[SOLVED] Advice on first PC build

[Halfabrain]

Hi guys,

I'm going to be building my first PC for my brother. This will primarily be used for gaming on common titles such as COD: Warzone, Fortnite and Rust etc. I have based the parts on my own research whilst trying to "future proof" on a £700-800 budget. I understand this is a low-mid tier PC so I'm not expecting to put 30-series cards in there but hopefully there would be scope for GPU upgrades in the future from the 1650S.

Any advice would be appreciated, I understand I need fans. Could anyone recommend some good cheap fans? I am also not 100% certain on the case, I would like a case that's easy to build in but also looks fairly good.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/LF4Vdm

 

[Lutfij]

Change the PSU to something more robust. Might I ask how soon the system will be purchased/built?

Might I ask what happened to this build?
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/thoughts-on-this-build.3602119

 

[Halfabrain]

Change the PSU to something more robust. Might I ask how soon the system will be purchased/built?

Might I ask what happened to this build?
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/thoughts-on-this-build.3602119

Okay, I will look into some better PSU options. The system will be purchased over the next month or so and built before Xmas. As it is my first time building I would like to ensure I leave as much time as possible to resolve any issues I might run in to.

That build didn't happen due to COVID-19 as prices inflated, stocks limited alongside the announcement of the new range of NVIDIA GPU's and AMD's CPU's. I also really wanted the X570 Tomahawk which at the time I posted wasn't released.
This is something I'm going to look into building and I thought a cheaper PC would be a better way to start.

This is just an entry PC for my brother so I'm looking for the most cost-efficient parts at a low price range.

 

[Allen_Walker]

if you need a cheap case with good airflow i recommend Corsair's 4000d Airflow around 80$

if the budget is realy low you can get the new Ryzen 3 3300x cheaper than the 5 3600 and almost same specs (price around 120$)

 

[Halfabrain]

if you need a cheap case with good airflow i recommend Corsair's 4000d Airflow around 80$

if the budget is realy low you can get the new Ryzen 3 3300x cheaper than the 5 3600 and almost same specs (price around 120$)

Thanks for the reply! It seems like people aren't a fan of the H510 case so I'll definitely check this case out.

Oh yes, I've just checked the specs between those and it is really close for around £60 cheaper so I am now leaning towards to 3300x

 

[Prad_Bitt]

Thanks for the reply! It seems like people aren't a fan of the H510 case so I'll definitely check this case out.

Oh yes, I've just checked the specs between those and it is really close for around £60 cheaper so I am now leaning towards to 3300x

Yeah, 4000D is good. I bought teh 275R 5 months ago, I'm regretting it a little because the 4000D is way better for the same price, and the 275R is pretty much the same as an H510. If you want future proofing, keep the 3600, otherwise 3300X isn't that bad, but it won't be long before recommended settings for games catch up to it. Also you don't need 650W, it's way too overkill. For anything under a 2070 Super, 550 is enough. Check the Corsair CX550 (not cx550m, non M is better)

 

[madmatt30]

Consider the 2600x, it will let you get a far better GPU in budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£138.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£74.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£52.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (£214.44 @ Amazon UK)
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£73.86 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £663.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-02 20:03 BST+0100

The mag force is a decent case and also has good preinstalled cooling, you won't need to add any more fans to it.

Edit - ignore the psu in there.

At those prices it makes no sense.

https://www.box.co.uk/Super-Flower-...qjdvncqcxYUQ68N6aaUUe9JjbBjtSEvxoC8YIQAvD_BwE

One of the best psu's around and currently at £80 (£85 with next day delivery)

Bought one myself the other day, ordered at 4pm delivered at 10.30am the next day.

I've never used Box before, they seem to be a great retailer based on my first buy.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

I'd wait a bit to see what comes of the Zen3 announcement on a week (Oct 8)

 

[Halfabrain]

Consider the 2600x, it will let you get a far better GPU in budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600X 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£138.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£74.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£52.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (£214.44 @ Amazon UK)
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£73.86 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £663.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-02 20:03 BST+0100

The mag force is a decent case and also has good preinstalled cooling, you won't need to add any more fans to it.

Edit - ignore the psu in there.

At those prices it makes no sense.

https://www.box.co.uk/Super-Flower-...qjdvncqcxYUQ68N6aaUUe9JjbBjtSEvxoC8YIQAvD_BwE

One of the best psu's around and currently at £80 (£85 with next day delivery)

Bought one myself the other day, ordered at 4pm delivered at 10.30am the next day.

I've never used Box before, they seem to be a great retailer based on my first buy.

I have looked at all of your recommendations and adjusted my part list as below:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£179.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (£99.95 @ AWD-IT)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£38.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (£214.44 @ Amazon UK)
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£69.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £713.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-04 03:34 BST+0100

I'm considering my options of using the 2600X along with the ASRock B450 Pro. Ideally, I would like to pair the ASRock B450 Pro with the 3600 but I've been looking at the compatibility and the MoBo will require a bios update out of the box. I don't have an old CPU which I could do this with.

Also, people have mentioned AMD are going to announce their 4th gen soon so maybe I should wait and see how the 2600x will hold up against these and against the 3600. I don't plan on buying a 4th gen as I am building a budget PC for my brother, I'm just trying to squeeze the budget as much as possible to increase longevity i.e. so that in the future he could just ask for a new GPU instead of having to upgrade several parts of his PC.

I switched out the PSU based on recommendations but I will definitely check that one you've linked out... Maybe for my own future build aswell!

If you had any final comments it would be much appreciated.

 

[Prad_Bitt]

I have looked at all of your recommendations and adjusted my part list as below:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£179.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (£99.95 @ AWD-IT)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£38.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (£214.44 @ Amazon UK)
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£69.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £713.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-04 03:34 BST+0100

I'm considering my options of using the 2600X along with the ASRock B450 Pro. Ideally, I would like to pair the ASRock B450 Pro with the 3600 but I've been looking at the compatibility and the MoBo will require a bios update out of the box. I don't have an old CPU which I could do this with.

Also, people have mentioned AMD are going to announce their 4th gen soon so maybe I should wait and see how the 2600x will hold up against these and against the 3600. I don't plan on buying a 4th gen as I am building a budget PC for my brother, I'm just trying to squeeze the budget as much as possible to increase longevity i.e. so that in the future he could just ask for a new GPU instead of having to upgrade several parts of his PC.

I switched out the PSU based on recommendations but I will definitely check that one you've linked out... Maybe for my own future build aswell!

If you had any final comments it would be much appreciated.

You could also look into the Ryzen 5 1600AF it's basically a cheaper 2600 with a gen1 Wraith Spire

 

[madmatt30]

I have looked at all of your recommendations and adjusted my part list as below:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£179.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (£99.95 @ AWD-IT)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£38.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda Compute 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (£214.44 @ Amazon UK)
Case: MSI MAG FORGE 100R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£69.98 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £713.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-04 03:34 BST+0100

I'm considering my options of using the 2600X along with the ASRock B450 Pro. Ideally, I would like to pair the ASRock B450 Pro with the 3600 but I've been looking at the compatibility and the MoBo will require a bios update out of the box. I don't have an old CPU which I could do this with.

Also, people have mentioned AMD are going to announce their 4th gen soon so maybe I should wait and see how the 2600x will hold up against these and against the 3600. I don't plan on buying a 4th gen as I am building a budget PC for my brother, I'm just trying to squeeze the budget as much as possible to increase longevity i.e. so that in the future he could just ask for a new GPU instead of having to upgrade several parts of his PC.

I switched out the PSU based on recommendations but I will definitely check that one you've linked out... Maybe for my own future build aswell!

If you had any final comments it would be much appreciated.

The issue here is you mentioned the word 'budget'.

In that respect the 2600x is a better buy imo irregardless of it being older and slightly weaker.

Its around 12% less powerful on multi core at the max, it costs 33% less, it also has a better stock cooler supplied.
It also doesn't suffer any of the rapid voltage and temp spikes that the ryzen 3*** does which tends to facilitate the need for an aftermarket cooler if you don't like whiney fan noise.

Don't get me wrong here, the 3600 is a great cpu but the 2*** cpu's should not be ignored at their current price point, they're still absolutely relevant performance wise and an absolute bargain on a budget.

The point is it will suit your brother absolutely fine, it'll run a gpu upto something like rtx 2070 super or 5700xt levels absolutely fine.
If your running anything less than a 100htz screen you're not going to see the slightest difference between a 2600x and a 3600.

If you really want to spend £180 on a cpu with longetivity and future proofing in mind then buy the 2700x instead.
Irregardless of age and slightly lower single core performance it's way better than the 3600 overall!

You could also run it on the asrock board no issue at all pulling £20 of the budget back.

I'm running a gen 1 ryzen 1700 here with a 5700xt, it has no issue at all powering that card and the 2700x is some 15% stronger.