An easy AM5 PC for $750 - Ryzen 5 7500F

The Ryzen 5 7500f is a great processor that deserves more praise. For $125 on AliExpress, you get a Ryzen 5 7600 that’s only 100 MHz slower, and without an integrated GPU. That’s a phenomenal deal! I recently did this with a 4060 Ti and it served me extremely well. It rivaled my $550 7950X in a few instances.

7500f Review

The perfect $125 CPU.

WATCH HERE
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PC Build - $736 USD

CPU Ryzen 5 7500f $125 [AliExpress]
Cooler TR Assassin X 120 SE $18 [Amazon, Newegg]
Motherboard Gigabyte B650M D3HP AX $135 [Amazon, Newegg]
RAM 2x8GB DDR5 5200 CL36 $70 [Amazon, Newegg]
SSD 512GB M.2 PCIe $38 [Amazon, Newegg]
GPU RX 6650 XT $240 [Amazon, Newegg]
GPU Option 2 RTX 3070 8G Used $290 [Ebay]
Case Montech AIR 100 $65 [Amazon, Newegg]
Case Option 2 Bitfenix Nova Mesh $60 [Amazon, Newegg]
Power Supply MSI MAG 550 $50 [Amazon, Newegg]

Benchmarks

Check out the performance in this video.

WATCH HERE

Ryzen 5 7500F Specs

A comparison of the sub $200 AM5 CPUs.

Benchmarks

Why the 8500G isn’t a great choice

The 8500G is fine for a budget, all-in-one CPU + GPU solution; but if you just need an affordable GPU, it has several limitations:

  • Only two FULL Zen 4 cores - the other four cores are Zen 4c cores or “efficiency” cores. They’re less powerful than regular Zen 4 cores.

  • Less cache - Zen 4 loves L3 cache. Less cache makes a big impact in gaming.

  • PCIe Limited - If you’re using an PCIe/NVME M.2 SSD, your GPU is limited to PCIe 4.0x4, which is really bad. It’s OK for budget GPUs, but above an RTX 4060, you will have issues.

3 Ways to Build a $300 Gaming PC - September 2023

$300 feels like a sacred price point. It was around the same price as the first gaming PC that I ever built. Nowadays, $300 won’t take you as far as in 2011, but you can you 100% can build a $300 PC right now. The method just depends on your needs.

A note on consoles

The Xbox Series S, especially on sale or used, is great value. If you just want to play games, and you don’t need computer functionality, it’s your best bet. I mean, it plays Starfield out of the box. That’s awesome.

The same principle applies when buying a used computer. In Atlanta, I can find some cheap PCs for like $300 and some of them include a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. No building is necessary

Basically, if there are pre-built options that already meet your needs and are within your budget, use those!

#1 - The brand new PC (Entry level)

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CPU + GPU Ryzen 5 4600G $95 [Amazon, Newegg]
RAM 16GB DDR4 $30 [Amazon, Newegg]
Motherboard B450M $70 [Amazon, Newegg]
SSD 512GB M.2 $25 [Amazon, Newegg]
Power Supply Smart 500W $40 [Amazon, Newegg]
Case Option 1 Thermaltake H17 $40 [Amazon, Newegg]
Case Option 2 Thermaltake H18 $50 [Amazon, Newegg]

The first option is to build a brand new PC. For people that only play games like CSGO, Fortnite, Valorant, and vanilla Minecraft, this is a decent starting place.

I recommend a Ryzen 5 4600G APU, which is a processor and video card smashed into one. You’ll get a respectable, casual gaming experience. You can always add a dedicated video card once you’ve saved a little bit more money.

This option also has huge potential because it is on the AM4 platform. You have dozens of upgrade options, including the 5800X3D, which was considered the fastest gaming processor ever at one point.

Now, I understand if you want to only buy new parts, especially if this is your first computer; but we can improve gaming performance out-of-the-box when we take advantage of the second-hand market.

#2 - The slightly used PC (Mid-range)

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CPU Option 1 Ryzen 5 1500X Used $26 [Aliexpress, Ebay]
CPU Option 2 Ryzen 5 1400 Used $23 [Aliexpress, Ebay]
CPU Cooler Wraith Stealth $9 [Amazon]
RAM 16GB DDR4 $30 [Amazon, Newegg]
Motherboard B450M *$70 [Amazon, Newegg]
GPU RX 580 8GB 2048SP Used $60 [Aliexpress, Ebay]
SSD 512GB M.2 $25 [Amazon, Newegg]
Power Supply Smart 500W $40 [Amazon, Newegg]
Case Option 1 Thermaltake H17 $40 [Amazon, Newegg]
Case Option 2 Thermaltake H18 $50 [Amazon, Newegg]
*there are some used motherboards on Amazon starting at $55 - check them out!

I replaced only a couple of new components with second-hand components in this option, but the repercussions are huge.

Instead of the 4600G, buy a used Ryzen 5 1500X and new cooler from Aliexpress for $40 total, (or you can grab them both for the same price on ebay), and a used RX 580 8GB for $50 on Aliexpress. You’ll spend about the same amount of money, but you get more than double the performance out of the box. You still have access to the same amazing upgrade path, but your performance is over double that of option #1.

But the final option is for those of you who don’t mind second-hand at all, and want to go all out. You want to play the best of the best right now with the money that you have.

#3 - The workstation PC (High end)

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CPU/Mobo/RAM/PSU/Case HP Z440 Used $120 [Ebay]
CPU (if necessary) Xeon E5 1650V4 Used $25 [Ebay]
RAM Opt 1 (if necessary) 16GB DDR4 ECC Used $20 [Ebay]
RAM Opt 2 (if necessary) 32GB DDR4 ECC Used $30 [Ebay]
SSD 512GB M.2 $25 [Amazon, Newegg]
SSD Adapter PCIe to M.2 $9 [Amazon, Ebay]
GPU Option 1 GTX 1070 Ti 8G Used $120 [Ebay]
GPU Option 2 RX 5700 8G Used $130 [Ebay]
GPU Option 3 RTX 2060 6G Used $150 [Ebay]
Notes: Only buy the CPU and RAM if it's not included in the Z440. RAM MUST be ECC or SERVER RAM. Do NOT buy Desktop RAM. It will NOT work.

Option #3 is buying a workstation and upgrading it, and it’s my favorite of the 3.

I showcased a variation of this with my previous video where I tried building a $168 machine, but there were many shortcomings. A workstation PC, specifically an HP Z440, gets rid of ALL of that.

Most of the hardware in the Z440 is standard, so you can replace it with components you buy from Amazon or Newegg, and its upgrade options out of the box are insane.

The actual work station costs around $120, and here’s what you get:

  • A modern 6 core processor

  • An ATX motherboard with 8 RAM slots and 5 PCIe slots

  • 16gb of DDR4 RAM

  • A 700 watt power supply (80% efficiency)

  • And a case

And because it’s made for enterprise customers, it’s crazy reliable. I mean, if you buy a 512GB SSD for $25, an M.2 adapter for $9, and an 8GB video card for $120 - you have yourself a monster computer for $274 before taxes. And you can still upgrade in the future.

It’s pretty cool, and my favorite on the list. The biggest downside is you are on a dead platform, but I doubt that won’t cause you issues for a long time.

Bonus option - save up!

With that being said, you can also just save up. It’s a very valid option.

Holiday season is right around the corner, so I imagine a lot of tech will go on sale. If you can save even another $100, within the next 2 months, it could make a big difference. Don’t deny this option!

Is the 4060 Ti actually mid-range?

NVIDIA releasing their $400 “mid-range” 4060 Ti has made me question how one would classify a video card as mid-range or not. We can use several methods to determine a product’s position on the stack, but I have a slightly less-than-scientific (albeit more fun!) method to answer the question: is the 4060 Ti a mid-range video card?

Here’s my hypothesis:

If you can build a new gaming computer for the price of the video card, it is not a video card for the masses (mid-range and below).

Video

I chose the PC parts in 17 minutes

As it turns out, it is not difficult to part out a new $400 PC.

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CPU Option 1 Ryzen 5 3600 $70-80 Amazon
CPU Option 2 Ryzen 5 4500 $70 Amazon
Motherboard Option 1 B450 Mobo (mATX) $75-80 Amazon
Motherboard Option 2 B550 Mobo (mATX + PCe 4) $80-90 Amazon
Motherboard Option 3 A520 Mobo (mATX) $70-80 Amazon
RAM 2x8GB DDR4 3200 CL16 $32 Amazon
SSD 500GB M.2 or SATA SSD $25 Amazon
GPU Option 1 RX 580 8GB 2048 SP $110 Amazon
GPU Option 2 RX 5500 XT 8GB $140 Amazon
GPU Option 3 RX 6600 8GB $180-210 Amazon
Case Option 1 Thermaltake Versa H18 $50 Amazon
Case Option 2 Thermaltake Versa H17 $45 Amazon
Power Supply Thermaltake Smart 500W $40 Amazon

In the video, I test the $400 PC and it performs splendidly. For such a cheap computer, you’re able to play esport games at 120+ FPS (good for high refresh competitive gameplay), and 30+ FPS with tweaked settings in heavy AAA titles.

The sad news: the 4060 Ti is a good piece of technology

And I think the most frustrating part, is that the 4060 Ti is good technology. It’s the price that kills it.

My Gigabyte AERO model works well without bottlenecks. It performs well, it’s quiet, it’s cool, and it has lots of new features like DLSS3. If this card was $100 cheaper, then there wouldn’t be such a need to prove to the consumer why you should buy it. The card’s value would do the talking. DLSS3, NVIDIA reflex, all of that shouldn’t be necessary for this card to make sense to a buyer. Alas, that’s how things are right now.

To answer the question – the 4060 Ti, with its current price, is not a mid-range offering. I built a full computer, new, for the same price as the video card itself.

”New” Amazon GPUs Starting at $100

Lots of “new” video cards are showing up on Amazon from a variety of sellers. I tried 3 different models from the company AISURIX, and I was pleasantly surprised! They’re not perfect, but they game at 1080p well with modest settings.

RX 580 2048SP 8GB

RX 5500XT 8GB

GTX 1660 Super 6GB

I have go in-depth on these video cards in my review/overview here. But basic things you should know

  1. The GPU die is NOT new but the PCB, fans, backplate, and electrical components ARE new.

  2. It comes with a 3 month warranty. It’s $6-15 to get the GPU replaced. There is an extended 1 year warranty in the works for an extra cost.

  3. Customer service isn’t the best.

Stress Test!

I recommend stress testing the GPU right when you get it. Download and install MSI Afterburner, Unigine Heaven 4.0, and 3DMark Time Spy (Steam). Open MSI Afterburner and make sure you can monitor the GPU temperature and the VRAM temperature. Run Unigine Heaven 4.0 for about an hour and check the peak temperatures. Do the same thing with 3DMark Time Spy. If the GPU temperature is < 85 degrees and VRAM temperature is < 100 degrees, then move on to the next step. If it’s high, return the card!

The synthetic benchmarks above don’t catch everything, so download your most played graphically “intense” games and crank up the settings a bit. Play how you would normally play and monitor temperatures or for any weird behavior. Are the fans too loud? Is there coil whine? Are there any artifacts or black screens? If so — return!

Amazon gives you a 1 month return window and hopefully this gives you enough time to find any chinks in the armour. Good luck!