For a couple of years, the computer market was captured by the OEM system by companies like Dell, HP, Acer, etc. With the trend of custom PCs, it became easy to get more powerful components at the best price because you have to pay for the features that you want. The lowest budget in which you can build a gaming PC is $300, but of course, at this price, you have to compromise on features.
These entry-level builds are good enough, but if you increase your budget to $400, you can get a decent gaming PC. After all, thanks to AMD Ryzen APUs, which makes it possible to get a cheap gaming PC, which can run the latest titles at reasonable frame rates without having a graphics card. Today we will help you in building a gaming PC; in fact, the best PC build under 400 dollars.
This $400 budget gaming PC will be able to handle Esport games and modern AAA games at 720p resolution and the lowest possible settings. Of course, building a high-end PC in this budget is not possible, but in the future, you can pair a decent graphics card if you want more performance. So, without talking more about this PC, let’s start with the processor.
As you know, a gaming build under $400 is quite challenging, and you have to pick the best and cheapest possible hardware. I would recommend you to stick with these components or find their alternatives, but don’t go below them because it can ruin your gaming experience. So, you don’t have to worry about how to build a gaming pc for 400 dollars as we have everything there.
List of 8 Best Gaming PC Build Under 400 Dollars Components List
| Component | Model | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Buy on Amazon | |
| Motherboard | Buy on Amazon | |
| Cooler | Buy on Amazon | |
| SSD | Buy on Amazon | |
| Power Supply | Buy on Amazon | |
| RAM | Buy on Amazon | |
| GPU | Buy on Amazon | |
| Case | Buy on Amazon |
There are a couple of options available for these types of builds, but the best one I found is Ryzen 5 3400G. The rest of the options are i3 9100 or Ryzen 3 3200g with GTX 1050 graphics card, but there is a problem. The processor and graphics card are both weak for modern gaming, so the best one will be Ryzen 5 3400g, which gives you an option to pair good graphics cards in the future.
Ryzen 5 3400G is a refreshed model of the first generation APUs with more advanced integrated graphics cards, which makes it the best APU ever released. The price of this processor is very affordable for a 400 dollar gaming Pc build while its performance is enough for its price, and it provides the best value.
Ryzen 5 3400g has 4 cores and 8 threads, which gives enough performance in applications and games. Back in 2017, AMD was releasing flagship processors with quad cores and eight threads for a figure of three hundred dollars, but with these Ryzen APUs, they have changed the paradigm.
It has a base clock of 3.7Ghz while you can easily push it up to 4.2Ghz with the stock cooler and any good B450 chipset motherboard. Unlike the Intel processors, these AMD CPUs are factory unlocked, and you can push them to get even more performance. The base clock of the integrated graphics card 1400Mhz, while it has a total TDP of 95W.
Also, another point where this APU has an advantage over Intel processors is bundled cooler. As you know, most of the Intel processors lack bundled coolers, and you have to go with the aftermarket cooler, which costs extra money. While for AMD CPUs, that’s not the case, and you can use these stock coolers with these processors for a little bit of overclocking.
With all of its goodness, there are some terrible things too in this processor, but in reality, they don’t matter a lot. First of all, the performance difference of this processor over past generations in the application is not that much. While testing its benchmarks, I found this processor slightly better than the last generation; however, there is a price difference of $50 in them. So, it will fit best for the gaming pc build under 400 Dollars in every way.
Specifications
| Processor | AMD Ryzen 5 3400G |
| Cores | 4x |
| Threads | 8x |
| Base Clock | 3.7Ghz |
| Boost Clock | 4.2Ghz |
| TDP | 95W |
| iGPU | Vega 11 |
After selecting the processor, the very next thing to consider is an excellent motherboard that doesn’t limit the performance of this CPU. As I’ve said earlier, the multiplier of these processors is unlocked, and you can push their clock speed to new limits. But the thing is you have to know which chipset motherboard will be best for these types of builds.
Starting with the A320 chipset, which is the cheapest option available, but with that board, you will miss a lot of things, including overclocking too. X370 or x470 chipsets are high enough, but they don’t have display output ports, and they are expensive for budget builds. The remaining two chipsets are B350 and B450, and their price is almost the same, but B450 is significantly better in features and performance, and I would recommend going with this one.
The motherboard I picked for this build is ASRock B450M PRO4, which is not that expensive but has everything you need for your build. This motherboard is compatible with Ryzen 5 3400g out of the box and offers max overclocking potential. It has a 9-phase power design VRM, which is configured in 6+3 mode where all the three phases use doublers.
The four DIMMs on this motherboard accept memory up to 64GB and at the clock speed of 2900Mhz+ (OC), which is impressive for any budget motherboard. There are four SATA3 slots and two M.2 slots for high-speed data transfer NVMe modules. The connectivity options in this motherboard are great as it has enough USB 3.0 Type-A and Type-C ports.
We are not going to pair dedicated graphics cards in this build; however, it has two PCIe x16 slots that support AMD Crossfire and also has one PCIe x1 slot for expansion cards. With APU, you need video output ports, and it has VGA, DVI, and HDMI ports on the rear I/O panel.
The bad thing I got while reviewing this product is for any budget or entry-level build; we don’t need multiple graphics cards or a pair of M.2 slots; instead, it would be better if it has two additional SATA slots. While for its price, this motherboard also lacks some premium features which other entry-level motherboards are offering for the same or even low cost. This motherboard is best for the gaming computer under 400 Dollars with an AM4 socket processor.
Specifications
| Motherboard | ASRock B450M PRO4 |
| Voltage Regulators | 9x (3x using doublers) |
| DIMMs and Max Memory | 4x 64GB |
| USB Slots | USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A and Type-C, USB 2.0 |
| PCIe Slots | 3x |
| M.2 & SATA | 2x, 4x |
| Video Out | HDMI, DVI, VGA |
The plus point of having Ryzen series processors in budget builds is their stock coolers, which come with every processor in the Ryzen lineup. Most of the Intel budget and even some high-end models also lack bundled coolers with which you have to spend some extra money on the aftermarket coolers.
The TDP of this processor is 95W, where this cooler is designed for it, and if you don’t overclock the processor, you are good to go with it. Wraith Spire itself is one of the best cooler in the Ryzen lineup in terms of performance and cooling. However, this cooler doesn’t have some fancy looks like that one, which comes with R7 37xx series processors.
Getting a Ryzen processor and doesn’t overclock them doesn’t make sense as these processors don’t have any overclocking restrictions on them. If you are willing to do some serious overclocking with this processor mentioned above, I would recommend you to get some good AIO cooler as the case we are going to use also supports AIO radiators.
I would say it would be much better if this cooler supports some average overclocking of the processor and if it comes with RGB lights. However, without these features, it’s still suitable for entry-level or budget builds as we can spend that money on some other components.
Specifications
| Cooler | Wraith Spire Cooler |
| Bundled with | Ryzen 3000 series |
| RPM | 2700 |
| RGB Lights | No |
Storage devices are getting better than before every day as a few years ago; we were stuck with the standard hard disk drives, which are much slower and affect the overall speed of computers. Then SSDs came there, which are likely much faster than any HDD but have their advantages and disadvantages too. Also, NVMe SSDs are in trend these days, which are much better than any regular SSD.
So personally, in budget pc builds, a small SSD is enough as we can use a hard drive with it for games, but in this situation, that’s not the case. This budget build is targeted explicitly for Esport games more than any AAA game, so we don’t need much space, so it’s good to go with an SSD. However, there are options available on the motherboard if you want to expand your storage in the future.
The drive we have there is Adata SU 635 240GB, and as from its name, you can easily predict that this drive has 240GB of memory, which is enough for any computer build. The manufacturers of this drive promise a reading speed of 450Mb/s while they claim it has a writing speed of 520Mb/s.
So, this drive has some good and bad things, and let’s discuss them one by one there. Firstly, it offers you much more reading and writing speed than any regular HDD. This drive comes with many features, including SMART and Trim, etc. It has a straightforward, clear, and functional SSD toolbox where others are a bit complicated to use.
The bad thing I got in this drive is when the SLC-cache is filled, and its speed drops to 50 MB/s, which looks very disappointing for any high-speed storage device. Another bad thing I got in this SSD is it comes with only two years of warranty while most of the other drives come with a warranty of up to five years.
Specifications
| SSD Model | Adata SU635 240GB |
| Read Speed | 450Mb/s |
| Write Speed | 520Mb/s |
| Size | 240GB |
| Warranty | 2 Years |
The power supply that we are using in this gaming PC under 400 Dollars is the EVGA BR 450 W 80+ Bronze power supply. The 450 W power supply is enough for this PC build.
The BR series of power supplies have been introduced by EVGA and has been added to EVGA’s ever-growing list. For this BR series of power supplies, EVGA says that they built these power supplies on their existing bronze-rated power supplies, but they have made some improvements the customers have asked EVGA for. The EVGA BR 450 W power supply is 80 PLUS certified, and it is a non-modular design using all black fully sleeved cables, 120mm sleeve bearing fan, and also has better voltage stability on the 3.3V/5V rails.
Specifications
| Power | 450W |
| Dimensions | 85mm (H) x 150mm (W) x 140mm (L) |
| Input Voltage | 100 – 240 VAC |
| Input Current | 8 / 4A |
| Efficiency | 80 PLUS Bronze-Certified |
| Full Modular | NO |
The EVGA BR 450 W 80+ Bronze power supply comes in the usual ATX formal factor with a familiar black chassis. The cables of the power supply are hardwired instead of a modular power supply that saves a little time of plugging in the cables. However, it does trade off the convenience of where to put the cables. In order to keep the power supply’s temperature in check, the EVGA BR 450 W 80+ Bronze power supply has a 120mm sleeve bearing fan that EVGA says results in a quieter operation and longer lifespan.
The improvements on the 3.3V and the 5V rails come from a DC to DC converter with less signal that EVGA says will help with stability on those rails. The EVGA BR 450 W 80+ Bronze power supply has quite a long list of internal protections that will keep the hardware that is attached to the power supply safe.
The main reason why we chose the EVGA BR 450 W 80+ Bronze power supply for our budget gaming PC under 400 dollars is that it has 80 PLUS bronze certification, so it is quite reliable, and 450 W power supply is enough for this 400 dollar gaming PC. Also, this EVGA BR 450 W 80+ Bronze power supply has quite a low price for the reliability it provides.
You might already know that with the release of new technologies and advancements in the gaming industry, you need more and more resources than before. Main memory is one of the essential components to transfer data from disk drives to the processor for their execution. Most users got confused about how much memory is required for any gaming build, so in this review, I will guide you each and everything.
In the current era, I would recommend you get at least 12GB of memory, and if you can afford to go with two modules each 8GB so you can benefit from dual-channel technology. As there we are building a budget PC, the best memory you can get is 8GB, which helps in eliminating every possible lag from your rig.
This memory has an eight-layer PCB, which makes it the best memory module for overclocking, and it gives much efficiency in your build. These memory modules are compatible with the suggested motherboard, and you can smoothly run them at 3000Mhz. Also, make sure that you are using dual-channel memory modules because they offer double bandwidth, which is very useful in integrated graphics cards as they provide likely more frame rates.
On top of these modules, there is a heatsink or heat spreader that is made up of pure aluminum and allows maximum heat dissipation. We are using Corsair memory modules, which is a very well reputed brand, so you don’t have to worry about their quality and features because, in the past several years, this company doesn’t disappoint their users.
With all these sticks, you will get an option if you have any plan for future upgrades because of the motherboard, which had four DIMMs. There is one thing you need to know the speed of memory modules doesn’t give you a specific number of additional frame rates, but it varies from game to game.
Specifications
| Memory Model | Corsair Vengeance LPX |
| Type | DDR4 |
| Base Speed | 2133 |
| OC Speed | 3200 |
| Dual-Channel | Yes |
| Heatsink | Pure Aluminium |
| PCB | 8-Layers |
The best thing which impressed me a lot in this build is a powerful integrated graphics card. As I said earlier, the Vega 11 is integrated into the chip, and you don’t have to buy an external GPU if you want average gaming. Though this chip has its advantages and disadvantages, we are going to discuss it there.
The thing which I like most about integrated graphics cards is their affordable price and high performance. You might already know that dedicated graphics cards cost you more than the CPU you are using, and sometimes it even crosses the thousand dollars figure. APUs are a bit more expensive than alternatives but offer better value as this one has 11 cores GPU with a base clock of 1400Mhz.
The main downside of using an integrated graphics chip is it doesn’t offer any dedicated memory, as seen in other graphics cards. As you know, dedicated GPUs from AMD and Nvidia have their video memory to store video assets on their board. While the integrated graphics card shares a memory from the main memory of your PC and that’s the reason why I recommended you to have at least 16GB dual-channel memory.
Also, you have listened about a term called bottlenecking, in which if your GPU is more powerful than your CPU, then it can limit its performance. With these APUs, that’s not the case as they come within the processor, and their performance exactly matches the performance, and you can get the full potential out of them.
The benchmarks of this iGPU are notable as it manages to give more than 60 frame rates in Counter-Strike Global Offensive at medium settings which is impressive for an integrated graphics card. So that’s all that you will get with this GPU, but later if you realize that if this GPU is not giving you enough performance, you can also use a dedicated GPU then.
Specifications
| iGPU | Radeon RX Vega 11 |
| GPU Name | Raven |
| Process Size | 14nm |
| Architecture | GCN 5.0 |
| Transistors | 4,940m |
| Processor | Ryzen 5 3400g |
| Release | 2018 |
The casing is optional, but if you own, there are some advantages like it prevents your hardware from bugs, insects, and liquid and also maintains the airflow inside them. There will be no problem if you use your computer without having a case, but in that situation, you have to prevent it on your own, and the fans will blow the air over the components. While inside a case, they work as an in-and-out system where the front fan takes air inside, and the rear one throws outside.
While choosing a case, there are some things you have to consider like the airflow inside it, the number of bay drives, motherboard compatibility, while most of the time, users select cases upon their looks. So, we did proper research, reviewed some of the best affordable cases, and found this one the cheapest and attractive cases right now in the market.
AeroCool is manufacturing computer cases from several and building its reputation in front of its customers by providing the best value cases. The case we have there on the list is built for micro-ATX builds and packed with every feature you need, including tempered glass, RGB lights, etc.
While choosing any PC case, it’s hard to decide whether you need to go with the most aesthetically good-looking case or not. Because these components are not going to give any in-game performance and users like to skip them, but it’s a wrong decision. That’s why I picked the most aesthetically good-looking case at a very affordable price.
The color scheme of this case is base black, and a white color model is also available while it is made up of a 0.5mm thick steel sheet. The overall dimensions of this case are 198x459x412mm in width, height, and depth, which is big enough for any graphics card and cooler. It allows you to install two 3.5 inches bay drives while five 2.5 inches SSDs. It supports three fans on the front, one on the back, and one on the top side while also offering space for GPU fans. In every way, I found this case best for a cheap gaming pc under 400 dollars because of its features and price.
Specifications
| Case | Aero Cool Micro ATX Case |
| Top Fan | 1x |
| Rear Fan | 1x |
| Front Fan | 3x |
| 3.5 inches Bay | 2x |
| 2.5 inches Bat | 5x |
| Type | Mid Tower |
Conclusion
Getting the most expensive part for your build doesn’t mean it’s always the right choice, but those components which can fulfill your requirements are the best one. We all know there are several categories of gamers where some of them play games at high-end components while some on the low end. We made this guide for those who are looking for the best gaming pc build under $400, which gives an excellent performance in E-sports and AAA titles. Though with time, there might be some other high available at the time of writing, this is the best build you can get. Where it fulfills your requirements, you can also upgrade this machine if you want more performance in the future.
Disclaimer
The price of each component is not consistent. Although the prices may also go down or may go higher in the dilemma of pandemic and shortage. This article is based on prices in the component availability case.
FAQs
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