Build Guide for Desktop PC for Roblox

Roblox is perhaps the most popular gaming platforms for kids. It is a sensation that is found in almost every home with children.

In fact, it has been reported that in U.S alone, 3 out of 4 kids between age 9 – 12 play Roblox. I am sure you would attest to this if you by any chance have children in your family too!

Sometimes, as an adult, it can get difficult to wrap your head around what the game is all about. Basically, Roblox is a platform where you play user-generated games.

So essentially, there are two modes: game-creation and playing. Game-creation is generally catered toward professionals / adults who can understand the aspect of world building and reading the countless Wikis on how to create a unique game.

The vast majority of the kids and players, however, just go and play the user-generated games instead.

The good news is that if your kid is pestering you to get a desktop PC for Roblox, you will not have to spend a fortune! Roblox is not a very demanding game. You can go for a highly budget gaming PC build for Roblox as it is a VERY light game.

In fact, if you are on a really tight budget, you could easily make a gaming PC for Roblox under $300 USD range!

What is Roblox in Brief?

Image: There is a huge repository of games you can play on the Roblox Platform

Again, if you are an adult struggling to understand why your kids are so hooked up to this gaming platform, then let me talk in brief about what this game is all about.

Roblox is a FREE gaming platform where you play user-generated games. There are lot of games already available that you can play. Think of the Roblox platform as similar to the Google Play Store on an Android Phone where you can download and play thousands of games.

Only here, in Roblox, the games are all played online since it allows your

The Roblox enthusiasts often refer to this game as the ultimate virtual universe since it allows you to not just create but play anything you can imagine.

For instance, there is a game called Adopt Me. This is one of the most popular games on Roblox at the moment. This is a game where you play the roles of either a parent who wants to adopt a child, or the role of a child to be adopted.

This is a game about caregiving, whereby you try to meet the needs of the adopted child.

Another popular game is Jailbreak. Here you get to play as either a Cop or a Criminal and basically try to win against the other side in various scenarios such as heists and raids.

There are also copies of traditional games that you can play on the Roblox platform. For instance Arsenal, is a Roblox version of Counter Strike.

Image: Arsenal, a Roblox game inspired by Counter Strike.

Here is a list of popular Roblox games at the moment.

You can download and install the game through the Roblox website. When you access the Roblox website, it will ask you create an account. Do so and then download and install the tame.

When you perform a fresh install, the platform will install two applications, Roblox Player and Roblox Studio

• Roblox Player: the primary launcher for playing Roblox games
• Roblox Studio: the launcher for the game creation mode.

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Game Creation Mode

The game has two modes:

• Game Creation
• Playing

Game creation mode allows the more advanced players to create games on the Roblox platform. The games mentioned earlier i.e Adopt Me and Jailbreak are example of games that have been created by users.

The game has its own complex engine as well as a vast library of information and knowledge base at the developer’s hub for how to create a game on Roblox.

The Game Creation Mode is more catered toward adults and professionals. In fact, you can even enroll yourself in a Roblox course if you are serious about building a game.

There are tons of courses out there that teach you how to code and design game in Roblox.

Minecraft vs Roblox

Another game that you must often hear about in tandem with Roblox is Minecraft.

Minecraft is another highly popular game enjoyed by both kids and adults. While there are similarities between the two, here is how the compare with each other

Roblox is Free

Minecraft is not Free. The Minecraft Java edition costs $26.95.

Roblox, on the other hand, is Free to play. However, it does have in-game currency which can be bought with real money.

The in-game currency, called Robux, can be used to customize your avatar, trade with other players , to create games and to upgrade your account to premium.

Roblox premium is a monthly subscription worth $4.99/month or 450 Robux/month. It adds several benefits which you can learn about here.

In addition to that, if you want to remove ads, you would need to spend money.

Game Mechanism

Minecraft is all about harvesting, exploring and crafting.

Roblox, on the other hand, has several games that you can play. There are certain games that can mimic the crafting and harvesting aspect of Minecraft, whereas, there are others that are completely different.

Social and MMO Aspect

Minecraft is generally intended to be played Solo. While there are servers and user-generated content on Minecraft that you can join, the real bulk of the game is based on the Solo experience.

Roblox, on the other hand, is a very social game. It often features large servers with many players playing at the same time. Fortunately, there are robust parental controls for controlling the content your kid can get exposed to.

Also Read:  PC Builds for Minecraft

Desktop PC for Roblox Build Guide

Roblox has very minimal system requirements. This is a game that can run on even a Potato PC. In all reality, the only important thing needed to play this game is a stable internet connection.

Before we delve into the right hardware for the game, let us look into what the official requirements have to say:

Official Roblox System Requirements

For any gaming PC builder, these specifications are laughable. So weak are the requirements for Roblox that literally anyone with a computer can play it no matter how old the PC is as long as you have a stable internet connection.

This is a blessing especially if you want to build a budget gaming PC for your kids.

In the following section we will discuss in depth about each and every component and also benchmark them for reference.

But the key point to take home from here is that the right PC for Roblox does not have to be expensive – in fact, it would be an ultra-budget machine, UNLESS, you are a creator or someone who wants to play the game at 4k or 8k resolution!

I. CPU Requirements for Roblox

According to the official requirements, mentioned above, any CPU with 1.6 GHz clock speed or higher from 2005 and beyond would do well for this game. This indicates that this is a very low demanding game.

With that said, let us look at some of the top of the line CPUs that were released in 2005 – 2008 and compare them with the CPUs that you can get today.

CPUs Released from 2005 – 2008 – For Reference

You cannot find these CPUs in the market, the following table is just for reference to give you an idea about what the game demands.

You should take particular notice of the MSRP or the Release Price to realize how expensive the processors were back then and how low their corresponding benchmark scores were compared to contemporary CPUs.

• Scores taken from CPUBenchMark.net

Current Gen CPUs for Roblox

Below we have mentioned the newer gen CPUs that you can get for your Roblox setup. You can compare these with the older CPUs mentioned above and see the difference between the release price and the benchmark scores.

From here you can see how far the CPUs have come since 2005 (the initial year Roblox recommends to find the CPU from in the official requirements).

What was once top of the line and cost $1500 USD in 2008, i.e the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775, cannot even compete with the weakest CPUs of today.

While different benchmarks would give you different results, the bottom line is that the entry-level processors today can compete with the high-end CPUs of 2005-2008.

Hence, essentially, if you are building a PC for Roblox today, you will go for the ultra-budget or the entry level CPUs.

The reasons CPUs today are so much better, despite not drastically improving on the clockspeed, is because, the CPUs today use a much better architecture.

Clockspeed is just one of many important aspects that determine the performance of the processor. A higher clockspeed does not always mean better performance. The architecture and the transistor size plays a huge role.

Take for instance the Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9775 which had a transistor size of 45 nm. Processors today, such as the AMD Ryzen 3 3300X, have transistors size of mere 7 nm! The smaller the transistors, the more efficient the CPU is.

Old and New CPUs for Recommended for Roblox Compared

Here is how the older and the newer processors compare:

Note that the price next to each CPU is the initial release price (it is not the market price).

This should help you visual how far the CPUS have come. Therefore, when roblox suggests a CPu from 2005 onward, know that even the mot powerful of the CPUs from 2005-2008 cannot compete with the current gen entry-level CPUs.

The Emphasis is on the Single Core Performance

Roblox is predominantly a single core game. Meaning, it would not benefit much from a CPU with many cores.

There are many forums that have discussed this topic. But According to one of the Roblox Staff on one of the forums:

Roblox wasn’t entirely designed for maximum available core utilization. We do some threading (e.g. rendering), but the worst offender – the scripts can’t be parallelized due to everything being accessible from anywhere. – Maxvee – Devforum.roblox.com

What this basically says is that the game is designed for a single thread mostly – each CPU core represents one thread by default or two-threads if it has multi threading enabled.

Long story short, if you are a Roblox Player, and if you are PARTICULARLY a Roblox Game Creator, try to aim for a CPU with best single core performance.

In our opinion the AMD Ryzen 3 3300X ($120) has an excellent value and single core performance beating even the mid range AMD Ryzen 5 3600 in single core benchmarks ($199).

Hence if you are a Game Creator and want to go for an economical CPU, then this is highly recommended.

For normal users and for kids who just want to play the game, AMD Ryzen 3 3300X is not recommended because it does not feature an integrated graphics card. Instead, the AMD APUs like the AMD Ryzen 3 3200G or Intel processors would do just fine.

I Recommend CPUs with an Integrated Graphics Card

There are generally two types of processors out there: those with an integrated graphics card and those without it.

Most of the Intel processors have an integrated graphics card. However, when it comes to AMD, most mainstream CPUs do not have an iGPU.

The ones that do are called Accelerated Processing Units or APUs and these have the ‘G’ Suffix in their model name such as the AMD Athlon 3000G.

AMD APUs have the powerful Vega iGPU. These are generally much better than the Intel CPU with their UHD 630 or UHD 750 graphics cards.

The AMD mainstream CPUs, or CPUs without an integrated graphics card, on the other hand, do not have the ‘G’ Suffix such as the AMD Ryzen 3 3100 and AMD Ryzen 3 3300X.

When it comes to sheer CPU performance, the mainstream AMD CPUs are excellent, as can be seen in the benchmarks above.

However, with the mainstream AMD CPUs, you will have to invest in a dedicated GPU separately adding to the extra cost of your PC build for Roblox.

Roblox can perform fairly well with an integrated graphics card. And if you want great integrated GPUs for Roblox, then AMD APUs are recommended.

We cover the Roblox graphics card requirement in detail in the next section.

Image: CPUs without iGPU are higher performing, but you need a dedicated graphics card to connect a display or play Roblox. This can add to the cost of your Roblox PC build.

Also Read: Do Motherboards have Integrated Graphics?

What About a Ryzen 5 or an Intel Core i5 Processor?

In my opinion a Ryzen 5 or an Intel Core i5 processor can be more than just an overkill for Roblox. Hence, I would not recommend investing in something that you would certainly not use nearly to full potential.

II. Graphics Card Requirements for Roblox

Similar to the CPU requirements. Roblox requires a minimal or an entry level graphics card.

In fact, the most recommended graphics cards for Roblox, in our opinion, are the newer integrated graphics cards. These can allow you to save up incredibly on on your overall gaming PC.

In any case, let us look at some what the official requirements have to say:

• 3 years old integrated GPU
• or 5 years old dedicated GPU
• Must have DirectX 10 or higher support

3 Years Old Integrated GPU Benchmarks

The beauty of Roblox is that it is a game that can be easily enjoyed on an integrated graphics card.

In general, AMD APUs have a better integrated graphics card compared to the Intel CPUs.

Intel has the UHD series such as UHD 630 and UHD 750 iGPU. AMD, on the other hand, has the VEGA series GPUs such as the Vega 3 and Vega 8.

As mentioned earlier, while most Intel CPUs come with an integrated GPU, when it comes to AMD only a select few with the ‘G’ suffix such as the AMD Ryzen 3 3200G APUs, offer an iGPU.

Integrated GPUs Compared

The following are the popular contemporary integrated GPUs:

We recommend Intel UHD 630 as the bear minimum. Roblox performs just right with medium graphics settings on this iGPU.

Roblox Performance on Intel UHD 630 iGPU

Roblox just barely performs well on the Intel UHD 630 which is found on many Intel CPUs from 10th gen and lower.

You will have to tweak the graphics settings in order to get the right frames per second.

The performance, however, does depend upon the game you play in Roblox, the number of players in the map, and the complexity of the map.

In any case, I tested the FPS on Intel UHD 630 on Arsenal, and here are the results at 1920×1080 resolution.

Arsenal on Intel UHD 630 Graphics Settings 1/10

Image: Roblox Arsenal at graphics settings 1/10 on Intel UHD 630.

The game performs perfectly well on the lowest graphics settings. It will give you a flawless 60 FPS experience.

Arsenal on Intel UHD 630 Graphics Settings 5/10

Image: Roblox Arsenal at graphics settings 5/10 – 45 FPS on Intel UHD 630.

Image: Roblox Arsenal at graphics settings 5/10 – 33 FPS on Intel UHD 630.

At a graphic settings of 5, the Intel UHD 630 can perform good enough and can maintain a decent 40 – 45 FPS. However, it CAN occasionally drop below to low 30s depending upon how intensive the game is.

Arsenal on Intel UHD 630 Graphics Settings 10/10

Image: Roblox Arsenal at high settings 10/10 – 18 FPS on Intel UHD 630.

At the high settings of 10/10, the game was literally unplayable with the FPS dropping to between 15-20 FPS all the time.

So in short, if you are okay with playing at low-medium graphics, then a PC build for Roblox with Intel UHD 630 should suffice.

However, if you want to play on high graphics and get a high frame rate as well, then we recommend you go with Vega 8, Vega 11 or a better dedicated GPU instead.

Again, the FPS you get depends on which Roblox game you play and how intensive the action in the game is!

5 Years Old Dedicated Graphics Card Benchmarks

“Dedicated” GPU is an umbrella term. The thing is, every GPU series has lower end, mid and high end GPUs.

For instance, five years ago the popular NVIDIA Dedicated graphics card series was the GeForce 900 series.

This series featured entry level GPUs such as the GeForce GT 945 all the way to GeForce GTX TITAN X.

Now when it comes to Roblox, an entry level dedicated GPU should more than suffice. High end dedicated GPUs from 5 years ago are MORE THAN JUST AND OVERKILL for Roblox.

Here is how different dedicated graphics cards, new and old, compare with each other in terms of performance.

As you can see, the dedicated GPUs released in the last five years vary tremendously in terms of their benchmark scores.

We recommend that you go for a graphics card that hovers in the upper range of the Entry-Level graphics card. So in other words, we recommend the likes of NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 or the AMD Radeon RX 550 for playing Roblox at high graphics with respectable frame rates.

Image: The NVIDIA RTX 3080Ti is just for reference : ).

GPU for Playing Roblox at 4K Graphics

If you are a Game Creator and are looking to build a beefier PC that can handle Roblox with ease at very high resolution such as 4k and allow you to play other AAA titles at respectable frame rates as well, then our RECOMMENDED GPUs are the Lower-Mid range dedicated graphics card such as the AMD Radeon RX 560 or the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050.

4K resolution and high graphics can get a bit taxing for even a respectable GPU.

The following image shows Roblox Arsenal being played on 3840 x 2160 (4k) on Nvidia GTX 1050Ti at full 10/10 graphics. While the game mostly maintained 60 FPS, there were times that it would drop to 45 FPS as well, particularly when the game got intense.

Image: Roblox Arsenal at graphics settings 10/10 – 47 FPS on NVIDIA GTX 1050Ti.

It is highly unlikey that you want to build a 4K PC for a game like Roblox, unless if you are a creator.

If you are building a desktop computer for Roblox for your kids, any basic integrated or dedicated GPU would do just fine for playing the game at 60 FPS on high settings on 1920×1080.

III. RAM Requirements

The official RAM requirements for Roblox are 1 GB.

It is hard to find any computer these days that does not feature 4 GB DDR4 RAM, let alone only 1 GB.

In fact, it is almost impossible to find a physical DDR4 RAM stick with a size lower than 4 GB.

Hence, if you are building a PC for Roblox today, you will atleast have a 4 GB DDR4 RAM in your system anyways, which is far greater than the official requirements of 1 GB.

Does RAM Improve Roblox Performance?

If you are having issues with maintaining good frame rates despite having a large amount of RAM, then RAM is NOT to be blamed here.

How smooth Roblox works for you depends upon CPU and the GPU.

These are the two primary components that you should pay attention to.

RAM is great if you are multitasking. So for instance, if you have stuff running in the background like a screen capturing software, twitch chat, and other stuff running simultanoeusly than you may need a higher RAM.

But for simply playing the game, then you will see little to no difference with a higher amount of RAM.

IV. Hard Drive Requirements

Roblox requires a ridiculously low 20 MB of storage space.

The hard drive requirements are low because you only need to install the game client. The actual games are all played online.

In other words, if you want to play any Roblox game, you do not have to download and install them on your PC.

Should You go for SSD or HDD for Roblox?

Do not worry too much about getting an SSD for Roblox.

Again, since Roblox is an online gaming platform, the type of hard drive you have does not matter at all.

Keep things simple and get your self a normal hard disk drive especially if you want to build a computer as cheap as possible.

On the other hand, if you have budget to spare, you could potentially look into an SSD for the rest of the stuff that you would do on your PC, but as far as Roblox goes, it will have not effect on the performance.

Again, storage should be the least of your concerns, since 20 MB of space could even be found on computers three decades old!

V. Recommended Motherboard for Roblox

Just as is the case with all the other components, for motherboard we also recommend that you go for an affordable model .

There are many factors that determine the overall cost of the motherboard and we review them here in relation to Roblox:

Form Factor for Roblox

Source: Wikipedia

There are basically 3 common motherboard form factors that you can find for a desktop computer:

1. ATX – 12 x 9.6 inches
2. Micro-ATX – 9.6 x 9.6 inches
3. Mini-ITX – 6.7 x 6.7 inches

ATX

The ATX form factor is the largest and thus costs higher. It has a higher number of expansion ports and is generally for those who have a lot of components to add.

For a Desktop for Roblox we do not recommend this, especially for a budget build.

Micro ATX

This is the most recommended motherboard size for roblox. The cheapest motherboards often feature this form factor. They have a decent amount of expansion slots.

Mini-ITX

These are the smallest of the motherboards. However, due to their compact form factor, they are not the cheapest.

But if you are an enthusiast who want to build a beautiful mini Roblox gaming PC, then this is a form factor you can look into.

Note that this form factor only has a single PCIe x16 slot!

Also Read: Are All Motherboards the Same Size?

Choice of Chipset

Another very important consideration is the choice of chipset.

The chipset you have determins myriad of factors including:

• The CPU socket i.e AM4, LGA1200, LGA1151 etc
• Can you overclock or not
• The PCIe version your PC will conform to
• The amount of PCIe lanes
• The amount of PCIe expansion slots
• The type and amount of ports
• Ability to install multiple graphics cards
• The size of VRMs

Both Intel and AMD have different chipset series catering to different budget ranges.

AMD Motherboard Chipsets:

The following are the common AMD chipsets

• A Series: i.e A520, this is the chipset series for entry level motherboards.
• B Series: i.e B550, for mid range and most staple gaming pc builds.
• X Series: i.e X570, for high end builds

For Roblox AMD PC build we mostly recommend the A series chipset i.e the A320 or the A520 for most budget builds.

If you want to build an enthusiast PC for roblox, then you can look into the B550 chipset with its PCIe version 4.0, more expansion slots, overclocking ability and a higher number of USB 3.2 ports.

Intel Motherboard Chipsets:

• B Series: i.e B560, for entry level builds
• H Series: i.e H510 for mid range builds
• Z Series: i.e Z590, for high end builds

For Roblox Intel PC Build, we recommend the basic H series for most staple builds.

But if you want something more robust for your overall build, then you can look into the B series.

Which is Better for Roblox, Intel or AMD?

In my opinion at the moment considering the range of the CPUs and the motherboards, AMD seems to be the better option.

Their affordable APUs with integrated graphics cards, such has the AMD Ryzen 3 3200G or the Ryzen 5 3400G, can literally save you from investing on a separate GPU.

In addition to that, the AMD motherboard chipsets are also more robust given the fact that the midrange AMD B550 chipset offers PCIe version 4.0 and overclocking yet the midrange Intel B560 does NOT offer overclocking.

Also Read: Does Motherboard Matter for Gaming?

VI. Operating System for Roblox

Roblox can run on many operating systems.

Unfortunately, at the moment, Linux operating system is not supported.

What Other Platforms Does the Game Support?

Roblox can be played on,

• Computer: Windows, Mac, Chromebooks
• Mobile Device: Android or iOS devices
• Xbox One

And the best part is that all these platforms are cross-compatible. Meaning if you have Roblox on your PC, you can play with your friend who has Roblox on an Android phone.

In addition to that, you can use your Roblox account on any of these devices.

Roblox App

As mentioned earlier, Roblox supports crossplay. In others, you can play both on your PC as well as via the mobile app. Your account would be accessible on both.

You can download the Roblox app from Google Play Store or iOS store. Like the PC game, the Roblox app is also very light and has a large collections of games that you can play.

VII. Roblox and Virtual Reality

The virtual reality world building has enabled a huge new dimension for the game with a large collection of VR games already available for you to play.

Does Roblox Support Virtual Reality Headsets?

Yes, Roblox does have direct support for two VR headsets at the moment only on Windows PCs, however:

• HTC Vive
• Oculus Rift

To enable the VR experience, you will have to toggle the VR Mode On through in-game settings of select games.

Is Roblox VR Supported on Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2 VR Headset?

At the moment there is no official direct support for these headsets. However, you can still play on these headsets via the Oculus Link Mode.

In this mode, the game will run on your PC and the PC will then send signals to the Oculus Quest VR Headset. In other words, the PC will work as proxy.

You will need to download and install the Oculus software on your PC.

More on this here.

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