

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

eBay is your friend here.

Step 1) Buy a Dell Precision T3500 from eBay. Make sure it has at least 8GB of RAM. This will be the base of our PC. It should cost about $100-150. eBay Link

Step 2) Buy a GTX 780 Ti which will be our video card. More than powerful enough for even moderately load intense games. It should cost about $100 at most link

Step 3) Buy a Xeon W3565 to replace the miserably slow CPU already in there. This should cost no more than $10 link

Step 4) Buy a 240GB SSD to boot off of such as a Crucial BX500. Reuse the existing 500GB HDD for storage. You can always add more later if needed. $30

Step 5) Buy a Corsair CX550M to replace the firehazard Dell PSU. $50

Step 6) Assemble the PC.

Step 7) Install Windows and deliver it to your brother

Based on this guide by @CUDAcores89. All in all should cost just less than $350 if you do it right, not including windows key ($10 from gray market). This PC should actually handle significantly more demanding games so when your brother starts playing actual games he'll have a PC that can do it.

 

 

[Oalei]

3 minutes ago, Lalit Kumar said:

I have a ryzen 3 1200 paired with a GTX 1050 2GB since I was short on budget. The Ryzen is a beast. I can handle most of the new games. I played BF V without much stutter at High Settings.

i wouldnt do high if i want 60fps stable tbh. Well good for you m8.

[star_pilot475]

4 minutes ago, Lalit Kumar said:

I have a ryzen 3 1200 paired with a GTX 1050 2GB since I was short on budget. The Ryzen is a beast. I can handle most of the new games. I played BF V without much stutter at High Settings.

The only thing is if I go with Ryzen, I’ve got no integrated graphics and therefore have to pay more for a cheap gpu. Maybe what I’ll end up doing is telling him to wait for zen 2, while I hope that prices drop on Ryzen 3s. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

2 minutes ago, star_pilot475 said:

The only thing is if I go with Ryzen, I’ve got no integrated graphics and therefore have to pay more for a cheap gpu. Maybe what I’ll end up doing is telling him to wait for zen 2, while I hope that prices drop on Ryzen 3s. 

As I said above, don't buy new - for low budget builds it's almost always better to buy used. For $350 and some eBaying you can get a pretty decent PC.

TL:DR buy all of these and assemble

Dell T3500 (Make sure it has 8+ GB of RAM)

GTX 780 Ti

Xeon W3565

250GB SSD

Corsair CX550M
Grey market Windows key

 

And assemble and deliver

[kdawwgg1221]

Find a used 2200G!! They are brand new for like $85 right not. I am sure you can find one for at least $60 @star_pilot475

[star_pilot475]

How’s this then? A little pricier than I wanted but this has got decent upgrade ability and if he wanted to in the future, he could slap a decent gpu in it too. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$86.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$68.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	Patriot - Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$45.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Patriot - Burst 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$17.99 @ Newegg
Case	Cooler Master - MasterBox Q300 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$35.77 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$36.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$307.70
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$292.70
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-21 10:26 EDT-0400

 

[kdawwgg1221]

1 minute ago, star_pilot475 said:

How’s this then? A little pricier than I wanted but this has got decent upgrade ability and if he wanted to in the future, he could slap a decent gpu in it too. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$86.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$68.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	Patriot - Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$45.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Patriot - Burst 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$17.99 @ Newegg
Case	Cooler Master - MasterBox Q300 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$35.77 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$36.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$307.70
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$292.70
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-21 10:26 EDT-0400

 

These prices are brand new, keep that in mind. Used hardware here is your best friend. Oh and pick up a PSU on EVGA's Mid-week madness on Wednesday's. You can get a 500 watt for $15

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, star_pilot475 said:

How’s this then? A little pricier than I wanted but this has got decent upgrade ability and if he wanted to in the future, he could slap a decent gpu in it too. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$86.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard	ASRock - B450M Pro4-F Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$68.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory	Patriot - Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$45.98 @ Newegg
Storage	Patriot - Burst 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$17.99 @ Newegg
Case	Cooler Master - MasterBox Q300 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$35.77 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Corsair - CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply	$36.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total (before mail-in rebates)	$307.70
	Mail-in rebates	-$15.00
	Total	$292.70
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-21 10:26 EDT-0400

 

Again, no, buy used. For $50 more than that you can get a PC with a respectable GPU, 750GB of storage and more powerful Xeons to upgrade to down the line

[star_pilot475]

Just now, kdawwgg1221 said:

These prices are brand new, keep that in mind. Used hardware here is your best friend.

Yes they are, but I’ve checked all over for a decent used Ryzen cpu and have had no luck. It doesn’t help that Craigslist near me is full of absolute crap. 

[kdawwgg1221]

Just now, star_pilot475 said:

Yes they are, but I’ve checked all over for a decent used Ryzen cpu and have had no luck. It doesn’t help that Craigslist near me is full of absolute crap. 

Facebook Marketplace? Letgo? Offerup? Ebay? Most have buyer protection services besides letgo and facebook.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, star_pilot475 said:

Yes they are, but I’ve checked all over for a decent used Ryzen cpu and have had no luck. It doesn’t help that Craigslist near me is full of absolute crap. 

I'll reiterate myself. Follow the instructions I typed out above and you'll get a PC to rival many $600-700 builds for $350-400

[kdawwgg1221]

4 minutes ago, star_pilot475 said:

Yes they are, but I’ve checked all over for a decent used Ryzen cpu and have had no luck. It doesn’t help that Craigslist near me is full of absolute crap. 

Also, If you wait until after computex, you are going to see a wave of used Ryzen processors all over the place on the used market.

[star_pilot475]

7 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

I'll reiterate myself. Follow the instructions I typed out above and you'll get a PC to rival many $600-700 builds for $350-400

I get what you’re saying but I’m just trying to see what my options are. 

 

I looked around ebay and saw that I could build a system with a 4690k for around 250-260. I know 4th gen intel is known to be cheap but also respectable for gaming. 

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

Just now, star_pilot475 said:

I get what you’re saying but I’m just trying to see what my options are. 

 

I looked around ebay and saw that I could build a system with a 4690k for around 250-260. I know 4th gen intel is known to be cheap but also respectable for gaming. 

If you don't want to go the Optiplex route 4690K & 780 Ti/970/RX 4/580 is a very respectable combo. Make sure you get him an SSD though

[Stefan Payne]

32 minutes ago, Oalei said:

how about LGA 1356 with a old GPU likie GTX 460 or soemthing along those lines, oh yeah it uses ECC DDR3 RAM so you safe money more.

You mean 1366, don't you?

Or do you really mean 1356?? (yeah, that also exists. IIRC Beckton Socket)

But no, the old Intel stuff is rediculously overpriced.
And the GTX 400 and 500 series pretty crap and inefficient.

14 minutes ago, star_pilot475 said:

How’s this then? A little pricier than I wanted but this has got decent upgrade ability and if he wanted to in the future, he could slap a decent gpu in it too. 

That sounds pretty good and has a good upgrade path.

Alternatives is to look for older DELL, Lenovo, HP PCs, if possible from a Busness. The Problem with those is that they are often limited in upgradability. They have some hard power limits, OC isn't possible and you can't put in a a GPU with a PCIe Connector.

 

14 minutes ago, orbitalbuzzsaw said:

Again, no, buy used. For $50 more than that you can get a PC with a respectable GPU, 750GB of storage and more powerful Xeons to upgrade to down the line

Used PCs aren't the easiest to navigate through. It takes a lot of time to find something that is not too bad as many Business Machines you can get either have a Proprietary PSU without PCIe Connectors or low profile case or both.