[SOLVED] Best budget gaming PC 2021

Jun 27, 2021
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Hey all - I've got a young gamer who is mainly playing Minecraft. Our old PC won't support the latest release (1.17) and thus I'm looking for a new PC for him. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for a PC less than $600 that will work well, and also allow the GPU to be upgraded in the future. I'd also like to make sure it supports Windows 11.

I'm currently looking at these PCs:

https://www.newegg.com/ibuypower-ar...office/p/N82E16883227936?Item=N82E16883227936

https://www.newegg.com/ipason-3200g/p/3D5-001U-00034?Description=gaming pc&cm_re=gaming_pc--3D5-001U-00034--Product&quicklink=true

Any thoughts greatly appreciated!
 
Solution
Of the two, the 3200g pc is the better buy.

For gaming, the graphics card is all important.

The Ibuypower is a terrible gamer.
The GT710 graphics has half the capability of the 3200g.

If you will buy a pre-built pc, do not count on easy upgrades.
The power supplies included are only capable of running the initially installed parts.
A future graphics card upgrade usually requires a power supply replacement.
8gb may be limiting and adding ram may be incompatible.

As to windows 11, I would not worry about it for now.

What is your old pc?
Can it be upgraded to resolve the latest release issue?
List the make/model of your parts, if you know.
I suspect that you may be able to upgrade it and reuse some of the parts.
Would you & son...
Of the two, the 3200g pc is the better buy.

For gaming, the graphics card is all important.

The Ibuypower is a terrible gamer.
The GT710 graphics has half the capability of the 3200g.

If you will buy a pre-built pc, do not count on easy upgrades.
The power supplies included are only capable of running the initially installed parts.
A future graphics card upgrade usually requires a power supply replacement.
8gb may be limiting and adding ram may be incompatible.

As to windows 11, I would not worry about it for now.

What is your old pc?
Can it be upgraded to resolve the latest release issue?
List the make/model of your parts, if you know.
I suspect that you may be able to upgrade it and reuse some of the parts.
Would you & son entertain a build or upgrade as a project?
 
Solution
Jun 27, 2021
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Thanks so much for the detailed response. The current PC is an old all-in-one (monitor and CPU) - so as far as I know upgrading it isn't an option.

I'd definitely be interested in a build with my son, but I'm concerned I'll fail! :)

If I did want to do a build, does anyone have a quick list of parts to buy?

Thanks again for all your help!

Of the two, the 3200g pc is the better buy.

For gaming, the graphics card is all important.

The Ibuypower is a terrible gamer.
The GT710 graphics has half the capability of the 3200g.

If you will buy a pre-built pc, do not count on easy upgrades.
The power supplies included are only capable of running the initially installed parts.
A future graphics card upgrade usually requires a power supply replacement.
8gb may be limiting and adding ram may be incompatible.

As to windows 11, I would not worry about it for now.

What is your old pc?
Can it be upgraded to resolve the latest release issue?
List the make/model of your parts, if you know.
I suspect that you may be able to upgrade it and reuse some of the parts.
Would you & son entertain a build or upgrade as a project?
 
If you have the make/model of the all in one unit, it would give some idea of what kind of capability would be a good upgrade.

To give you some idea of a starting point:
I3-10100 is a good gaming processor that includes basic HD630 graphics.
HD630 is about twice the capability of the 710 graphics in the ibuypower offering above.
https://www.newegg.com/intel-core-i3-10100-core-i3-10th-gen/p/N82E16819118165?quicklink=true
The prices of intel processors have been bid up because of the current shortage of discrete graphics cards.
Here is a review of the i3-10100 as a gamer:

A very good long term option is the i5-11400 with HD730 graphics that is about 3x the capability of the GT710.
Here is a review of the I5-11400F.

I might explain that the F suffix processors do not include onboard graphics and are therefore a bit cheaper.

Minecraft is not a terribly gpu sensitive game so I expect that integrated graphics would
do just fine, at least for starters. It will let you know what, if anything you might want as an upgrade.

Most any lga1200 motherboard will do.
You can find some <$100, but I would go with a B560 based motherboard such as this for $110:
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813119385

Buy 16gb up front in a 2 x 8gb kit.
Perhaps this g.skil 3000 speed for $77:

Do not buy a cheap quality psu.
The wattage you need will be determined by the graphics card you eventuallly end up with.
Here is a handy chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
550w can handle a very strong graphics card.
Often 650w costs minimally more.
Here is a seasonic 550w for $ 85 with a 7 year warranty. The 650w is only $90.
I have no problem overprovisioning a PSU a bit. Say by 20%.
It will allow for a stronger future graphics card upgrade.
It will run cooler, quieter, and more efficiently in the middle third of it's range.
A PSU will only use the wattage demanded of it, regardless of it's max capability.

You will need a case, most will do.
Fractal design are not expensive, $55 or so:
https://www.newegg.com/black-fractal-design-focus-g-mini-micro-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352068
They come in other colors. The kinked case is a smaller MATX size which matches the motherboard i linked above. Matx has 4 expansion slots, ATX will have 7.

I imagine you can reuse your monitor, keyboard and mouse.

Do not worry about assembling a pc. There are videos about it.
Parts are keyed to fit only one way so you can't go wrong if you do not force anything.
Read the case and motherboard manuals, cover to cover, before you start.

These forums are very helpful if you encounter problems.
 
Jun 27, 2021
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Thank you so much for all the info - I'll be reviewing!

One follow-on question - I'm assuming I'll need to also add an SSD?

For information on what we currently have: it is a Dell Vostro 360 - ancient and showing it.
 
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I will never again build without a ssd for the "C" drive. It makes everything you do much quicker.
240gb is minimum, it will hold the os and a handful of games.

If you can go 500gb you may never need a hard drive.
With ssd prices down, even 1tb is reasonable.

It is not clear to me if you can reuse the monitor.
 
Jun 27, 2021
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Ok so here's what I've put together for the build - would love feedback:

Fractal Design Focus G Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, FD-CA-FOCUS-BK-W - $55.99

ASUS PRIME B560M-A LGA 1200 Intel B560 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $110.99

Western Digital WD BLACK SN750 NVMe M.2 2280 1TB PCI-Express 3.0 x4 64-layer 3D NAND Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) WDS100T3X0C - $129.99

Intel Core i3-10100 Comet Lake Quad-Core 3.6 GHz LGA 1200 65W CM8070104291317 Desktop Processor Intel UHD Graphics 630 (ABS Only) - $151.96

Seasonic CORE GM-550, 550W 80+ Gold, Semi-Modular, Fan Control in Silent and Cooling Mode, Perfect Power Supply for Gaming and Various Application, SSR-550LM - $82.99

Microsoft Windows 10 Home - Full Retail Version (USB Flash Drive) - $119.98

A couple of questions:
  1. Do I need a wifi card?
  2. Should I get Windows on a USB Flash Drive? I'm not sure what the installation of Windows is like on a "bare metal" PC like this.
  3. Anything else I'm missing? I know I need to add a screen, keyboard/mouse.
Thanks again for all your help on this - very much appreciated.