I Built a $200 Bare-Bones Gaming PC!

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I built a bare-bones gaming PC for $200! Yes, I cut some corners... Yes, it doesn't look particularly good... and yes, performance isn't stellar... but for $200, I think it holds up quite well. Let's build, test, and discuss!
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🛠️ PC parts list:
HP ProDesk 400 Pre-Built PC: ebay.us/4j8RgZ
EVGA 550W BP: geni.us/xxgX
ASUS Radeon RX 5600 XT: ebay.us/EKMFNG
Don't forget storage of your choice!
🎬 My studio gear on Amazon:
Sony A7C (Primary): geni.us/lOeoIA9
Sony a6600 (Secondary): geni.us/k8VBToq
Sony a6400 (Webcam): geni.us/24nqw
2x Pixio PX277 Prime 165Hz IPS Monitors: geni.us/bCg4nD
Neewer LED Lighting Kit: geni.us/9VTXr0
Audio-Technica AT2035: geni.us/xvQc
Yamaha MG10XU Mixer: geni.us/d4VvGM
Neewer Microphone Arms: geni.us/1w5Sx2Y
Arrowzoom Sound-Damping Foam Panels: geni.us/EKFxZc
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[@W3RN3R318]

Capping the fps to 60 with rtss should eliminate the stuttering in games, helps a lot with cpu bottlenecks. Love these videos thanx.

[@JEPs.]

Dissecting and upgrading older tech is such a fun watch. Thanks Greg!

[@GregSalazar]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@GregMurch]

Yes, I love playing with older systems and seeing what worthwhile upgrades to then re-sell

[@kriskeller8298]

I'm about to build my daughter's first gaming PC, and as much as I would like to try and do something like this, it scares me. Stop making it look so easy!

[@GregSalazar]

Wasn't that difficult, I swear hahah!

[@AAjax]

Research the prebuilt you're about to bid on first - easiest way is to see if someone like Mr. Salazar has done an upgrade in one, and see what the issues were. Just understand that you probably won't be able to reuse the case if you intend to upgrade the platform at some point. A lot of times the PSU isn't reusable either; in this case Greg installed a new one, but you can't do that with every prebuilt.

[@JayParkerHGA]

I discovered your channel recently while searching for a way to build a Pc for my niece. She turns 8 this year and mentioned wanting to game on PC with her friends. Still working out the budget for the build and figuring that stuff out but videos like this are so helpful! Thankful for the work you do man! ❤

[@groggyme]

Great build. Really appreciate that you look at the low end and used market. Reveals so much!

[@MS1andOnly]

Thanks Greg, I love watching this series of inexpensive builds or builds in general!

[@coltonstevens4790]

Love what you've been doing lately, keep up the good work!

[@Str8EdgeJesse]

These kinds of builds are always super interesting to see. Glad this is a series!

[@Tyvier_Watercrest]

Great stuff man!

[@robertanderson5735]

Love these types of videos❤!

[@realdelta741]

Very nicely done.

[@PreztoPH]

I love this segment refurbishing an old pc to a gaming pc. Keep it up Greg and thanks for the video!

[@johnpaulbacon8320]

NIce job on the build :)

[@goretog]

Always a pleasure waking up to a new vid Greg, Thank you as always ^^

[@Kisifer]

learning everyday , Thanks Greg

[@pawzburning]

Love this kind of content, giving old stuff a new life!

[@spookyboogy7558]

Love it !! Bare-Bones PC are the most beautifull ! it takes a big place in my heart

[@Miniputt_999]

This was a fun one :D really enjoy seeing these old pcs getting some upgrades and can play modern games :D

[@GnostikNataz]

I really enjoyed this video! I have been thinking about buying older broken PC's to learn how to build/repair pc's. I would LOVE if you made this a series!

[@bmanrockwell2174]

I agree

[@sirlanceem]

Fun times, keep up the good work Greg!

[@WC2F-Miguel]

Very interesting information about this topic

[@whoframedthatguy]

Definitely want to see you make a sleeper build, keep up the content!

[@joelonsdale]

Your obsessive honesty is beautiful and appreciated.

[@Thomahawk7209]

Thanks for learning with us

[@King.Anarchy]

I really love this series, I used to take old rigs a refresh them as a hobby!

[@shanemcknight1583]

Great vid and pc wisdom!

[@GregSalazar]

Thanks for watching!

[@knuckleheadcomputers]

Great job one hell of a entry level gaming pc

[@Danny_G_5]

Love the videos!

[@GregSalazar]

Thanks for watching!

[@Idris-982]

Love these types of sleeper builds

[@iseeu-fp9po]

Love watching builds like this. Also: It really is somewhat comforting to see that I'm not the only one running issues like: "Oh, I didn't quite measure that/that card does quite fit" etc. because I've felt so stupid in the past when that has happened. Having seen both Steve from Hardware Unboxed dealing with that and now you in this video it kind of relaxes me a bit, haha. :P

[@martymcfly88mph35]

It happens to all of us! Especially AIOs

[@SKuLLn1]

This video reminded me of when I bought a Dell Precision T3500, I love these old configurations that give the possibility of updates

[@dgorry]

To add larger cards to Optiplex towers and Lenovo Mid Towers, I have been drilling out the rivets. Once you open the cases up, it is surprising what goodies you can fit. Great video :)

[@Castaa]

These are my favorite build videos. Ultra budge builds are always interesting.

[@GaahlDukat]

I enjoy these types of builds so much, hell I'm sitting in my workshop and next to me is a pc that I found at my uncle's house 3 days ago, she looked like she just sat under a lean-to for years. Threw in a few things, a fresh coat of paint, covered the ketchup and mustard cables voila!....a functional little pc that runs like a charm...good on ya sir. Keep it up please....

[@danielsidaway719]

I definitely agree with you. Once a year during our town's large garbage pickup I cruise the town on my mobility scooter and trailer picking up people's old PC's and monitors and tinker on them; replacing parts I have on hand to make them functional if necessary, and then give them to local social services where they go to under privileged families. Its my way of giving back, and it brings me so much joy.

[@Jules_Diplopia]

These office pc upgrades of yours are becoming quite helpful. As I try to help people who are having issues with BG3 update#4. They are so often claiming that there systems are fine, but as you show strange things can happen if the CPU is bottlenecked.

[@bbgarnettTotallyNotABot]

Keep up the great work

[@travisvaughn101]

Always some interesting interactions with older hardware and newer games, even as old as gta 5. Always makes for good content too!

[@ianmcleod6428]

Love giving PC's more life. Brilliant work! Thank you.

[@GregSalazar]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@aisle9]

3:50 Three long, two short. Your computer isn't broken. It's just greeting you with a master salute. Personally, I'd be honored.

[@theeeves]

Ballin on a budget for sure

[@LeightonGill]

Great budget build!

[@moreludo]

found you channel about 6 months ago, and now I don't miss a video, I'm one of those people who need to watch something while I eat and I rather watch one of your videos over others so great job :)

[@user-wq8jy5hn2e]

I always love to watch old pc upcycling. With a bit of ingenuity you can get great results on a tight budget

[@Stigmakso]

Really linking this kind of video, in a KZbin landscape overflowing with ridiculously expensive builds it's refreshing

[@Animeop-1519]

This is a pretty good build 😮

[@paulmoreira6110]

Great video on how to get a good gaming rig for short money.

[@noitora99]

Hi Greg! Big fan of your channel :) Just wanted to ask when are you gonna resume the PC cleaning series? It's my favourite ❤

[@GregSalazar]

Soon, I expect! :-)

[@pdandersondo46]

agree completely with this idea!!!

[@timinamegames]

Those beeps reminded me of my childhood days with school computer labs memories. Those system runs win 98 and win millennium 😅. Love the content ❤

[@ilpastor]

Amazing!

[@MagicBrownMan]

Depending on the spacing this might be perfect for a 90 usb 3 header adaptor. there are some low profile version that can maybe clear under that card.

[@SwampFox178]

Here we go! 🤙🏻

[@kinggamedze8610]

I can relate with these kind of budget builds.Thanks for the graphics card tip

[@absolutesadlad2297]

have a feeling a cheap memory upgrade would have done this system wonders. awesome video btw, keep up the great work greg.

[@Thatonefuckinguy]

With a simple memory upgrade, this machine could be amazing to sell to young audiences. Kids who only need to play roblox, fortnite and minecraft like I did growing up, I mean this is a great first rig. Just slap faster 16gb RAM and this baby be running minecraft at max settings easily with optifine. (Don't worry, kids will figure out how to mod games, I sure did.) And I mean sure, the weirdness with GTA 5 sucks, but saint's row is similar enough to that game and can literally run on a toaster oven. This should have no trouble running it.

[@absolutesadlad2297]

@@Thatonefuckinguyyeah true, especially because between being a cheap way to enter pc gaming its also a learning experience. i have to wonder if being so memory limited as well as single channel contributed to GTAs LOD issues. Because otherwise between the CPU & GPU there isnt a reason for it. Especially as the game runs much better on much weaker hardware.

[@bryans8656]

I enjoy watching videos like these because, not too long ago, I did the same thing with a SFF Dell OptiPlex 7010. It makes for a fun build.

[@nikoleezz]

So what exactly do you do with all these old pc's ? keep up the good work !

[@polizi212]

Love the budget builds, shows how much you can get for so little.

[@colbycol6502]

I actually just built one of these last week. I picked one up off a guy local that looks the same with an I5-6500 and 8Gb ram for $60. I already had an older 650W power supply i threw into it and an ASUS RTX 2060 I found for $100. It has been running good for me. I did have that texture/loading issue that GTA was having in Fortnight, and just a lot of stuttering in other games as well. I noticed the system ram was maxed out at 7.5Gb used. So I ordered a 16gb kit off Amazon for $27 and that fixed it for me. The stuttering was way down and the same issues GTA was having that I had in Fortnight with missing/unloaded textures was gone as well. I run the games at 4k lowest with TAA or DLSS and it has been pretty smooth for me so far. Although for War Thunder Ive got it on high with quality TAA at 4k and getting about 80-100 FPS with very few drops to 65ish when alot is going on.

[@carbon_no6]

It’s one thing for someone to reach out to someone selling something and notifying them they had made a mistake in their description of the item. It’s great to reach out to the seller and inform them of the mistake as merely a positive critique, but it’s another level to offer the product back so a loss isn’t incurred. Great job, Greg!

[@devincagle2490]

these videos are so fun to watch! also for the 1440p gta5 game play maybe try a new cooler cause it was only pulling 35w and it was 100% usage so maybe it wasn't getting enough cooling although it was only 55c. Just a thought might be cool to see if somethings changes

[@devincagle2490]

correction jus finished the video and heard you say gta5 was an anomaly

[@DJSammy69.]

I like this new revive old pc's series.

[@ezecskornfan]

that's corner cuttting right there :O

[@SaintInix]

I have these conversations with people all the time when I say to get a PC. You can do so much more with a computer than a console, thanks for helping prove my point.

[@emmetthorath4542]

Very cool. I got 2 hp office pc i made to gaming pc. it kinda fun seeing what these older pc caN DO. Your old rig looks very nice. What werre the specs on it?

[@moevor]

Greg, you're a gem.

[@wilsmith7173]

loving the recent flip or flops with the ebay units... it would be nice to see how some of these machines would run with games like Age of Empires III, Red Alert III, for example.

[@anonymouse2863]

This needs to be a series.

[@gregorypetka8799]

great job greg, i have the 6500T , but my Z170 Gaming 1 MB from Gigabyte, fried a capacitor, they want $50 for a minimum Motherboard, loved it for internet searches and playing videos. you are right, most people struggling to afford food, or dont have a job, so yeah prices way too high stilll, oh well maybe the MB prices will come down and i can have my system back. keep up the great work Greg.

[@Druid2212]

i have heard that exact same set of beeps on a pc i was working on. It brought back memories. Immediately knew it was ram.

[@TheGameBench]

You could try using something like ThrottleStop to increase PL1 and PL2 along with the boost duration.

[@PANIAGUA35]

I was actually thinking about Austin when you referred to him with the mystery tech but I’d like to see a mystery tech with Greg but more towards building a pc with used tech from the ground up

[@chrisburksinkinsideu]

Have you built in an antec 1200 case before? I found 1 and was blown away by the 200mm fan on the top of the case.

[@sekaiali]

I had basically the same base setup as this HP prebuilt, but much jankier. So I started with a full HP ProDesk/EliteDesk SFF set for ~RM650(~$154) back in December 2021, then added a 512GB boot SSD for RM120(~$27) early this year, and then had to swap cases as my power supply got fried during a thunderstorm (meaning that I had to shell out RM30($6-ish) for a power supply adapter for the SFF motherboard and another RM30 for a Dell Optiplex case in May (I also upgraded the CPU cooler to an ID-Cooling SE-224XT for RM71 (~$16). And to cap it all off, I got an RX580 2048SP for RM200 ($44) in July. And the best part is that I can't even close the side panel properly because the SE-224 is a bit too big. Oh, and also in addition to having to rip out the USB 3.0 front panel ports, I had to rip out the original HP power button from the original SFF case because I can't figure out the pin layout on the motherboard to connect the new case's power button. The next step will have to wait until I have the time and funds, but I guess the next thing to do is getting a proper case and get the front panel USB 3.0 port working again with a 90-degree adapter. *note that the approximated USD prices are as accurate as possible to the respective period I bought all the stuff.

[@chubbysocks5650]

Seller had the ebay listing wrong. Listed as a HP Prodesk 400 G1 MT (Haswell) but you got G3 version (Skylake).

[@FilippoCarrux]

I always love this type of content... I returned to competitive fps gaming with a build like this. i7 6700T and GTX 1660, 16gb ram and an MX 500 by crucial. total cost 250€. Valorant and CS more than 200fps with stretched res 1440x1080.

[@iamChermac]

I really like this one, especially testing things out at 4k. I've been wanting to do a similar test with an Athlon 200GE and a 2080 Ti, for the LULZ of course.

[@Antinomi-Oh]

Honestly for my next build I’m looking for a simple cpu/mobo combo and maybe a 2000 series nvidia gpu. Trying to do it for $500 or under. I’ll probably be shopping the used market or just piecing off my current build. But your videos always inspire me. And also help me realize how do-able it is.

[@teboho_26]

I also got a hp g400 for my first build, had a 4th gen i5, upgraded the ram to 8gb, upgraded the psu, got an ssd, and also bought an rx 570 8gb. Couldn't be more happy for what it offers. I love the fact these hp systems do not have proprietary connections so it's quite easy to upgrade.

[@anonymousinc6330]

The memory thing was to be expected. I was given a Lenovo M71e with an i3-2100 years ago. I used it for a time, and then it wound up sitting forgotten on the back porch (which has a roof) for almost two years. After cleaning it up, you guessed it -- no POST. Replaced the CMOS battery, reseated the RAM and it was off to the races. Due to limitations of the stock H61 board, the i3-2100 and the i7-2600 I upgraded it to wound up being transplanted to DH77EB boards with 16GB DDR3-1333, 500GB SSD and 1TB storage drive. The i3 and i7 paired nicely with EVGA SC GTX750ti and GTX1050 cards (respectively) after that. Screaming little systems for under $400 each (new PSU / case / storage). I managed to get 35-50 FPS at 1600p from both, and they ran perfectly. Tried to sell, no one wanted to give me what I had in them, so I gave them to a friend who could use them. Still running perfectly, and his son is tickled pink with the i3 / GTX750ti rig.

[@jayb2705]

Kudos for HP for making that workstation use standard style parts and connectors, it makes it so much more environmentally friendly as you can keep upgrading it. I also used a 5600XT on a old Haswell i7 system I got up and running, and it is just the perfect 1080p card for this kind of use cases.

[@andersenpeters]

Great job and thanks for the inspiration! I had a friend I actually owed a low end gaming box to. I was able to go on eBay and find a nearly identical HP system for just over $50 shipped, I plan on cribbing most of what you did here. 🤣 I might look for right angle USB adapter to see if I can do something about this front panel ports though.

[@rhobson]

Only thing I missed was a temperature review with the case fully closed. In my experience, these CPU coolers from prebuilds are juuust capable enough for what they are designed, but the GPU certainly introduces more heat to the system. Maybe somehow adding an intake fan in that grill/gap on the front side of the case could work and be a cheap alternative to changing the cpu cooler. Also, I couldn't shake the feeling that the case was upside down during the entire video lol Amazing work (and patience) in fitting that big GPU. I'd probably involve a saw in the process as well

[@ronnyb5890]

i agree with your assesment Greg, but only for games, i'm not a gamer but a doodler with graphics and music creation, these barebone PCs wouldnt be efficient enough to run the programs that i use today, thats the affinity graphics suite, fl studio, studio one, and a lot of virtual instruments, even modern PCs have touble sometimes with latency, however, seeing those old PCs get a new life is surely entertaining to watch, back in the day i had a compaq 486 PC, pure nostalgia 😀 cheers Greg

[@coolbusterreal2736]

I love these videos its so satisfying seeing the transfer from a workstation into a gaming capable PC. Great work Greg😁

[@GregSalazar]

Thanks for watching it! :-)

[@gomd3rd]

My wife says you look like Johnny from “ is it cake?” And “What’s eating Dan” from Americas test kitchen.

[@PaitVideo]

when dealing with ram errors, always the 1st thing to do is just to reseat them. they often tend to come loose during shipping or handling the case roughly.

[@leivavlogz]

Can we see a short of the truck in the driveway lol 😂

[@berserkenjoyer7886]

wow I actually guessed correctly which graphics card you were gonna put in this pc, I knew it had to be something that wasn't too strong because of the budget

[@txvm]

Now I know to do budget build for my kids when they are ready.

[@MrBeetsGaming]

I've always wanted to do a "sleeper" build but all the older cases I've ever had were for proprietary parts....

[@DeimosEclipse74]

Just stopping by because I got class but I’m glad greg posted a video so that I have something to do after class.

[@GregSalazar]

:-D

[@hellrazor2050]

I5 6500 old .Would love to see you do retro .My 1st rig was a 386 with win 3.1.1, 4 mb ram and 20mb hard drive and the games were loaded off 3.5 inch floppy that was high end for it's day .1st rig i built by myself was a Pentium 2 233 so don't give me old 🤣🤣🤣🤣 love the vids keep up the good work

[@belizoalves1719]

Is the PC deep cleaning series over for good? It's been a while.

[@LegitJoyRL]

Ngl this is def a series just greg havent found a name for it yet but im waiting....😂😂😂

[@GregSalazar]

🤣

[@arutezza]

the gpu reminds me of my current rig, where i had to literally cut a hole in the front of the chassis and finesse it through, luckily the front panel still clears it

[@vardorien]

For the USB 3 clearance issue it might be worth getting some low profile USB header adapter cables. They're usually pretty inexpensive, and they let you fit larger cards without sacrificing USB ports.

[@misterhoudi2824]

Will a jumper work?

[@fusi0nn]

It's simply just the front USB 3 adapter. You can still use the ones in the rear directly attached to the motherboard. If you can find a low profile angled connector to make it work go 4 it but if you don't need it in order to use your rear USB 3 ports.

[@chanchomanco]

As a budget conscious gamer wanna thank you for your advice, keep up the good work!

[@danlugz]

If you dont mind the look and depending on the game this will be allright. I think it's great for someone with a tight budget, but of course if you want something that will last and play the more recent titles, then this may nit be the one. Love the vids.

[@diaman_d]

at boot it sounded like it was calling a dead support line 😆