The best $50 I ever spent on my PC didn't add a single frame to my games
Jasmine Mannan Apr 2, 2026, 7:31 AM EDT Jasmine is Software and PC Hardware Author at XDA with years of tech reporting experience ranging from AI chatbots right down to gaming…
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Is there a silver lining?
Right now, we are in a structural shortage that probably won't see relief for a good couple of years. As a result, so much consumer hardware feels like it's vanishing. With budget gaming PCs disappearing, Nvidia's Super Series potentially in jeopardy, and the Steam Machine currently in limbo too. The silver lining of all of this is that this crisis might force a software revolution where developers have to finally stop being lazy with RAM optimization. For now, the hardware we want is sitting on a shelf in a designer's drawer, waiting for the prices to drop to make it accessible for the averag
DRAM prices have tripled, and three products are paying the priceWhat's great about the AMD Ryzen 5 5500?
It's going to be all about the price right now. When a budget CPU falls to an even lower price, it's harder to ignore. This model features 6 cores, 12 threads, and a max boost that takes it up to 4.2GHz. It's built on AMD's AM4 platform, which means you can use DDR4 RAM and PCIe 3.0 SSDs. So, it's not the latest in terms of hardware and support, but it still provides enough power to do all the things you need to for everyday use. With that said, the upgrade path here is going to be a little more limited in the long run, but if this is the starting point, you still have a ton of CPU options to
This AMD Ryzen 5 chip proves you don't need to spend big for a solid budget buildTop stories
I built a DIY automation keypad for under $20, and it replaced three devices on my desk
Jasmine Mannan Mar 29, 2026, 8:00 PM EDT Jasmine is Software and PC Hardware Author at XDA with years of tech reporting experience ranging from AI chatbots right down to gaming…
The only PC components I never regret spending extra on
…An MBA in Marketing and the owner of a PC building business, he writes on PC hardware, technology, and Windows. When not scouring the web for ideas, he can be found building…
The best $25 I ever spent on my gaming PC made it dramatically quieter
…An MBA in Marketing and the owner of a PC building business, he writes on PC hardware, technology, and Windows. When not scouring the web for ideas, he can be found building…
I turned a cheap phone into a retro gaming console, and it outperforms my budget PC
…An older phone is pretty much guaranteed to be more cost-effective than even the most budget PC Don't buy a brand-new phone just for retro gaming When I built…
8GB VRAM GPUs are a trap, even if they're cheaper than the alternative
…An MBA in Marketing and the owner of a PC building business, he writes on PC hardware, technology, and Windows. When not scouring the web for ideas, he can be found building…
Throwing away your old network equipment is a fool’s errand - here’s what to do with it instead
…Schools, libraries, and community centers frequently operate on thin budgets and will sometimes accept working networking equipment. For students learning about networking or organizations trying to stretch limited IT resources, hardware that…
I stopped throwing out old hardware after discovering Proxmox
…But take a look at the Proxmox minimum requirements, and you’ll realize that this beast of a virtualization platform doesn’t need energy-guzzling hardware. I’ve used everything from budget…
This $70 mouse has all of the features of a $200 mouse and the battery lasts me three months
Jasmine Mannan Apr 18, 2026, 3:30 PM EDT Jasmine is Software and PC Hardware Author at XDA with years of tech reporting experience ranging from AI chatbots right down to gaming…
I spent $15 on my Wi-Fi setup and it outperformed a $200 router upgrade
…In order to take advantage of the better dBi, it might be time for you to invest in some better hardware. Picking up better antennas is a super budget-friendly way to…