Watching RAM prices skyrocket in recent weeks has been painful for my PC-building soul. 64GB of DDR5 has gone from around $500 to over $900 in just days, eclipsing the cost of entire builds. So Newegg's B650 motherboard and 16GB DDR5-6000 combo got me thinking: How cheap can you go on a build this deals season without sacrificing single-threaded CPU performance or gaming prowess?
Using that combo deal as a foundation, we put together a $650 build that doesn't suck. It's impossible to go any cheaper for a DDR5 platform right now, and moving back to DDR4 platforms is shockingly constraining. Many once-attractive CPUs and compatible motherboards have gone NLA, stopping us cold.
No, this build isn't going to run monster RT titles at 4K, and it's not going to chew through Blender work or 8K video edits. What it will do is run today's most popular games at well above 60 FPS at 1080p, and you have best-in-class DLSS 4 upscaling in your pocket if the RTX 5050's native performance isn't enough.
This parts list is perfect as a kid's first gaming PC, and it's a gift that will keep on giving every time your lucky recipient fires up Roblox, Fortnite, Apex Legends, or CS2. Unwrap it on Christmas morning, build it together, and you'll have warm memories that'll last long after this system becomes obsolete. Or just build it for yourself and enjoy a cheap and capable upgrade from an older gaming box.
Quick list: $650 suck-free gaming PC build
AMD Ryzen 5 7500F CPU + Wraith Stealth cooler: $160.99 at Newegg The Ryzen 5 7500F offers plenty of Zen 4 single-core CPU performance with boost clocks up to 5 GHz in lightly-threaded workloads, plus six cores and 12 threads for multitasking, so this chip will always feel snappy whether you're gaming, browsing the web, or doing homework. This CPU includes a Wraith Stealth cooler, saving us critical dollars on the way to an affordable bottom line.
Save 58% ($151) Gigabyte B650M Gaming Plus Wifi and 16GB Team Group DDR5 6000 RAM: was $260 now $109 at Newegg 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.
Save 17% Crucial P310 1TB: was $95.99 now $79.99 at BHPhoto 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.
Below MSRP Save 12% ($30) MSI Shadow 2X OC 8G RTX 5050: was $249.99 now $219.99 at Amazon 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.
Save 33% ($20) Cooler Master Elite 302 microATX case : was $59.99 now $39.99 at Newegg 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.
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