**Story:**

I sold my gaming laptop at a STEAL price (33k for i5 12th gen + RTX 4050 Lenovo + warranty) because I was DAMN tired of dealing with CPU thermal throttling and lack of repair options in the future.

  
At 30k, I could resign and get a used RX 6600 or RTX 3050 + a weaker CPU system unit with a mediocre bronze efficiency PSU - all specs worse than the laptop I sold. (only God knows how bad a new PC would be at that price).

But I decided now was the best time to see how far you could min-max a budget PC.



So, I set aside a week of deal hunting time on FB marketplace, Carousell, and Shopee to build my ultimate PURE PRICE TO PERFORMANCE build.

  
**Parts list:**



* GPU: Nvidia RTX 4060 8GB - used FB marketplace - 13k
   * Mini Tangent: at the 10k budget, the RX 6600 is the best value 8GB GPU on the market with great raster performance and good TDP (132w).
   * HOWEVER, at 13k (30% higher cost), you could often snag an RTX 4060 which at base performs 30% better in raster performance average vs the 6600 (https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html)
   * Not to mention, the card is 2 years newer, has the obvious Nvidia productivity, streaming and CUDA advantages, has a FAR better upscaling algorithm (DLSS 4 + native hardware acceleration for DLSS 4.5), AND is actually the most power efficient GPU on the market (at its rated TDP).
   * I don't like RT for games, but the more that new games start forcing RT and hardware acceleration (Indiana Jones, DOOM, Alan Wake 2) - the gap in performance will only widen as time goes on. The RTX 4060 is 100% faster than the RX 6600 in RT performance benchmarks.
   * TL;DR: The RTX 4060 is ridiculously good value over the 6600 and most cards under 15k and ridiculously slept on.



*  CPU: Ryzen 5 5600x (with Cooler Master tower cooler) - used FB - 5k 
   * Same guy who sold me the 4060 offered it on the spot; super cool dude. Came with the cooler.



*  Mobo: Biostar A320MH - used from friend - 1k
   * No NVME slot and the ethernet port was busted so I had to buy adapters (about 400 total for nvme + ethernet adapter)
   * SUPPORTS PBO (no curve tho) AND OVERCLOCKING JUST FINE. Common misconception is that all A320 boards can't do it. Some can, esp with BIOS updates.
   * Not incredible quality or value, but for pure price to performance it's fire.



*  RAM: 2x8GB mismatched Samsung office DDR4 sticks - used FB - 1.9k total
   * This one was a GODSEND when I was tight on budget at the end of the build, I know it will take some hunting to get a price around 2-3k for 2x8, but they do still exist
   * The RAM was only rated at 2666 MHz CL 22 at stock and were mismatched models, however I was able to get a stable overclock to 3200 MHz CL 18 for ULTIMATE VALUE.



* PSU: Gigabyte P650G 80+ GOLD - used FB - 2.3k
   * Yes, yes, I know it's not B+ tier or new or anything, and I would recommend SAMA G series bnew for not much more, but I got it from the same guy who sold me the 4060 and I was rushing to build.
   * Still more than suffices my needs and for the price I didn't get a bronze PSU!



*  Case: Darkflash M305 + 2 case fans - bnew local - 1.5k
   * The case was the last thing I had to source, and honestly I didn't care too much about aesthetics as long as it was minimal enough. Looks pretty good though if I might say!



* Storage: NVMe 1TB - used from friend - 3k
   * Yeah, nothing much to say about this one. This was a steal, but really you could go with something smaller like 512GB for 2k or something.

  


  
**GRAND TOTAL: 28k ?!?!?!?**

~~(+500 for adapters and thermal paste + give or take 3k for travelling to Manila from province and lalamove shipping for some parts)~~

  
Yeah really proud of myself for this one... especially during the RAM crisis. And I think it's not too hard to replicate for under 30k with some compromises.

  
RETHINK HOW MUCH VALUE AND PERFORMANCE YOU'RE GETTING OUT OF WHAT YOU PAY FOR! I LOVE PC BUILDING!

  




What PC can you REALLY build with 30k? (and some patience)