$750 'Back to School' PC Build Guide (2021)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 ก.พ. 2025
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It's time to build another PC! This one's for the folks headed back to school. Strict budget. No excessive bling or RGB. Hope you enjoy!
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🛠️ PC parts list:
Ryzen 5 3600 (used): ebay.us/ymulK1
ASUS TUF B550M-Plus: geni.us/UOwjIkx
16GB Silicon Power Turbine DDR4: geni.us/PB3v
EVGA GTX 1060 SC 6GB (used): ebay.us/kiGQys
Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L: geni.us/7E2Vk
Kingston 240GB SSD: geni.us/Ayzhp
WD 1TB Blue HDD: geni.us/w5zn7U
EVGA 500W BR (used): geni.us/kYpu
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How to correctly wire front I/O: • How To Wire Front Pane...
PSU cables explained: • All Power Supply Cable...
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Neewer LED Lighting Kit: geni.us/9VTXr0
Audio-Technica AT2035: geni.us/xvQc
Yamaha MG10XU Mixer: geni.us/d4VvGM
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#BackToSchool #GamingPC
Something that I eventually learned at university is that some departments throw out an insane amount of “somewhat” usable computers (I say somewhat because some of them are pretty good). If you’re smart, with a bit of luck you’ll end up with back to school PCs for yourself and your friends too
My htpc has an i7-3770, 16gb of ram, a gtx 980 ti, 700w psu, 240gb ssd and 500gb hdd in it and aside from the case, psu and the gpu the rest of the components cost me 8 bucks. Perfectly good optiplex 7010 from the thrift store and all that was wrong with it was a dead power supply.
@@patrickmcgovern4004 before the pandemic I had a really good deal. A Ryzen 3400G + mobo for €80. And a rx 580 for €100
@@user-ke7mx3vk7k where did u get it from
@@Nathan-pb2pq second hand market and friends
Schools don’t give that stuff out for free. They might throw it away and you get lucky and find it in a trash but if they see you tryna take it you will be expelled for stealing from the city. Good luck
You forgot to drill extra ventilation holes to the front panel like Steve did. :)
It's a different case
@@seanmcgee6766 I'm pretty sure the front is basically the same on both cases
@@bigloglog isn't the PSU mounted on the front with the fullsize case?
I don't think that's necessary for 1060
@@ItsNotFrey Yeah but both have equaly bad airflow though. But in a lower end build like that it really dont matter. Just thought that it would be funny to point it out. :)
I just love watching builds like this, it's a bit more interesting to me then an insanely expensive one. I actually remember using your videos, as well as a few other channels, to build mine around March of last year. I was actually able to get a Ryzen 5600X the other day and it runs like a dream. Thanks for these kinds of videos.
This PC is awfully familiar to my original PC build over 4yrs ago, with the R5 1600 and a GTX1060. Now I have an ITX PC with a 5600x and a 3080.
Always love seeing your builds.
We were in need of one.
Shocking how close this build is to my own.
I now finally know what your pc specs are! :P
pretty similar specs to mine too. But I have a 480GB SSD and I run an i7 7700 instead.
@@robertsteel3563
With the 3600/1060 6gb it's fairly similar to my own which is:
NZXT H510 Black/Red
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 (6c/12t)(7nm)
XFX Radeon RX 580 8GB GTS Black Edition
16GB Trident Z Neo 3600MHz CL16 DDR4
ASUS TUF Gaming B550M Plus
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Black Edition
High Power (HP1-J600GD-F12S)
(600W PSU 80 Plus Gold)
500GB 970 Samsung Evo Plus NVMe
240GB WD Green SATA Drive
2TB WD Blue HDD
Asia Horse Cable Extention
(Red & Black)
@@sig3ldunc4nI
Pretty nice build mate and your CPU still has a lot of GPU it can upgrade to. I replaced my 1060 6GB last spring because it was just starting to fall off the cliff in performance due to it's 6 chip memory config, your RX580 still keeps ploughing on like a trooper with it's 8 memory chip set-up I believe that the 580 and the 1080ti are the standout products of recent times. I stuck a 2060Super in my R7 1700 build and I can tweak that to a nice balance easy enough but most of the time I run it on stock speeds just with XMP enabled. If SFFX takes off that'll also help out I think.
@@darthwiizius Thanks buddy its my first pc I've built myself. Have to admit it came together quite nicely. I've spent the past year researching and learning how they work top to bottom. I really enjoy pc building and look forward to my next. I got these parts just as the shortage started to kick off so I went with the very best price to performance to get me by until things settle down. Couldn't agree more the 8gb of memory has saved this card over the years luckily my card was brand new with a full 3 year warrenty. Should do the trick just long enough. (At least I hope) I'll most likely bump up to the 5800x and a 6700XT when I can.
I’ve built maybe 30 pcs in 2 years but I still like watching good build guides 👍
Hey same here! I love seeing what people are building. That being said I hate this case (bad building experiences!) and hate seeing people build in it 😂
When I watch these videos. It's like as if School never ended and instead GOT GOOD!
I rank Mr Salazar, Teacher extraordinaire 10/10 would recommend. Great topics, never gives homework.
@@GregSalazar oof
@@ssm840 Why don't you mind your own bloody business mate?
@@ssm840 uhh I don’t remember seeing that! But it must be your belief.
I know it's kinda redundant for the 90% of us that already have a good idea of how this thing should perform, but it'd be cool to see some gaming benchmarks at the end for those who maybe don't know(or people like me that just like watching it lol.)
nice build greg the 1060 still a competent card even today :)
@@davidmurphy563 there is no ti. Maybe just a oc edition but there is no ti version
@@davidmurphy563 there isn't a ti variant, there is a 6gb version instead of the 3gb version.
@@jaredbesanceney1 lol
@@jaredbesanceney1 Yeah just grab the 6gb version
I've been stuck with one for a long time and it's nice and all but is chugs with VR :(
I always loved the "No Keyboard Detected, Press F1 to continue" or similar messages you get in BIOS.
It's amazing that you balanced the talking and PC building, one of the best PC build videos I've ever seen.
I love how you explain all the choices you make. For an experienced builder it may seem like common sense. but for the most part if someone is watching a "budget build back to school" video they may be less experienced. My daughters were able to watch this and keep up. Bravo!!
I'd recommend not connecting any other drives than the one you're installing your operating system on until after you're done with the process. I've had the boot sector of the OS installed on the HDD with the OS itself being on an SSD on a previous computer. Didn't realize that until the HDD went tits up, which wasn't exactly a fun way to notice that's a thing that can happen. Not saying that the situation couldn't have been salvaged (don't honestly know, I'm just decent-ish with computers, not an expert), but in my case I lost both my mass storage stuff AND had to reinstall Windows.
I've installed Windows dozens of times with multiple drives connected and never heard of this. As long as you're selecting the correct boot device to begin with for installation, I'm not sure how this can happen.
Love this build. Well done, Greg!
The Verge, this is how you do a pc build tutorial btw.
Thank you sm for this im a highschoop student and i was so nervous cause idk how to do so i do know now and it help me alot watching this video my nervousness just gone watching this thank you thank you sm
I love my B550M plus (WiFi), all the features I needed for my build.
Thank you so much for this video. Was a little disappointed with austins video on the same subject because he went ITX and had RGB when I wanted something more like this.
I have this case. To be honest it's an oven - very little airflow due to the amount of metal (those holes are tiny and there are nowhere near enough of them).
In the end I fixed it by cutting 2 x 114mm holes in the case - one in the bottom so that a 120mm fan can feed air to the GPU and one in the rear so my 120mm AIO has uninterrupted airflow outwards. I also have 2x140mm fans in the front as intake and 2x120mm fans in the top as exhaust.
That solved all the issues I was having with case temps. Ryzen 5800X3D, RTX 3080. For a lower-end setup this case would be fine without any modifications.
Mom: Why do you need $1,500 RTX 3090 GPU in your school computer?
Me: Umm... Zoom recently got raytracing...
As a q300l owner, I would recommend anyone thinking of getting this case to get additional fans for intake and exhaust. The mesh panels on the case are not that effective so the airflow can get hot real quick.
as a former Cooler Master Q300L case, just look for another case.
the case becomes very hot very quickly
@@zarlan_ yep looking into a new matx case however not alot that look nice
@@gwm-btdbattlesagar.ioandmo9988 fractal design define c is what I went for. No rgb is a-okay for me
I love your vids Greg, even though I work building and fixing PCs I enjoy the way you approach your videos, pretty clear and straight forward for new user, keep up the good work! You're killing it
Seeing Greg commenting under Doug Demuro’s video(s) and referencing him at the beginning of this video is cool as hell. Two of my completely different hobbies being linked together lol
Great build Greg, a college student will love it good luck everyone.
Amazing how much has changed for budget builds in just two short years.
Another fine job. A solid and capable build with room to upgrade. Very clean and thorough advice.
Greg: Channels inner Doug
Also Greg: Doesn't wear at least two shirts at once
THIS...
I dont even know why i watched this video...
I already know how to build a pc
I've moved my activated boot drive, to a new MOBO and CPU and it still worked flawlessly.
Did you switch from intel to ryzen or the other way around?
@@rileyg8265 Good point, I started with Intel.
i have the same case, and ssd, but everything else is different and better. Im jealous.
I really like that case. I built my daughter's gaming PC in it and it turned out awesome! She running a Ryzen 7 2700, 16gb Oloy 3000mhz ram on a b450 board, with a gtx 970. Works awesome!
Quick tip for all: disconnect the slower hard drive when installing windows. win likes to spread sometimes to all drives that are connected.
I just came back to this video because I'm using this case to build my kid's first gaming PC. FYI, I am adding some BeQuiet fans. Let them know sponsoring you works! lol
Here in Germany, OEM keys can't be locked to your hardware. You can happily swap parts and migrate your drive to a totally new system.
"Any DDR4 kit will do", for as long as you don't chop off your fingers while opening the package :D
I know the airflow in the case is isn't great... but I'm still interested in building a budget, lower budget, system in it. I kinda' like how they set it up to run vertical or horizontal.
The case is fine i have a 2400g build in one new heat issue at all i feel a cool breeze from the exhaust
@@edbeagle7929 I imagine it's fine for lower end hardware. But the issues will show up quick if you start to venture into the mid range. In all fairness, a 2400G isn't putting out much heat.
@@TheGameBench most pc build are not high end monsters and the build greg made would be fine in that case. My gaming machine i5 9600 2060 super would be fine in that case
@@edbeagle7929 You're right, not a lot of people have high end builds, and this would be a silly case for a high end build based on price alone... but I never mentioned high end. I said approaching a mid level build. If you watch Gamers Nexus's review of the mid-ATX version of this case, you'll see what I mean. Their case testing hardware isn't even that impressive... a 6700K and a GTX 1080. Not even mid level hardware at this point. And the case showed it deficiencies. Mostly the amount of material on the front and rear panels that block airflow.
@@TheGameBench i agree but for a 50 dollar case and some cheap 3 pack fans it will work for most gaming machines
Kid: "Mom I need a new PC for School, it's required."
Mom: "Ok which one do you need?"
Kid: "This one should be fine."
Mom: "What is a R T X Three Thousand and Ninety"
Kid: "Oh that is the rating the schools give it, the higher the more I will learn"
lmao!!! love it!!
My momma would be like.... "nah by your own damn 3090, if I dont get one, you dont get one" ive sucked my whole household into gaming on pc and now we have 6 pc's in the house lol
I wish
"Oh what's that thing called Threadripper?"
"I need it to run zoom mom."
"What are 32 cores?"
"That means it can handle a zoom meeting with up to 32 people in it. I need at least 20 cores as my class consists of 20 people."
@@QHoney_games but mom i need the 32 cores to get to class faster
"inner Doug" - love it!!!
Clean and simple! As always! Nice work, Greg ^^
Greg: "Back to school guide"
Also greg: 1tb hdd for steam library
i dont see whats wrong with a 1tb hdd
1tb hard drives cost very little, if anything he could've spent another 20 dollars for a sata ssd instead which would be significantly faster
For **Homework**
@@duskmanepokemon4943 and you can fit 1tb of your *homework*
@@yomano9146 still not enough for some people lol
still better than my main and only laptop lol, great video man
I think it would be a good idea to give some time at the end of the video for help with troubleshooting with basic problems people have with a new build, such as front io cables installed incorrectly, or something.
the hard drive installation steps really helped me.....i cant find it anywhere and i was stuck...
with my hard drive dangling....ur video helped me figure out that the groves at the bottom needs to be in play and i have to find out the right configuration for the hard drive bracket and the hard drive so that groves can support the HD....
8:00 I had no idea EVGA sold refurbished Power supplies. There was a time where I just needed an extra one to test components and basically just shilled out on a fully priced new one, thinking 'Maybe I will use it later.' But that is super useful! Thank you, Greg!
Greg, why don't you ever end your build vids with benchmarks to show the performance of the build?
I want to see how Tarkov would run on this build
@@JaiPritchett exact game that I’m also interested in lmao
yeah but could it run crysis
i dont think so but i wanna see it blue screen
The q300L is such an easy case to build in, bought it for my own pc aswell😅
I know I roasted this man’s Lian Li build but he knows what he’s doing. I was just projecting what I would have done onto his build which was unfair. I like his videos
hope the market recovers soon, this is more expensive than my build in december with a 2060 O.O (got a lot of deals though and i'm not sure if counting my microsoft store ssd as free or not, i had lots of bing rewards points)
Great video for first timers. Definitely sharing this with some friends looking to break into it.
Great vid man, this reminds me of how i explain things to a new user whom i build pc's for...which is awesome. Cheers! Keep it up.
Nice!
Finally i can carry this desktop in school and show off my friends
Man,that Pixio portable monitor looks quite useful!!!! I really need to get one of those for those servers in crazy MDF’s….
Love this build.Nice size footprint and power for work!
I love your channel so much I click like before watching and Don't skip ads.
Amazing build so far! Good pointing out using ssd as main. It astounds me the amount of people who neglect that.. Ever think of doing a 3060/3060ti + 5600x build? I hear it's a powerhouse of a machine for the price
An 11400f or 11400 would be a better price for performance
@@themightypizzadevourer6018 true
@@themightypizzadevourer6018 im running a 10400F and am using a friends 2080 until i can find a gpu. Max cpu usage ive seen at 1440p Ultra in Borderlands 3 is 61%, meaning even then 10400f for $150 is even better value/performance than any of said cpu lol.
People overlook and dont care for the locked i5 variants because well...they're locked ig. What they dont realize though, is even the unlocked i5-xx600k skew when *overclocked is only like a 10fps increase over the locked skew most of the time
Im pretty sure even Randomgaminginhd and maybe a few other smallish sized tech channels run a xx400 cpu, with a high-ish end gpu. Ive even heard of a few people still running a 4790k close to 5ghz with a 3070 and 2080 ti and it still being perfectly capable for 1440p gaming
@@themightypizzadevourer6018 a 10400f would probably be better as the 10th Gen CPUs outclass the 11gen.
I did a 5600X/1080Ti build for someone with very similar performance under $1000 and its really awesome
11:19 Dude thats what I call a good job of cables. Great
Wow. This case isn't bad. Might make another PC with this case as a media center.
imagine showing this to your mom and she says "here is a 5 year old laptop with 4 broken keys that i saw on wish for 10 dollars! who knew these were so cheap!"
I think it would be interesting if you can include some gaming benchmarks with thermals.
Also in PCDC series it is something that I feel like is missing, you can test thermals before and after cleaning.
Maybe thats something that will took you some extra time but I really feel like thats missing.
Love your vids, keep up the good work! :D
Also sorry if I made some grammar mistakes. (English is not my native language)
It's not his pc , so I'm pretty sure the owner would like him not to do that for privacy reasons.
Gotta love a good old 'back to school' GAMING PC
The OEM keys only lock to the motherboard. I got one from SCDKEYs when I built my PC and I have switched my GPU out for a new one with no issues.
Thanks! Didn't know that!
Thats a clean build man nice job
Great guide, Greg!
I dont understand how people can dislike this video.
I managed to put together a ryzen system for 400 euros. R5 2600X, 1060 3g (used), 16gb g.skill 3200 cl16, Seasonic 500w 80+ gold (used), 120gb ssd, 500gb hdd (used), deepcool matrexx 30, Gigabyte A320 UD. I'd recommend taking a look at the used market, because sometimes you can just find really good deals.
I don't often watch Greg, but I built a PC on august 2nd that used that exact motherboard! I was surprised to see it here, given that I made a $1800 build compared to his $750 build.
This is actually very close to the build I made for a friend a year or two ago. I gave her that case, nvme drive, large hdd, aio, 2600x, a b450 mobo, and a 1060 6g. Back when it was a total of like $500 for the whole build. I think I ended up spending like $300 for the parts since I had some already and I managed to find a 1060 on ebay that was "broken for parts" for like $40 and I installed it into a system and it worked flawlessly, even with an OC.
Just built a very similar pc for my girlfriend for her schooling. Instead got the 3gb version of the 1060 and spent more on a nice nvme Drive and better case and power supply. Looks fantastic and plays games really well still at 1080p.
Not encouraging anyone, but with a little bit of command block you can disable the Windows water mark, if it drives you mad that's an option. But you can also pay too 😉
Nicely done video. Nice build. Thanks for making this for all of us to learn from.
You and Dawid showing the 1060 off haha. Great card I used in my wife’s itx build
I have a GTX 1060 6GB and it is absolutely enough for FullHD Gaming. I also have an i7 3770k and was looking to upgrade it for a Ryzen 5 3600, but used prices are f* up since the 3000 Series. They want to much money for the 3600.
This PC will handle everything quiet smoothly. Work, Gaming, everything. A good PC for everyone.
that’s a crazy build for 750
Man, the amount of master pieces you have hanging up on your wall. I'm jealous
Amazing video great build
Great walkthrough greg..!
This sunday I made a "budget" 350$ with 3200g ( my 1st ever ) and so happy !!
Fantastic video, I'm going to show this to my friend who is scared of building a pc
Had a mini pc from AliExpress with a Windows 10 Pro key and used that key on my main desktop pc when it was build. It works like how it should be and it was cheap to from the same seller.
Now that mini pc runs Windows 10 Home and it also activated no problem somehow.
Hi Greg, have a good day today.
Good video
Thanks for watching!
If anyone can’t find a GTX 1060 6gb at a reasonable price in this state of PC part prices, you can still find a GTX 1650/OC/super for around the same price as a 1060 and it’ll be far better in terms of gaming experience and it’s newer.
In AUS, people on Facebook marketplace have actually priced 1650 supers around the same as a 1060, and usually a 1060 will be priced higher so finding a 1650 is generally a better option if it’s priced similar or lower.
Very good PC Build Guide! 👍
Should really have gone with the NR200. Such a small price difference for a huge difference in looks and performance.
Nice clean build
Well, I just so happened to need a Win10 key so used your link. Video was quite entertaining as well.
when his back to school build is better then my gaming pc
I love your video greg ❤
This is very close to the exact build I made for my living room PC
Add a Microsoft Account after activating your windows key(or before) to bind that key to your Microsoft account, so when you replace a major component, just re-login to Microsoft account, manage account, then your pc name should be under "Devices", remove and/or replace as needed. No need to buy again.
After watching this vid, I have more self esteem in my PC
Nice I'll gonna send this video to my mom
I would have gone with a Cooler Master MB-311L or a Deepcool Matrexx 40. Both are rather cheap cases and have way better airflow that the disaster that the Q300L is.
But then again, i guess the Q300L is good enough for a power-efficient build like this.
had my mom buy a Aorus rtx 3060 from belgium and now its just sitting there cause in waiting to buy the rest of the parts
I loved the Doug demuro reference 😂
the Kingston A400 SATA SSDs are very good and also very reliable. It's always nice to see these in build guides. although here in the UK 1TB Crucial NVMe drives went on offer for £53 each.
avoid that case for High end parts, Airflow is pretty much nonexistent. I regret purchasing one now that I have a 3070 Ti, damn thing overheats like mad in there
PC can be rally easy if you want. I have vertical gpu riser 7 fans AIO radiator and rgb cables from my PC case go for desk under glow
Only 1TB for a Steam library?
You've got more self-control during the Big Sales than I do. 🤣
idk why but that "nice" @3:10 has me cracking up lol
Hold up, how did you pull focus at 2:09 when both of your hands were busy? Do you have a camera person? Or magical powers?
@@GregSalazar That's insane... I guess it is a pretty expensive camera though, lol. Very cool
very nice and clean indeed :) your idol here from philippines
Also if you are a student there is a good chance your school offers free Windows 10 licenses. Definitely look into that.
Yes!! Got a free key from my university last year when I built my gaming PC. Definitely worth checking it out