[SOLVED] First gaming PC - Is this a good build?

Oct 28, 2019
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I was wondering if i could have some advice on the below build. Is it worth the money and will all the parts work well together? (This is my first gaming pc)
£568 before VAT

Overview
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G - 4-Core 3.6GHz, 3.9GHz Turbo - 4MB L3 Cache 65W Processor w/ Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics
  • HDD: 1TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (1 Drive)
  • MEMORY: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4/2400mhz Dual Channel Memory [+17] (Corsair Vengeance LPX w/Heat Spreader)
  • MOTHERBOARD: ASUS A320M-K: M-ATX w/ 2 RAM Slots, USB 3.1, SATA3
  • SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD AUDIO
  • VIDEO: AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB - DX12® - VR Ready, HDMI, DVI, DP, 5 Monitor Support (Single Card)

Full spec.
  • BLUETOOTH: None Selected
  • CAS: Cooler Master MasterBox MB520 Mid-Tower Gaming Case
  • CD: None Selected
  • CLOUD: None Selected
  • COOL: None Selected
  • COOL2: None Selected
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2400G - 4-Core 3.6GHz, 3.9GHz Turbo - 4MB L3 Cache 65W Processor w/ Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics
  • CS_FAN: 4x 120mm Cyberpower Addressable Dual Light Loop RGB 1350RPM Fans with Remote Control [+18]
  • EXCD: None Selected
  • EXPAN: Built-in USB Ports
  • FAN: AMD Ryzen Wraith CPU Cooler
  • FLASHMEDIA: None Selected
  • FREEBIE_SSD: None Selected
  • HD_M2PCIE: None Selected
  • HDD: 1TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (1 Drive)
  • HOLIDAY1: BullGuard Internet Security 2018 for Windows PC with Game Booster! - 1 year - 3 User Licence [+0]
  • HOMEINSTALL: None Selected
  • INTERBROWSER1: Microsoft Edge Internet Browser (default with Windows 10) [+0]
  • KEYBOARD: None Selected
  • M2SSD: None Selected
  • M2SSD2: None Selected
  • MEMORY: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4/2400mhz Dual Channel Memory [+17] (Corsair Vengeance LPX w/Heat Spreader)
  • MONITOR: None Selected
  • MOTHERBOARD: ASUS A320M-K: M-ATX w/ 2 RAM Slots, USB 3.1, SATA3
  • MOUSE: None Selected
  • NETWORK: ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT -- As standard on all PCs
  • OS: Windows 10 Home (64-bit Edition) Perfect for most people with all the core features of Windows 10 including: automatic updates, Cortana and DirectX 12 graphics support (No Recovery Media)
  • OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
  • PCABLE: None Selected
  • POWERSUPPLY: Corsair Vengeance Series 650M 650W 80+ Silver Gaming Power Supply
  • RAID: None Selected
  • RUSH: Standard Processing Time
  • SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD AUDIO
  • SPEAKERS: None Selected
  • SSD: 240GB ADATA Ultimate SU630 2.5" SSD - 520MB/s Read / 450MB/s Write (1 Drive)
  • STREAMERGEAR: None Selected
  • USB1: Built-in USB Ports [+0]
  • VIDEO: AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB - DX12® - VR Ready, HDMI, DVI, DP, 5 Monitor Support (Single Card)
  • VIDEOCAPTURE: None Selected
  • VIVE_HEADSET: None Selected
  • WARRANTY: DESKTOP STANDARD WARRANTY: 3 Year Labour, 2 Year Parts, 6 Month Collect and Return plus Life-Time Technical Support
  • WNC: TP-Link TL-WN881ND N300 Wireless PCI Express Adapter
  • XWNA: None Selected
  • _PRICE: (+568)
 
Solution
A balanced gamer will budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
I estimate that a 2700X and a RX580 is about 1 to one.
You can go stronger on graphics and weaker on the processor.

One problem with cyberpower and other pre-builts is that they will use the minimum required power supply.
That means that you may not be able to upgrade your graphics card in the future.

If you have a problem, you may need to ship the whole pc back for warranty repairs.
You may well do better to buy your parts yourself and have a local shop build it for you.
The warranty will likely be better that way. Instead of a 3 month warranty, parts such as graphics cards and processors will have a 3 year warranty, ram will be lifetime.
A few stand out points.

The motherboard you've chosen might not support the Ryzen 5 2400G out of the box, i.e. it may require a BIOS update before you can use it. https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/PRIME-A320M-K/HelpDesk_CPU/

The other thing is the choice of the Ryzen 5 2400G and purchasing a graphics card. Essentially you'd be paying for something you're not using (good for backup purposes if that is your intent.) Depending where you're shopping it will make more sense to get a Ryzen 5 2600 instead.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu/#s=60&sort=price&page=1

The presentation suggests it's an online configurator? Where are you looking?
 
A few stand out points.

The motherboard you've chosen might not support the Ryzen 5 2400G out of the box, i.e. it may require a BIOS update before you can use it. https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/PRIME-A320M-K/HelpDesk_CPU/

The other thing is the choice of the Ryzen 5 2400G and purchasing a graphics card. Essentially you'd be paying for something you're not using (good for backup purposes if that is your intent.) Depending where you're shopping it will make more sense to get a Ryzen 5 2600 instead.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu/#s=60&sort=price&page=1

The presentation suggests it's an online configurator? Where are you looking?



Thanks very much for your reply.
I found the build here
https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/AM4-Ryzen-5-Gaming-PC-Configurator
and added more Ram.
So I assume the Bios would be updated for me?
Would the
AMD Ryzen 7 2700X - 8-Core 3.70GHz, 4.35GHz Turbo - 16MB L3 Cache Processor, Pro OC Compatible (No On-board Graphics) be a good choice?
Thanks.
 
I'd be very surprised if they didn't update the BIOS if they included it in their configurator. (Didn't realise we had Cyberpower over here in the UK.)

The Ryzen 7 2700X is certainly a nice choice. And given the pricing you might as well go for it, as the Ryzen 5 2600X is for the same price with fewer cores/threads.

I would suggest a better motherboard for more connectivity should you need extra hard drives in the future though. Basically anything except for the A320 motherboards. The 400-series motherboards would still allow you to upgrade to the Ryzen 3000 series later on if upgrading is a consideration for you.

I assume you don't intend to build your own system? What sort of budget are you working with?
 
I'd be very surprised if they didn't update the BIOS if they included it in their configurator. (Didn't realise we had Cyberpower over here in the UK.)

The Ryzen 7 2700X is certainly a nice choice. And given the pricing you might as well go for it, as the Ryzen 5 2600X is for the same price with fewer cores/threads.

I would suggest a better motherboard for more connectivity should you need extra hard drives in the future though. Basically anything except for the A320 motherboards. The 400-series motherboards would still allow you to upgrade to the Ryzen 3000 series later on if upgrading is a consideration for you.

I assume you don't intend to build your own system? What sort of budget are you working with?


Thanks :)
I will have a look at other motherboards.
I would rather not risk building it myself.
The budget is around £1,000

So far i have the below: (all before tax)
£184 - 27" MSI Optix MAG271CV 1ms 144Hz 1920x1080, HDMI & DP Black Full HD Curved FreeSync Gaming Monitor
£35 - Cyberpower Gaming Bundle (Skorpion K2 Mechanical Keyboard & Cyberpower Gaming Mouse & Cyberpower Large Gaming Mouse Pad)
£596 - AM4 RYZEN 5 GAMING PC CONFIGURATOR (NO MONITOR)

Total £978 after tax
 
And browsing through the configurator there's also an offer of a free RAM upgrade to 3000MHz, which I assume is the reason for your original choice? The RX 580 is a capable 1080p graphics card too, coupled with the freesync monitor it should give you a smoother gaming experience.

Pretty nice overall given the choices available.
 
Yeah, the BIOS should already be updated on a system built by a company. It would need to be for them to test and configure it.

The price difference for the 2700X there seems reasonable. That processor provides double the cores compared to a 2400G, along with somewhat higher out-of-box performance per core, which should keep it relevant longer. The newer 3600 could also be worth considering, as it offers even more performance per core, but without as many cores. It currently tends to be priced about the same as a 2700X, though they have it priced higher, so the 2700X might arguably be considered the better option there, at least going by their current promotional pricing on that processor.

As far as other changes go, I agree about paying a little more for a B450 motherboard. And yeah, definitely go for the "16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3000 Dual Channel Memory" option, as it costs the same as the DDR4-2400 but should get you a bit more performance.
 
Thank very much for your help, really appreciate it.

I have modified the order to the below:
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X - 8-Core 3.70GHz, 4.35GHz Turbo - 16MB L3 Cache Processor, Pro OC Compatible (No On-board Graphics) [+46]
  • HDD: 1TB Seagate BarraCuda SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 7200RPM Hard Drive (1 Drive)
  • MEMORY: 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4/3000mhz Dual Channel Memory [+17] (Corsair Vengeance LPX w/Heat Spreader)
  • MOTHERBOARD: ASUS PRIME B450M-K: M-ATX w/ USB 3.1, SATA3, 1x M.2 [+16]
  • SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD AUDIO
  • VIDEO: AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB - DX12® - VR Ready, HDMI, DVI, DP, 5 Monitor Support (Single Card)
 
Also, I noticed in the "Graphics Card Freebies" section, they have checkboxes for the current AMD game promotions for the RX 580, so select the ones that apply. It looks like you should be able to get the two AMD ones, the 3 months of Xbox Game Pass and the choice of either Borderlands 3 or Ghost Recon Breakpoint. I believe they'll send you a code that you can register to get a download code for the game. The Call of Duty one doesn't apply, as that's for certain higher-end Nvidia cards.

Edit: Oh, and there's a similar option in the "CPU Freebies" section for either Borderland 3 or The Outer Worlds for the 2700X. I'm not certain whether both the CPU and GPU promotions can be redeemed, but I imagine so.
 
Last edited:
Also, I noticed in the "Graphics Card Freebies" section, they have checkboxes for the current AMD game promotions for the RX 580, so select the ones that apply. It looks like you should be able to get the two AMD ones, the 3 months of Xbox Game Pass and the choice of either Borderlands 3 or Ghost Recon Breakpoint. I believe they'll send you a code that you can register to get a download code for the game. The Call of Duty one doesn't apply, as that's for certain higher-end Nvidia cards.

Thanks. I didnt notice that/Cant find that.
 
It appears to have an SSD, though it's hidden down in the extended specs list rather than in the overview for some reason...

I see that now. That system is not a very good buy, imo. Just a parts example, for a DIY build, that I threw together quick.


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£167.58 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£76.78 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£66.78 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£96.51 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 590 8 GB FATBOY OC+ Video Card (£172.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: RIOTORO CR488 ATX Mid Tower Case (£41.29 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: Corsair Vengeance 650 W 80+ Silver Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£69.95 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£83.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2758-C-MH 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor (£172.02 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: ADATA XPG INFAREX K20 Wired Gaming Keyboard (£31.90 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: ADATA XPG INFAREX M10 Wired Optical Mouse (£17.89 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £995.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-28 13:51 GMT+0000
 
I see that now. That system is not a very good buy, imo. Just a parts example, for a DIY build, that I threw together quick.


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 2700X 3.7 GHz 8-Core Processor (£167.58 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£76.78 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£66.78 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£96.51 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 590 8 GB FATBOY OC+ Video Card (£172.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: RIOTORO CR488 ATX Mid Tower Case (£41.29 @ Ebuyer)
Power Supply: Corsair Vengeance 650 W 80+ Silver Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£69.95 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£83.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2758-C-MH 27.0" 1920x1080 144 Hz Monitor (£172.02 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: ADATA XPG INFAREX K20 Wired Gaming Keyboard (£31.90 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: ADATA XPG INFAREX M10 Wired Optical Mouse (£17.89 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £995.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-10-28 13:51 GMT+0000

Sorry but why is it not a very good buy?
 
A balanced gamer will budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
I estimate that a 2700X and a RX580 is about 1 to one.
You can go stronger on graphics and weaker on the processor.

One problem with cyberpower and other pre-builts is that they will use the minimum required power supply.
That means that you may not be able to upgrade your graphics card in the future.

If you have a problem, you may need to ship the whole pc back for warranty repairs.
You may well do better to buy your parts yourself and have a local shop build it for you.
The warranty will likely be better that way. Instead of a 3 month warranty, parts such as graphics cards and processors will have a 3 year warranty, ram will be lifetime.
 
Solution
Ok thanks for your recommendation.
Cyberpower clearly has very negative reviews, so have tried PC Specialist and got the below build for £1,126.

Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2500X Quad Core CPU (3.6GHz-4GHz/10MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Radeon Graphics

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint -OR- Borderlands 3 w/ select AMD Radeon GPUs
1st Storage Drive
240GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm Green LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
SAMSUNG LC27F591FDUXEN 27" Curved LED Monitor
Keyboard & Mouse
ASUS Cerberus Gaming Bundle - Keyboard, Mouse, Headset & Mouse Mat
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
 
That is not a very good deal, either. PSU is not a quality unit. I would spend less on a monitor too. Ryzen needs fast ram, and should be in a 2x8gb configuration, for dual channel. I made some changes, to get it about as good as you are going to get, at that cost, from that place.

Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Radeon Graphics

Ghost Recon: Breakpoint -OR- Borderlands 3 w/ select AMD Radeon GPUs
1st Storage Drive
480GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
LED Lighting
50cm Green LED Strip
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
Samsung LC24F390FHUXEN Curved 24"
Keyboard & Mouse
ASUS Cerberus Gaming Bundle - Keyboard, Mouse, Headset & Mouse Mat
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £1,126.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/ght3yBrUq4/