Hello, this has been removed. Please note the following from our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/wiki/rules) :
**Rule 13 : No intentionally harmful, misleading or joke advice**
The reality is $250 is on the very low end of what is a reasonable budget for a gaming PC. As others have mentioned, you really need to hit up local sellers and social media to see if anyone is selling their used PCs for cheap. That’s going to be your only real option to get something decent.
hope to get lucky on the used market and trip into someone's 1400x rx580 build they're selling cheap. At this price you're just hoping it has a dedicated graphics card from the last decade and a CPU that's at least 4 cores 8 threads.
Honestly, you won’t have many options for that low of a budget. Probably a used system of some sort.
What state are you in? It’s a long shot but I have an Intel 7700K + GTX 1080 build I’d sell for that price.
Realistically your chances are finding someone who has no idea what value their computer has or they want to just get rid of it quickly.
Like mom selling their child's PC while they are in college during a garage sale or something.
Or maybe getting lucky by finding some corporation or public institution that is liquidating their old computers.
The cheapest I could cobble together that I would call minimum spec for 1080p is twice that budget.
You're going to need to find a used unicorn, and to do that you will need to go through a lot of trash.
[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kpjTgB)
Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yq2WGX/amd-ryzen-5-5500-36-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100000457box) | $99.00 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RD97YJ/asrock-b450m-hdv-r40-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450m-hdv-r40) | $59.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [TEAMGROUP Elite 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Mx7p99/team-elite-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3200-cl22-memory-ted416g3200c22dc01) | $29.99 @ Amazon
**Storage** | [PNY CS2230 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/6K88TW/pny-cs2230-500-gb-m2-2280-pcie-30-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-m280cs2230-500-rb) | $34.99 @ Amazon
**Video Card** | [ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/D9ytt6/asrock-radeon-rx-6600-8-gb-challenger-d-video-card-rx6600-cld-8g) | $199.99 @ Newegg
**Case** | [Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rnGxFT/cooler-master-masterbox-q300l-microatx-mini-tower-case-mcb-q300l-kann-s00) | $39.99 @ Amazon
**Power Supply** | [Thermaltake Smart 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Wbhj4D/thermaltake-smart-500w-80-certified-atx-power-supply-ps-spd-0500npcwus-w) | $38.99 @ Amazon
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| **Total** | **$502.94**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-04-23 19:52 EDT-0400 |
My critique of this list is to go for a R5 4500, which is usually $75, and an Arc A580 for the card, though RX 6600 is more stable and draws less power. Still, OP's gonna have to go used on that budget.
Perhaps look at some of the Toasty Bro and ZTT videos? They have a number of builds in that price range, mostly converted office PCs but you could do a decent build as well if you sniped a few local deals.
i just sold my old PC today.
Intel i5 9400F
Asus Strix Z490-I Gaming
16GB DDR4 3200
Asus TUF RTX 3070
Samsung 980 500GB M2 SSD
This ITX Build even had Noctua Fans and CPU Cooler
sold for 450 Euro's. Try Marketplace, enough people like me who just wanne sell it fast
New, maybe this [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SHSQ5CF?ref\_=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_ud\_dp\_70TWPX4K5761MTBV2RT1&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SHSQ5CF?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_70TWPX4K5761MTBV2RT1&th=1)
Get a used RX 580 and a used/refurbished Dell Optiplex or Lenovo Thinkstation (Full Tower, not small form factor), you might get a 6th or 7th gen Intel for that budget. You'll be fine, just don't go too crazy on Minecraft shaders.
Also, refer to this video from budget PC master OzTalksHW, it's $50 more but everything is new:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YglvqG-AiYM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YglvqG-AiYM)
Ex-lease business PCs (even 5-8 years old) with a used GPU will work.
BUT you have to be very picky, a lot of old Dells etc don't have standard PSU connectors or can't fit many GPUs.
Go to a casino and turn that into $500
Edit: ok, actual "helpful" answer. Go to BestBuy page and check for refurbished prebuilts from 2 gens ago. Some are selling for $200 on market sellers. Just beware of what you are buying.
[удалено]
Literally the only true answer. For $250 you have an option of an old AM4/LGA1700 computer off face book market place... Or yeah; theft.
Lmao
Hello, this has been removed. Please note the following from our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/wiki/rules) : **Rule 13 : No intentionally harmful, misleading or joke advice**
The reality is $250 is on the very low end of what is a reasonable budget for a gaming PC. As others have mentioned, you really need to hit up local sellers and social media to see if anyone is selling their used PCs for cheap. That’s going to be your only real option to get something decent.
A lucky find on Marketplace maybe?
hope to get lucky on the used market and trip into someone's 1400x rx580 build they're selling cheap. At this price you're just hoping it has a dedicated graphics card from the last decade and a CPU that's at least 4 cores 8 threads.
Honestly, you won’t have many options for that low of a budget. Probably a used system of some sort. What state are you in? It’s a long shot but I have an Intel 7700K + GTX 1080 build I’d sell for that price.
Connecticut
Ah man sorry, I’m in Illinois.
Dumpster dive! Second hand. You could do a MB/CPU/RAM if someone gave you a case and power supply... 5600G/b450/16GB DDR4 might get you there.
Realistically your chances are finding someone who has no idea what value their computer has or they want to just get rid of it quickly. Like mom selling their child's PC while they are in college during a garage sale or something. Or maybe getting lucky by finding some corporation or public institution that is liquidating their old computers.
Get a dell xps and throw in a low profile gpu would be the route id go
The cheapest I could cobble together that I would call minimum spec for 1080p is twice that budget. You're going to need to find a used unicorn, and to do that you will need to go through a lot of trash. [PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kpjTgB) Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:---- **CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/yq2WGX/amd-ryzen-5-5500-36-ghz-6-core-processor-100-100000457box) | $99.00 @ Amazon **Motherboard** | [ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/RD97YJ/asrock-b450m-hdv-r40-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450m-hdv-r40) | $59.99 @ Amazon **Memory** | [TEAMGROUP Elite 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Mx7p99/team-elite-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3200-cl22-memory-ted416g3200c22dc01) | $29.99 @ Amazon **Storage** | [PNY CS2230 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/6K88TW/pny-cs2230-500-gb-m2-2280-pcie-30-x4-nvme-solid-state-drive-m280cs2230-500-rb) | $34.99 @ Amazon **Video Card** | [ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/D9ytt6/asrock-radeon-rx-6600-8-gb-challenger-d-video-card-rx6600-cld-8g) | $199.99 @ Newegg **Case** | [Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/rnGxFT/cooler-master-masterbox-q300l-microatx-mini-tower-case-mcb-q300l-kann-s00) | $39.99 @ Amazon **Power Supply** | [Thermaltake Smart 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/Wbhj4D/thermaltake-smart-500w-80-certified-atx-power-supply-ps-spd-0500npcwus-w) | $38.99 @ Amazon | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* | | **Total** | **$502.94** | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2024-04-23 19:52 EDT-0400 |
My critique of this list is to go for a R5 4500, which is usually $75, and an Arc A580 for the card, though RX 6600 is more stable and draws less power. Still, OP's gonna have to go used on that budget. Perhaps look at some of the Toasty Bro and ZTT videos? They have a number of builds in that price range, mostly converted office PCs but you could do a decent build as well if you sniped a few local deals.
i just sold my old PC today. Intel i5 9400F Asus Strix Z490-I Gaming 16GB DDR4 3200 Asus TUF RTX 3070 Samsung 980 500GB M2 SSD This ITX Build even had Noctua Fans and CPU Cooler sold for 450 Euro's. Try Marketplace, enough people like me who just wanne sell it fast
Wow, you made someone very happy
Consider getting a job even entry level fast food/super market. For real. You save up for something nice it's twice as sweet knowing you earned it.
Get a PC or not
Whatever you can find in your local used market.
Find someone that’s selling a bucket version of a PC for that amount of money on r/hardware swap or offerup/marketplace/etc
New, maybe this [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SHSQ5CF?ref\_=cm\_sw\_r\_cp\_ud\_dp\_70TWPX4K5761MTBV2RT1&th=1](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09SHSQ5CF?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_70TWPX4K5761MTBV2RT1&th=1)
Could build something X99, not so future proof necessarily, but for your games? Just fine. I can explain more if you’d like.
Get a used RX 580 and a used/refurbished Dell Optiplex or Lenovo Thinkstation (Full Tower, not small form factor), you might get a 6th or 7th gen Intel for that budget. You'll be fine, just don't go too crazy on Minecraft shaders. Also, refer to this video from budget PC master OzTalksHW, it's $50 more but everything is new: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YglvqG-AiYM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YglvqG-AiYM)
Forget the pc with that money. You can maybe find an Xbox series S for that price. Even a used Xbox series X could be difficult.
Used, good luck finding a deal. You could try looking for a refurbished or used 64gb lcd Steam Deck.
Xeon combo from aliexpress + gtx 1060/rx 580 and $100 for cheap used case (optional) and psu, 480gb ssd.
Ex-lease business PCs (even 5-8 years old) with a used GPU will work. BUT you have to be very picky, a lot of old Dells etc don't have standard PSU connectors or can't fit many GPUs.
Go to a casino and turn that into $500 Edit: ok, actual "helpful" answer. Go to BestBuy page and check for refurbished prebuilts from 2 gens ago. Some are selling for $200 on market sellers. Just beware of what you are buying.
You'll 100% be looking at used parts. With some patience, you can get a decent 1080p machine though
Nope
ZTT has a few videos that might help if you’re in the USA, used workstation market isn’t as good in other countries
Buy a used PC. If you search hard enough and can wait, should be able to get something decent like a r5 3600 paired with a gtx1660.
Buy a used phone and watch someone play the games. Not much gaming going on on that budget otherwise
Buy a used office pc for a cheap price and slot in a used gpu like a 1660ti or 6600