Black Friday 2019 deals: The cheapest gaming PC you can build | (Updated for Cyber Monday!)

Despite a rather subdued Black Friday, perusing the deals hasn’t been all grim news. You can once again use November’s unique mix of loss leaders, broad variety of low-priced items, and combo deals to build a gaming PC for insanely cheap.

Over the last few years (2016, 2017, and 2018), I’ve challenged myself to see just how cheap you could build a gaming PC using Black Friday deals. The results have gotten better and better each time, and 2019 is no exception. The cheapest option starts at just over $200!

Moreover, this year is particularly striking in how many options for components we have. Usually these kinds of builds are a jigsaw puzzle of finding rare deals that fit together, but in 2019 I have more suggested builds than ever—and you can customize them to your liking much more easily, too.

For more PC component discounts, have a look at our curated list of Black Friday deals.

CYBER MONDAY UPDATE (12/2): With so many deals having stuck around, you can still build these systems for close to their Black Friday prices. (In previous years, it was just plain over once we rolled around to Monday.) The cheapest one is still a very affordable $216!

I’ve made added substitution suggestions and updated prices to each build below.

About these builds

Because Black Friday deals started trickling out early, the first version of this article listed all the worthwhile component deals. That way, if you saw something particularly cheap, you could buy it while it was still available.

Now that everything is known, I’ve assembled build lists. Most parts are still available; where they’re not, I’ve added alternatives in the footnotes. Even with the swaps (and sometimes increased costs due to a switch), you’ll still get a lot of PC for what you spend. Be aware that the RX 580 deal will likely expire at 11:59pm PT on Saturday, 11/30.

If you would like monitor suggestions to go with one of these systems, skip to this article’s final notes.

Build #1: The cheapest gaming PC possible

Cyber Monday (12/2) update: The VS550 power supply is out of stock, so swap in this $35 EVGA 500W 80+ Gold model (price after filing mail-in rebate). Also, the Silicon Power Ace A55 costs more now, so buy this $18 PNY 120GB SSD instead. New total: $216

Build notes:

1. The Ryzen 3 2200G is limited to one per household and in-store pickup only. It is also available from Amazon and Walmart for $78, though at those prices, you may want to consider the 3200G for $89 at Amazon and B&H if even the tiniest uptick in performance is worth it to you.
2. Price is after filing $10 mail-in rebate within 30 days of purchase.
3. This motherboard lacks onboard Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to spend another $15-30 on a wireless adapter if you can’t use an ethernet connection.
4. This drive has gone up in price by a few dollars. You can swap in this Team Group GX 120GB SSD instead for $1 more.
5. Price is after filing $20 mail-in rebate by 12/23/19.

If you’ve been following along with each rendition of this article, you’ll notice straight away that this modest but respectable Ryzen 3 2200G system is very similar to 2018’s, but with a different set of trade-offs. You get a motherboard with a newer chipset and faster RAM, but also a low-end case and a power supply that’s less power efficient.

In fact, with case and PSU prices less discounted than in 2018, I hadn’t figured on beating last year’s price of $272. But I did. That’s even accounting for the cost of Windows 10, which as you might have noticed, isn’t listed for 2019:

• The ultra-budget contingent will indeed pay $208 for this build—a healthy $64 under last year’s total. These are the people who are staunch Linux supporters, have an old Windows 7 or 8/8.1 key, can get a free Win 10 Education key through a school, or don’t mind living with the ethically ambiguous decision to never activate Windows.

• The adventurous will spend between $220~ to $235~ in total by buying from resellers on marketplaces like eBay or Kinguin, or about $37 to $52 under 2018. Note that with Kinguin’s discontinuation of their optional insurance that guaranteed you a working key, this method has more risk than before. (You may be able to safeguard against bad sellers by using PayPal as your payment method, but I wasn’t able to confirm that PayPal’s buyer protection covers this type of digital purchases before this article published.)

• The above-board folks will shell out $305 for this system after purchasing a Windows 10 Home OEM license, which is currently $97 at Newegg. At first glance, that seems like we’re over 2018’s price by about $35, but last year’s system used a Win 10 license key from Kinguin. If we’re comparing like-to-like, then it’s $305 (2019) vs $372 (2018), or savings of $67, because 2018’s best Win 10 Home OEM license deal cost $100.

In short, enough diverging philosophies on obtaining a Windows 10 license key exist that I found it easiest to leave the line off for 2019, but regardless of which group you identify with, you’re making out better than last year.

The catch with this build, of course, is that you must live near a Micro Center to get this rig at the above prices. You can still build it for $18 more if you buy the 2200G at Amazon and Walmart, though.

This system also lacks a discrete graphics card. While the Vega 8 in the 2200G can hit at 1080p on Medium settings for some games, it’ll run more comfortably at 720p for strenuous titles—and its overall ability to handle AAA games will shrink as time ticks on. (At Medium settings, that is.)

You can of course overcome this limitation by doling out more cash. Popping in this $100 XFX Radeon RX 570 4GB card will give your system considerable oomph. (If you do buy that card, be sure to file the $20 mail-in rebate by the due date.) That price for an RX 570 is superb and likely not to be seen much more (if ever) as the last of AMD’s Polaris cards finally sell out.

If that’s too rich for your blood right now, the affordable upgrades that I recommend are the addition of a 1TB hard disk drive and more RAM. A 1TB hybrid HDD is $35 today (11/30), which is a worthwhile investment given that a 128GB SSD will fill up ridiculously fast. (Not only do SSDs run faster than HDDs, but they’re once again cheaper than the platter drives, which is why this system has a scant 120GB of storage.) And RAM is stupendously cheap right now, so you’ll pay just $17 extra for doubling your capacity to 16GB.

These latter two suggestions brings up the base cost of this PC to a still-ridiculously-low $260, but don’t worry if you can’t afford them now. Even if you don’t change this parts list, you’re well-positioned for upgrades down the road. It’ll be trivial to drop in a faster Ryzen processor, more RAM, additional storage, and a discrete GPU at a later date (perhaps right after a future Black Friday).

Build #2: The cheapest 1080p gaming PC possible

Cyber Monday (12/2) update: The VS550 power supply is out of stock, so swap in this $35 EVGA 500W 80+ Gold model (price after filing mail-in rebate). Also, the Silicon Power Ace A55 costs more now, so buy this $18 PNY 120GB SSD instead. New total: $316

Build notes:

1. The Ryzen 3 2200G is limited to one per household and in-store pickup only. It is also available from Amazon and Walmart for $78, though at those prices, you may want to consider the 3200G for $89 at Amazon and B&H if even the tiniest uptick in performance is worth it to you.
2. Price is after filing $10 mail-in rebate within 30 days of purchase.
3. This motherboard lacks onboard Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to spend another $15-30 on a wireless adapter if you can’t use an ethernet connection.
4. Price is after filing $20 mail-in rebate by 01/03/2020. 
5. This card comes with 3 months of Xbox Game Pass and your choice of Borderlands 3 or Ghost Recon.
6. This drive has gone up in price by a few dollars. You can swap in this Team Group GX 120GB SSD instead for $1 more.
7. Price is after filing $20 mail-in rebate by 12/23/19.

No surprises here: This system is Build #1, but with the addition of the RX 570 suggested in my explanation of the parts list. Even if you’re using a 2200G purchased from Amazon or Walmart and stomaching that additional $18 in price, you’re getting a 1080p gaming machine that should get 60fps on High (and sometimes Ultra) for dirt cheap…and comes with free games.

Final prices for this build with Windows 10 license:

• Ultra-budget (Free): $308
• Adventurer (eBay/Kinguin): $320 to $335
• Standard (OEM): $405

[ Curious why this system has three different prices when factoring the Windows 10 license? See the bulleted list in Build #1’s explanation for the rundown. ]

AMD has done wonders for budget gaming, as you can see. And you can beef this 1080p rig up with more Black Friday deals. I recommend adding on this 1TB hybrid HDD, which is $35 today (11/30), since the 128GB SSD will fill up ridiculously fast on its own. In fact, I’d also swap in this 250GB SK Hynix Gold SSD as the boot drive, since even the primary drive can get cluttered when paired with an HDD. And to round it out, I’d buy a 16GB kit of RAM instead of 8GB because it’s just so inexpensive to upgrade.

All totaled, the base cost of this build comes to an affordable $372, or $390 if you don’t live near a Micro Center. Not bad.

Build #3: The cheap 1080p gaming PC I’d build (Micro Center edition)

Cyber Monday (12/2) update: Use this Gigabyte B450 board to get a $20 combo discount and grab this $38 WD Blue 1TB drive for your hard-disk drive instead. For the case, swap in a $40 Corsair Carbide 175, which also happens to a tempered glass panel like the original case suggestion. New total: $416

Build notes:

1. The Ryzen 5 1600 is limited to one per household and in-store pickup only.
2. Price after $30 combo discount shown in cart. If unavailable, you can purchase this other Gigabyte B450 board for the same price.
3. This motherboard lacks onboard Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to spend another $15-30 on a wireless adapter if you can’t use an ethernet connection.
4. Price is after filing $20 mail-in rebate by 01/03/2020. 
5. This card comes with 3 months of Xbox Game Pass and your choice of Borderlands 3 or Ghost Recon.
6. Price is after filing $30 mail-in rebate by 12/20/2019.
7. Price is after filing $10 mail-in rebate within 30 days of purchase.

In an alternate universe, where I decided to settle in Los Angeles (or some other location near a Micro Center), I would happily “settle” for 1st-generation Ryzen to get more cores in a budget 1080p gaming build.

Though doing so sacrifices a little on single-core performance, I’d rather buy more life for my PC as games slowly start taking greater advantage of multiple cores. This system also has more utility beyond gaming—doing light encoding work, etc., is far more feasible.

In the same vein of longevity, I’ve also dropped in a bigger boot drive, since that doubles capacity for only $12. Ditto for RAM, where $17 gets me an extremely comfortable 16GB. For good measure, I’ve added a 1TB HDD, since games can take up a silly amount of space nowadays.

As I’m going for cheap but not cutthroat, I’ve added in case and power supply upgrades as well. Both types of components keep for a long time—and the Thermaltake Core G21 can fit a full ATX board and also has a tempered glass panel. Both features allow me to easily reuse it if I were ever to completely overhaul the system and pretty it up. As for the EVGA power supply, getting an 80+ Gold rated model for $35 is just too good to pass up.

Final prices for this build with Windows 10 license:

• Ultra-budget (Free): $400
• Adventurer (eBay/Kinguin): $415 to $430
• Standard (OEM): $497

[ Curious why this system has three different prices when factoring the Windows 10 license? See the bulleted list in Build #1’s explanation for the rundown. ]

For a pure splurge, you could get RGB RAM and possibly also an RGB motherboard since this case does have that transparent window, while a more practical upgrade would be using a 500GB SSD as your boot drive.

But sticking to the $400 base price of this build already gets you a very nice gaming PC that runs at 1080p 60fps on High.

Build #4: The cheap 1080p gaming PC I’d build (standard edition)

Cyber Monday (12/2) update: Grab this $38 WD Blue 1TB drive for your hard-disk drive, and for the case, swap in a $40 Corsair Carbide 175, which also happens to a tempered glass panel like the original case suggestion. New total: $463

Build notes:

1. Price after filing $10 mail-in rebate within 30 days of purchase.
2. This motherboard lacks onboard Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to spend another $15-30 on a wireless adapter if you can’t use an ethernet connection.
3. Price is after filing $20 mail-in rebate by 01/03/2020. 
4. This card comes with 3 months of Xbox Game Pass and your choice of Borderlands 3 or Ghost Recon.
5. Price is after filing $30 mail-in rebate by 12/20/2019.
6. Price is after filing $10 mail-in rebate within 30 days of purchase.

Most people don’t live near a Micro Center, so that means ponying up more cash for a cheap but excellent 1080p machine that comes with free games.

Fortunately, this build has higher performing hardware in exchange for that additional money spent. The processor offers a roughly 8 to 10 percent uptick in productivity performance and up to an 8 percent bump in games compared to the Ryzen 5 1600 in Build #3. And the motherboard features a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port, which offers double the speed (10Gbps) of the USB ports (5Gbps) in the mobos of Build #1, #2, and #3.

In other words, you’ll end up with a system that has excellent longevity—more so than Build #3. Sure, you’re paying more, but you can run it as-is for years to come. Way down the line, you might want to add in additional storage or swap the GPU, but those will be easy upgrades you can save up for.

As I said last year, a fine line divides frugality and being a cheapskate. The priority here is a better future experience over saving as many dollars as possible, and that this particular combination of parts nails it pretty well.

Final prices for this build with Windows 10 license:

• Ultra-budget (Free): $450
• Adventurer (eBay/Kinguin): $465 to $480
• Standard (OEM): $547

[ Curious why this system has three different prices when factoring the Windows 10 license? See the bulleted list in Build #1’s explanation for the rundown. ]

The splurges you could consider for this build are a bigger boot drive, RGB RAM, and an RGB motherboard to go with the tempered glass case, as well as an 8GB Radeon RX 580, but none are necessary. The SSD will give you a lot of cushion for storage, though, and the RX 580 provides the ability to go up to budget 1440p gaming.

Build #5: The cheap 1440p gaming PC I’d build

Cyber Monday (12/2) update: Alas, only the lucky who live near Micro Center can still take advantage of this build. If you’re one of them, grab this $38 WD Blue 1TB drive for your hard-disk drive, and for the case, swap in a $40 Corsair Carbide 175, which also happens to a tempered glass panel like the original case suggestion.

For the motherboard, I’d keep the original suggestion, as it’s a little more well-regarded and only costs $5 than the other real alternative available. New total: $548

Build notes:

1. The Ryzen 7 2700X is limited to one per household and in-store pickup only. If you don’t live near a Micro Center, you can also buy it for $30 more at B&H.
2. Price after $30 combo discount shown in cart. If unavailable, you can purchase this other Gigabyte B450 board for the same price.
3. If you are purchasing the 2700X from B&H, pair it with this $60 ASRock board at Newegg. Be sure to file the $10 mail-in rebate within 30 days of purchase.
4. This motherboard lacks onboard Wi-Fi, so you’ll have to spend another $15-30 on a wireless adapter if you can’t use an ethernet connection.
5. Price is after filing $20 mail-in rebate by 12/21/2019. 
6. This card comes with 3 months of Xbox Game Pass and your choice of Borderlands 3 or Ghost Recon.
7. Price is after filing $30 mail-in rebate by 12/20/2019.
8. Price is after filing $20 mail-in rebate by 12/23/2019.
9. if unavailable, you can opt for this 650W Corsair TX650M for $10 more. Be sure to file the $20 mail-in rebate by 12/23/2019.

For a cheap 1440p gaming PC, you could take Build #4, swap in an RX 580, and call it a day. That would bring your base cost up to $495 and you’d still have a very respectable set of parts.

But since this is the cheap 1440p gaming PC that I would build—the lure of a heavily discounted 2700X is too tempting to pass up—I’m putting down a component list that can also support streaming. (Not in 1440p, just as a separate option for things you can do with the PC.)

As a result, I’ve splurged on the CPU and a higher-wattage power supply. The 2700X and the RX 580 are a more power-hungry pairing than you’ll find in the other builds, so the EVGA 500W power supply in Builds #3 and #4 won’t quite cut it. And while dropping down to an 80+ White or 80+ Bronze PSU to save cash is an option, it feels too much like a penny-wise, pound-foolish decision. A PSU typically lasts a long time, so it’s not money wasted.

You’ll take less of a hit on these items if you live near a Micro Center, so as configured, these wanton indulgences bring the price up to an affordable $520 base price. That saves about $100 compared to last year’s build (or $50 if you buy an OEM Windows 10 license).

Even if you can’t get to a Micro Center and have to buy your 2700X from B&H and a motherboard from Newegg, you’ll shell out $570 as the base cost for this machine. Even at $667 when factoring in an OEM Windows 10 license—just $1 more than last year’s devilishly good 1440p build!—you’re getting superb value.

Final prices for this build with Windows 10 license:

• Ultra-budget (Free): $520
• Adventurer (eBay/Kinguin): $535 to $550
• Standard (OEM): $617

[ Curious why this system has three different prices when factoring the Windows 10 license? See the bulleted list in Build #1’s explanation for the rundown. ]

If this rig still feels a little plain to you, tossing in a 500GB SSD as the boot drive would be an excellent utilitarian upgrade. On the aesthetic side of things (this case does have a tempered glass window, after all), you can always throw in RGB RAM and an RGB motherboard for a little bling. Of all the options, I’d go with a bigger SSD, but this system will sail along smoothly as-is for a good while.

Final notes

• If this is your first build, you can read up on how to put everything together in our step-by-step guide.
• All of these builds are FreeSync-ready, so if you’d like to take advantage of variable refresh rates, grab the $100 24-inch 75Hz IPS Samsung S24R350 at Newegg (budget option) or the $150 23.8-inch 144Hz IPS Acer Nitro VG240Y at Micro Center (splurge option).
  • If buying the Samsung monitor, use code EMCUUVD66 at checkout.
• Some component deals involve mail-in rebates. Be sure to file those and track them until they arrive, otherwise you could be paying $30 extra (or more, depending on the build) for these PCs.
• These builds don’t factor in sales tax or shipping. Depending on where you live, you may have to pay up to an additional 10 percent for parts.
• To get Amazon’s faster two-day shipping for free, you can sign up for a 30-day Prime membership if you haven’t already done so in the past.