Building a budget gaming PC

Look, I don't have a strict budget set in stone, and I'm definitely not looking for "best buy" bargain bin parts. I’m trying to figure out what to recommend to a retiree who wants to get something reliable. His grandkids come over every now and then to play games on his PC, and since he's living on a fixed social security income, I want to be mindful of that. The goal isn't to build a high-end rig that hits massive frame rates at 4K resolution. He just needs something capable of running most things smoothly at a basic level—think minimum settings at something like 1024x768. Since he's still using an old CRT monitor, maybe you could also suggest a decent budget-friendly monitor to go with it. Basically, what's the absolute minimum amount of money needed to make this happen?

Thanks!

1x Dell UltraSharp 24" LED Monitor, VA LED panel, 1920x1080 resolution
1x Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P, sAM3+
1x AMD FX 8300 (16MB Cache, up to 4.20 GHz), sAM3+
1x LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95
1x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz CL11 Kingston Value
1x Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX 950 WF2 OC 2GB DDR5, 128-bit, 1279/6600
1x HDD 1TB WD Blue, 3.5", 7200RPM, 64MB Cache, SATA3
1x Fortron Hexa 400w 80+
1x Zalman Z1 mid tower

TOTAL: $1647
Free assembly and shipping
IBM

Here’s a budget build that's solid enough to handle pretty much anything at decent settings in 1080p.
Expected performance should look something like this:

Grand Theft Auto 5
Fallout 4
Dark Souls 3
Dying Light
Watch Dogs

If you prefer Intel over AMD and don't mind spending a little extra, you can go this route:

1x Dell UltraSharp 24" LED Monitor, VA LED panel, 1920x1080 resolution
1x ASUS B85M-K, s1150
1x Intel Core i5-4460 (6MB Cache, up to 3.40 GHz), s1150
1x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz CL11 Kingston Value
1x Gigabyte NVIDIA GTX 950 WF2 OC 2GB DDR5, 128-bit, 1279/6600
1x HDD 1TB WD Blue, 3.5", 7200RPM, 64MB Cache, SATA3
1x Fortron Hexa 400w 80+
1x Zalman Z1 mid tower

TOTAL: $1720
Free assembly and shipping
IBM

Grand Theft Auto 5
Battlefield 4
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3
DOOM
Far Cry Primal
The Witcher 3

And one tier lower$1.25:

1x Dell UltraSharp 24" LED Monitor, VA LED panel, 1920x1080 resolution
1x ASUS Prime Motherboard, sFM2+
1x AMD Athlon x4 840 (4MB Cache, up to 3.80 GHz), sFM2+
1x LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95
1x Gigabyte GV-N75TD5-2GI, 2 GB DDR5, 128-bit, 1085/5400 MHz
1x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) PC3-12800 1600MHz CL11 Kingston Value
1x HDD 500GB Toshiba, 3.5", 7200RPM, 32MB Cache, SATA3
1x Fortron Hexa 400w 80+
1x MS VOYAGER midi tower

TOTAL: $1245
Free assembly and shipping

Someone is talking about a retiree whose grandkids want to play games on his computer, so he builds them a $5,000 gaming rig with an eight-core processor and an NVIDIA GTX 950. What on earth?
It looks something like this:

ASUS Prime Motherboard, sFM2+
AMD x4 A8-7600 processor
FORTRON 400W power supply
LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95
1TB WD Blue HDD, 3.5", 7200RPM
2xDDR3 4GB (1x4GB) PC3-14900 1866MHz
MS PHOENIX 2 case

Total: $2,$60 newegg.com

If you need to grab a monitor too, then it’s just another $280 for THIS which brings it to a round $1000. It's an APU build; you can actually play some decent games on it, and you get the screen plus the whole PC for $1000.

I’ve got that monitor myself, but honestly, I think the Dell GW2255 might be a better way to go. Might be worth checking that one out too.

Look, he mentioned there wasn't a set budget 😁 but honestly, he really should have established a limit first. That way, we could actually plan and pick out the best parts possible. Without that, we're basically just flying blind here.

Or just stick with Adam Moore3's setup—an Athlon 840 and an NVIDIA GTX 750 Ti. Personally, I wouldn't go overboard with anything more than that.
The real question is whether kids even have hardware like that at home; who knows what they're actually playing these days?

So, what can we really conclude here? The grandkids drop by their grandpa's place every now and then, get bored, and want to hop on the PC. Honestly, I think an AMD FX 8300 and an NVIDIA GTX 950 are a bit overkill just for a few hours here and there. Unless Grandpa decides to jump in and play some Grand Theft Auto 5 himself 😬

Adam Moore3 said:Look, this guy is talking about a retiree whose grandkids might stop by once in a while to play some games. You don't need to build him a $5,000 beast with an eight-core processor and an NVIDIA GTX 950. That’s just overkill.
Here is a more realistic way to go:

ASUS Prime Motherboard, sFM2+
AMD x4 A8-7600 Processor
Fortron 400W Power Supply
LC POWER Cosmo Cool CC-95
1TB WD Blue HDD, 3.5", 7200RPM
2xDDR3 4GB (1x4GB) PC3-14900 1866MHz
MS PHOENIX 2 Case

Total: $2,$60

If you include a monitor, you're looking at roughly $280 for THIS setup, which brings the total to about $1000. It's an APU build, so it handles basic gaming just fine, and you get the whole rig and screen for $1000.

Thanks a lot. I was actually thinking along these lines, but I'm not a huge fan of using AMD parts. Is there an Intel version of this setup? Also, maybe something from NVIDIA? Thanks!

Jeffrey Allen92 said:Thanks a ton. That’s basically what I was thinking, but I’m really not a fan of putting an AMD chip in my rig. Is there an Intel version of this setup? Or maybe something with Nvidia? Thanks!

Intel isn't exactly winning when it comes to integrated graphics. Not sure how well that would handle gaming. You could maybe grab a dual-core Pentium or Celeron and pair it with a GTX 750, but that's about it.

Otherwise, I'd just stick to what Smartic put together.

Maybe just stick with a CRT; I guess the lower resolution might actually squeeze out some extra FPS. 😬

Robert Rodriguez2 said:I’d probably go with whatever crimsonstag84 put together instead.

I didn't really "put together" anything, I guess. 🤣 Here's what's actually in there: 😁

EVGA SuperFlower 350W 80 Plus Bronze power supply (SF-350P14HE)
Seagate BarraCuda 1TB, 64MB, 7200rpm Western Digital Passport
Western Digital Passport case without PSU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB DDR5 bulk, XFX-R7-260X-CNFB
MSI H110M PRO-D, LGA 1151, DDR4-2133, Military Class 4
Kingston 1x8GB DDR4 2133 C15, KNG-KVR21N15S8-8
Intel Pentium Desktop (2.8GHz, 2MB, LGA1151) box

Total: $2,608.75

crimsonstag84 said:I didn't put anything together myself 🤣 Here's what I've got 😁

EVGA SuperFlower 350W 80 Plus Bronze power supply (SF-350P14HE)
Seagate BarraCuda 1TB, 64MB, 7200rpm Western Digital Passport
MS VOYAGER 2 case without PSU
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB DDR5 bulk, XFX-R7-260X-CNFB
MSI H110M PRO-D, LGA 1151, DDR4-2133, Military Class 4
Kingston 1x8GB DDR4 2133 C15, KNG-KVR21N15S8
Intel Pentium Desktop (2.8GHz, 2MB, LGA1151) box

Total: $2,608.75

Man, this sucks xD

crimsonstag84's build is a total steal at that price point 👍👍👍

It’ll ditch the integrated graphics, and honestly, that GPU packs more punch than a 750Ti anyway.

To be honest, I’m actually pretty surprised by how smoothly the GTX 950 handles

wiredotter14 said:That Smartic deal is a total steal for the price 👍👍👍

It'll definitely outperform integrated graphics, and that card is actually a bit more powerful than an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti

It really depends on what games you're playing; personally, I think the 750 Ti is the better buy

Alexander Moore67 said:It really depends on what games you're playing. For me, the 750 Ti is the smarter buy in certain titles.

Look, the 260X has more raw power, sure, and the 750 Ti is definitely quieter. But honestly? You can't go wrong with either one.

The budget option: G1820/G1840.
The premium choice: FX4300.

End of story.