Building a PC for under $600?

[3rikmichael]

Hi guys.
I've decided I'm going to wait to build my PC and actually help my little sister build her own first. Please comment any build ideas for someone who's just going to play games at 1080p. We're trying to keep the build under $600. She got all A's in school so I told her I would match whatever money she has. This will be my first time building a pc but I also want to show her how's it all done as well so we will learn together lol. Oh, also she loves the rgb stuff so the more the merrier. Any advice is helpful and again thank you so much!

Here's the build I made so far but just know I'm new to this so I'm sure we could make this better!

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/3rikmichael/saved/#view=LWzdxr

 

[Why_Me]

Hi guys.
I've decided I'm going to wait to build my PC and actually help my little sister build her own first. Please comment any build ideas for someone who's just going to play games at 1080p. We're trying to keep the build under $600. She got all A's in school so I told her I would match whatever money she has. This will be my first time building a pc but I also want to show her how's it all done as well so we will learn together lol. Any advice is helpful and again thank you so much!

Here's the build I made so far but just know I'm new to this so I'm sure we could make this better!

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/3rikmichael/saved/#view=LWzdxr

Looks fine ^^

Consider this cpu:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($128.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $128.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-02 22:29 EDT-0400

 

[QyInvoLing]

In China, a PC of 600 USD would be made up of 12400+4060.

 

[3rikmichael]

Looks fine ^^

Consider this cpu:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($128.00 @ Amazon)
Total: $128.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-02 22:29 EDT-0400

I’ll change to that now thank you!

 

[3rikmichael]

I’ll change to that now thank you!

Oh actually It’s telling me there’s a compatibility problem when I choose this 🙁

 

[Why_Me]

Oh actually It’s telling me there’s a compatibility problem when I choose this 🙁

That board might not ship with the latest bios. If so then the 5600X.

 

[Why_Me]

In China, a PC of 600 USD would be made up of 12400+4060.

Good call ^^

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($110.49 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: *ASRock B660M Pro RS Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $220.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-02 23:09 EDT-0400

 

[Lutfij]

The build looks fine as is though if I had to change anything in your listing, it'd be like this;
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($128.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X Refined SE RGB V2 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($18.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Silicon Power GAMING 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($27.97 @ Newegg Sellers)
Storage: Klevv CRAS C910 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Klevv CRAS C910 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Zalman T3 PLUS MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($38.90 @ Newegg Sellers)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A650GL 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $733.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-02 23:06 EDT-0400
The smaller SSD is for your OS, app's and launchers. The larger drive is for your game library. The sweet spot for the Ryzen platform you've listed is a dual channel, tight latency DDR4-3600MHz ram kit. Added a higher quality PSU and used a case that's compact. I personally think an matx motherboard in an atx case seems out of place. As for the point flagged in PCPartPicker about the BIOS version, use this guide;

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYL88wjbmbI

in conjunction with the BIOS Flash button on the back. Speaking of motherboards, do you need the PCI slots on the VC board? If not, get the VDH as it has PCIe slots. To round off the build, a better quality PSU to hold you off for GPU/platform upgrades, down the road.

Moved thread from Opinions and Experiences section to Systems section

 

[artk2219]

Hi guys.
I've decided I'm going to wait to build my PC and actually help my little sister build her own first. Please comment any build ideas for someone who's just going to play games at 1080p. We're trying to keep the build under $600. She got all A's in school so I told her I would match whatever money she has. This will be my first time building a pc but I also want to show her how's it all done as well so we will learn together lol. Oh, also she loves the rgb stuff so the more the merrier. Any advice is helpful and again thank you so much!

Here's the build I made so far but just know I'm new to this so I'm sure we could make this better!

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/3rikmichael/saved/#view=LWzdxr

I would definitely take a look at LGA 1700 if you're looking for a budget platform. As much as i like AM4, it doesn't have the same future upgrade potential as LGA 1700. I took your base and upgraded and tweaked the motherboard, ram, ssd, and psu options. Its only about 20 dollars more, but it has 32GB of better quality RAM that also runs at a faster speed, a better quality SSD, a 100W bigger PSU, and a slightly better motherboard. The cpu is basically a wash though, the 12400F and Ryzen 5 5600X are pretty similar. Its also definitely stretching the "600 dollar" mark, but you could get a motherboard with no wifi, drop down to 16GB RAM, and spend about 40 less. I dont recommend that, but it saves money now and you would always upgrade the ram later, and hardwire or pickup a cheap wifi card.

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i5-12400f/23.html

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor ($110.49 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Thermalright Assassin X Refined SE RGB V2 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler ($18.69 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z790 S WIFI DDR4 (rev. 1.0) ATX LGA1700 Motherboard ($121.53 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P3 Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive ($60.00 @ iBUYPOWER)
Video Card: ASRock Challenger D Radeon RX 6600 8 GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.98 @ Newegg Sellers)
Power Supply: MSI MAG A650BN 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $688.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-04-03 01:30 EDT-0400

 

[3rikmichael]

Thank you all so much I’m torn on which build to go with but I’ll chat with my sister and see what she ants to do. Just an FYI we are new to this so we really appreciate you guys for chiming in and helping!

 

[artk2219]

Thank you all so much I’m torn on which build to go with but I’ll chat with my sister and see what she ants to do. Just an FYI we are new to this so we really appreciate you guys for chiming in and helping!

No worries, we are here to help hah. You also don't have to go with any one of our builds, they're all just suggestions. You could just pick and choose parts that you like from a few of them until you have a whole system assembled that would work for you.

 

[stuff and nonesense]

A small piece of advice, read the motherboard and case manual (as a minimum) before you start to assemble the parts. Identify all the connections and connectors from the PSU and the case. The remainder is straightforward.

There will be fewer complications with good planning.

 

[LOGAN54321]

If you act fast you could get the firecuda for 65 dollars.
(higher Endurance, faster, and I think overall better drive than P3 Plus)

 

[helper800]

In China, a PC of 600 USD would be made up of 12400+4060.

Like this? Too bad they don't ship to the US.

 

[williamjeremiah]

AM5 ___________________________________________ AM5
Stylish Rig with a Future

Click Here > PC Build @ newegg
Note:
The motherboard includes this memory kit
FO FREE

https://www.newegg.com/team-group-16gb-ddr5-6000/p/N82E16820985278

Don't wait too long ! Operators are standing by !
Get it while supplies last !

​

Memory Included with the Purchase of the Motherboard:

Cooler included with CPU
The M.2 Mushkin SSD does indeed have SLC caching.

Tempest – 1TB | MKNSSDTS1TB-D8 – SSD & RAM Memory for Gaming and High-Performance Servers

mushkin.com

AM4 is DEAD​

 

[QyInvoLing]

Like this? Too bad they don't ship to the US.

Emmmm... I cannot view this page in China. 600USD=4300CNY, then we can get:
CPU R5 5600 ￥480
MOBO Maxsun terminator b550m ￥418
RAM 驿晨宇(a new PSU brand, offers extreme reliable low-end PSU with nice price, which is very famous now) 朱雀·殊 16gx2 hynix CJR 3200c22/xmp1 3600c18/xmp2 4000c22 ￥249
SSD KIOXIA SD10 1T ￥399
GPU Gunnir B580 Index ￥1899
PSU 驿晨宇 玄武500k ￥139
Cooler CPS(which means "overclocking three", formally called PCCooler) 红海h4 ￥65
Case: GoldenField 简誉·昊 ￥99

Total: ￥3748. There's still ￥548 for a 1080p180hz nice monitor.