[SOLVED] Gaming Desktop for $300 or under

[victorchou1]

Can anyone recommend a gaming desktop for $300 or under? I’m looking to play mostly league of legends and vrchat. And probably watching youtube videos and movies.

 

[ohenryy]

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fhjHRJ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fhjHRJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - A320M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Green 500 GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($21.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill - FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($22.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($37.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $291.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-28 22:51 EST-0500

This should do it...

 

[kanewolf]

Don't forget the cost of a Windows license...

 

[victorchou1]

what about a dedicated gpu? i know vrchat requires gtx970 as it says on their website.

 

[kanewolf]

what about a dedicated gpu? i know vrchat requires gtx970 as it says on their website.

You won't get a discrete GPU for $300 ...

 

[LordVile]

You won’t get a DGPU for that price and the build above is useless as it has 2400Mhz RAM

 

[kanewolf]

You won’t get a DGPU for that price and the build above is useless as it has 2400Mhz RAM

To say it is "useless" is a bit of an overstatement. If you look at the article on memory and impacts on the 2400G you can see that memory timings do have an impact. But a change from around 50 FPS to mid 50s FPS is a good percentage but not earth shattering.

 

[SgtScream]

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fhjHRJ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fhjHRJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - A320M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Green 500 GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($21.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill - FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($22.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($37.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $291.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-28 22:51 EST-0500

This should do it...

This system won't post because motherboard won't have a bios updated to recognize the 2200g.

 

[kanewolf]

PCPartPicker part list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fhjHRJ
Price breakdown by merchant: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/fhjHRJ/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock - A320M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Green 500 GB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($21.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill - FBM-01 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($22.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA - 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($37.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $291.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-12-28 22:51 EST-0500

This should do it...

This system won't post because motherboard won't have a bios updated to recognize the 2200g.

The 2200G requires the 4.40 BIOS according to the website. That was released almost a year ago. Is it possible it won't have a compatible BIOS, yes. Is it definite anymore? No. I would give it a 90% chance of having a compatible BIOS today.

 

[kanewolf]

There's no percentage of weather it will have a bios update or not. How did you calculate 90%? Either it has the bios update or it doesn't. Did you just think of that number and type it? I'm not going to take that chance, but maybe the OP might to save money.

I absolutely made up that number and I labeled it as my opinion. Is a B450 a better choice to guarantee compatibility? Yes. But if a year passing since a chip is supported isn't sufficient time for a motherboard to be delivered to Newegg with compatible BIOS, then I don't know what is. If this were listed as a smaller retailer, or purchased from a local shop, then it is a much higher probability of an older BIOS. But IN MY OPINION, it is a small risk.

 

[LordVile]

You need 3000 MHz memory for the APUs. Wasn’t talking about timings.

Also they used 4x8 which Ryzen sometimes has an issue with and you get worse performance with 4x8 than 2x16 as you’re running 2 sets in dual channel which takes more effort for the controller.

 

[kanewolf]

You need 3000 MHz memory for the APUs. Wasn’t talking about timings.

Also they used 4x8 which Ryzen sometimes has an issue with and you get worse performance with 4x8 than 2x16 as you’re running 2 sets in dual channel which takes more effort for the controller.

My point was you benefit from 3000 but it will function just fine with 2400. To say you "need" 3000Mhz is just untrue.

 

[LordVile]

If you plan to do Gaming you need 3000Mhz.

Also you linked an article on timings and I still don’t know why.

 

[kanewolf]

If you plan to do Gaming you need 3000Mhz.

Also you linked an article on timings and I still don’t know why.

The article showed performance with different clock speed RAM. There was 10% delta between 2400 RAM and 3000 Mhz RAM.

 

[SgtScream]

There's no percentage of weather it will have a bios update or not. How did you calculate 90%? Either it has the bios update or it doesn't. Did you just think of that number and type it? I'm not going to take that chance, but maybe the OP might to save money.

I absolutely made up that number and I labeled it as my opinion. Is a B450 a better choice to guarantee compatibility? Yes. But if a year passing since a chip is supported isn't sufficient time for a motherboard to be delivered to Newegg with compatible BIOS, then I don't know what is. If this were listed as a smaller retailer, or purchased from a local shop, then it is a much higher probability of an older BIOS. But IN MY OPINION, it is a small risk.

People are still posting in all the time regarding a mismatch in AMD Gen hardware. You're entitled to your own opinion but I'd lower that percentage quite a bit.

 

[punkncat]

MERGED QUESTION
Question from victorchou1 : "Gaming Laptops or Desktops for $300 and under"

Are there any gaming laptops or prebuilt gaming desktops for $300? Im looking to play vrchat, league of legends, and probably watch movies or youtube.

lololololololololololololol

Truly wish I could add something more helpful than that.

Are there any gaming laptops or prebuilt gaming desktops for $300? Im looking to play vrchat, league of legends, and probably watch movies or youtube.

$300 gets you basic browsing and light office work.

300 gets you pretty much nothing. 300-400 maybe you could get a 2200g building your own.

Not amazing but might be usable:

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/WMVvFt

Are there any gaming laptops or prebuilt gaming desktops for $300? Im looking to play vrchat, league of legends, and probably watch movies or youtube.

$300 gets you basic browsing and light office work.

I think even that is speaking rather highly of the budget, particularly in light of desire for a gaming laptop.

You could build your own very meager "gaming" rig in the neighborhood of $500 now, probably including OS. Even at that you would likely be stuck at low settings.

If you were serious about pursuing this desire....
Find a 3/4th gen i5 or i7 office refurb. Make sure it's a Mid or Full sized tower, not SFF, and factor in a new PSU/GPU combo and you 'could be' gaming. As far as laptop is concerned, simply isn't going to happen on the honest market.

 

[rgd1101]

stick with 1 thread.

 

[LordVile]

Thought it felt familiar