Question Thoughts on Bulldozer build for Overwatch 2 and college work?

[grebgonebad]

Hey everyone, I've been approached by a work colleague about building a PC for their daughter. They mainly play Overwatch 2 so that's the target. As budget is an issue I've said that I may be able to throw something together from some old hardware that I've got lying around, with the caveat that it is admittedly dated and likely wouldn't be able to handle newer triple A's. They're fine with this, but before we go ahead and make a deal on this I'd like to turn to the good folk here and gauge what the general consensus is. So here goes:

CPU - AMD FX 8350
CPU Cooler - Zalman CNPS9900
Mobo - Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
RAM - 16gb (2x8gb) Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
GPU - Asus Strix GTX 1060 6gb
SSD - 250gb Intel 520
HDD - 1tb Seagate SSHD
PSU - (Not yet sourced)
Case - (Not yet sourced)

For clarity, the above system is more or less what I was using personally up until a couple years ago and I was still gaming comfortably at 1080p at an average of 60fps with most games on medium settings. Again, I have stressed to my colleague that this will not handle newer titles well, if at all, and due to everything being so old there are no warranties. However I have offered my personal assistance if/when things go wrong at no extra charge. I do this stuff as a hobby anyway.

I'm going to ask for somewhere in the region of £300-£400 (price slightly inflated to account for high PSU costs here right now), and this includes a BenQ gaming monitor (1080p @120hz), Logitech G213 keyboard and Logitech G502 Hero mouse.

So there you have it. Cards on the table, I know this is by far and away not a brilliant system. However budget wise it fits in with what my colleague has available and is cheaper than the cheapest pre built that I've managed to find that's capable of playing Overwatch 2.

Any advice/criticisms are highly appreciated and will be taken seriously. Thanks for your time.

 

[kanewolf]

Hey everyone, I've been approached by a work colleague about building a PC for their daughter. They mainly play Overwatch 2 so that's the target. As budget is an issue I've said that I may be able to throw something together from some old hardware that I've got lying around, with the caveat that it is admittedly dated and likely wouldn't be able to handle newer triple A's. They're fine with this, but before we go ahead and make a deal on this I'd like to turn to the good folk here and gauge what the general consensus is. So here goes:

CPU - AMD FX 8350
CPU Cooler - Zalman CNPS9900
Mobo - Asus Sabertooth 990FX R2.0
RAM - 16gb (2x8gb) Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz
GPU - Asus Strix GTX 1060 6gb
SSD - 250gb Intel 520
HDD - 1tb Seagate SSHD
PSU - (Not yet sourced)
Case - (Not yet sourced)

For clarity, the above system is more or less what I was using personally up until a couple years ago and I was still gaming comfortably at 1080p at an average of 60fps with most games on medium settings. Again, I have stressed to my colleague that this will not handle newer titles well, if at all, and due to everything being so old there are no warranties. However I have offered my personal assistance if/when things go wrong at no extra charge. I do this stuff as a hobby anyway.

I'm going to ask for somewhere in the region of £300-£400 (price slightly inflated to account for high PSU costs here right now), and this includes a BenQ gaming monitor (1080p @120hz), Logitech G213 keyboard and Logitech G502 Hero mouse.

So there you have it. Cards on the table, I know this is by far and away not a brilliant system. However budget wise it fits in with what my colleague has available and is cheaper than the cheapest pre built that I've managed to find that's capable of playing Overwatch 2.

Any advice/criticisms are highly appreciated and will be taken seriously. Thanks for your time.

A recent i3 will run circles around that 8350, generate WAY less heat and therefore be much quieter. FX CPUs have aged like last week's fresh fish rather than like 2010 Merlot ...

 

[Firestone]

You'll be interested in this thread from just the other day

Question - FX 6300 vs FX 8150

Hi, I'm resurrecting an old pc and I have two processors to choose from: an FX 6300 or an FX 8150. I've read that the FX 6300 is more recent, consumes less power and has better performance per core, but I don't know how it would behave with modern software and games in terms of multi threading…...

forums.tomshardware.com

As long as you aren't charging much money for it, and you're not spending much either, I don't see the problem.

I would probably just give such a system away for free

 

[grebgonebad]

A recent i3 will run circles around that 8350, generate WAY less heat and therefore be much quieter. FX CPUs have aged like last week's fresh fish rather than like 2010 Merlot ...

Cheers for the reply!

Yeah I did explain that to my colleague but again, money is the main limiting factor and a cursory glance at a couple sites showed that purchasing an i3 along with the motherboard and RAM would make this option financially nonviable. I'm aware that the FX range have fallen way out of favor ever since the introduction of Ryzen, but it's all I have available at the moment. Ha ha.

 

[USAFRet]

Cheers for the reply!

Yeah I did explain that to my colleague but again, money is the main limiting factor and a cursory glance at a couple sites showed that purchasing an i3 along with the motherboard and RAM would make this option financially nonviable. I'm aware that the FX range have fallen way out of favor ever since the introduction of Ryzen, but it's all I have available at the moment. Ha ha.

What does this £300-£400 have to include?
The whole thing, including a Windows license?

Where are you buying from?

 

[grebgonebad]

You'll be interested in this thread from just the other day

Question - FX 6300 vs FX 8150

Hi, I'm resurrecting an old pc and I have two processors to choose from: an FX 6300 or an FX 8150. I've read that the FX 6300 is more recent, consumes less power and has better performance per core, but I don't know how it would behave with modern software and games in terms of multi threading…...

forums.tomshardware.com

As long as you aren't charging much money for it, and you're not spending much either, I don't see the problem.

I would probably just give such a system away for free

Thanks for the thread recommendation! I'll take a read through it once I've eaten dinner.

I'm only really charging for the peripherals and the cost of a new PSU/case (The only actual spend on this build), but my colleague insisted on paying more than it's worth.

 

[grebgonebad]

What does this £300-£400 have to include?
The whole thing, including a Windows license?

Where are you buying from?

That's right, everything including the licence. As I stated originally, this is more or less one of my old builds minus the PSU, case and hard drives. I'm not yet sure where I'm going to get the PSU and case from as I'm still shopping around for the right deal. Amazon, Scan, Ebuyer, Ebay, all the usual haunts I would imagine.

 

[USAFRet]

That's right, everything including the licence. As I stated originally, this is more or less one of my old builds minus the PSU, case and hard drives. I'm not yet sure where I'm going to get the PSU and case from as I'm still shopping around for the right deal. Amazon, Scan, Ebuyer, Ebay, all the usual haunts I would imagine.

To include the OS license, £400 is below my build/buy line.
A valid standalone Windows license is 25% of that.

For that price level, there are a number of i3-i5 or Ryzen equivalents at Amazon, that include the OS. Some with keyboard and mouse as well.

 

[USAFRet]

Also, look at Dell Outlet.
Off lease/refurb systems.

Refurbished & Overstock Laptops, PCs, Monitors: Dell Outlet | Dell USA | Dell USA

Refurbished laptops, desktop gaming computers, monitors, docks & servers on the cheap from Dell Outlet. READY TO SHIP laptops for sale. Up to 30% savings.

www.dell.com

 

[punkncat]

If you are including the tech support, I would set strict definitions of what that is going to include. This is a long dead platform, so any hardware failures will likely cause a platform replace. I would not purchase new old stock and chase an issue around on something of this age/performance.

I honestly feel like 400 is taking a bit of advantage of your friend, but at the same time do not know the market forces and pricing in your locale.

 

[grebgonebad]

Also, look at Dell Outlet.
Off lease/refurb systems.

Refurbished & Overstock Laptops, PCs, Monitors: Dell Outlet | Dell USA | Dell USA

Refurbished laptops, desktop gaming computers, monitors, docks & servers on the cheap from Dell Outlet. READY TO SHIP laptops for sale. Up to 30% savings.

www.dell.com

Cheers for the suggestion, I'll take a look and see if I can't score something better for my colleague.

As far as Amazon goes the cheapest I found that looked halfway decent was in the 700-800 range, everything else had GPU's that just wouldn't be up to the task. I probably should have mentioned that I'm from the UK and the market over here is a bit wonky right now.

 

[grebgonebad]

If you are including the tech support, I would set strict definitions of what that is going to include. This is a long dead platform, so any hardware failures will likely cause a platform replace. I would not purchase new old stock and chase an issue around on something of this age/performance.

I honestly feel like 400 is taking a bit of advantage of your friend, but at the same time do not know the market forces and pricing in your locale.

Oh of course yeah, my support will only be for software/technical issues, nothing relating to hardware. I will be making sure to fully explain everything to them before any purchase is made.

I stated in a previous comment that I quoted a lower price but said colleague insisted on paying more. It'll be closer to the 300 mark anyway, 400 was on the top end.

I probably should mention at this point that I'm from the UK, prices over here are still quite high compared to our friends from across the pond. Ha ha.

 

[punkncat]

In a situation like this, with a friend, I would also explore budget new hardware to present to them as an option. I would assume that low price AM4 3xxx stuff is likely available. Perhaps price out something like R5 3600 w/ RX 6500 XT, something along that line. Even at that, it would leave a nice upgrade path that would be viable for some years to come.

 

[grebgonebad]

In a situation like this, with a friend, I would also explore budget new hardware to present to them as an option. I would assume that low price AM4 3xxx stuff is likely available. Perhaps price out something like R5 3600 w/ RX 6500 XT, something along that line. Even at that, it would leave a nice upgrade path that would be viable for some years to come.

I will be sitting down with them and explaining all available options and their pros/cons. Honestly, given the right budget, I'd just do a new build for them. I'd much rather have the security of them having the proper warranty and all that entails. As it is however the budget really is the limiting factor, and the cheapest solution I could find would be nearly triple what I'm asking, and that's before peripherals. Honestly, the market over here right now is a mess.

 

[USAFRet]

I will be sitting down with them and explaining all available options and their pros/cons. Honestly, given the right budget, I'd just do a new build for them. I'd much rather have the security of them having the proper warranty and all that entails. As it is however the budget really is the limiting factor, and the cheapest solution I could find would be nearly triple what I'm asking, and that's before peripherals. Honestly, the market over here right now is a mess.

Also, given a proper platform, suggest adding a better GPU later.

Personally, I couldn't in good conscience recommend a Bulldozer platform in this decade.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Agree with the others on a Bulldozer rig.

There is value to be had, even in the UK!

Something like this would be great starting point. All that it would need down the line is a better GPU.

However the 5600g has decent enough performance for an iGPU.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor (£104.39 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B550 GAMING GEN3 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial CT2K8G4DFRA32A 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory (£28.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£36.70 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 10 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£56.91 @ NeoComputers)
Total: £311.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-08-20 18:02 BST+0100

 

[punkncat]

Another aspect that shouldn't be overlooked is the end of W10 support upcoming. On a system like that I would do Linux anyway, and it isn't like 10 is just going to stop working...but some other factors like aftermarket security, a different browser and all the other things that go along with unsupported OS should be considered.

And, just to be clear, I am not attempting to be overly critical of this possibility, but trying to think outside of the box and consider a larger picture for this system moving forward. I think it is a good thing that you will be so willing to help them in the consideration of this purchase.

 

[punkncat]

@Roland Of Gilead , that is a nice suggestion. What happens to pricing if you go something like 5500 and low end dGPU?

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

@Roland Of Gilead , that is a nice suggestion. What happens to pricing if you go something like 5500 and low end dGPU?

Good point. Not much more actually

It would look a little like this (IMO).

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£84.89 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B550 GAMING GEN3 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial CT2K8G4DFRA32A 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory (£28.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£37.44 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: ASRock Intel Arc A380 Challenger ITX Arc A380 6 GB Video Card (£139.00 @ MoreCoCo)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 10 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£56.91 @ NeoComputers)
Total: £432.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-08-20 18:07 BST+0100

Although the Arc 380 is Intel's entry level, it's a good entry level GPU. It also has 6gb of vram.

 

[punkncat]

^That would be a nice system for productivity, browsing, as well as casual gaming with a decent upgrade path, even without changing the power supply.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Yeah, PSU would knock off a good bit, and bring it to about £380. The Arc GPU have some new driver revisions, which really bring some performance bumps in certain games (DX9/11). It's solid enough at 1080, with some lowered detail. But, it will play quite a few games apart from the one mentioned. Not a bad compromise.

 

[grebgonebad]

Agree with the others on a Bulldozer rig.

There is value to be had, even in the UK!

Something like this would be great starting point. All that it would need down the line is a better GPU.

However the 5600g has decent enough performance for an iGPU.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor (£104.39 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B550 GAMING GEN3 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial CT2K8G4DFRA32A 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory (£28.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£36.70 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 10 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£56.91 @ NeoComputers)
Total: £311.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-08-20 18:02 BST+0100

Thanks for the suggestion, that's actually not a bad shout. Good job!

I'm by no means against the idea of going new, I'll chuck this idea their way and see how they read.

 

[punkncat]

Yeah, PSU would knock off a good bit, and bring it to about £380.

No, talking about upgrade with the one you linked to. The first post lists PSU and case and not sourced.
The one you specified would be good for a more powerful graphics card down the road and we are all pretty well versed in how good an upgrade path AM4 has available from lower line CPU. Basic system today could readily be a powerhouse with the swap of only a few parts.

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

No, talking about upgrade with the one you linked to. The first post lists PSU and case and not sourced.
The one you specified would be good for a more powerful graphics card down the road and we are all pretty well versed in how good an upgrade path AM4 has available from lower line CPU. Basic system today could readily be a powerhouse with the swap of only a few parts.

Yes, you're right. I did think of it when doing the build.

I'm a stickler for the PSU. It's the heart of the system. I always go big on it, not matter what. Every PSU I've purchased has the thought behind of being transferable to my next system.

 

[grebgonebad]

Agree with the others on a Bulldozer rig.

There is value to be had, even in the UK!

Something like this would be great starting point. All that it would need down the line is a better GPU.

However the 5600g has decent enough performance for an iGPU.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor (£104.39 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B550 GAMING GEN3 ATX AM4 Motherboard (£84.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial CT2K8G4DFRA32A 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL22 Memory (£28.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 3.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£36.70 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 10 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£56.91 @ NeoComputers)
Total: £311.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2023-08-20 18:02 BST+0100

Marking this as best answer as I've deliberated over the available options and while this may be a tougher sell due to the higher overall cost (including peripherals and monitor) it is undoubtedly the best solution moving forward. Future upgradeability isn't a huge issue for my colleague, however this will undoubtedly save them money in the long run. I've yet to discuss this option with them but I'm sure I can sway them to a slightly inflated budget given that this will be future proofed.

Thanks again to everyone who responded! Your help and advice was definitely appreciated and taken on board! Have a great week everyone!