The cheapest gaming PC you can build right now*

[@OzTalksHW]

[README ~ 45 seconds] I decided to write an article on how to build the "better" version of this gaming PC 10:50 💛www.oztalkshw.fun/builds/an-easy-400-pc. I don't recommend this PC outright, but I believe it shows how much BETTER performance you can get if you just pick up used components. Lastly, I tested all the games with ReBar ON and XMP ENABLED. That's all! Hope you enjoy!

[@dianaalyssa8726]

Nice article. I was thinking watching this someone should pick up the $60 Ryzen 5 3600 off Aliexpress or eBay. Also a great GPU substitute, I've picked up a used 1070 in the past around that price point.

[@rustyshackleford5839]

in pc partspicker it says. "Warning: The ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard supports the AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor with BIOS version P2.30. If the motherboard is using an older BIOS version, updating the BIOS will be necessary to support the CPU.A" first build for me so, is updating the bios a pita? Subd, thanks!

[@OzTalksHW]

@@rustyshackleford5839 It can be, but the motherboard almost definitely has a newer bios so I wouldn't worry about that. Good luck!

[@Obedthian-UK]

Can you make a non online pc build like stuff you will see in stores

[@Obedthian-UK]

While being budget

[@TJTech96]

I sold my ps5 for 450 and was not trying to spend too much outside of that on a PC. Checked the used market and got a NZXT prebuilt H1 for 450 with a i5 10400f and a 3060 12 gb with 16 gigs of ram. I would’ve never gotten that kinda performance buying new at that price point. Also, you’re helping to fight e waste which is huge. 10/10 video, Oz. Will keep watching

[@quenoun]

The 3060 alone is a win!!

[@E_lisa_a]

thats a really good find you did there, enjoy pc gaming!

[@小琰-j2l]

that's a jackpot right there

[@MyNameIsBhex]

That is a fantastic price for that build, that's damn close to what I have in my own system. Welcome to PC gaming, and best of luck for future upgrades in that case

[@pixsled]

how tf u manage that!

[@Optim121]

It's crazy how much more interesting low budget pcs are, everyone knows what to expect with a $3000 pc but a $300 one? This was a fun watch. Great build!

[@Franco-M9k]

Your videos, apart from teaching me about PCs, relax me and make me forget the bad things of the day, like for example that I have to look for a Windows key for my PC and I don't know which site to trust and that they are not so expensive.

[@healerslighthelen]

I use BNH Software and in my experience nothing bad has ever happened to me, on the contrary, it always helps me solve problems quickly.

[@Franco-M9k]

I'm going to add it to my list of options to investigate and then say thank you.

[@mambamentality295]

your videos are therapy...gives me so much peace and makes me love PC building even more

[@OzTalksHW]

I'm so glad!

[@DragonBane299]

bro that's a lenovo thinkcentre

[@AquibDoki]

The cabinet right?

[@imstumpedrugmail]

the case sure resembeles an old lenovo think center

[@BREEZYM6015]

I thinkcentre it is too. 😂

[@jtrain9926]

Omg that is what that form factor looks like!

[@imstumpedrugmail]

I should talk I bought one of the p520 think station

[@BRetired]

Did you turn on re bar or xmp. You did not mention that setting change.

[@OzTalksHW]

Yes both turned on! Sorry, forgot to mention

[@manurz1]

With 6gb vram work? Isnt re-Bar for 8+gb?

[@12100F]

@@manurz1 nope! VRAM amount is irrelevant for ReBar.

[@xxEmeSiSxx]

@@OzTalksHW actaully just sold my 3600 ryzn to a homie for $50 :)

[@BREEZYM6015]

​@@xxEmeSiSxxI'll give him $100 for it.

[@IAmRileyMan326]

I really appreciate how relaxing this video is-both in your tone and also your approach to building a PC. It makes the process of building a PC feel so much less daunting.

[@mraltoid19]

2:00 - Looks like a Lenovo case. I like the handle.

[@jjjjulian]

me2. i really appreciate the design of the thinkcentres :p

[@Pieteros21]

this case remings me of old thinkcenter prebuilds :P

[@balaam_7087]

I love that case. I don’t know anything about computers but that case looks very refined. I don’t care for the overly gaudy, fancy ones with all the rainbow colored glowing lights you see on a lot of the pc build channels. This one is understated and pleasant looking to me

[@rhysbutcher8660]

Honestly if you want a cheap gameing pc with warrenty on most parts follow this exact guide but swap out the Arc GPU for a second hand 20 series card and have fun.

[@OzTalksHW]

Yep, I’d also go with a 3600 CPU instead - way faster, PCIe 4.0, same price

[@rhysbutcher8660]

@@OzTalksHW good point

[@SpaceGamblerJR]

For an extra $30 but $30 here $30 there you don't have a $372 PC build anymore.

[@SanGraphic]

or a used rx 6600

[@PlayingItWrong]

​​@OzTalksHW for second hand cpu, I'd go with 3300x over the 3600 oddly good for gaming because of the ccd/ccx layout, I'm still using one now with an rtx 3060 and it isn't stumbling. Whereas the other 3xxx processors are all suffering with frame timing issues not fixed entirely by the 5xxx lineup. All the cores sharing L2 cache is just that good.

[@davidsalvador8989]

I am always a fan of buying a prebuilt used computer. Something like an HP Z4 G4 or a Z6 G4 would be good right now if your on a budget. Then put all the rest of your money into a nice graphics card. Something like a 3070? I think you could get away with sub 500 bucks spent from Ebay or local. The Z6 G4 Would give you tons of room to upgrade. Practically future proof.

[@tedged]

my favorite computer dude. i don't work on stuff much, old now. but i love watching your videos.

[@Flitts_Himself]

Your vids are so chill great job.

[@salemthekit6143]

5:14 Minimum budget for the PC MAXIMUM budget for the cosplay

[@tess-gr7ez]

im gaming on your 500 build rn and its working flawlessly thanks

[@jerrybolt3241]

First I want to say how much I appreciate your dedication to budget builds. Not everyone has $2000 to throw at a high end build. You provide very helpful information for those on a budget. Once again, much appreciated. However, I am called upon by my son's friends for information on building a gaming PC or out-right asked to build it for them. Many times they come to be with a $500 ish budget. I tell them, while it is possible to build a gaming PC for that price they should, instead, do one of two things. 1. Save up their money til they get to $1000. That is when you can actually start building a decent gaming PC. OR 2. Buy a console (PS or Xbox). Either would provide you with quality gaming and no worries on upgrading your system for the next several years. If you made it this far, thank you. *Keep producing amazing content!

[@wintermightcome8642]

I absoutely refuse to believe that a man as wholesome as Oz plays the toxic cesspool of smite.

[@cdnron75]

Nice cheap little build! I love the case too. Very reminiscent of old ThinkCentre PCs!

[@otufur3290]

You have been my biggest inspiration to start working with computer hardware for the past 3 years. Best budget build videos helped me make a PC of my own on a budget. Amazing video as always🙌!!!

[@MrBubba123bubba]

This is a good video on how you can start out. Each person can tweak the items based on their budget. Or maybe upgrade later. Even where I'm at in a large metropolitan area, sometimes second hand sales are hit/miss so something like this can get you going while you find/save money towards something better. That is also a super clean build.

[@ilm91]

I would recommend paying 10$ more for Ryzen 5 4500 (you will have 2 CPU Cores more) and a better Graphic Card like RX6600 for around 180$.

[@SpoonHurler]

I agree with the additional 2c4t for 10-20 usd but 75% more money for an rx6600 puts it way over it's targeted sub 400 usd price range. We can question IF anyone should build a 400 usd gaming PC over a console but here we are.

[@LostWH]

My daily dose of asmr PC building has been met 😌

[@rasulov15]

I have already upgraded my PC as much as I can, but I am still watching your videos. Great content!

[@JeremyLeePotocki]

Right now in Marketplace a GTX 1660TI, or Supers are going for 100 to 80 in my area so that would be a way better fit. Then just game on it until you save up for a better card like a RTX4060 or RX7600 when it's on sale in November. As well as save up to get a decent 4TB NVME SSD (around $200 ~ $250).

[@ocha-time]

Alright, Oz, show me what you got Edit: ARC A380, GOATED, alright you got this. Best hundo cart on the market. AMD's embarrassed, Nvidia's never even seen $100 in their life. Honestly at this price point, most people are going to be limited by their display, so I wouldn't even call sub-100fps a fail for Sub-$400, but I respect sticking to the guns. I hit 40-50fps in FF7R with A380, I had to record it to be sure lol

[@1slotmech]

If you're willing to eat the occasional driver issue, sure, go for it.

[@AhPook]

@@1slotmech The only way these driver issues get ironed out is through user adoption and reporting, given the card is usable in the vast majority of cases, at the price point it's at the driver issues are negligible any way because you should expect dragons in modern games buying an entry level dGPU to begin with. Honestly, Intel's come a long way and it's nice to see, having a third GPU vendor on the market again might start melting some wax wings with AMD and Nvidia; who've more or less totally abandoned the budget and lower mid-range market segment. I haven't been as excited for a GPU release in years as I am for Intel's Battlemage line after hearing about some of the changes they've made to the architecture.

[@ocha-time]

@@1slotmech Honestly, especially with Intel and even with AMD, everyone screams about driver issues, driver issues, like Nvidia's a perfect solved platform and AMD and Intel are riddled with ineffable crashes... both AMD and Intel have by and large been crash-free, and Nvidia's frankly got its own shares of problems. Intel's launch certainly looked rough, but having experience with two cards at this point, I can say in 2024 things seem very, very good to me.

[@MrEmmanuelle007]

@@1slotmechbro I’m a proud owner of a 4090 ROG and I recently got a ARC A770 for my son and I’m telling you, I feel like a dumbass paying too fucking much for the NVIDIA card 😂

[@TheSkippysan]

I told some guys the arc would burn people out of their pride and joy. I knew the Arc would rule,

[@rickh8380]

Very nice build Ozzie. I have two intel ARC cards and they both work great. Can't wait for their Battlemage cards to arrive. Take care.

[@lynnjr457]

As someone who started in the IT industry almost 30 years ago building white box PCs for a hospital, that case feels like the off white ones we used to use back then (very plain Jane). I have only recently found your channel, but I am enjoying catching up with all of your content. Thank you and I wish you continued success.

[@wohoi]

haven't watched any tech vids in a while, glad to see one of my fave in the space still great at it!

[@MojoWrangler]

IMO, a good build suggestion. This particular price point remains a bit difficult to recommend builds for while the Atl metro area has two particular stores with the 3600 still in stock at a decent price point. Having additional cores as opposed to threads has shown to be a preferable most use cases. Other locales having to rely on Amazon have a much harder time with the value proposition since things such as "actually going to get the part" can be offset in an unmentioned gas and time column.

[@S_Patty0331]

Hey man! Great video, however I’m super new to computers. Could you make a “101” video on computers? Hardware, lingo, and what to look for?

[@wertywerrtyson5529]

The 380 was surprisingly cheap. Here in Europe you barely get the Arc 310 for that price. I think the Ryzen 4100 holds it back a bit by not having pcie4.0? You have a nice smooth voice that’s easy to listen to so I’ll subscribe 😊

[@ridakesserwan8712]

cpu and gpu cost 160$, I'd skip the GPU and buy a powerful AMD APU then save up for a GPU or find a clean one in the used market lately, I snagged RX 6700XT for 190$ and it was mint

[@TheRealBigChungusOfficial]

smart!!!

[@ranjitmandal1612]

😨

[@Carnage_Lot]

Love your videos Oz! I run a 5800X3D and a 7900 XT, but I love watching you make every dollar count in a cool build. I also love the "non-gamery" look.

[@leoariasyt]

Always uploading great content. Have a chill Sunday bro.

[@OzTalksHW]

Thanks man!

[@GameslordXY]

Ryzen 5 4500 was just 4-6 $ more. 6 cores/12threads. Better for many tasks

[@lewzealand4717]

I was wondering about the CPU power in that 4100 and yeah it was just a little weak being a mobile variant of Zen 2 with 1/4 cache of the regular desktop CPUs. Used R5 3600 (or 5500) and GTX 1660/S/Ti FTW!

[@kylegarrett2429]

I feel like at this point an Open Box ROG Ally would be the way to go. z1 extremes can be found for $400 USD and it's such a smaller form factor and come with a good controller.

[@MilkyWayHeroz]

just bought a used rig for a home server / second gaming machine for about 260. ryzen 2600, rx 580 8gb that i scored locally, 32gb of ram, wifi am4 board, 600w power supply, and the same case as the one in the video lol. a few of the parts i grabbed were new like case, ram, leftover ryzen stock cooler, a random 250gb ssd i never used from an old build. pretty happy with it

[@PinkyTech]

I think this is more of a highlight in how well Arc is doing in optimizing drivers. Build this same pc a year ago and I would imagine the performance would have been way worse.

[@DonaldWyman]

I kinda dig the faux thinkcenter case look. It would be cool for a stealth build.

[@Pilaspilas911]

Used and BNIB section on meta and other places is the way to go. What you save on tax can be used to better your system.

[@sir.fender6034]

In my opinion, your PC part selection is right on the money. I personally would have gone with the RX 6600. I know it's a bit more money but worth it.

[@Nathan_Lundstrom]

If you’re looking to build a solid video editing/streaming PC/secondary PC this is a great budget option to enter into that!

[@ACRplus]

the broom and dust pan stance was tuffff

[@fsb_-bf3th]

Many I haven't seen your videos in years! It's great to you still making waves in this space

[@teama1305]

Yo btw u can switch the 500 w power supply for a 600 w power supply for like a dollar or two I’m not sure if in the moment ur reading this comment the sale is still there on Amazon it’s the same model just the 600 w power supply

[@goxy287]

All you have to do on this pc tbh is spend a lil bit more on the gpu (or go used) and the performance will be amazing

[@WayStedYou]

It's basically what the last 40 seconds of the video says

[@goxy287]

@@WayStedYou assumed as much xD

[@morgan3625]

well considering it's cpu bottlenecked already in every game tested I don't think so

[@CTSega]

Great video! I think you'd likely be better off saving another $75 or shopping used for a GPU- I snagged a 2070 super last month for $160 with a easily-fixable bent back bracket. Thanks for always posting great low-cost builds!

[@BrandonWestfall]

Every time these videos pop up it makes me respect the Xbox Series S. Considering you can pick one up used for ~$200 + get a deal on gamepass around Black Friday the value is difficult to beat.

[@brandonsn5393]

I do agree the Xbox series x is a banger of a deal. But that isnt a apples to apples comparison. If you remember in the beginning, this is a all new build. Everything here has a warranty. A used xbox series s does not have that. If he were to get all used components it would perfoem a lot better + be cheaper .

[@BrandonWestfall]

@@brandonsn5393 Even at full price a series S is a better value. The point is still valid regardless.

[@OzTalksHW]

Yeah the series s is STILL a great purchase.

[@BrandonWestfall]

@@OzTalksHW If Microsoft installed a windows OS on either console it would kill a lot of budget PC builds. (Which is why I’m sure they haven’t done so.) It still blows my mind how much performance we get for $300-$500 consoles.

[@kyledowning6775]

I got mine for 375. It's got an Intel Xeon E5 V3 2650 processor, Rx 580 GPU, 32 gigs of 2133 megahertz ddr4 RAM, and several drives for storage. I mostly play retro, so it's not as demanding.

[@emilyhesterman6601]

Thank you for including civ 6, its my comfort game. Awesome recs!

[@ardazgames]

Great vid here. Microcenter has great deals on refurbished 1600 series cards. I'm going to pick one up for my sons PC. 1660 super for $130

[@shephusted2714]

great content - do an identical build sans gpu for use as a server - maybe upgrade cpu and then do a comparison - this sets people up well for expansion and upgrades

[@Erebus_Afflatus]

god I love when this man drops a vid

[@RasmusDyhrFrederiksen]

Love budget builds - so interesting.

[@hiredgun7186]

that case has an old IBM thinkcenter vibe to it nice build

[@toufusoup]

Other than the PSU, solid selection for the price! Always good to check out what’s on offer for the average user.

[@st1fish]

thank you frank ocean 🙏🙏🙏

[@kdark54]

Oz, new here! Loved the video and noticed you give the boxes little 'pets' before taking your hand out of frame. Not a bad thing, made me love the video even more!

[@cfsjedi8180]

Me and my friend had a challenge, we both had 900 to build the best PC we could. I got almost all of my parts used off of FBMP. 3080ti for $350, 64 gigs ram, ryzen 7 5800, rm750 and a noctua cooler for just $220, nzxt h5 flow and gigabyte b550 ud ac for 200, and misc power supply components and fans for just under 100. With a used SSD rounding out my lineup to come to $890. The used market is a great place to find stuff, you just HAVE to be patient

[@throwcentral9584]

Spent about 400$ got a 13 12100f and 1650 super and works like a charm

[@krissythecatboi]

I got the Ryzen 5 4500 (6c/12t) for 85 USD, which is pretty good even in 2024 and supports ReBAR, which my Intel Arc A580 needs. I added the PBO override of +200 MHz in the BIOS, a cooler I got off of AliExpress for like 15 USD (still better than the stock one) and I have to say that it's lovely so far. Wish more games supported XeSS though and DX11 games seem to underperform compared to Vulkan or DX12 ones (e.g. Ghost Recon Wildlands has a less stable/good framerate than Breakpoint).

[@BeastofBourdon]

I would have gone with a b550 board to ensure pcie 4.0 support for better upgrade-ability down the line. Sure you could still upgrade to say a r7 5800x3d but any gpu you pair it with will be limited to pcie 3.0. That's the problem with building these bare bone minimalist pc's, every single part is low end with nothing giving any kind of headroom to direct your upgrade path. I like to try to pick parts that support at least some mid tier upgrades down the line.

[@nicolasfaryalha3176]

arc gpus drastically increases the fps with dxvk in most games not recommended in online games since you can get banned but if you have an arc gpu you should try it its a game changer for a lot fo games

[@HORNOMINATOR]

looks beautiful, clean and power

[@aleksazunjic9672]

You could add extra $10 and go for Ryzen 5 4500 - it has 6c/12t so difference is noticeable in some e-sports titles if you really aim for 100 FPS.

[@roofydmf]

the r3600 and 1660 combo is so affordable and effective. I got my cpu and gpu secondhand for like 150 USD altogether and it rules.

[@KeemReviewz]

Kudos sir! I liked buying pre-built systems but im definitely going to build my own system in a couple weeks! Definitely going to get a better memory card though lol, used from eBay

[@DogginsFroggins]

Pretty sick setup. You can jam indies forever on a pc like that. Unfortunately in South Africa PCs are quite expensive so nothing is coming close to a PS5s power. My old pc is just for indies, all big hitters I just get on console.

[@yoshikombat5217]

It's something comforting about how you pet things lol

[@snoflahke6575]

it's hard to find any case at that pricepoint wiuth a basement for the power supply. all i could find had power supply mounted at the top

[@preefix33_3]

this with the Loss Scaling on Steam is a game changer

[@EvanLovell]

i been scoring deals right now. Bought two systems today $200 i5-10400 with 1650 and other system $100 for a i7-10700F 1060 only thing wrong was the SSD.

[@irondeath212]

Lovely build, but why not RX 580? I have the impression that it's a little better than arc. : )

[@jommammaxse95]

Exactly and cheaper too he’s used it before too so idk why he’s recommending intel trash

[@hrvojemilicevic3309]

​@@jommammaxse95Intel ARC will get driver updates for a long time, rx 580 driver support is dead. Blame AMD

[@-.--Y..-U...S..-U..-.F]

Not that bad, but certainly not the best... here a better one: Motherboard ASrock B550. Literally same price but better. Gpu rx580. Definitely best budget. Worst mistake to not use. Cpu ryzen 5 3600 (or i3 13100f on a different m.board and be careful of its diff socket) Ram higher 3600mhz but same price (iirc) PSU (500 or 600W) ,SSD (512gb with 4k+ reading speed), and a random case with lots of fans and holes. U can find a cheaper one. But be careful. Always look at the comments before. Choose yourself, they arent that important.

[@wow_horac4663]

For 100 dollars more you could put a rx6600 in there and roughly double the GPU performance. Alternately the a580 is going for 160 right now (about 60 dollars more) and would get you similar performance to the rx6600. Or as you mentioned get a used 1660 or 5600xt and get a big boost for about the same cost. Which would probably allow you to run games at 1080 without having to use any upscaling in most of those titles. CPU is probably good enough for the low end although as you mentioned a used cpu might be had for similar price with better performance. I would just feel uneasy with a used cpu cooler since you've no way to tell if the cooler was abused or left in the box all this time and if you have to buy a cooler then you lose some of the value.

[@crazycucumbers2582]

A brand new RX 580 from XFX on Amazon is $130. Wouldn't that have been a better value with the increased performance, higher amount of RAM, and better driver support?

[@SteveGovreau]

What is that with tax? In the place where I live the tax is 9% counting multiple forms of tax

[@Rolkarz420]

im not sure what is the price for these parts as they are not new, but i build mine pc for abt 300 dollars, i7-3770k, 16gb ddr3 and RX 570 4GB, it runs most of these games on medium 1440p 60fps

[@randallburke]

R5 3600 used? New 3600s seem to fail a lot in Salazar's Fix or Flop videos. He came across 4 bad 3600s I think but he often wondered if it was a bad batch.

[@user540000]

I would get a case that you like, especially if the difference is not much in price between the cheapest. I am using the same case from 2012 today. its a simple black corsair case, i dont care much for LED stuff. Im glad I didnt get an ugly case that I have to look at for the next 12 years.

[@calebthecashew343]

This video really showed well how amazing it can be to use second hand parts, for 370 bucks you can definitely build something more capable. The pc building market is starting to be more affordable again!

[@ttrdf]

this might be the channel i am searching for! thanks fun build

[@sar2dg]

Another option is the Maxsun white 580-2048SP 8GB GPU over that ARC card.

[@jackstephens2519]

At that price point I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a used gpu. I just looked locally and you can pick up a used RX6600 XT or 3050TI for $100. For $125 you can grab a 1080TI Founders Edition. I believe with any of those 3 you would have a very solid 1080p machine

[@underwaterfeeling]

Just watched your $500 build from two months ago and purchased all my budget parts just before this was posted! Cool coincidence for me

[@AaronOptimal]

Hey man, could you do a streaming and gaming PC build. I’m looking into getting into that but have no idea what’s needed for content creation AND gaming in a build

[@Teksers]

What would make the PC even better is a Ryzen 3100 or 3300X and B550 motherboard. You lost a lot of stability and performance using a CPU and motherboard which only support PCIE gen3 when the A380 has 8 PCIE gen4 lanes. Also no mention of Re-Bar, if it was enabled or not because on some motherboards it's not enabled by default.

[@PallPrints]

Thank you for the relaxing build, Oz! On future-proofing: considering Intel's tiny market share for GPUs, do you expect ongoing support for the Arc platform?

[@MarukuKick]

Did I miss some research myself? I thought you couldn't use a Gen4x4 M.2 on a B450m chipset since it's Pcie 3.0? Edit: Did some research, so it's kind of like plugging in a PCIE 4.0 GPU but just at PCIE 3.0 speeds. So in this case, Gen4 SSD will just run at Gen3 speeds.

[@patzezero5162]

Cheers from Germany... Your budget videos are pretty interesting.

[@slovakthrowback3738]

Cool build, I do wonder just how much difference there would be if the GPU were to be replaced with the second hand one you mentioned, since it seemed like resolution was your largest enemy for sure.

[@jt2quick]

Hey buddy, great video. Thorough, detailed and honest.

[@BatmanChallengeMaps]

The best Gaming PC KZbinr

[@prfuntech360]

One I love your channel.....Two when it comes to games now days its best to have 8GB or more GPU.....I always install my OS on one drive for boot up and have a separated SSD for my games...But all and all Great Video!!! OzTalksHW

[@paulothx138]

Man, your videos are awesome, keep up the awesome work.👍🏻

[@TheHangarHobbit]

Yeah...about that ARC card...Moore's Law Is Dead says they are only going to release a couple of Battlemage GPUs integrated into Lunar Lake and then it is adios ARC, Intel is going to pull the plug as AIB partners have said they want nothing to do with anymore ARC cards as they just do not sell. So if he is right and his Intel track record has been pretty spot on then those ARC cards are going to be left high and dry with little to no support.

[@EinSwitzer]

300% over all and an attachment artistically entertaining you