What can you expect from affordable gaming PCs?
In short
A complete affordable gaming PC has at least:
- An NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 (Ti) or Radeon RX video card
- An Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 processor
- An 8GB RAM
- An SSD
With a budget of € 800 to 1000, you'll have enough for an affordable gaming PC. This applies to separate components to build your own PC, and to 'ready-made' gaming PCs.
Which video card do you need?
The GTX 1650 (Ti) video card is a great example of a budget video card. The average price of a separate GTX 1650 (Ti) is about € 200 at the moment. If you want to play games the coming years, you'll have to pay a bit more for a GTX 1060. With either of these video cards, you can easily play games like League of Legends or Fortnite.
What do you need a processor for?
You need at least an Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 for your gaming PC. The price depends on the generation and the clock speed. On average, an Intel Core i5 processor costs about € 220. If you prefer an AMD processor, choose a Ryzen 5 or 7, which belong to the same price range as the Intel processors.
How much RAM do you need?
If you only want gaming on your budget gaming PC, then 8GB of RAM is sufficient. For about € 70, you'll get enough RAM. If you want at least 16GB, you have to pay at least € 110 for your RAM.
How much storage space should you have?
If you don't play many games, you don't need a large SSD. In that case, you can get an SSD of about 256GB for € 100. If you have installed multiple games on your PC, you'll probably have to pay double that for 2 times as much storage capacity. For the hard drive, we recommend at least 1TB, so you'll have enough storage for data like photos and text files. If you have a larger game library, choose 2TB.
What kind of case do you need?
How large do you want the computer case to be? You can choose between a medium-sized case, or a full tower. You can upgrade the full tower later with more components, because the case has more space than a MIDI tower. A full tower is suitable for larger, more powerful video cards. The case also determines what a PC looks like. There are cases with a see-through window and RGB lighting, for example.
Conclusion
You can make any gaming PC just like you want. But if you don't have much money to spend and still want to play games, we recommend a budget of € 800 to 1000. For that money you get the essential components for a gaming PC. Or a pre-made PC. If you want to play games with the same PC in a couple of years, you have to spend a bit more on more powerful components.
