How to Build a $400 Gaming PC in 2023! ⚡ Step by Step Guide

hello and welcome to the schedule Channel and today let me show you how to build the best 400 gaming PC for beginners so I understand that not everyone has thousands of dollars to Shell out on a gaming PC nowadays so the main goal of this build was to provide something that was below 500 more or less focused on the value aspect of building a gaming PC but at the same time it not only looks good but you could upgrade on over time if you wanted to throw in stronger components for a better PC gaming experience so in today's build guide I'll be showing you guys how to put together this computer the parts going inside of it how to install Windows how to set up drivers and then the 1080p gaming benchmarks for this computer as well as some overclocking because you can do that on this computer and give you some extra performance and then my final thoughts on this 400 gaming PC if you're looking into a gaming PC of this price and caliber but you're unable to build it and all the pre-builts you found around this price range are just simply aren't that good then let me tell you a little bit about PC Bros if you're familiar with toasty Bros on YouTube then they also go by the name PC Bros on their pre-book gaming PC website and what's really cool about all of their Prevail computers is just like the gaming PC builds that I push out on this channel all of those pre-builts focus on value and performance because they're backed by Tech content creators who know what they're doing seriously check out the lineup of computers on their website they start out from 215 dollars and go all the way up into the thousands so there should be a pre-built computer for anybody on their website which Speaking of they are offering a five percent off discount code that being santa5 on their website where you can get five percent off your order so if you want to check out a pre-built gaming PC brand that is backed by Tech content creators who know what they're doing then be sure to check out PC Bros use the link at the top of the description okay so to build this 4 hundred dollar computer all you're going to need is a Phillips head screwdriver a Phillips head one screwdriver for your m.2 SSD that your windows and everything else is going to be stored on then an 8 gigabyte or bigger flash drive for your windows bootable media device which is what you'll use to install Windows onto this computer and then finally a pair of scissors to open anything so for our processor and graphics card we're going with the ryzen 5 5600g and I know you may be asking what do you mean by graphics card where is the graphics card in this build well it's inside of this chip because this is an APU AKA in all-in-one processor so on the CPU end of this it's just a regular ryzen 5000 series 6 core 12 threaded CPU that is overclockable but on the GPU end this has integrated Vega 8 Graphics hence the name Apu so whenever we finish building this computer with this motherboard the actual display cable is going to be coming out from the motherboard end of the gaming PC to the monitor not whether typically be a graphics card which Speaking of we're using the gigabyte B for 50m ds3h Wi-Fi motherboard and I know what you're asking why are you using a b450 motherboard with a 5000 series CPU well you can actually use the 5600g in this motherboard because as you can see right here it says AMD ryzen 5000 desktop ready so this already comes with the latest bios update out of the box for these ryzen 5000 series apus so we're getting the best budget Apu on the market with one of the best budget b for 50 motherboards and that is why this 400 gaming PC is going to be so good for the money okay so first things first go ahead and unbox your motherboard here you should find your i o shield and Wi-Fi antenna sticks make sure you have this on hand you will need it for later on the build as well as this this right here is a SATA cable you don't need this for this build then let's go ahead and unbox our motherboard so first thing let's go ahead and remove these brackets here from the motherboard so we can install our our CPU Cooler when we get around to it there we go and now let's go ahead and install our CPU into this socket so first thing first go ahead and open up this latch unbox your CPU and make sure to locate where the gold triangle is on the CPU and line it up with the triangle on the CPU socket which should be right here so go ahead and place this in it should just drop in naturally give it a little shake that means all the pins are lined up with the socket and then press down this lever so this is what your CPU should look like in the socket the name ryzen should be alongside this little black piece right here and then while you're here go ahead and install your CPU Cooler for the 5600g which should come with the box and note there's already thermal paste that comes with this CPU Cooler so no need to provide your own so line up the four holes with the socket back plate here with the CPU Cooler make sure everything touches down press it in a little bit and then screw in each side halfway all right you've got contact with the threads so now let's go ahead and continue screwing this in all the way and with all of these screws in all the way you should be able to pick up your motherboard by the CPU Cooler and be all good and one more thing don't forget to hook up your CPU Cooler cable with the CPU fan header on the motherboard so that way your motherboard knows when to turn on the CPU Cooler and with that that is the CPU and CPU Cooler done so real quick let me tell you what RAM and storage we're using in this system which is just a regular 2 by 16 kit of ram I just chose this RGB kit from olowe because it was good for the money and it looks good but the speed is 3 200 megahertz which is good enough for this build and then for the storage we're using a single 512 gigabyte m.2 SSD from Neo Forza that I got for about 40 bucks on NewEgg it does the job TLC comes with an SLC cash controller and yeah it'll do fine for this 400 computer okay so to install the ram go ahead and open up slots A2 and B2 on the motherboard which are the two foremost left slots separated by one from the CPU Cooler and this Ram will only go in one way because as you can see both of these strips right here on the ram are different sizes and same on the motherboard all right that's in and make sure each of these have a very firm click in the motherboard there we go both of these are firmly in now let's go ahead and install our m.2 SSD so right here on this topmost m.2 slot is we're going to put it in use your Phillips head one screwdriver this time unscrew this screw right here there you go then drop this in again this will only go in one way because there's a little Notch right here that'll line up with the m.2 SSD that plugs in pretty easily press this down screw this in and we'll bam okay before we get too excited and open up the front panel let's turn around the computer and open up the back side because there's some important bags we probably need to open up and I was right so here's a whole heap of cables you will have to mess with later on but here's a little baggie that contains the screws we'll need to install our motherboard our power supply and anything else on this computer so have that on hand oh is there a case manual there might not be a case manual no worries because you're watching this video I'll show you what to do but more or less if you've watched any of my build guides all Micro ATX PC cases all the same so there's nothing too huge to worry about so right here is a whole hodgepodge of cables which don't get intimidated by this I'll tell you what each of these cables mean and in fact some of them are actually already hooked up so if you're wondering what this green thing is right here this is a built-in fan and RGB controller for this PC case but fortunately already has the two front fans on the PC case hooked up so the two fan headers are here in the RGB and yeah that's pretty neat so here's where your actual front i o cables are for this PC case here are all the individual pins for like your power button your reset switch your power switch LED and that sort of stuff then here is your USB header for the top of the PC case if you want to plug in a Flash stick or anything like that here is um your HD audio connector for if you say plugging in headphones or microphone into this computer and then this blue guy right here is your USB 3.0 connector and then as for these cables right here that are coming from this RGB and fan controller this will let you to control the RGB from this controller on your motherboard this little 5 volt RGB header here and this had a connector is going to be power for this RGB and fan controller so we'll go ahead and plug these up too when we get the chance so these are your front i o cables this will go into your motherboard and this is the power and RGB for the RGB and fan controller which will use the power supply and one port on the motherboard 4. so go ahead and separate these out I know it might look a little bit intimidating at first but just follow through me on this so before you put your motherboard into the PC case we need to install the i o Shield which is this silver thing right here so there's two sides to this there is a flat side with no sticky bits and then there's a slightly protruded side with some sticky bits so you want these bits that kind of go out to be facing Inward and you want this kind of like protruded side of the i o Shield coming out that way it can go into the PC case so line it up just going to want to snap in each of these Corners you'll get it you'll know what this looks like all right that took a little bit of force but now that's in and if you're wondering which way to put this you can imagine as if your motherboard is already lined up with the PC case and here you can kind of see these ports are going to match up with this once this is in the PC case so before you put your motherboard into the PC case of course make sure you have the i o Shield installed but make sure you have all the standoffs covered for your motherboard so in this case there are six and on our motherboard there are also six holes we can cover excluding this one however one thing to note is that if we were to line up all the holes from this motherboard with the standoffs on the PC case one of them is out of line so if you look on your motherboard you have one two three four five six seven holes there are six standoffs in the case that can cover at least this these six holes on the left side of the motherboard this one we're just gonna have to leave but this standoff right here is going to have to move on the PC case because this hole here on the motherboard is lower than this hole and as we can see here this standoff here needs to move down by one peg so let's go ahead and unscrew this put this down one hole now we have our six standoffs that can be covered by the PC case for our motherboard so now let's go ahead and drop this in line it up with the i o Shield press it in a little bit make sure we can line up the threads of these sand offs with the holes on the motherboard and now let's go ahead and start screwing it in so these are the screws that you want to use with the motherboard in those standoffs and now let's go ahead and start screwing these in one thing though don't screw in all of the screws into the standoffs all the way we want to kind of screw them in halfway because once we have them all in then we'll tighten each screw that way we put equal pressure on the motherboard okay we have all six screws that we can screw into the standoffs screwed in halfway so now let's go ahead and tighten each individual one there we go go on the other side of the motherboard tighten this one all the way go on the other side I nut rinse and repeat and you should be all good to go one more thing though we have the this spare fan cable here from one of the case fans in the game DS case we went with and we could plug this in right here where it says fan header on our motherboard this will also only go in one way there we go suck that in all right let's go ahead and install our power supply which I've chosen the intermax marble Brawn 550 watt 80 plus bronze modular power supply so if you look here on the box there are these like ports here on the power supply where you can plug in your own power supply cables into which is kind of nice so let's open this up here is our wall socket cable we'll need that for when we finally boot up the computer here's the actual power supply there we go then here is a baggie full of all those cables I was talking about so right here is our CPU and motherboard power cable always hooked up to our power supply and here are our optional cables so this here is a pcie power cable say if we had a dedicated graphics card in this PC we hooked this up to one of these ports here on the power supply to have that powered on but we don't have a graphics card in this build so we'll save this when you do decide to upgrade on this later on but what we do need is a set of power cable for the RGB controller in our PC case yeah right here we're going to need one of these turn on this RGB power connector so let's plug that one power supply cable we do need to make this system possible into the setup Port right here again for our RGB controller and we're pretty much ready to go and one more thing we are giving this little baggie here in the power supply box this contains screws we'll need to install the power supply into the PC case Okay so to install this power supply into the PC case make sure the fan side is facing down go into this back compartment in the PC case kind of slide it into place and then here on the back side of the PC case you want to line up the holes on the power supply to the holes designated in the PC case let's go ahead and screw this in a little bit all right that's in let's get the other three there you go and if you're wondering what this switch here on the back of the power supply does this will let you know if your system is ready to turn on or not for the moment it's set to the O this is fine but when we're ready to boot up this computer with the power supply cord plugged in we'll flick that to the line but for the moment it's fine to stay on the o okay let's go ahead and plug in the front i o cables for this gaming PC into our motherboard where the front i o pins are which you can find in the motherboard manual we've got our power switch our reset switch our HDD LED and our power LED plus and minus and where to plug in what can be found again in the motherboard manual just take your time with it I'll go ahead and do this and there we go one thing to note there isn't a reset switch in this front i o header combo that we have because I believe that is going towards the RGB controller actually in the back of this PC case now let's go ahead and plug in our USB 3.0 header this big blue chunky boy into where it says USB 3.0 in our motherboard this will only go in one way because there's a little notch on the top of it easy now it's going go ahead and plug in our USB 2.0 header which is one of our USB ports on the top of the PC case where a USB 2.0 header is on our motherboard which again you can find the location of that in your motherboard manual this will only go in one way now let's go ahead and plug in our HD audio connector into our motherboard this will also go in one way and the location for it can be found on the motherboard manual but most of the time it's going to be on the far left of the motherboard and there you have it let's go ahead and take care of the plugs that are coming out of the RGB and fan controller from the back of the PC case starting with our 8 RGB fan header which will go to the motherboard side and right here where it says dled2 this is we're going to plug in our argb header this will only go in one way because there's two pins here and one pin there same with our connector and there you go then as for this final SATA power connector that we need to use to power on the whole controller this is really simple use that set of power cable that we plugged in earlier into the power supply connect the two ends and there you go easy now let's take care of the two final power connectors needed to power on this computer starting with our motherboard power connector this big guy there's a little latch here on the connector which will combine with this and it'll only go in one way there you go make sure that's in all the way lastly let's take care of this CPU power cable which doesn't say CPU on it but it's a 4x4 connector just joined by one this will also only go in one way here on the top right or top left there you go that is in all the way and believe it or not that is all you need to do to build this computer so with all that let me go and show you how to install Windows drivers and then how to get to gaming okay and with all that let's go ahead and boot up the computer for the first time but let's go through a little checklist to make sure you're all set to go so first things first make sure you have the Wi-Fi antennas screwed into the back of the PC case where the motherboard is so you can have access to the internet when we boot it to Windows we can start installing stuff or if we want to plug in an ethernet cable from the back of the computer to your router that's fine as well and then of course don't forget to plug in your keyboard your mouse don't forget especially to plug in the HDMI cable from the back of your motherboard to the monitor you're using and then lastly don't forget the power cable that you got from your power supply box that being this one it'll go from the back of the power supply to a wall socket and then finally switch the power supply switch from the o to the line and then let's go ahead and plug in our Windows bootable media device device and see what happens we'll put this into a USB 3.0 Port right here make sure that's in there you go and that is good okay if you see any sort of screen come up after you beat up your computer then that's good that means everything is alive though I am reusing this motherboard from a previous build so that's why you saw this screen but really what you should boot up to and see is the Windows installation screen which we'll see right now so after turning on your computer you should reach this screen which has a purplish bluish windows screen hit next hit install now so here's we're going to put in your Windows 10 key but you can get one for pretty cheap from vipstdkey.com where I got this Windows 10 Pro key for 17 bucks using my discount code VIP scatter so I'm gonna go ahead and put this in and I'll be right back with you guys there you go and got to give this a moment all right I accept license and terms hit next custom install there is our SSD hit next and now we just wait okay and with all that installing done let's go ahead and set up Windows choose your country choose your keyboard layout don't need a second keyboard so here's where you connect to your internet but for the simplicity's sake of this tutorial I'm going to click I don't have internet because it's faster continue with limited setup and you can name this whatever you want I'll call this subscribe to scattervault and then for the password I'm going to put something put something and then for each of these security questions I'm going to put like this video comment on this video and again subscribe to scatterbault there you go then for all of these privacy settings just disable each of them you don't need them they're just extra processes that'll run in the background hit accept don't need Cortana and there you have it so here's how to install the graphics card drivers for this PC so go ahead and search up AMD graphics card drivers on Google Search and click on the link that has the amd.com link now from there you can either use the auto detect tool which will automatically install the correct drivers for your system but since we already know the graphics we're using for this PC let's go ahead and select the right driver before it so click on processors with Graphics then select the 5600g and then click on the Windows 10 installation button and then from there let it run just hit next let it do its thing and then let's go ahead and restart the system but right as that's happening be sure to spam the F2 or delete key on your keyboard as your system is rebooting so you can enter the BIOS and here let's go ahead and set the XMP profile to the first profile or whatever that is for your motherboard and once we do that you'll ensure that your RAM is running at its full advertised speed so you can get the most performance out of this system so with all that you are finally ready to start gaming on this computer okay real quick before we get to the benchmarks let me show you how you can overclock the integrator Graphics in this computer which I highly recommend you do this can get you an extra four to five frames per second on average on any game you play and it'll automatically apply every time you start up this computer and I really recommend it for the performance benefit and the extra heat that those integrated Graphics being overclocked will produce will not affect the stock cooler much so in order to do this download ryzen Master I'll link to it in the description below and then switch from basic view to Advanced view then go to the game mode profile click on auto overclocking and set the igpu megahertz to 2400 megahertz and the voltage to 1.3 volts and then hit apply and attest and then I'll restart your computer and then every time you boot up your computer you have the option to either start or not start ryzen Master but for me just click it to yes every time and that way you can have this overclocked profile on your integrated Graphics apply every single time you boot up this computer and again it's free performance on the table it takes a few clicks and it's free and that's what you'll be seeing in The Benchmark section now okay Apex Legends I'll show you guys the uh oh this is a crossbow I how do you do this well uh look at the FPS meter on the top left there you have it this is the FPS range it's gonna be 60 locked at 60. now does it look the best nah but you only spent 400 so what is there to complain about it doesn't look that terrible where's the ammo oh my goodness give me the ammo nope that's not it this is how you can tell I don't play VR games anyways there you have it 60 frames per second let me show you the graphic settings pretty much everything is on low but the trick to keeping this at 60 frames per second is to have right here where it says adaptive resolution FPS Target keep that at 60 frames per second and that'll actively modify the anti-aliasing I believe to make sure this stays at a constant lock 60 frames per second and it doesn't look too half bad for this budget of a computer okay gentlemen um I am not joking here I'm gonna legitimately try to run cyberpunk 2077 on this PC and the only way it's gonna happen is through AMD Fidelity FX which luckily came out and now has FSR 2.1 so maybe this won't look as bad as FSR 1.0 do I have my hopes hi no but do I want to see what happens yes anyways FPS meter is on the top left we're just going to start with everything at low off low I you know what I don't even want to see the frame rate I just want to see what it looks like off medium Ray tracing obviously off all right what do you think it's gonna look like a PS1 game I don't know we just need at least 60 frames per second by any means and yes this game is definitely Above This PC's performance category so just keep that in mind this is not the best for the absolute cream of the crop AAA titles although it did run Modern Warfare 2. we're getting 35 frames per second and that's with everything this is a 1080p by the way if we shoved it down to 720p maybe we could be getting 720 but uh this is cyberpunk at its best I mean yes cyberpunk maxed out is a beautiful looking game but in my opinion this looks better it's kind of like uh what is it the room the dude who's like oh hi Mark that guy you know like when a movie is so bad it's good this is an instance where I think the graphics look so subpar that it's actually art this is the combination of FSR 2.1 at Ultra performance and then this at the lowest settings I mean it's running a 400 computer is indeed running cyberpunk uh but yeah we're getting not 60. that's uh maybe if we got out of the city we'd maybe touch 50 but 60 ain't happening I'm calling it I'm calling it I this is just a c this this isn't an actual like I'm not oh there's some guys I'm not actually telling you you should run cyberpunk on this computer but you could if you wanted okay so I'm looking for some Redemption here in Elder ring we have quality set too low at 1080p if this works I'm going to be pretty satisfied anyways FPS meter again it's on the top left watch it and the frame times [Music] oh maybe not maybe not Elder ring this is definitely in well I mean it's yeah this is it now you'd probably want to console over this for a game like Elden ring yeah I this is where you'd want to dedicate a graphics card even though we do have that overclocked integrated Graphics Vega 8 igpu yeah I've seen enough I've seen enough I I at least we know at least we know if you wanted to play Eldon ring not gonna happen well it's happening just maybe not at the Quality you expect out of a gaming PC okay here's Forza Horizon 5. let me quickly show you the game settings real quick running at low preset and funny enough I did some testing Fidelity FX and FSR don't actually help out the frame rate so we're leaving both of those off and Ivy this is running at 1080p if you were to run it at 720p it probably hit 60 but this is hitting a fairly consistent like 43 to 46 frames per second and to be completely honest with you for a 400 computer I'd expect it a little bit better if we could have gone just maybe like 10 or more frames per seconds then we could be hitting that 60 FPS Mark and that would be very nice yeah like there's no huge frame drops if you look at the frame time meter on the left it's all pretty consistent we just need like another 10 or so frames per second so this to be decently playable in my opinion because this is already at low preset but yeah we're going through the jungle if we were to go through an open highway I guarantee you'd probably get I don't know closer to 50 but like I said this this PC at least in this game needs a little bit more performance all right okay can this computer run fortnite absolutely here's how here are the graphic settings I have and the trick is to set the rendering mode to Performance mode and there we can have these got a few distance set to Epic for that slightly advantageous view distance advantage and uh yeah I'm just gonna play for a little bit anyways look at the FPS meter on the top left if you like that then this computer could be for you if I had to predict though I'm gonna get immediately squashed in fact I almost want to put a counter not a counter put a timer right now on screen oh never mind never mind gentlemen I got one anyways I am uh 1-0 right now that is great probably still gonna get jumped he had a portals to this game oh my two no two No Maybe if you build I swear I said I was gonna get jumped and I did in one hit who knew and that's a score let's go all right okay if you haven't catch this is rocket League uh let me see if I can quickly show you my graphic settings this definitely can run at a pretty good frame rate MLA for anti-aliasing Quality render details also quality but it's set to custom and uh yeah there you have it you can get one more goal oh I don't know how people do this game man oh my how did I do that let's look at the replay yeah so look at me I just hit it whimsley you know like I'm like all right whatever how did this happen oh no hey I said I was gonna get another goal and I did and uh what frame rate are we getting right now like 70-ish oh no oh I don't care I'm leaving okay we are in war zone I am really interested to see how well this game does and uh oh yeah we're at already in fire uh I have no weapons this is terrible I'm just gonna go back here I'll show you guys my game settings in a little bit but right now we're getting just at 60 frames per second and the frame times don't look too terrible as well 70 65 69 67 69 not too terrible does it look the best no but is the frame rate above 60 absolutely most the time hey all right time to provide some content let's go I just need to get into one gunfight and then that's that's probably gonna be it Guys these are pretty brief just look at the top left see if you like the frames for seconds and if you like it great if you don't then look on my other PC build guides that are more expensive 400 computer running Warzone 2 in a dogfight at about 60 frames per second there's my boy behind me getting headshots on a 400 computer at low Graphics oh nope another headshot on a 400 computer at low Graphics who said you needed a three thousand dollar computer to be good this is what the game chose for me as well these were the optimized settings but at 1080p we have FSR 1.0 turned on set to Performance anti-aliasing is filmic SM aa2x at low quality and then pretty much very low low low low low the lowest possible and all the motion blur at the bottom is turned off so yeah you can get damn near close to a 60 FPS experience not bad and there you have it that is the gaming performance of this computer and now let's finish out the video with my final thoughts on this 400 gaming PC build so the performance is not entirely spectacular it really varies on the game I think when it comes to most Esports based titles like rocket League Apex Legends tune extent valorant League of Legends fortnite using the performance API CS go you could even run Modern Warfare 2 if you wanted just you got to do some Blackmagic this computer can definitely run games just the graphical Fidelity will vary based off the graphical intensity of the title regardless it can still run games even cyberpunk 2077 albeit at a low frame rate at the lowest possible Graphics settings regardless though this is a starter computer so you can upgrade on this over time because the peripherals and components in this computer can handle that for instance if you wanted to throw in any graphics card of your choice whether it be it Nvidia AMD or even Intel graphics card this computer can support it and even the case I'm actually really surprised by how good of a value this gambia's case is because you get those two front RGB fans and a rear 120 120 millimeter fan and this can all be hooked up to your motherboard without that many issues and you still have plenty of clearance as well here for most graphics cards other than maybe a 40 90 and a 4080 but are you really going to be looking at getting those graphics cards for this sort of system you're probably going to build a new PC from scratch but like an RX 6600 3060 TI even an Intel art GPU will be totally fine in the system when you do get that extra money to upgrade to an actual dedicated graphics cards moving on from the integrated Graphics of the 5600g so all in all not a terrible computer and a pretty value focused one especially with that 5600g which I'm really happy to see with that b450 motherboard that supports it out of the box so that's all I gotta say for this build video and once again all of the parts that I talked about in this video can be found in the description below so you can build this computer yourself and once again thank you so much for watching and this is the schedule Channel signing out

Channel: ScatterVolt

Views: 569,082

Keywords: gaming pc, pc, gaming pc build, pc build, budget gaming pc, cheap gaming pc, budget pc build, pc build guide, build a pc, building a gaming pc, gaming pc build 2022, how to build a pc, best gaming pc, budget gaming pc 2022, budget gaming pc build, best budget gaming pc, gaming pc 2022, budget pc, pc build 2022, $400 gaming pc, 400 gaming pc, $400 gaming pc build, $400 gaming pc build guide, $400 gaming pc 2022, 400 gaming pc build, 400 gaming pc 2022, pc building, gaming

Id: 6MRbnC9FFQY

Length: 31min 51sec (1911 seconds)

Published: Sun Dec 11 2022