Tight Budget Gaming PC

[AtlanticCanuck]

Hello there.

 

Looking for assistance in trying to find the best parts to build a new gaming PC for my little brother. His old PC has essentially kicked the can and he’s in desperate need of a replacement. We’re able to scrap together a budget between $300-$400 CDN. My brother is one of those typical young teens kids who likes to play a lot of lower powered games like Minecraft, ROBLOX, Terraria, and some Fortnite.
 

His old computer has an old 250GB boot SSD from Kingston I put in a year or two ago so I’m able to salvage that for the new PC. However if someone could find a set up where you could fit in a 1TB hard drive for extra storage that’d be great. I’m mostly looking for parts from reliable stores like Amazon and NewEgg (ones that don’t cost much for shipping).

 

The closer to $300 the better without sacrificing too much performance. 
 

Thanks.

[Fasauceome]

$300 canadian is ... ouch

can't salvage ram, PSU, case, anything else? wasn't a house fire, was it?

[Herman Mcpootis]

what are you current specs?

[AtlanticCanuck]

Just now, Fasauceome said:

$300 canadian is ... ouch

can't salvage ram, PSU, case, anything else? wasn't a house fire, was it?

Well uh, let’s just say the SSD is the only good part about his old desktop. It’s a desktop that was mine before I got my gaming laptop. It’s a bit out of its time..

[Fasauceome]

3 minutes ago, AtlanticCanuck said:

Well uh, let’s just say the SSD is the only good part about his old desktop. It’s a desktop that was mine before I got my gaming laptop. It’s a bit out of its time..

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$74.99 @ Newegg Canada
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$111.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$60.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Power Supply	be quiet! System Power U9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$69.99 @ Canada Computers
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$317.96
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-29 23:41 EDT-0400

This is pretty much the best you'd get if you hug that $300 price point without sacrificing part quality. The motherboard at least has a VRM heat sink, and the PSU is decent. Used market will be quite useful here, often you can find a 2200G for the price of this 3000G on eBay. Cheap B450 motherboards and updated B350 motherboards can also be found, but make sure they have both the backplate and I/O shield.

 

Perhaps a good opportunity to learn some metalworking tools, if you can shear off parts of the old case to make it more like an open air test bench, you could really have something on your hands there (it's certainly what I'd do). 

 

[AtlanticCanuck]

1 minute ago, Fasauceome said:

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Athlon 3000G 3.5 GHz Dual-Core Processor	$74.99 @ Newegg Canada
Motherboard	MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$111.99 @ Mike's Computer Shop
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$60.99 @ Newegg Canada
Storage	Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	Purchased For $0.00
Power Supply	be quiet! System Power U9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$69.99 @ Canada Computers
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$317.96
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-29 23:41 EDT-0400

This is pretty much the best you'd get if I hug that $300 price point without sacrificing part quality. The motherboard at least has a VRM heat sink, and the PSU is decent. Used market will be quite useful here, often you can find a 2200G for the price of a 3000G on eBay. Cheap B450 motherboards and updated B350 motherboards can also be found, but make sure they have both the backplate and I/O shield.

 

Perhaps a good opportunity to learn some metalworking tools, if you can shear off parts of the old case to make it more like an open air test bench, you could really have something on your hands there (it's certainly what I'd do). 

 

My budget is able to reach up to $400, if it gives more comfort to allow for more stuff to pack in there let me hear it.

[Fasauceome]

Just now, AtlanticCanuck said:

My budget is able to reach up to $400, if it gives more comfort to allow for more stuff to pack in there let me hear it.

A used RX 570/470/GTX 1060 3GB from eBay would sit nicely in that budget, if you find a nice deal.

[AtlanticCanuck]

Just now, Fasauceome said:

A used RX 570/470/GTX 1060 3GB from eBay would sit nicely in that budget, if you find a nice deal.

Alright thanks, if you find anything better or anyone else has anything better let me know.