The $500 prebuilt market is a tough one because often we’ll see builds that have $300-$400 worth of parts in there, but there’s usually a sacrifice made in the spec sheet that results in the whole thing not being worth it. Not today though. Semicolon Computers just graced us with a true $500 (ish) prebuilt that’s 100% worth it’s cost, and it can definitely play every single game in 1080p. Let’s take a closer look while we can, because this one is not going to last long.
Favorite Features
- CPU and GPU Combo - The Ryzen 5 2600 and GTX 1660Ti has been a proven mid range combination for several years now, but here in 2024 it’s now graduated to being a solid budget combo. Make no mistake, despite both of these parts being 3+ generations old, they can still deliver a solid 1080p gaming experience, provided you tweak the settings a bit. I highly doubt you’ll find a better combo than this inside a prebuilt around this price range.
- Montech Air 100 - This is one of my all-time favorite budget cases, and I personally use this to sell my own builds to this day. Not only is the quality great for the very low price, but it also comes with 4 preinstalled ARGB fans, so both the seller and buyer have complete control over how this build looks. As a seller, all you need to do is pack this thing with all-black components, and the aesthetics will be dialed in. This is exactly what Semicolon Computers has done.
- The Seller - I absolutely love when I see a seller capitalize on what’s currently working for them, as well as targeting a specific section of the market. Semicolon Computers is completely dialed in on delivering us these ultra budget builds, and they’ve sold a lot of them just like this one. You can also see in their sales history that they’re using the Montech Air 100 a fair bit, as well as the GTX 16 series GPUs. This tells me that their formula is dialed in, and it’s what the gamers want.
Price to Performance Value
As you can guess, the value of this build is off the charts. You absolutely will not find a truly valuable $500 prebuilt like this anywhere else on the internet right now, and this very well might be the best one available today. There’s also a decent upgrade path in a build like this, so it’s simply just a fantastic starting point for a PC gamer on a budget.
First Upgrades
We have a lot of areas to work with here, but since the seller didn’t list the motherboard model I’m not exactly sure what we’re capable of. For starters though, the weak point of this build is definitely the storage. Currently it’s rocking a 128GB SSD and a 1TB HDD, and I’d highly recommend the buyer upgrade this to a nice 1TB or 2TB NVMe drive as soon as they can. Afterwards, being on AM4 allows you to have a significant CPU upgrade path, but we can’t state for sure just how far you can take it without knowing the motherboard model. Also, feel free to throw some PSU cable extensions in there to hide the ketchup and mustard cables. 😊
Conclusion
Semicolon Computers is back with another banger budget prebuilt, and per usual, this one won’t last long. If you’re hunting for a super affordable prebuilt gaming PC, you can stop searching now. Pull the trigger on this one.
Note: This post may contain affiliate links that earn us a small commission at no extra charge to you. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
