[SOLVED] Budget Build, <$225

[Franklin_4]

cpu - Athlon 200ge - $55
gpu -Radeon HD 7770 - $45
mobo - Asus Prime B350m-A - $55
ram - 2x4 GeiL Pristine 2400mhz - $45
storage -Team Group 240gb 2.5" SSD - $25
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The rest are things i me and my friend had laying around. most of it I got from a box lot of computer parts on Let-go. I made a couple hundred bucks from that, so im valuing these as free to stay below target mark. will probably cave and buy windows key eventually for another 25-30$ pushing this to a 300$ build.

For those of you wondering about the athlon 200ge, check out its benchmarks on youtube and such... when oc'd to the 3.8-4.0 region. It performs similarly to an i3-7100 from a lot of things i saw, which is still pretty relevant in most games.

This will run mostly steam games, some light rendering software, and possibly some 3d printing sctuff. thanks for the read

psu - Corsair CX600
case - DIYPC MA01-G
1tb Baracuda HDD 7200rpm (really dont need the space yet so i wont be plugging this in for sometime to avoid the noise).
AMD Wraith Stealth Cooler (ryzen 5 stock cooler)
2x1 intake/exhaust
Custom LED lighting effects
LG 23" 1080p IPS panel
cougar 200m
pernixx backlit keyboard

 

[kanewolf]

A B350 has a good probability of requiring a BIOS update to support the 200GE. If you have access to an older Ryzen, then you can flash with that CPU.

 

[Franklin_4]

A B350 has a good probability of requiring a BIOS update to support the 200GE. If you have access to an older Ryzen, then you can flash with that CPU.

ah yes true, hadnt thought about that.
i can drop a 1st gen ryzen 5 on there if need be. any other tips with this?

 

[Franklin_4]

A B350 has a good probability of requiring a BIOS update to support the 200GE. If you have access to an older Ryzen, then you can flash with that CPU.

ah yes true, hadnt thought about that.
i can drop a 1st gen ryzen 5 on there if need be. any other tips with this?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

If you could keep the 1st generation ryzen, that would be preferable over the athlon. But really, I think I'd almost consider cutting the 7770 off the list, and getting a ryzen 2200g instead. That would give you better cpu performance. Graphics, probably close. The 7770 is what 6 years old now? The graphics on the 2200g are probably close to that performance.

If it's not much price difference, faster ram is better for ryzen.

 

[assasin32]

I would go with the 2200g, it will give you 720p gaming performance right now and set you up for future upgrades in the gpu department and a better cpu with no wasted money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($74.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Patriot - Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $229.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-01-27 03:26 EST-0500

This is what I would go with personally. Use the 1tb had you already have for now, I expect the team group ssd to fail sooner rather than later when I was researching budget ssd for my upgrade. When it comes time for a SSD toss in a m2 ssd the performance is quite a bit better over a sata when you are booting it is almost instant and other things requiring a lot of read or write cycles. Room is left on the motherboard for 2 more 2x4gb sticks of ram for 16gb total for a future upgrade to keep the dual channel. And pairing this up with something like a Radeon 580 may go nicely with this GPU.

When your budget is so tight that pretty much whatever you buy won’t be capable of gaming for long so taking steps to make sure it’s setting you on a path for easy upgrades preferably with no waste in money is the best route.

 

[cryoburner]

Another thing worth pointing out is that you probably want that faster kit of ram with a Ryzen 2200G, since slower memory will hurt performance of the integrated graphics.

Or, if you're already considering a used graphics card, you might also consider a used processor and other components. Even an i5-3570 or 2500K will likely outperform an Athlon 200GE in most newer games due to their additional physical cores, and can be found on ebay for under $50 used. You might also be able to find a bundled set of motherboard, ram and i5 or possibly even i7 processor there for around $150 or so. The downsides, would of course be limited CPU upgrade options for those older platforms, and DDR3 memory which won't be compatible with new motherboards, along with a lack of warranty coverage and older hardware that might not last as long. The new AM4 hardware might be a better value in the long run, unless you find a particularly good deal on those components used.

If you want a dedicated card, I would also consider spending a little more for a better graphics card, since as was said, a 7770 won't offer all that much more performance than the 2200G's integrated graphics. Something like a GTX 960 could be around twice as fast as that card, and is probably better suited for 1080p in modern games. Just beware of fake (re-badged) cards on the used market, which will usually have an off-brand, generic looking cooler, and are actually older, lower performing cards than they claim to be.

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

If the op is going used, they could even pick up an old business system. Something like an old Dell optiplex with an i7 and ddr3 ram. Bump the ran up to 12 or 16gb. I've seen 8gb ddr 3 going for like 20 bucks on eBay recently. If they can get a deal on that and pick up a used 1050ti, might be a good setup for the money.

Example.

System-90 bucks with i5 2400 and 4gb of ram.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-390-Desktop-Intel-Core-i5-2400-3-10GHz-4GB-RAM-250GB-HDD/292932530658?epid=219658743&hash=item443423b1e2%3Ag%3AvPgAAOSwh21cSi2N&LH_BIN=1


8gb of ddr3 for about 22 bucks.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/8GB-DDR3-RAM-KIT-2x4GB-Desktop-Memory-RAM-PC3-12800S-AMD-INTEL-VARIED-BRANDS/183621050929?hash=item2ac0aae231%3Ag%3Aap0AAOSwYV5cL96A%3Asc%3AUSPSFirstClass%2163123%21US%21-1&LH_BIN=1

GPU 125

https://www.ebay.com/itm/MSI-GeForce-GTX-1050-Ti-4GB-OC-128-Bit-GDDR5-DirectX-12-4G/323662123879?hash=item4b5bc41367%3Ag%3AGAYAAOSwpaVcPohx&LH_BIN=1

The GPU I looked at the 1050ti. Be aware though, when I was looking, there appeared to be quite a few fake cards, and auctions where you were only buying the box. A few others had gtx 960 cards listed in the actual description, which aren't bad cards but might need an additional power connector and add more cost to your budget if you need to buy a PSU. But a setup like that should be close to a 2200g on speed. The 1050ti would be a better gamer, and should tide you over until you could afford a better system.

 

[Franklin_4]

thanks for all the input guys! most of the parts are already purchased, so i'll report back here with FPS on a couple different games i play, its getting slapped together on Wednesday because my friend wants to see how building a PC is done. He will probably be using this computer for some light esports gaming at 720p.
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Besides some light esports games, this set up is going to supplement my main set-up (Ryzen 5 + rx580 144hz 1440p) its going to run some light rendering software and will be the backbone of a 3d printer set up. Also, it will be my multitasker because split screening my rx580 between a 144hz 1440p and a 720p/1080p monitor bogs it down by about 30-40% in terms of framerates, which is a massive difference especially in games like Dota 2 and Diablo 3 where clarity and smoothness are critical.


I definietly considered the vega 8 on the 2200g, but UserBenchmark has the hd7770 around 30% faster (i know thats not the most realistic benchmark but its a large sample size and about the best i can do right now). I chose the HD7770 partially because it has the 1gb of graphics on it so that should leave between 5 and 7gb of free memory. I fear the 2200g gobbling up half my RAM all the time. Also, the HD7770 is actually supported by the new Adrenalin Software which i've really grown to like since acquiring an rx580.

Later this year i plan on upgrading my main rig from the R5 1400 + RX 580 to a R5 3600 + Navi GPU, and the 1400+rx580 will likely end up in this computer, thats why i decicded against picking up an optiplex or another ddr3 platform for cheap. Again, thanks for all the input, i will report back with some bench marks in a few days.

 

[Franklin_4]

A B350 has a good probability of requiring a BIOS update to support the 200GE. If you have access to an older Ryzen, then you can flash with that CPU.

Hey, i think i do in fact need to do a firmware/BIOS update to my ASUS Prime Mobo.

Im gonna swap my Ryzen 5 from my main rig into it and hope its just plug and play :shrug: this is my first build of like 5 or 6 now that hasnt booted for me so can you confirm that this is probably what i should be installing
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/PRIME-B350M-A/HelpDesk_CPU/
just click "go" ?

 

[ohiou_grad_2006]

Looks like it needs bios 4014. I'm on my phone so keep that in mind. Probably just go to the latest version. Sometimes like on my asrock though, you have to have a certain bios level already installed before you can update to the very latest bios. Just make sure you read any notes before attempting to install it.