This is a cheap desktop pc for those on a budget who want a good gaming computer with peak performance at low cost. This gamer build is brought to you by none other than the low cost AMD FX-8370 8 core gaming processor. With a powerful eight core AMD CPU and the highly sought after GTX 1050 graphics card, this value build will handle better than any NextGen Console(think XBOX One/PS4) and it will give you the ability to have a fully enabled desktop computer for other things like Photoshop, web design, browsing and more. It’s got super bang for its buck and will run the best games(of 2017) while looking better than a PS4 or XBOX One. This budget build will last a long time and can be upgraded at any moment with a better graphics card, more memory or a faster CPU.
- CPU: AMD FX 8 Core [Price]
- Mobo: ASUS AM3+ Socket [Price]
- Memory: 8GB Gaming RAM [Price]
- GFX Card: GTX 1050 [Price]
- Hard Drive: 1TB SATA 7200RPM [Price]
- Power Supply: EVGA PSU [Price]
- Gaming Case: [Price] [better cases]
- AMD Gaming PC Upgrades
- GFX: GTX 1060 Mini 3GB [Price]
- Gaming RAM: 16GB Memory [Price]
- Hard Drive: 250GB SSD [Price]
Upgraded Gamer PC
The GTX 1060 is leaps and bounds more powerful and should be acquired if you have the funds. The same can be said about the SSD. You really shouldn’t have an OS installed on anything other than an Solid State Drive these days. These 3 upgrades will make this cheap gaming computer an actual powerhouse ready for all of today’s top games. If you can only afford one upgrade, get the SSD. You will not regret it.
CPU: AMD FX-8370 8-Core Gaming AM3+ Processor
AMD’s premier high performance gaming processor with a whopping 8 cores. It does come with a heat-sink and will provide excellent frame rates at a low cost. Several people have asked why we went with the AMD over the Intel i3. When it comes to the FX-8370 vs the Intel i3 you immediately note that the AMD has 8 cores giving it the advantage to the Intel processor. Newer games and future games take advantage of more cores. Such as Battlefield One, Crysis and upcoming games. The AMD is also overclockable while the i3 is not. And it’s cheaper and this is a budget build.
Motherboard: ASUS AM3+ SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
This ASUS Mobo is made with the AM3+ Socket for the AMD FX-8350 mentioned above and is suited for your gaming needs, allowing for up to 32GB of DDR3 RAM(next part below). It also has USB 3.0 Ports and built in Ethernet LAN Ports. It’s all you need for a base gaming system.
Video GFX Card: Brand New GTX 1050 Gaming Edition
The brand new ultimate mid range budget GFX Card. The GTX 1050 is the newest release low price range graphics card that can still play games like GTA V, Far Cry 3, Witcher 3, etc all on Ultra settings at 1080P and still get up to and over 60FPS. If you’re trying to run 4k you’ll need the Power Build below.
It has HDMI, DVI and a Display port so it’s thoroughly prepared for any monitor setup and will support up to 3 High Definition monitors. It is brand new and often out of stock due to popularity and having the best cost per performance statistics. If it is out of stock I suggest you buy it and the other components for this build now because they sell out as well. Luckily Amazon tells you when it will be back and it’s usually only a few days. This is a very popular PC build and may require waiting a few days for a part or two. Luckily they replenish this part often.
RAM: 8GB Gaming RAM
8GB of DDR3 is a good cheap duel channel set of RAM. You should never need more but I myself have 24GB because why not?
Hard Drive: Fast SATA 7200RPM
Internal Hard Drive from the ultimate drive manufacture. It runs at a max 7200RPM. If you can afford it, I would get this and the SSD mentioned below in Power Computer Upgrades for the OS Drive though.
Power Supply: 500W PSU NOT GENERIC
There are cheaper PSU’s out there but when it comes to this, it’s best to go with a known trusted gaming brand. The generic brands have been reported to burn out and fry motherboards.
Game Computer Case: Cheap mid tower and good looking
A good cheap computer gaming case. Mid range ATX so you have plenty of room to work inside, front USB ports and several fans. However if you can spare in the budget and want a better looking case, look below in the computer upgrades for more case options. Some are much cooler. I got the 500R as pictured below with my cat.
I did not include a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc because I assume you already have one but if you do not, keep reading as they are all below in the Peripherals section of the article.
Budget PC Build Summary
With a powerful Six Core AMD processor and a loaded Graphics Card you’ll surely be saving a lot of money over top tier gaming computer prebuilt systems. All you have to do is put it together yourself and believe it or not, that’s the really easy part. You almost need no instructions but the motherboard does have all of the instructions included. The plugs, ports, connectors, etc are all clearly labeled and all you have to do is screw it in and match colors and what not.
How To Build A Gaming Computer On A Budget
Note: Some of these parts have mail in rebate offers so don’t forget to do those to save even more money! Also sometimes prices fluctuate and sometimes parts are out of stock due to high popularity of these specific builds but they will always be around the target price as I check it and update constantly to bring you the best power for value system.
sawyer
This is the first time I’ve ever attempted a build. I’ve been out of gaming for a long time and decided recently that I should get something that can handle both graphic design & gaming with future potential to upgrade, while still not being a hardcore gamer of any kind. On the cheaper amd build, would most other cases work? Or are they specified to the size of the contents you’ve listed inside? For example, something like the rosewill challenger case.
StickyStatic
Yes, this build will fit in all normal sized cases from micro to mid to standard ATX because the motherboard is a mATX which forward compatible size wise.
Bill Peden
I’m not a gamer but would like to build an i5 machine powerhouse that has super fast startup and response time. Can I just use your build and eliminate the graphics card out of it and use onboard graphics of the mobo or will that bottleneck me? Thanks
StickyStatic
Actually no, that would be fine if you do not plan on gaming.
You will still need the Solid State Drive upgrade if you want those speeds though.
Bill Peden
Thanks a bunch. Got the SSD and all the other components except for my 500R today. Can’t wait til it gets here tomorrow. I really appreciate your help.
Frank
Hi, I purchased everything I need for the Intel build. After I’m done building, can I just plug in my old hard drive with Windows 7 on it to my new build? I purchased a 240 GB SSD also. Or do I need to repurchase Windows and do a fresh install on my new computer? I don’t have a disk for my Windows 7. Thank you for the help.
StickyStatic
I have actually done this before and it worked.
For some reason I always thought it would fail because of drivers.
Be sure to download the LAN Drivers for your MoBo onto a USB first, then run something like Driver Booster 4.0(free) to get all the updates.
You can then use that working new machine with old HDD to clone it to your new SSD and swap it.
Comment there with any questions and good luck!
Rocky
I have been in the market to build a pc. Until today this is the best and closest to what i was wanting go get. Most bang for your buck and powerful. My questions are can i put a pci-e elgato inside this motherboard and another is can I also put a I7 later down the road as well and not have to upgrade the motherboard or anything? Thanks in advance.
StickyStatic
Awesome!
Yes, you may indeed upgrade to an i7 6th gen later and not have to upgrade the motherboard. Just be sure to get one that has a 6xxx skew or it says LGA1151. The older 5th gen will not work with this mobo.
And the elgato should work because it is PCI-e and this motherboard has a slot for the GFX card an an extra for this if you would like.
Chris
Thanks for all your hard work putting together these builds. I have a GoPro HD Hero 4 that I used to film some 4k video. I was wondering if the AMD Budget build or the Intel Power Build were capable of handling 4k video watching/editing?
Thanks for any feedback,
Chris
StickyStatic
Hey Chris,
Watching the 4k videos, yes, either build will do. But as far as editing goes, you would want the i7 processor. I have updated the computer build with the i7 as an upgrade option.
Mac
Hi. I find your guide really helpful and I’m very thankful for that cause it will help me save a lot of money by not buying the wrong stuff. My only problem though is our local store is not offering EVGA GeForce 950FTW Gfx card. Is there an alternative to this? Using AMD build btw.
StickyStatic
Yes, many and even better options that do not fall under “budge builds” but it would really depend on local stock.
If you can afford it, the GTX 960 is the better budget card but surely cost more.
ahmeddar
Will my Gigabyte Geforce GTX 980 G1 Gaming 4096MB GDDR5 Graphic Card fit into the Corsair carbide series spec-01 computer case. Well thanks for the previous reply!! :)
StickyStatic
According to product specs, yes.
The case will fit up yo 420mm and the card is under 320mm.
Nice card by the way!
ahmeddar
Can I get 2tb of memory. Will it work?
StickyStatic
When you say memory I assume you mean RAM aka Random Access Memory.
The max RAM is generally 32gb.
However because of that really large number, I assume you mean storage space. Yes, you can get as much storage space as you’d like. I have much more than 2tb.
Arty
Hey this is an amazing site I came across! I am in the process of building my first gaming computer and its basically your power build but with a different graphics card and case. Would the power build work with a MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 970 4GB OC DirectX 12 VR READY (GTX 970 GAMING 4G) and Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02 Mid Tower Gaming Case? Thank you for all the wonderful information, its very beneficial for a beginner!
StickyStatic
Hey Arty,
Thanks and yes, you can upgrade to the GTX 970 and use any mid sized tower for this build.
Takuma
Will i need to buy things like cords for the build?
StickyStatic
Nope! The cords come with the equipment.
Omar
I really would like some help to decide which components to buy. I’m trying to build a really fast gaming PC, don’t really know which are the newest/fastest parts as of today.
Andrew
Will Windows 7 work for the AMD Build you have. I really don’t like windows 10.
StickyStatic
Yes indeed.
Windows 7 will work. And likely bug you to upgrade to Windows 10! haha. But you can disable that.
I loved Windows 10 at first but the more I dive deeper into it, I find it to be a lot harder on me, someone who works in Tech Support. They sure did hide basic stuff and simplify some stuff too much. Like they are trying to duplicate OSx which I can not stand.
Greg
Hey there I just bought and built the AMD Budget build for my kid. First computer I’ve ever built. Seemed easy enough but as with the other two that mentioned they can’t get it to hook up to a monitor. I bought a used acer monitor for $40 because it was working at guys house and looked pretty nice. I brought it home and tried to hook it up to the newly built computer which by the way has all the fans going and the red light is on. The monitor keeps saying No Signal then going to standby. I cannot change the input setting on the monitor because its a stupid acer who has an on board screen which I believe needs signal to use… that being said I’ve tried plugging the monitor in via VGA to the video card and just the mobo as well. I’ve tried HDMI and I’ve also tried the converter that comes with the graphics card for DVI to VGA. I don’t have a DVI cord so if thats the default… i’ll buy one tommorrow and try it regardless. . I knew this seemed to easy and cheap.. LOL Hope I figure this out, or you can give me some useful info. If all goes well I plan on selling this computer and building the power build so the kid can play his games proper. Look forward to a response.
StickyStatic
Well it should definitely work. It’s not a compatibility issue.
I’m sort of stumped as to what it could be.
Check the mobo manual regarding light status.
Any beeps?
Do you get lights on your keyboard and or mouse?
Also have you tried removing the GFX card all together and using on board to see if that is the issue?
Maybe check the back of the power supply to make sure it is on the right voltage.
Nate Simons
Can you suggest a prime eligible mobo for the intel build? The one you have listed is almost out of stock and I need to build 3.
StickyStatic
Yeah because that one is cheap and popular it is often out of stock.
However you can honestly get any ATX or mATX LGA 1151 H170 (or Z170) board by ASUS, Gigabyte, ASRock or MSI. They’re all solid manufactures and have pretty much the same options.
Things you will want to keep note of is number of available USB 3.0 ports and Memory Sockets if you plan on going with 4 sticks.
You ask, what is the difference between H170 and Z170. Well the Z is overclockable but because this is not the k sku CPU and it is more than powerful enough, you do not need the Z board unless it is cheaper. Then go for it.
As for the H170 I mention, it looks like if you click the link, then click view from other sellers, there is a Prime option that cost a little more.
Param Sharma
The Gigabyte H170 LGA 1151 Socket “current price” hyperlink points to a mini ITX motherboard. I would like a standard ATX motherboard.
StickyStatic
I have updated the part list with a standard ATX board now that the prices have come down to the same level.
Matthew Cherry
I got the AMD build together and it wont connect to a monitor.
StickyStatic
It will connect, there is something being overlooked here.
Did you forget to put the power supply to the graphics card?
Is the monitors settings on the right display in? Sometimes it is defaulted to VGA or DVI and you need to tell it to use Auto or HDMI.
Have you tried the motherboards display out?
Did you try reseating the GFX card?
Class Ified
Same thing happened to me but with the intel power build. I’ve tried all the things you just said, checked all the wires and it still wont connect to either my tv (using an hdmi) or one of my old monitors (using a dvi).
StickyStatic
Since I never heard back from the guy who had an issue building the AMD CPU I assume he figured it out.
But with you, let’s try this.
What if you remove the Graphics Card and use the built in MOBO HDMI Display out?