Best Cheap Gaming PC under $300 in 2021

Budget & Upgradability

When it comes to spending $300 on a gaming PC, you need to have realistic expectations about what it can accomplish. You shouldn’t expect this build to be running the hottest games in high graphics modes with an equally high frame count. What this PC will do is play a lot of low-intensity games, as well as PC games from the past 20+ years of computing history without any worries. 

You can also rest easy in the knowledge that if the time comes that you decide you need more power, this build is easily updated. The motherboard is perfectly suited to a GPU if you decide you want to splash your cash on one, and can support some more advanced CPUs and RAM kits as well. In short, you’ll be able to squeeze a fair bit of power out of this build over the years if you keep on adding new pieces here or there. 

Overclocking Capability

If you’re new to PC gaming you may not be completely sure what overclocking is, but you can be sure that it’s seen as a rite of passage by many PC gamers. It’s basically the practise of increasing your components speeds, but also increasing their power usage and heat production. Before you think about overclocking anything, you should understand the risks it could pose to your components. 

While this build is suitable for some light overclocking, you should also be aware that the gains you’re liable to get from these components will be minimal. In most cases, it’s not worth trying to overclock when you’re just risking burning out your components. 

Ease of Building

If this is your first PC-building experience then you can approach this build with confidence. The Zalman case is nice and easy to use and leaves you plenty of room to fit everything inside and manage your cables. Just make sure you approach the build slowly and do your research and you shouldn’t have any troubles. 

We highly recommend that you get yourself a PC-builder’s toolkit and an anti-static wristband. That way you can be sure you’ve got everything you’ll need to get the PC together and can also be sure that you’re not likely to zap yourself while working on the build. 

Non-Gaming Performance

Even if your main goal with this build is to get a gaming machine, it’s still nice to know that you can do non-gaming tasks as well. While you’re not going to be crypto-mining or rendering a lot of video with this build, you should find surfing the internet and creating images pretty simple. 

If you plan to do anything more intensive you’d be better off thinking about a slightly more high-end PC build. Of course, this would also come with the added benefit of improving gaming performance as well.