[SOLVED] Need opinions on the PC I'm planning to build vs a prebuilt I was suggested.

[Patricius]

Hi!

So this is gonna be my very first gaming PC and I'm kinda clueless.

After reading and asking around for a while I ended up with this build: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/9t2Dsk

However, I was also suggested to buy this prebuilt: https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-p300-air-ryzen-3600-six-core-4.2ghz-asus-b550-radeon-5700xt-8gb-pc.html

I'm asking for your opinions because this prebuilt is only about 60 pounds more expensive after upgrading to the 512gb SSD yet it has a better GPU with almost double the price that of the GTX 1660 Super and also has a newer motherboard but there's gotta be some catch that my clueless eyes don't see.

 

[velocityg4]

Cheap PSU and motherboard. They are much lower quality than what you selected. Plus they get wholesale pricing. They're also getting stabler prices than PCPartpicker. PSU for example are unusually high right now. Motherboard prices seem to be creeping up too.

This is what I came up with. Not that I recommend this build. I just put something together more on parity with their unit.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£158.97 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£81.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory (£69.78 @ Aria PC)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£44.99 @ AWD-IT)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Video Card (£344.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P350X ATX Mid Tower Case (£62.95 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: Corsair VS 650 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £818.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-04 14:47 BST+0100

 

[Patricius]

Cheap PSU and motherboard. They are much lower quality than what you selected. Plus they get wholesale pricing. They're also getting stabler prices than PCPartpicker. PSU for example are unusually high right now. Motherboard prices seem to be creeping up too.

This is what I came up with. Not that I recommend this build. I just put something together more on parity with their unit.
PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£158.97 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£81.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory (£69.78 @ Aria PC)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£44.99 @ AWD-IT)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Video Card (£344.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P350X ATX Mid Tower Case (£62.95 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: Corsair VS 650 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £818.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-04 14:47 BST+0100

Hmm, interesting.

First of all thank you for your response!

You say that you don't recommend the build you made but may I ask why that is? I'm very new to this and lack the knowledge.

I was originally going to build around an Intel i5 9400F but upon my research the Rayzen 5 3600 seemed to perform much better in most cases and only very slightly lost out to the Intel one in a few scenarios.

If it's not too much of a bother would you mind telling me what you would recommend at a similar price tag? To be honest even this is overkill for my purposes as I don't plan on playing big Triple-A games on my PC but I wanna invest in one that will last me a good 5-6 years at least.

 

[velocityg4]

Hmm, interesting.

First of all thank you for your response!

You say that you don't recommend the build you made but may I ask why that is? I'm very new to this and lack the knowledge.

I was originally going to build around an Intel i5 9400F but upon my research the Rayzen 5 3600 seemed to perform much better in most cases and only very slightly lost out to the Intel one in a few scenarios.

If it's not too much of a bother would you mind telling me what you would recommend at a similar price tag? To be honest even this is overkill for my purposes as I don't plan on playing big Triple-A games on my PC but I wanna invest in one that will last me a good 5-6 years at least.

I don't recommend it due to the low quality PSU and Motherboard. Which can lead to reliability issues.

Also I'd only want an SSD for modern gaming so you should go to 1TB if possible. This problem will likely be amplified once the next gen consoles come out and games are ported which are designed for a high speed SSD.

Five to six years is pretty hopeful for a gaming PC. As next gen consoles are going to use 8-Core CPU. During that time you'll likely end up upgrading the GPU and CPU at some point. Possibly the RAM too. But this will give you a good and balanced platform to start off of with room to upgrade. It's still a good gaming system. It goes a little over budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£158.97 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M Steel Legend Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£139.97 @ Technextday)
Memory: ADATA XPG SPECTRIX D60G 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£67.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£98.67 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB KO GAMING Video Card (£269.66 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Aerocool Aero One Eclipse ATX Mid Tower Case (£53.13 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£79.99 @ Currys PC World)
Total: £868.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-04 16:14 BST+0100

If you can save up more. I'd certainly consider the Ryzen 3700x and 5700xt but the 5700XT is only a minor upgrade. The 3700x is mostly future proofing. You're probably better off just waiting and upgrade the CPU and GPU in three years.

Note: I changed the RAM as it was an exact QVL match for the motherboard. The faster Corsair RAM will likely work with full XMP as the 32GB variant of the RAM was on the QVL. As it wasn't an absolute match I did not include it. I believe it'll get full XMP but a direct QVL match is preferred when possible just to remove doubt. Here is the faster Corsair RAM.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-cmk16gx4m2z3600c20

Be sure to update the BIOS.

 

[Patricius]

I don't recommend it due to the low quality PSU and Motherboard. Which can lead to reliability issues.

Also I'd only want an SSD for modern gaming so you should go to 1TB if possible. This problem will likely be amplified once the next gen consoles come out and games are ported which are designed for a high speed SSD.

Five to six years is pretty hopeful for a gaming PC. As next gen consoles are going to use 8-Core CPU. During that time you'll likely end up upgrading the GPU and CPU at some point. Possibly the RAM too. But this will give you a good and balanced platform to start off of with room to upgrade. It's still a good gaming system. It goes a little over budget.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£158.97 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B550M Steel Legend Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£139.97 @ Technextday)
Memory: ADATA XPG SPECTRIX D60G 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£67.99 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£98.67 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB KO GAMING Video Card (£269.66 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Aerocool Aero One Eclipse ATX Mid Tower Case (£53.13 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£79.99 @ Currys PC World)
Total: £868.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-04 16:14 BST+0100

If you can save up more. I'd certainly consider the Ryzen 3700x and 5700xt but the 5700XT is only a minor upgrade. The 3700x is mostly future proofing. You're probably better off just waiting and upgrade the CPU and GPU in three years.

Note: I changed the RAM as it was an exact QVL match for the motherboard. The faster Corsair RAM will likely work with full XMP as the 32GB variant of the RAM was on the QVL. As it wasn't an absolute match I did not include it. I believe it'll get full XMP but a direct QVL match is preferred when possible just to remove doubt. Here is the faster Corsair RAM.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3600-memory-cmk16gx4m2z3600c20

Be sure to update the BIOS.

Well, as I said I don't plan on playing Triple-A games on my PC especially not next gen games. I always get myself the current gen Playstation because there are usually exclusives on it I want and do my Triple-A gaming on that platform.

This PC is just to play games that aren't available on console. So, mostly Steam/Epic releases and some outliers.

This build looks pretty good as far as I can tell. The only difference I think I'll make to it is stick to my original 500gb Toshiba PSU because I really don't think I will need the 1tb without playing Triple-A games and I will probably go with the Corsair RAM.

I think this will last as long as I don't play Triple-A games on it but it's good to know that I can upgrade it later if the need were to arise.

I will probably not be buying the parts at the same time as I just upgraded my phone and will probably take me another 2 months to save up for the PC so what should the order be at which I buy the parts? Which parts have a tendency to change in price over relatively shorter periods of time? You said PSUs are more expensive right now. Should I then leave that last and see how it's changing? What about the motherboard? You said the prices seem to be creeping up, so should I buy it right away?

 

[velocityg4]

Well, as I said I don't plan on playing Triple-A games on my PC especially not next gen games. I always get myself the current gen Playstation because there are usually exclusives on it I want and do my Triple-A gaming on that platform.

This PC is just to play games that aren't available on console. So, mostly Steam/Epic releases and some outliers.

This build looks pretty good as far as I can tell. The only difference I think I'll make to it is stick to my original 500gb Toshiba PSU because I really don't think I will need the 1tb without playing Triple-A games and I will probably go with the Corsair RAM.

I think this will last as long as I don't play Triple-A games on it but it's good to know that I can upgrade it later if the need were to arise.

I will probably not be buying the parts at the same time as I just upgraded my phone and will probably take me another 2 months to save up for the PC so what should the order be at which I buy the parts? Which parts have a tendency to change in price over relatively shorter periods of time? You said PSUs are more expensive right now. Should I then leave that last and see how it's changing? What about the motherboard? You said the prices seem to be creeping up, so should I buy it right away?

Nothing will work without the complete system. I'd just wait until you have all the money saved. As the parts will just be sitting around. You want to be able to test them all in case something is defective and may be returned to the store.

Plus in two months the new nVidia 3000 series and AMD Ryzen 4000 series will probably be out.

 

[Patricius]

Nothing will work without the complete system. I'd just wait until you have all the money saved. As the parts will just be sitting around. You want to be able to test them all in case something is defective and may be returned to the store.

Plus in two months the new nVidia 3000 series and AMD Ryzen 4000 series will probably be out.

Fair enough. I don't really need the latest stuff, would the release of newer products effect the price of the parts I'm looking to buy?

 

[velocityg4]

Fair enough. I don't really need the latest stuff, would the release of newer products effect the price of the parts I'm looking to buy?

No way to say. Depends on the prices of the new stuff and if production continues on the old units. Sometimes price can go up on the old model as availability becomes scarce. Typically it goes down then eventually creeps up when supplies start running out.

 

[Patricius]

No way to say. Depends on the prices of the new stuff and if production continues on the old units. Sometimes price can go up on the old model as availability becomes scarce. Typically it goes down then eventually creeps up when supplies start running out.

Makes sense. I will keep an eye out for prices but will probably try to expedite my gathering of the parts as much as I can.

Thank you so much for your help! I truly appreciate it.

 

[velocityg4]

Makes sense. I will keep an eye out for prices but will probably try to expedite my gathering of the parts as much as I can.

Thank you so much for your help! I truly appreciate it.

You're welcome! Try to buy before autumn. Unless new models are eminent. Once fall begins so does Christmas shopping. It seems prices creep up before the sales start hitting in November. Making the sales prices seem better than they actually are.