Yes, You CAN Build a $200 Budget Gaming PC!

Should you build a $200 custom gaming PC? Here are the pros and cons of building a super cheap computer instead of buying a prebuilt or just putting a graphics card in a dell optiplex.

SCDKEY Halloween Sale 25% off code: Jason

⭐ALL THE PRODUCTS FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO:⭐

Graphics Cards

CPU/Processor

Motherboard

RAM

Power Supply

Case

Storage

CPU Cooler:

Chapters:
0:00 $200 Gaming PC possible?
0:59 Sponsor - SCDKEY
1:39 CPU & Motherboard
3:44 RAM / Memory
4:03 CPU Cooler
5:15 Power Supply
6:28 Oztalkshw Call
7:40 Storage / SSD
8:01 Graphics Card
9:21 Case
10:50 NIGHTMARE TROUBLESHOOTING
11:54 Benchmarks
14:02 Should You Build This?

*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are my own. This video may contain affiliate links that add no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Thank you for your support!

This video was sponsored by SCDKEY, meaning there was an exchange of money for a video featuring their service - but like all of my videos, this NEVER means a dishonest review. Every sponsor of the channel must agree to provide me 100% full creative control and to give my honest opinion about any product or service - if it sucks, I tell my audience it sucks, whether the company pays or not. SCDKEY, the sponsor of this video, agreed to those terms before any deals were made. Thank you to SCDKEY for allowing creators like me to speak our mind in this medium.

#pcgaming #GamingPC #optiplex

[JasonWitmerYT]

Thanks for watching! Would you consider making a $200 gaming pc?

[--SERO--]

Just built my first PC with zero experience and it was for sure a rewarding experience. I've never felt more nervous in my life tho 💀

[Arejen]

next 50 dollars gaming pc, for my budget

[dionelr]

“Gamers Nexus said it’s ok”. That works for me. 😂

[Pravculear]

it's always nice when youtuber's include the troubleshooting part of wondering why your new pc doesn't work.

[joshl]

My first pc back in 2020 was an optilex with a i5 3470(I think) that I bought on ebay and a rx 570.
Earlier this year I found a newer optiplex with i7 4790 at a thrift store for 10 bucks and swapped over my gpu and power supply.
Then 4 months ago I realized starfield was around the corner, I now have a custom built from the ground up pc that I greatly enjoyed building
We all have to start somewhere

[JDStickland]

This can even be done for cheaper! $150 is possible. My formula was to use a similar H61 board ($20), an i5-3575S ($5), Intel Stock Cooler ($10), 16GB DDR3 (2x8GB) ($15), RX 570 4GB ($35), a 480GB SSD ($25) and an Allied Gaming Case and Power supply bundle that was on sale for just $40. Acrylic side panel, RGB, and more storage. The performance is generally lower with such a tight budget, but the system is very balanced and perfectly useable.

[ccricers]

The older Xeons were baller. They could run in regular desktop boards without any special work, and a cheap way to get double the threads as an alternative to the i7 if you didn't want to pay extra for overclocking.

[retroreanimated]

10:50 This is exactly why the 'working' Dell Optiplex 3020 (LGA 1150) upgraded with a Xeon 1270 v3 or similar is the much better choice just like you said. PC building from scratch with used parts can be very time consuming and stressful when something goes wrong. Upgrading a working Optiplex can eliminate a lot of that Enjoyed the video.

[OzTalksHW]

Did you have to use the Thermaltake Smart power supply? I think there were better options...😬

[reginaldswanson]

Sorry you got flamed for your choice of power supply. Around 6 years ago I recycled an old office PC from work that had a bad hard drive, built a gaming PC out of it using that power supply! It still runs to this day and my house hasn't burned down haha. Yeah I could've just thrown in a better gpu and called it a day, but moving all the components into a new case adding new fans and a cpu cooler was a much more rewarding experience. Such a rewarding experience that it renewed my passion for building PCs, something I hadn't done since my late teens/early twenties! Now I've built a much better gaming rig and currently saving for a high end PC on the AM5 platform. Thanks for the video! I love seeing people push these budget builds!

[jiwdvzb]

i bought a ryzen 5 4600g, 16gb vengance ddr4 ram, msi A320M pro mobo for £160 and a second hand case with a 400 watt psu for £15. i can game at 720p 60fps using the vega intergrated graphics

[YouCATtobeKITTENme]

there is nothing wrong with the thermaltake smart psu's for budget builds...ive been running a 600 watt smart psu with a rx 5700xt and ryzen 5 3600 for a couple years now and have zero issues...i also have a 500 watt smart psu in my wife's rig and have had ZERO issues.. great video!

[MrKjim_]

Just built a pc and it's very rewarding when you get it to work, I almost cried when it didn't boot but I found out what the problem was, I almost shat myself because I spent a decent amount for each part 💀

[jamesdavies]

This was a good overall guide. The only criticism I have is you could have potentially bought a used or cheaper case/PSU and squeezed an extra $20-30 into a slightly better GPU.

[thefamilydad]

My first pc build is also a budget Xeon build: an E5 2667-V4, an Ali Express X99 board, 24 Gb ddr4, a 512 Gb m.2, and a Sapphire RX 580 4gb. Obviously, Windows 11 is out of the question, but 10 (and any distro of Linux you like) runs fine.

[jjaze]

Managed to complete a budget gaming PC for 300 bucks including a 1080p 100hz monitor. Managed to make a bargain with cpu and mobo combo for 40 bucks from a friend that changed platform. I ended up with an i3 9100f, Rx580 8gb 2048sp, 16gigs of ram, went all out with the PSU and bought an Msi mag a650bn (for future upgrades), couple of ssds and fans. Really happy with my first ever Pc and can run any slightly modern AAA games.

[-bit-tech]

First off great video! Secondly, to answer your question, you can absolutely build a 100% custom built gaming pc for $300usd. I actually built one with all "new" parts for less than $300 ($293.88 total taxes and delivery included) on my channel. It even has a best-in-class c-tier psu from the psu tier list.

[carpandrei]

Just a minor comment: I would have gone with the Cooler Master case... Since it's a DIY build, and it will probably be upgraded from time to time, it's my guess that a case like that would provide a smoother upgrade path towards more modern hardware... But can't blame you for picking the other case for the color though... I too sometimes wish more color variants would be available in the entry level market..

[VanBourner]

You've basically built my 2012 gaming PC lol. Funny thing is, I was building it at the time on a budget too and picked the Xeon as it was comparable to an i7 3770 but at like $50 less. I had 760 in it that I eventually upgraded to 1070, so GPU is different. But the general idea of "at the time Xeon was the cheap way to get performance" persists today which I find hillarious.

BTW I have that CoolerMaster case and the side panel is acrylic or some sort of transparent plastic. I genuinely scratched it while unboxing it. Also if you buy it, remove the power button assembly and dab some hot glue (just a bit) on post that hits the microswitch. Unless they made a revision of it in the last 2 years, the spring is easy to snap, but with the hot glue you make a stopper before the point of no return. I had to 3d print mine to repair it and that was on the second press of the button. Neat case but really cheaply made, wish there was a high end version of it with thicker metal, tempered glass and beefy front IO assembly.