I'm building my first gaming PC from scratch and haven't kept up with hardware since high school about 10 years ago. I mainly want to play older and mid-era games such as GTA IV and V, Red Dead Redemption 2, HITMAN World of Assassination, Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the Mafia and Assassin's Creed series, The Sims, and PS2-era games with visual enhancements or mods. I already have a 1080p gaming monitor and don't need 4K or maximum settings, but I do want smooth performance. Since component prices are high, I'm looking for the most cost-effective build using only new parts. Would an APU be suitable, or is there any reason to consider DDR3? What parts and platform would best meet these requirements?
3 Answers
A docked handheld can be convenient, but it isn’t automatically the better value at that price, especially if you want a desktop you can upgrade. Compare the total cost of the handheld, dock, storage, and accessories against a desktop with a real graphics card. For a new desktop, don’t cut costs on the power supply, and avoid choosing a hard drive just to save money—an SSD makes the whole system feel much faster. Depending on local prices, a new budget build may still cost more than expected, so checking sales and comparing complete systems could be worthwhile.
Avoid DDR3 for a new build. It’s far too old, and the compatible processors and motherboards won’t give you a sensible upgrade path. For these games, especially Red Dead Redemption 2 and HITMAN, you’ll want a dedicated graphics card rather than relying only on an integrated GPU. A budget AM4 system with a Ryzen 5 5500 or 5600, 16GB of DDR4, and a modern entry-level graphics card would be a much better starting point. Use a reputable 500–650W power supply and an SSD for the operating system and games.
The exact games matter because the older titles are easy to run, but RDR2, GTA V with mods, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance are considerably more demanding. I’d prioritize the graphics card and buy at least 16GB of RAM; 8GB will create problems in newer games. A basic B450 or B550 motherboard, Ryzen 5 processor, 16GB DDR4, and a graphics card with at least 8GB of VRAM would make more sense than an APU-only build. A 500GB or 1TB NVMe SSD is also preferable to using a hard drive as the main game drive.
I don’t have any parts to reuse, so I’m starting completely from zero. I’m also in Canada, where a used handheld such as a Z1 Extreme device can cost around $680 CAD, so I’m trying to compare that price with a proper desktop build.