[SOLVED] I am building a $600 Productivity PC for my brother. Need someone to check my work

[tdonn16]

My brother is in business school, and needs a windows computer. he asked me to put together a budget build for him. The computer will be mainly for productivity, but he would also like to play games like Civ and League of Legends. His budget is $600, but it can go towards 650 because I will cover the extra cost.

This is the part list that I put together. https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LHR4rV

Should I spring for the 3600 or stay with the 2600. Also, I have never used a Radeon GPU. Would it be better to get a NVIDIA card?

 

[Endymio]

Have you considered the 3400G and dropping the video card entirely? Those are pretty low-requirement games. That would give you nearly $100 to get a better-quality PSU and RAM.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

What productivity applications is he going to use? The RX570 is far more powerful in games than any new Nvidia GPU at that price, however, productivity applications that can utilize Cuda or Nvidia encoders will perform on Nvidia GPUs.

I don't know anything about that power supply and I would avoid team ssds if you can.

 

[tennis2]

It'd be nice to afford a GTX1650 Super (similar performance but less power draw) or 5500XT (better performance and less power draw, but that's not going to fit the budget. The RX570 is just a great performance/$ king.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($98.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 570 4 GB Phantom Gaming D Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB320L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $665.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 13:09 EDT-0400

Not sure how hard of a ceiling $650 is.

• Ryzen 3600 in there
• B550 board
• Better SSD
• I think the MB320L is well worth the extra $17 over the Q300L since it comes with 2 ARGB fans (compared to 1 fan on the Q300L) and tempered glass side panel, and just looks better.
• Better PSU.

 

[tdonn16]

Have you considered the 3400G and dropping the video card entirely? Those are pretty low-requirement games. That would give you nearly $100 to get a better-quality PSU and RAM.

I hadn't really considered it. I kind of wanted to give him some flexibility, in case he decided to play a more demanding game.

 

[tdonn16]

What productivity applications is he going to use? The RX570 is far more powerful in games than any new Nvidia GPU at that price, however, productivity applications that can utilize Cuda or Nvidia encoders will perform on Nvidia GPUs.

I don't know anything about that power supply and I would avoid team ssds if you can.

He is in business school, so I do not think that he will be using any intensive software. Mostly Microsoft Office, and maybe some analytics software. I saw another comment tell me to change the SSD and PSU, so I am going to go with a different one.

 

[tdonn16]

It'd be nice to afford a GTX1650 Super (similar performance but less power draw) or 5500XT (better performance and less power draw, but that's not going to fit the budget. The RX570 is just a great performance/$ king.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($98.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 570 4 GB Phantom Gaming D Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox MB320L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($66.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $665.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 13:09 EDT-0400

Not sure how hard of a ceiling $650 is.

• Ryzen 3600 in there
• B550 board
• Better SSD
• I think the MB320L is well worth the extra $17 over the Q300L since it comes with 2 ARGB fans (compared to 1 fan on the Q300L) and tempered glass side panel, and just looks better.
• Better PSU.

what would you recommend between the 1650 super and the 5500XT. I think I am just going to spend some extra money to give him more flexibility

 

[SteelStruck]

I have got to say you should probably get a CPU with integrated graphics and drop the dedicated GPU altogether. (He will still have the option to add a dedicated GPU for more intensive gaming later.)I also personally think you should go with a lower wattage PSU as you really don't need it, and even if you don't want to lower your PSU wattage to give him more flexibility if he wants to add a graphics card in the future, there are less expensive highly reliable options like the Antec VP PLUS 550w power supply for $63.

 

[SteelStruck]

what would you recommend between the 1650 super and the 5500XT. I think I am just going to spend some extra money to give him more flexibility

1650 super for sure, as it gives slightly (very slightly) better performance and it's cheaper, and draws slightly less power. I have one in my main system personally and it's awesome, great 1080p performance at even high settings in the latest games.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

I would go with the RX570 then since it is the best gaming performer in budget. To me, it makes no sense to use a 3400g in a $600 gaming pc where dedicated graphics will double or tripple the performance in games.

I would modify the build by tennis to add a nicer kit of ram for $5 more.
PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | $174.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $98.98 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory | $59.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | ASRock Radeon RX 570 4 GB Phantom Gaming D Video Card | $129.99 @ Newegg
Case | Cooler Master MasterBox MB320L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case | $66.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $79.98 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $670.90
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 13:43 EDT-0400 |
If you need to cut costs, go with a 2600 and a cheap b450.
If you want to spend more go with a 1650 super.

 

[tennis2]

what would you recommend between the 1650 super and the 5500XT. I think I am just going to spend some extra money to give him more flexibility

The 5500XT would take my vote over the GTX1650 Super. Both cards compete in the same price category, but the 5500XT has better performance. Sale prices on one or the other could sway the decision.

 

[SteelStruck]

You are definitely going to need more than 500gb of storage my suggestion is to install the os on a 120gb or 240gb SATA SSD, then buy this hard drive from western digital: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088PUEPK?tag=pcpapi-20&linkCode=ogi&th=1&psc=1

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yea buy a 120gb, so you can have windows constantly be complaining about your drive being full no matter what you do.

After having to live with a 120gb ssd even with an extra hdd where you installed everything, 120gb is a pain.

You can be ok with 240gb tho.

 

[logainofhades]

I would say the 3600 would be a good choice, but I would suggest a different case, and power supply. The RX 570 is fine budget GPU. To be honest, even a Ryzen 3 3100 is probably good enough. Wish the 3300x could be found, at retail pricing.

The titles, that he will be playing, don't require anything crazy powerful.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($98.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial P1 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: ASRock Radeon RX 570 4 GB Phantom Gaming D Video Card ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill NAUTILUS ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $648.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 14:29 EDT-0400

 

[geofelt]

If you are going to build with new parts, build using the latest gen.
For example, the r5 2600 has 12 threads and a passmark rating of 13218 and a single thread rating of 2261.
Single thread is what games and ordinary apps use most.
Only multithreaded apps like photoshop can use more than 4-6 threads.
By comparison I built a pc for my son using a similarly priced I3-10100 with 8 threads and a rating of
9063/2696. I found it to be very quick. The integrated HD630 graphics was sufficient to play civ4 decently on a wide screen monitor(2x1080p)
I used a 500gb samsung 970 evo plus. It is a faster pcie based ssd.
The ssd you picked is a sata unit which is slower.
Intel 660p pr 665p is a decent lower cost alternative.
It is the ssd that makes things quick.

I would defer on the discrete graphics card unless bro is into fast action gaming.
You can always add a discrete

Consider the psu as a long term investment, buy only a quality unit.
Here is one list of psu quality tiers.
I would suggest a seasonic focus 550w gold rated psu:
https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-550-gold-ssr-550fm-550w/p/N82E16817151203
The $15 difference is worth it.

 

[tdonn16]

I have got to say you should probably get a CPU with integrated graphics and drop the dedicated GPU altogether. (He will still have the option to add a dedicated GPU for more intensive gaming later.)I also personally think you should go with a lower wattage PSU as you really don't need it, and even if you don't want to lower your PSU wattage to give him more flexibility if he wants to add a graphics card in the future, there are less expensive highly reliable options like the Antec VP PLUS 550w power supply for $63.

I talked to him today to tell him that $600 dollars is a lot of money, and to make sure that he would get full use out of it. After our talk it sounded like the most intensive game he would play is fall guys. So now I think I am going to look at laptops. If I dont find a good laptop, would integrated graphics be able to run party games like Fall guys well.

 

[logainofhades]

Consider the psu as a long term investment, buy only a quality unit.
Here is one list of psu quality tiers.
I would suggest a seasonic focus 550w gold rated psu:
https://www.newegg.com/seasonic-focus-550-gold-ssr-550fm-550w/p/N82E16817151203
The $15 difference is worth it.

Just as an FYI, the Antec PSU, that I listed, is seasonic built.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yea its essentially a focus gold

 

[NightHawkRMX]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i3-10100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor | $128.97 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI H410M-A PRO Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard | $71.98 @ Newegg
Memory | ADATA XPG Z1 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory | $49.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB OC Video Card | $159.99 @ Best Buy
Case | Cooler Master MasterBox MB320L ARGB MicroATX Mid Tower Case | $66.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $79.98 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $617.88
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 15:55 EDT-0400 |

Actually the 10100 route seems pretty good. Games would be somewhere in between a 2600 and a 3600, though the 6 cores of the Ryzen 5s would help in some instances today, and certainly in the future.

 

[geofelt]

I talked to him today to tell him that $600 dollars is a lot of money, and to make sure that he would get full use out of it. After our talk it sounded like the most intensive game he would play is fall guys. So now I think I am going to look at laptops. If I dont find a good laptop, would integrated graphics be able to run party games like Fall guys well.

If BRO needs portability, then buy a laptop.
Laptops will have limitations as to upgrade possibilities.
Gaming laptops seem to have an unusually high number of complaints on these forums.
I think it is heat issues when gaming.
Laptops necessarily use light and small coolers that are not very efficient.

If you go that route, look at the lenovo outlet.

 

[SteelStruck]

Yes integrated graphics on ryzen chips would be good enough to run party games like fall guys, (most of the stress on that game is on the CPU anyway because it's physics-based.) and I think a CPU with integrated graphics is a great choice for your brother as it sounds like he will mainly use it for school stuff. And as I mentioned before basically all motherboards come with a graphics card slot so if he wants to play more intensive games he can always slap a dedicated GPU in.

 

[logainofhades]

Due to the ram speed limitations, of locked intel chips, on non z chipsets, a ryzen 3 3100, would be faster, than an i3-10100.


PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($129.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard ($98.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PNY GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB Video Card ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Rosewill NAUTILUS ATX Mid Tower Case ($48.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $631.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 16:08 EDT-0400

 

[tdonn16]

Yes integrated graphics on ryzen chips would be good enough to run party games like fall guys, (most of the stress on that game is on the CPU anyway because it's physics-based.) and I think a CPU with integrated graphics is a great choice for your brother as it sounds like he will mainly use it for school stuff. And as I mentioned before basically all motherboards come with a graphics card slot so if he wants to play more intensive games he can always slap a dedicated GPU in.

When I am on PCPartPicker is says that a lot of the motherboards may be incompatible with the Ryzen 5 3400G. What motherboard do you recommend?

 

[logainofhades]

Given how terrible stock has been, any new B450 board should have support, for the 3400g, right out of the box.

 

[SteelStruck]

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/7tD7mg if your brother only needs the computer as a school computer this pc should be more than adequate. I dropped the GPU and picked out a CPU with integrated graphics, I also added a hard drive for extra space along with your SSD, I also added a wifi adapter in case your brother doesn't have his pc next to his router or modem. The total cost only came to 500 dollars with the wifi adapter. This pc should still be able to play casual party games like fall guys by the way.