What's the best value entry-level PC for gaming in early 2021 based on an Intel CPU?
We fired up "Ask the Experts" or ATE back in August of 2019 after a near 3-year absence. This has proven to be a rather popular category here at TweakTown, with your questions filling our inbox every month. That said, we can only answer so many of these questions, so I wanted to step outside that box for a few articles and offer you my build recommendations for both Intel and AMD platform users in each pricing category.
I will start at the bottom with an entry-level gaming build assuming you already have your monitor and peripherals. This build goal is to be built for ~$500 - $750 and handle most current triple-A titles like Cyberpunk 2077, COD Warzone, Fortnite, and PUBG at 1080p. Keep in mind that we will need to cut corners here to make this build possible, but it is of utmost importance that we do so responsibly. Intel build first!
To start this build, I'm going with the Intel Core i3-10100 for its 4C/8T design and higher base clock at 3.6GHz, and it also has a boost of 4.3GHz when needed. The motherboard is the GIGABYTE H470 HD3 as H470 gives better USB connectivity over the B460 chipset and should compliment our CPU well.
The memory will be Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB Kit in a 2x4G configuration and running at 3000MHz CL16. Storage will be one area we will compromise, going for the Samsung 870 EVO 1TB SATA drive over a comparable NVMe solution, giving us more capacity for applications and games.
GPU is going to take some patience and perhaps waiting for a deal to pop up. That said, I'm looking in the area of the GeForce 1660/Ti or Radeon RX 5500/5600XT for these builds. I've chosen the VisionTek RX 5500XT for this guide, but I would look for the higher 5600XT/ GeForce 1660 on a deal, if possible.
Rounding out this guide, we pick up the Corsair CX 450W Bronze rated PSU and Cooler Master MB600 for our chassis giving us a final price of $740 for this build.
TLDR: The Build
- CPU: Intel Core i3 10100
- Memory: Corsair Vengeance 2x 4GB DDR4 3000
- Motherboard: GIGABYTE H470 AORUS Pro AX
- GPU: VisionTek Radeon RX 5500 XT
- Storage: Samsung 870 EVO 1TB
- Chassis: Cooler Master MB600
- PSU: Corsair CX450W
Last updated: Feb 28, 2021 at 07:09 pm CST