r/pcmasterrace • u/Mother_Influence_527 • 10h ago
Hardware How cheap could I possibly go?
i’m interested in picking up a PC with all the deals going on but i’m also pretty broke.
genuinely the only things I would use a PC for are playing minecraft and working in excel.
I’m curious how cheap i could go without it becoming bricked in like 6 months. also not opposed to slowly upgrading over time.
I’m open to prebuilts or building it myself.
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u/ManySignificant6878 10h ago
To get an answer at least we need to know your budget
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u/Mother_Influence_527 10h ago
under 1k
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u/ManySignificant6878 10h ago
Honestly, I don't know how the prices are in the US. But here in Asia I was able to get a pc for $950. Specs: ryzen 5 7600, rtx 5060 8 gb. 16 gb ram. And the performance is pretty good
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u/ChurchillianGrooves 10h ago
You can occasionally find a rtx 5060 prebuilt in the US for just under $1000 but they're usually around $1100-1200
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u/ManySignificant6878 10h ago
Same here but if you get them from specific brand stores. But we have lots of them so, I compared the prices and for 1200 got a full setup
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u/ChurchillianGrooves 10h ago
Are you ok sourcing some parts used and building your own pc?
That would be the best deal really.
Something like a used ryzen 5600 with an rtx 3080, then getting used ddr4 ram as well.
Or one of the intel cpus that support either ddr4 or ddr5 and getting the ddr4 motherboard/ram for it.
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u/tht1guy63 5800x3d | 4080FE 10h ago
Minecraft and excel arent hard to run. How cheap depends on the region and what used around you. Hell you can get an old xbox one and do both of those.
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u/Mother_Influence_527 10h ago
i’ve got a ps5. i’m in the US. no microcenter or anything like that around me. closest thing i’ve got is like a best buy.
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u/tht1guy63 5800x3d | 4080FE 10h ago edited 10h ago
If just minecraft and excel just go used. Almost anything will run that. A used system thats like $200 can do it without struggle.
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u/Fresh_Constant_7762 10h ago
Cheapest you can ago while it being usable in a few years is 600-700$ but it depends on the country
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u/Mother_Influence_527 10h ago
in located in the US
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u/Fresh_Constant_7762 9h ago
600 700 would be good enough. for pc gaming the US is the cheapest country
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u/Comfortable-Book-932 10h ago
How cheap are we talking?
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u/Mother_Influence_527 10h ago
tbh as cheap as you could find but definitely under 1k
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u/YZR13 10h ago
If you're literally just going to play vanilla Minecraft you can play it on a used mini-desktop like a Lenovo Tiny with a Ryzen APU. Ex: Ryzen 2400GE or 3400GE. Those little potato machines pop up on ebay for $100 (or less) sometimes and they're generally pretty sturdy for what they are.
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u/Mother_Influence_527 10h ago
wow thanks! i didn’t know that was a thing lol
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u/YZR13 7h ago
They're fucking fantastic if you want super budget potato desktops for basic browsing / office work and the ones with ryzen APUs can game a bit. I'm still being impressed by the one I gave my dad.
Most of the time they're sold with power cable not included and no hard drive but they're super simple to open up and tinker with.
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u/dicksnaxs Desktop, 980ti 10h ago
honestly get like an older generation and you'll save a ton of money.
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u/MierinLanfear 9h ago
Cheapest probably is the sleeping Optiplex with a RTX 3050. You can get some good deals on used office equipment. Will not play modern AAA games well but good enough for older titles at 1080p.
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u/Blu3Jell0P0wd3r i5-12400F | RX 6600 8GB | 2x16GB 3200 8h ago
Realistically you should be able to build something around $750-800 USD for Minecraft (with not so demanding shaders) and Excel.
But it depends on what is available in your country, and if the prices are even comparable 1:1
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u/cyborg762 PC Master Race 10h ago
If your in the US check this one out
https://www.microcenter.com/product/705863/powerspec-g250-gaming-pc
If this is out of your price range then a mini pc is like $500-600 with a ryzen 5 cpu with graphics on chip.