Budget Gaming Build for Daughter (under $500 USD)

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
Sup CF! IT's been a long time! Miss y'all!

So, I'm a bit out of the loop with regard to the PC hardware scene right now. My 14 y/o daughter's birthday is coming up, and I want to build her a new budget gaming rig.

I need advice on the following:

CPU
Mobo
GPU
Memory

I have the PSU and SSD covered. Honestly, her favorite game is Roblox, which shouldn't be *too* graphic intensive, but she doesn't have the ability to use shaders or play on the highest settings. There's other Steam games she plays as well.

I have no preference over Intel/AMD -- I'm just looking for best price/performance for these components < $500. I'm willing to buy used too if anyone has components FS.

Thanks :)
 

Intel_man

VIP Member
The Ryzen 3 5300G that just came out should fair well for Roblox. Although... like pretty much every current AMD cpu out there, good luck finding one in stock.
 

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
Might be hard with the GPU market, how does Roblox fare on the APU side?

I mean, the system req. are super low:

  • Graphics Card: Roblox requires DirectX 9 minimum and Shader Model 2.0. For the best performance we recommend either a computer less than 5 years old with a dedicated video card, or a laptop less than 3 years old with an integrated video card.
  • Processor: Roblox recommends you have a recent processor (2005+) with a clock speed of 1.6 Ghz or better. There have been some issues with older AMD processors.
  • RAM or Memory: Roblox recommends you have at least 1 GB of memory on Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10
  • Storage Space: Roblox recommends you have at least 20 Mb of system storage space to install Roblox.
The Ryzen 3 5300G that just came out should fair well for Roblox. Although... like pretty much every current AMD cpu out there, good luck finding one in stock.

yeah, someone on TPU suggested the i5 10400F too. I'd kinda like to just find a good used GPU that exceeds the req. above and call it a day at this point.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Roblox should run on pretty much anything comfortably, even integrated video.

I'd get something with onboard video and add later if you feel it's necessary. Likely won't be, and GPU market is FUBAR.
 

Intel_man

VIP Member
yeah, someone on TPU suggested the i5 10400F too. I'd kinda like to just find a good used GPU that exceeds the req. above and call it a day at this point.
if you can find the 5300G, it comes with decent onboard graphics. Should save you from hunting for the used market which is currently inflated to crap.

and GPU market is FUBAR.
Yea it's insane. Our GPUs on the used market cost more than what we originally paid for when new.
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
if you can find the 5300G, it comes with decent onboard graphics. Should save you from hunting for the used market which is currently inflated to crap.


Yea it's insane. Our GPUs on the used market cost more than what we originally paid for when new.
I'm honestly glad I've somewhat fallen out of the hobby. Stuff is just insanity now. I'll probably do a rebuild in another 2ish years when DDR5 is out and hopefully the mining and COVID demand surges have tapered.
 

adscoin

New Member
I mean, the system req. are super low:

  • Graphics Card: Roblox requires DirectX 9 minimum and Shader Model 2.0. For the best performance we recommend either a computer less than 5 years old with a dedicated video card, or a laptop less than 3 years old with an integrated video card.
  • Processor: Roblox recommends you have a recent processor (2005+) with a clock speed of 1.6 Ghz or better. There have been some issues with older AMD processors.
  • RAM or Memory: Roblox recommends you have at least 1 GB of memory on Windows 7, Windows 8, or Windows 10
  • Storage Space: Roblox recommends you have at least 20 Mb of system storage space to install Roblox.


yeah, someone on TPU suggested the i5 10400F too. I'd kinda like to just find a good used GPU that exceeds the req. above and call it a day at this point .
If I recommend a laptop, will it work?
 

mep916

Administrator
Staff member
Tonight, she hit me up and asked me if I'm getting her a graphics card. Apparently she's really into Little Nightmares 2 and wants the ability to play other Steam games. She told me she only plays Roblox because her PC is too crappy to play anything else. :p

She's right -- her specs are wack. She's running a AMD A4 5300B APU/Radeon HD 7480 (I attached her CPU-Z).

Here's the recommended specs for Little Nightmares 2:

  1. Operating system: Windows 10 64-bits
  2. Processor: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4 GHz / AMD FX-8350 4.0 GHz
  3. RAM: 4 GB
  4. Video Card: GeForce GTX 760 / Radeon HD 7870
  5. Disk space: 10 GB
  6. Graphics card memory: 2 GB
I'd like to build around that at this point. Can I stay on a reasonable budget?
 

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