Gigabyte's B650M Gaming Plus Wifi fits the spirit of this cheap and cheerful build. Its back panel has everything we need, including a USB-C port and Wi-Fi 6 networking, and nothing we don't. It's got a big heatsink on its primary VRM phases and another for an M.2 SSD. Critically for our budget, this board comes with 16GB of Team Group's DDR5-6000 RAM for free, and it has four RAM slots for future expansion.
We consider a 1TB SSD mandatory for any basic PC build, and we once again turn to Crucial's P310 as our budget-friendly player for our M.2 slot. With plenty of room and performance to match for a low price, we have nothing to complain about here.
MSI's Shadow 2X OC RTX 5050 is just $219 this deals season, and it's another key player in this cheap build. Its compact design and modest 130W power rating don't place extreme demands on our case or PSU, and it's good for a 67.5 FPS average at 1080p across our current GPU test suite.
Cooler Master's Elite 302 mATX case comes packed with value at just $39. You get a whopping three aRGB fans that match perfectly with Gigabyte's Smart Fan 6 control on our motherboard, all sitting behind an open (yet filtered) front panel that should get plenty of air to everything inside.
Good, cheap PSUs are a rarity, but Montech's APX 550 unit offers plenty of headroom for our efficient CPU and GPU. It's 80 Plus certified, has nice flat cables for a clean build, features all the OCP and OTP protections we want to see, and comes with a five-year warranty. No, this unit isn't modular, but you'll live.
I'm not sure it's possible to build or buy a cheaper modern PC than this right now. You can swap out the RTX 5050 for a $199 Arc B570 if you want, but you're giving up valuable performance and DLSS support to get there.
The cheapest RTX 5050 prebuilt on Newegg is $100 more and isn't specced any better than this, and similarly priced prebuilts have ancient GPUs that sometimes don't even have 8GB of VRAM.
In any case, act fast on this parts list if it tempts you, because Newegg won't be running that free mobo + RAM combo forever, and that's the life preserver that's keeping us afloat as the DDR5 pricing waters threaten to drown PC builders at every price point.
Jeffrey Kampman Senior Analyst, Graphics As the Senior Analyst, Graphics at Tom's Hardware, Jeff Kampman covers everything to do with GPUs, gaming performance, and more. From integrated graphics processors to discrete graphics cards to the hyperscale installations powering our AI future, if it's got a GPU in it, Jeff is on it.
King_V If $650 was a hard limit, well, it is what it is, but: That PSU seems.. questionable. Haven't there been 8GB 60- series cards for only $30-40 more? That small bit of extra money would be VERY well worth it.Edit: grammar/clarification Reply
TechieTwo A $650 gaming system that doesn't SUCK. Whoodah thunk? 😕 Reply
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/pc-building/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/pc-building/we-put-together-a-usd650-gaming-pc-build-that-doesnt-suck-with-cyber-monday-deals-this-is-the-cheapest-parts-list-worth-buying-right-now#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.