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• Which parts to splurge on and where you can cut corners without losing performance
• Why used GPUs are your best friend on a budget
• The one component I regret cheaping out on
⭐️ 5 min read
Building a Budget PC That Actually Works
The Moment I Knew I Needed a Cheap Build
In January 2024, my younger brother showed up at my apartment with a Dell OptiPlex from 2015 and asked if I could make it play Elden Ring. The thing had 8GB of DDR3 RAM and a Core i5-4590. I laughed. Then I felt bad. He was a broke college student and just wanted to play games with his friends. I told him I’d build him something from scratch for under $600.
I spent the next two weeks obsessively watching r/buildapcsales, scrolling through eBay auctions for used GPUs, and checking Micro Center open-box deals. I wanted to prove that budget PC gaming wasn’t dead — that you didn’t need $1500 to have a real experience.
The Parts List and Why I Chose Each One
The CPU was the easiest choice: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 for about $85 on sale. It’s a 6-core, 12-thread processor from 2022 that still holds up perfectly in 2026. The stock cooler is fine for this chip — don’t waste money on an aftermarket cooler at this budget. I paired it with a B450 motherboard I found on Facebook Marketplace for $50. AM4 is a dead platform, but that’s exactly why the parts are cheap. The $85 CPU paired with a $50 motherboard is a combo that punches way above its price.
The GPU was the hardest choice. New graphics cards under $200 are terrible — the RX 6400 is borderline e-waste, and the GTX 1650 is overpriced for what it delivers. I went used. I found an RX 5700 XT for $130 on eBay from a seller with good reviews. It’s a 1440p-capable card from 2020 that still plays almost anything at high settings in 1080p. I was nervous buying used — what if it was a mining card about to die? — but I rolled the dice and it paid off.
RAM was simple: 32GB of DDR4-3200 for $45. 16GB is still technically enough for gaming, but 32GB costs almost nothing on DDR4 and makes multitasking way smoother. Storage: a 1TB NVMe SSD for $50. No spinning hard drives in 2026, please. The case was a $35 Montech X3 Mesh — decent airflow, comes with three fans, nothing fancy. Power supply: a 650W 80+ Bronze EVGA unit for $55. Never cheap out on the PSU — a bad one can kill your whole build.
Total: $450, plus about $60 in tax and shipping. My brother put in his own hard drive from the OptiPlex, so it ended up around $500.
The Build Experience — and the One Thing I Regret
Putting it together took about three hours. The B450 board had no Wi-Fi built in — I’d forgotten to buy a $15 USB dongle. My brother had to run an ethernet cable across the living room for two weeks until the adapter arrived. That annoyed me more than it should have. Minor oversight, major inconvenience.
Booting it up for the first time was nerve-wracking. The used GPU fans spun up, the RGB on the case fans flickered, and the BIOS screen appeared. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. We installed Windows, updated drivers, and launched Elden Ring on medium settings. It ran at 55-60fps in the open world, 60fps in dungeons. My brother’s face lit up. That moment made every hour of research worth it.
Real-World Gaming Performance
We tested a bunch of games after the build. Elden Ring: 55-60fps at 1080p medium. Cyberpunk 2077: 45-50fps at 1080p medium with FSR on — totally playable. Fortnite: 90-100fps at 1080p high. Call of Duty: Warzone: steady 80fps. Marvel Rivals: hovered around 60-70fps at medium settings with some frame drops during chaotic team fights.
The RX 5700 XT runs hot. Under load, it hit 85°C before I adjusted the fan curve. After tweaking, it stabilized around 75°C. The card is loud — you can hear the fans through a closed door. If noise bothers you, spend a bit more on a used RTX 3060 or 3060 Ti instead. They run cooler and quieter.
Where I’d Spend More If I Had To Do It Again
The power supply. I bought a 650W unit thinking it was enough, and it is — barely. If I built this again, I’d get a 750W or 850W unit for future-proofing. The PSU is the one part that survives across multiple builds. Spending $75 instead of $55 saves you from buying a new one when you upgrade the GPU later.
I’d also spend $20 more on the motherboard for one with built-in Wi-Fi. A $15 USB dongle works but can drop connections. For $20 more, you get Bluetooth too. Worth it.
Everything else? I’d keep the same. The Ryzen 5600 is still a fantastic value in 2026. The used GPU market is full of deals if you’re patient. Don’t be afraid of eBay — check seller ratings, look for original packaging, and test the card immediately when it arrives.
TL;DR
• $500 build with Ryzen 5600 + used RX 5700 XT runs Elden Ring, Cyberpunk, and modern titles at playable framerates
• Used GPUs are the secret weapon for budget builds — the 5700 XT at $130 is unbeatable value
• Don’t cheap out on the PSU or forget Wi-Fi — two mistakes I made so you don’t have to
— Rand, SpaceGA