We’ve targeted a budget of approximately 450 USD for our build, since this is a sweet spot for the pocket friendly configuration and is right behind the cost of a PS4 at approximately $580.00. So let’s begin.
Entry Level Gaming PC for GTA V Under $450
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 Anniversary Edition LGA 1150
Along with the Devil’s Canyon, Pentium G3258 was launched to commemorate 20 years of Pentium brand. The G3258 has modest specs for a Pentium, two cores that aren’t Hyper-Threaded and clocked at 3.2 GHz with a modest 3 MB of Shared L3 cache and a compromising 1333 MHz DIMM support, what makes it remarkable value for money is that it has an unlocked multiplier!
And it sits on any LGA 1150 motherboard and since the motherboard OEMs are very well aware of the existence of this chip therefore they’ve released BIOS updates that enables overclocking on even non Z motherboards. And being based on the very efficient Haswell micro-architecture and with just 53W TDP, it is easy to cool this chip even at Overclocks up to 4.4 GHz at 1.38V core voltage. You might be thinking that 4.4 GHz is pretty difficult to achieve, but even on stock cooling this CPU can rock a 4.2 GHz at 1.25V–1.28V.
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5 WindForce Edition
The CPU was a pretty value for every penny and therefore the GPU must be equally powerful enough and should be a big explosion in a small packet. The 750 Ti is the first Maxwell architecture based GPU and has a 28nm GM107 chip at its core with 640 CUDA cores and 16 ROPs paired with 40 TMUs. And paired with a 128 bit wide 2GB GDDR5 memory and with just TDP rating of 75W, this little beast let us cut costs on the PSU.
The Gigabyte GTX 750 Ti WindForce edition comes with a factory OC of 1033 MHz on GPU base clock with boost upto 1111 MHz and the memory is at reference clocks at 5400 GT/s. The impressive factor for this specific card is the use of Ultra Durable 2 components like low RDS MosFETs, ferrite chokes and low ESR solid capacitors and the most striking feature is the WindForce dual axial cooler with two 80mm fans and copper heatpipes that makes the card run cool while looking cool. The 750 Ti doesn’t grant future-proofing for a long time, but at this budget, you won’t regret getting this. With this, you can definitely game at 1080p with medium to high setting on most titles with decent FPS.
Related: The 7 BEST Z690 Motherboards
Motherboard: ASRock H81 Pro BTC ATX
ASRock is known for budget friendliness and if you thought we wouldn’t mention that brand in this guide then you have been misled. The H81 Pro BTC was actually made for Bitcoin miners and therefore it has so many PCIe x2 slots. The solid VRM design made us inclined towards this specific H81 board since the G3258 needed a decent platform to reach that target of 4.4 GHz.
The board features a 4 independent phased Digital VRM layout that isn’t quite enough for more generalized OC, but given that G3258 has only 2 cores and requires only a we amount of power to reach its limit makes it the best choice. To wrap up the specs, it has a LGA 1150 socket with 2 DIMMs supporting dual channel and up to 16 GB of RAM (max 1600 MHz) and has a single PCI-E Gen 3.0 x16 slot and 5x PCIe x2 (Gen 2.0) slots. There are 2 SATA III headers and 2 SATA II headers, four front USB 2.0 headers and the rear I/O has 2x PS/2 ports for Mouse and keyboard. It has 2x USB 3.0 at the back with 2x USB 2.0 and three Audio ports.
RAM: Kingston ValueRAM 2x4GB DDR3-1333
As mentioned earlier, the G3258 has a 1333 MHz memory and since this is a budget build guide, one cannot expect 64GB of DDR4 RAM at 2933MHz from Corsair to feature in this build. 8 gigs is the sweet spot for gamers and is not at all less in any respect.
To avail the dual channel features, picking up a 2x4GB kit is the best choice. RAM is relatively cheap and can be added later, and to be honest, if you had the money to get a 16GB kit then budget build is not your need. There’s hardly a difference between 1600 MHz and 1333 MHz, which impacts gaming and Kingston being our all time favorite and trustworthy brand has the right memory for us.
PSU: Antec VP450
The G3258 sips wattage, so does 750 Ti, but that doesn’t grant you to get a cheap-so PSU from some shitty manufacturer. Antec VP450 provides the right amount of power and even though coming from a renowned manufacturer sits right in our budget. And since the G3258 has an unlocked multiplier, the PSU must have some muscle to fuel an OC’ed G3258. A full black metal shroud makes the VP450 a looker. Who says you can’t get a good looking PC f you’re on a budget?
Case: NZXT Source 210 White
With such a restraining budget, we didn’t have the bucks to get a better case like the Cooler Master HAF 912, Corsair Carbide Spec-01, the Bitfenix Shinobi or the NZXT Phantom. And we didn’t want to opt a case from 2nd Class manufacturers that would choke our components resulting in high temperatures eventually thermal throttling the GPU.
NZXT Source 210 was the only option we were left with. Decent airflow, sober looks, enough cable management space and all in our budget. The recommendation is flexible though; if you can get a better case at the same price then definitely go for it. Otherwise, if you are too lazy to research about the case in your budget, then Source 210 it is.
Storage: WD Caviar Blue 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB cache SATA III HDD
Storage is also a flexible thing, it depends on preference, budget and needs. 1TB is an adequate size, but if you need and can afford a 2TB+ HDD then no problem amigos. The brand is a bit of a skeptic choice, although I’ve used both Seagate and WD for a long period of time (Seagate for 11 years and WD for 8 years) and never had any HDD fail on me. One thing to keep in mind while looking for a different HDD from these two brands is the specs. It should be 7200 RPM and must have SATA III interface, if it does, you’re good to go.
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[Editor-in-Chief]
Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of old.tech4gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
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Sajjad is a passionate and knowledgeable individual with many skills and experience in the tech industry and the gaming community. He is committed to providing honest, in-depth product reviews and analysis and building and maintaining a strong gaming community.
