[SOLVED] Opinions on my build before parts purchase

nate_2011

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Building a gaming PC for a friend on a 1k budget (including monitor), after a few days of chopping and changing parts this is what I've come up with. This will be built to run at 1080 100+ fps most games with the idea that in a year or 2 he could easily drop in a 3070 and upgrade to a 1440 or 4k monitor.

Not looking for anyone to completely tear the build apart but if you have any helpful recommendations where you might swap a component out for something better that would be welcome.. The one component I ALWAYS struggle with is the PSU, I did the same with my own build a couple years ago, it drove me nuts 🤪

MB: B550 Tomahawk
CPU: AMD 5600x (wraith cooler)
MEM: Vengeance 3200 LPX 16GB (2x 8GB)
(Above purchased as a bundle from AWT-IT)

GPU: 3050 announced yesterday, I've tasked him with monitoring Scan and overclockers for the drop..
SSD: M.2 256GB Crucial P5
HDD: Barracuda 1TB
PSU: EVGA 650w SuperNOVA G3 80+ Gold
CASE: I've left this up to him as I see it as purely aesthetic at this low/mid range. Thermals shouldn't be a concern but ill still give it the once over.

Cheers all..
 
Last edited:
Solution
I see some issues:

1. Finding a graphics card at a reasonable price. 3050 scalpers are trying to get 2x MSRP.
It used to be that ons should budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
No longer!
best to try to balance the cpu with the gpu.
Sign up for the newegg shuffle.
In time, you can buy a good graphics card at a modest markup over msrp.
It will often come with another product which you may or may not want.

2. As good as the 5600x is/used to be, the new and cheaper i5-12400 is better:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-core-i5-12400-review
Even the less expensive I5-11400 is a good gamer:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5-11400-review/3
Use the cpu savings to buy a stronger...

zipspyder

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For the current prices I would highly recommend a larger capacity SSD and either skip the spinny drive or just use it for backups. As far as the 3050 goes he will not be able to do 100fps average unless it's medium settings or lower in most games so keep that in mind.
 
I see some issues:

1. Finding a graphics card at a reasonable price. 3050 scalpers are trying to get 2x MSRP.
It used to be that ons should budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
No longer!
best to try to balance the cpu with the gpu.
Sign up for the newegg shuffle.
In time, you can buy a good graphics card at a modest markup over msrp.
It will often come with another product which you may or may not want.

2. As good as the 5600x is/used to be, the new and cheaper i5-12400 is better:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-core-i5-12400-review
Even the less expensive I5-11400 is a good gamer:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5-11400-review/3
Use the cpu savings to buy a stronger graphics card.

3. most any speed 3200 ram is good for intel. But for ryzen, check compatibility carefully.
Either the motherboard qvl list or the corsair support list.
ryzen depends on fast ram; 3600 speed would have been better.

4. Buy a 1 or 2tb ssd up front and ditch the HDD. It is easy to add storage later if/when you need more.
Puget systems likes samsung ssd's:

5. You picked a quality psu with a 10 year warranty. Very good there.
But, 650w may not be sufficient if a high performing graphics card is used now, or in the future.
Here is a handy chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
You will find that 750 or 850w units do not cost very much more.
And, a psu will only consume the power demanded of it, regardless of the max capability.
 
Solution

nate_2011

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Nov 8, 2010
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Looks good as it is. You can eliminate the spinning drive completely and go for a bigger NVME for overall snappier performance. Bigger drives are faster and works like separate drives with partitions. But that's about it that I will suggest.

Thanks Hellfire, Swapping out the 1TB HDD for a larger SSD seems to be a common suggestion so might just go single 1TB NVME! For my own build i went 500GB m.2 and 4TB Barracuda HDD for all my games which is why I followed the same setup here. My understand has always been an SSD wont improve performance from an fps point but will help significantly with load times..

For the current prices I would highly recommend a larger capacity SSD and either skip the spinny drive or just use it for backups. As far as the 3050 goes he will not be able to do 100fps average unless it's medium settings or lower in most games so keep that in mind.

HDD will be swapped out in favour of bigger SSD. I should hope the 3050 can handle older games at 1080 100fps, new AAA titles sure i wouldn't expect it so much.
We are now considering if fighting for a 3050 is even worth it...
Appreciate the advice.

I see some issues:

1. Finding a graphics card at a reasonable price. 3050 scalpers are trying to get 2x MSRP.
It used to be that ons should budget 2x the cost of the processor for the graphics card.
No longer!
best to try to balance the cpu with the gpu.
Sign up for the newegg shuffle.
In time, you can buy a good graphics card at a modest markup over msrp.
It will often come with another product which you may or may not want.

2. As good as the 5600x is/used to be, the new and cheaper i5-12400 is better:
https://www.tomshardware.com/news/intel-core-i5-12400-review
Even the less expensive I5-11400 is a good gamer:
https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i5-11400-review/3
Use the cpu savings to buy a stronger graphics card.

3. most any speed 3200 ram is good for intel. But for ryzen, check compatibility carefully.
Either the motherboard qvl list or the corsair support list.
ryzen depends on fast ram; 3600 speed would have been better.

4. Buy a 1 or 2tb ssd up front and ditch the HDD. It is easy to add storage later if/when you need more.
Puget systems likes samsung ssd's:

5. You picked a quality psu with a 10 year warranty. Very good there.
But, 650w may not be sufficient if a high performing graphics card is used now, or in the future.
Here is a handy chart:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
You will find that 750 or 850w units do not cost very much more.
And, a psu will only consume the power demanded of it, regardless of the max capability.

1. yeah 3050 is now making us think elsewhere, but ill certainly keep an eye out as i see they are pretty useless at crypto mining. Hopefully that + retailers not allowing bulk sales might help protect legitimate gamers.

2. don't think we will swap out mb/cpu at this point but will take this on board.

3. We will go with 3600 as price difference is negligible

4. Looks like we will be ditching the HDD and go with a 1TB NVME

5. That's reassuring, PSUs seem to be almost as much of a minefield as GPUs.
 
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Building a gaming PC for a friend on a 1k budget (including monitor)
MB: B550 Tomahawk
CPU: AMD 5600x (wraith cooler)
MEM: Vengeance 3200 LPX 16GB (2x 8GB)
(Above purchased as a bundle from AWT-IT)


GPU: 3050 announced yesterday, I've tasked him with monitoring Scan and overclockers for the drop..
SSD: M.2 256GB Crucial P5
HDD: Barracuda 1TB
PSU: EVGA 650w SuperNOVA G3 80+ Gold
CASE: I've left this up to him as I see it as purely aesthetic at this low/mid range. Thermals shouldn't be a concern but ill still give it the once over.

Cheers all..
I found this bundle on that site you purchased from.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-...mag-b550-tomahawk-motherboard-cpu-bundle.html
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz, MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK Motherboard CPU Bundle £409.99

And this is what I came up with when I read your friends budget. You probably should have started this thread before purchasing any components.

MSI PRO B660M-A DDR4 £130.96

https://infinite-computing.co.uk/product/intel-core-i5-12400f
Intel Core i5 12400F £169.75

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/dee...e-tower-aluminium-fins-4x-heatpipes-intel-amd
DEEPCOOL GAMMAXX GTE V2 CPU Cooler £19.99

https://global.deepcool.com/1700MountingUpgrades/index_global.aspx
DEEPCOOL LGA-1700 Mounting Kit £0.00

https://www.box.co.uk/Crucial-Ballistix-16GB-(2x-8GB)-3200MHz-_2892161.html
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB) CL16 £50.99

https://www.box.co.uk/WD-Blue-SN550-1TB-NVME-M.2-2280-PCIE-Gen_2847832.html
WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIE Gen3 SSD £69.99

Total: £441 inc VAT

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B660M-A-DDR4

Reviews of that cpu w/benchmarks.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/core-i5-12400-processor-review,1.html

 
Last edited:

nate_2011

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I found this bundle on that site you purchased from.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/amd-ryzen-...mag-b550-tomahawk-motherboard-cpu-bundle.html
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz, MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK Motherboard CPU Bundle £409.99

And this is what I came up with when I read your friends budget. You probably should have started this thread before purchasing any components.

MSI PRO B660M-A DDR4 £130.96

https://infinite-computing.co.uk/product/intel-core-i5-12400f
Intel Core i5 12400F £169.75

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/dee...e-tower-aluminium-fins-4x-heatpipes-intel-amd
DEEPCOOL GAMMAXX GTE V2 CPU Cooler £19.99

https://global.deepcool.com/1700MountingUpgrades/index_global.aspx
DEEPCOOL LGA-1700 Mounting Kit £0.00

https://www.box.co.uk/Crucial-Ballistix-16GB-(2x-8GB)-3200MHz-_2892161.html
Crucial Ballistix DDR4 3200MHz 16GB (2x8GB) CL16 £50.99

https://www.box.co.uk/WD-Blue-SN550-1TB-NVME-M.2-2280-PCIE-Gen_2847832.html
WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIE Gen3 SSD £69.99

Total: £441 inc VAT

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/PRO-B660M-A-DDR4

Reviews of that cpu w/benchmarks.

https://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/core-i5-12400-processor-review,1.html


Hey Why_Me

Thanks for your input, just to be clear we hadn't purchased any components before opening the thread, apologies if I gave that impression. It was more of a "Lets get some independent opinions before we hit buy".

He has now made his purchase, in the end he went slightly over budget as including a monitor in a 1k build was not helpful to getting the most out of the PC itself. He also went with a custom "Pre Build" as finding a GPU both in stock and at a reasonable price was just a nightmare.. Seems to me retailers are choosing to put their limited stock into their pre builds rather than selling them as single components. or inflating to unreasonable prices.

You will be please to know the spec is actually very close to your recommendation.

CPU: I5 12600 (Non K) with stock cooler. I will encourage him to upgrade this as it looks.... Well, crap
MB: ASUS Prime B660
Mem: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3600mhz (was a fiver more than 3200 so no brainer)
GPU: 3060 12GB
PSU: Corsair CX650M

There is no CPU overclocking potential here but he's not hard core and has little interest in that, The jump to a K sku and a Z690 ultimately wasn't worth it for him.

Appreciate the input from everyone but after considering building from the ground up and dealing with the headache the GPU market is atm this just made more sense for him, although it did cost him a little more than he originally planned. ..

£1250 with a 27" 165Mhz 1080p screen, keyboard & mouse

A long way from the originally planned AMD build but hey, that's how it goes sometimes :sol:
 
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