What you get for your $300
One of the main goals for the $300 custom build was to create a gaming PC that could handle some gaming in the short term. The idea behind an entry-level PC such as this is that you upgrade and save for a dedicated GPU later down the line – further boosting your in-game experiences. AMD’s APU range makes this far easier than it used to be. The 5600G is the best APU we could go for and remain under budget, but that wasn’t a bad thing. By opting for an APU, we no longer had to worry about the cost of a dedicated GPU. This means we could bolster other areas of this build like memory.
Let’s be honest, you aren’t buying this build to play AAA games in 4K/ultra settings, you’d have to invest in something like a $2000 gaming PC to do that. This build is tailored towards low-intensity games such as CS2, Fortnite, and Overwatch. The APU should be able to give you 60+FPS on these games on low-medium settings. One of the main things you need to consider at the start of your custom PC build journey is your budget. A lot of people come to us expecting to splash $300 on a custom build that can smash 4k games at 100fps. Unfortunately, that is not the case. Our $300 build has been custom-designed to play less intensive esports titles. Understanding the limitations of your budget at the start will save you time and frustration in the long run.
It’s worth mentioning that Amazon prices do fluctuate regularly. So, this means the builds might not always be under the intended target. Don’t worry, though; we check the builds daily to make sure the most up-to-date and best-value products are being selected.
Non-Gaming Performance
Another key area to consider is the non-gaming side of a PC build. A large number of gaming enthusiasts will design a build around both gaming and workstation tasks. You’ll be glad to hear that we’ve done the same. This build can handle small workload tasks thanks to its multi-threaded performance. Simple video editing and photo editing should be more than achievable, albeit slow. If you’re looking to stream, then you’d be better served with one of our premium builds instead.
Upgradability And Future-Proofing your $300 build
Another area to consider when building your PC is future upgrades. Let’s be honest; a PC won’t last you forever. At some stage, you will need to upgrade its components. Making sure you limit the number of products that need updating when that day comes is a major part of the hardware selection process. Luckily, we’ve already done that for you. This build comes with an up-to-date motherboard, which is perfect for future upgrades. The case is also a solid option that will allow for GPU and additional storage capacity upgrades, as well. Of course, you can upgrade to another AM4 CPU with ease, but if you want to switch to AM5 or Intel, you’ll have to get a new motherboard and most likely memory – so just bear that in mind.
Overclocking
Strong and stable Overclocks have become increasingly more achievable in the last few years, mainly thanks to the quality of the hardware becoming much more overclocking-friendly. It’s a great way of extracting additional performance at no extra cost. This build is set up for light overclocking and will respond if you choose to do so. However, it must be noted that Ryzen chips are extremely well-optimized out-of-the-box. Gaining significant performance increases is probably out of reach on this platform, simply because the APU handles both workloads of the CPU and the GPU, it’ll get too hot if you overclock them both. This might be something to look forward to when you get that all-important dedicated GPU. Remember though, Overclocking can be dangerous and will have a detrimental effect on your hardware in the long run.
Ease Of Building
As a first-time builder, it’s always a bit daunting having to assemble your rig, especially if the case isn’t builder-friendly. Always do your research on the case, making sure it’s the right size for your components. You can rest assured that all of the components we have chosen work incredibly well together, and you won’t have any trouble building in this case. We used a PC building toolkit during this build and recommend you do the same to help make the entire process go a bit smoother.
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