[SOLVED] Need help $550 usd build.

[Corwin65]

Son decided he has $550 usd to spend and wants to build a PC for gaming. Only part he has is a GTX 950 or 1050Ti.
Can someone help me out. Have a retail copy of Win 10 Pro, 1080 60hz monitor, keyboard and mouse.

I can stretch it to $600 max.

 

[Newtonius]

Nothing puts hair on a boy's chest like building his first PC.

Try this setup.
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/pNP4Mc

Motherboard allows for upgrades in the future with current new zen 2 chips.

 

[King_V]

I'd probably go this route:

Note that, if you live within a reasonable distance of a MicroCenter, and can buy things there in-store, you can get the same CPU at $109.99 (or the 2600X at $119.99, and that's an extra $10 that's well worth it) and same motherboard, while technically the same price, gets a $20 discount if you buy it combined with the CPU.

Alternately, at MicroCenter, you could also couple it with the Ryzen 5 1600, which then puts the CPU price down to $79.99. Maybe not the best idea overall, but definitely great in terms of price/performance.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Case: DIYPC Trio-GT-RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Corsair)
Total: $560.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-09 14:49 EST-0500

The PSUs that I'm comfortable with recommending don't seem to have any sales going on at the moment, so that's kind of pushing the price up a little higher than I'd like. But, you can get the Semi Modular version of the 650W Focus Gold and shave another $6 off the total . . I've never bought anything from SuperBiiz before, though.

I went with the Samsung SATA SSD for the greater endurance rating over the MX500, as well as the Crucial or Intel M.2 NVMe drives I might've considered as an alternative.

The case choice was strictly because I'm getting that one for my son, and he thought it looked cool. It's also reviewed on this site as pretty good in terms of low noise and effective cooling. Don't have any experience with it yet, though, as I haven't gotten all the parts for my son's system yet. Otherwise, I don't have any objection to @Newtonius's suggestion of the Phantex.

 

[Corwin65]

I live four blocks away from Microcenter so I will definitely be going there if I can save some money.

 

[Newtonius]

I'd probably go this route:

Note that, if you live within a reasonable distance of a MicroCenter, and can buy things there in-store, you can get the same CPU at $109.99 (or the 2600X at $119.99, and that's an extra $10 that's well worth it) and same motherboard, while technically the same price, gets a $20 discount if you buy it combined with the CPU.

Alternately, at MicroCenter, you could also couple it with the Ryzen 5 1600, which then puts the CPU price down to $79.99. Maybe not the best idea overall, but definitely great in terms of price/performance.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty B450 GAMING K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 860 Evo 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Case: DIYPC Trio-GT-RGB ATX Mid Tower Case ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Corsair)
Total: $560.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-12-09 14:49 EST-0500

The PSUs that I'm comfortable with recommending don't seem to have any sales going on at the moment, so that's kind of pushing the price up a little higher than I'd like. But, you can get the Semi Modular version of the 650W Focus Gold and shave another $6 off the total . . I've never bought anything from SuperBiiz before, though.

I went with the Samsung SATA SSD for the greater endurance rating over the MX500, as well as the Crucial or Intel M.2 NVMe drives I might've considered as an alternative.

The case choice was strictly because I'm getting that one for my son, and he thought it looked cool. It's also reviewed on this site as pretty good in terms of low noise and effective cooling. Don't have any experience with it yet, though, as I haven't gotten all the parts for my son's system yet. Otherwise, I don't have any objection to @Newtonius's suggestion of the Phantex.

The only issue I see with this is the RAM. The 2600 doesn't support 3200. Max is 2933. Thus why I chose a cheap 3000MHz kit. Also the PSU is a bit much for a 1050Ti. But I do get you're thinking long term upgrade re-usability.

 

[Newtonius]

I live four blocks away from Microcenter so I will definitely be going there if I can save some money.

Well at least now you know what parts and keywords to look for.

 

[King_V]

I live four blocks away from Microcenter so I will definitely be going there if I can save some money.

Awesome! Their deal on the 2600X only $10 more than the 2600 is a no-brainer . . but there's still that "maximize bang for the buck" side of me that thinks the 1600 for $80 might be the way to go.

That's why I went with the 1600 for Mini Me's ChromaTron.

The only issue I see with this is the RAM. The 2600 doesn't support 3200. Max is 2933. Thus why I chose a cheap 3000MHz kit.

Officially, no, it doesn't support the faster RAM. Unofficially, it will very likely work with at 3200.

Though, since it does shave a couple of dollars off, I tried to confirm if it'll work with the motherboard. It is neither on ASRock's QVL list for the board I chose (didn't check for the MSI boardon MSI's site), and it doesn't show up for either board on GSkill's RAM Configurator page.

Odds are, even not being on those lists, it would work just fine, but not finding it confirmed either by the RAM company or the MB company makes me slightly paranoid. Ok, maybe a little more than "slightly."

Also the PSU is a bit much for a 1050Ti. But I do get you're thinking long term upgrade re-usability.

Agreed - I'm thinking there may be a video card upgrade sometime in the future, though. The Corsair TX model I suggested is 550W, but, assuming one can trust SuperBiiz, getting an equal (maybe slightly better) quality PSU for a little less while also giving an extra 100W of headroom is not a bad way to go.

I'm not confident in the older CXM Corsair, though. The modern CX, from what I understand, is adequate, but that's about as far as I'd take it. Sort of the "if you can't get anything better, get the CX" situation. Better than the CXM, from what I recall. The 2015 model, though, I'd avoid.

 

[King_V]

Another possible SSD choice. About the same endurance as the Samsung 2.5" SATA drive listed, but shorter warranty (3 year vs 5 year). . however, in some cases, it'll perform faster, being an NVMe drive.

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/BJ...1-tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-mknssdhl1tb-d8

Also, here is the review on it.