If you’re looking to build a great budget gaming PC, then there’s never been a better time to pick up an AMD Ryzen CPU. Amazon has a limited-time AMD Ryzen CPU deal right now, and both the six-core Ryzen 5 5600X and eight-core Ryzen 7 5800X are heavily discounted, with prices starting at just $119 for the former.
Both these CPUs are based on AMD’s last-gen Zen 3 architecture, but don’t let that put you off at these prices, as they still offer plenty of performance when it comes to gaming, and were indeed sitting among the best gaming CPU options until their Ryzen 7000 series successors arrived. If you’re still struggling with an old AMD chip, such as a Ryzen 5 2600 or Ryzen 7 1700, then either of these CPUs should happily slot into your old Socket AM4 motherboard if you flash the BIOS, and give you a hefty performance boost for a very generous price.
If you plan to build a gaming PC from scratch on a tight budget, then the Ryzen 5 5600X is ideal as well. It has six solid Zen 3 cores, 32MB of L3 cache, and a top boost clock of up to 4.6GHz, which is perfectly fine as a foundation for gaming, and you even get a free AMD Wraith CPU cooler in the CPU box. You can pick up a supporting Socket AM4 motherboard from as little as $60 now as well, meaning you can get the core motherboard and CPU for around $179.
Meanwhile, the Ryzen 7 5800X offers a step up to eight cores, rather than six, and it has a slightly higher boost clock speed of 4.7GHz. It’s now going for just $175, which is amazing for a CPU that cost $449 when it first came out, and it gives you a little bit more processing headroom than the 5600X.
If you can’t afford to run to the cost of the new Ryzen 7 5700X3D or 5800X3D, which have AMD’s 3D V-cache tech that’s great for gaming, then the Ryzen 7 5800X offers a solid upgrade from the Ryzen 5 5600X.
The other part that’s essential for your budget gaming PC, of course is a good GPU, so make sure you check out our guide to the best graphics card to find the option that’s right for you. The cheapest GPU we currently recommend is the AMD Radeon RX 7600, which currently goes for around $269 and offers decent 1080p gaming performance.