PC Build for Friend (Low Budget Gaming)

L

lewthorn

New member
Hello,

My friend is looking to get a PC to play games like Starcraft II, CS:GO and VALORANT. He has a 24" BenQ G2450 monitor and has a budget of around £700. I've created this spec below but would love some advice on where I might be spending too much so that other parts can be upgraded.

Thanks,

Lewis

Case
CIT PYRO RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3500X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.1GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00001]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £715.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/qH3YgpFvTJ/
 
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I'd want about twice that budget to build something i'd be happy recommending and that would last, most of the above spec is several generations olod
 
D

DarTon

Well-known member
That's a really tough budget to be working at the current time with even for a simple 1080p monitor. Short-term, think about getting a console (even second hand/refurbished). This allows your friend to save more and also for prices to hopefully fall. Alternatively, look for a pre-built deal that fits. Again consider a refurb to make the money stretch further.

If the friend really wants a new custom built PC now then they will need to make heavy compromises. A decent GPU on that budget is impossible. Your attempt is not bad at all.

One possible idea is to at least make the system somewhat upgradeable.
  1. Motherboard: Ditch the B450 for a B550, allowing an eventual 5600X CPU.
  2. RAM: Up to 3000MHz (really 3200 but PCS oddly doesn't seem to offer 8GB in that speed). Allows an eventual 16GB.
  3. PSU: Uprate to 650W (ideally 750W but we need to cut corners)
  4. Case change: The selected case only has one fan and you're only using the stock cooler, so we might aswell pay £15 more for something with three fans and that's nicer.
  5. Cut the 1TB HDD to save some money but perhaps buy an internal 1TB HDD later (say for £35 from a small emporium run by a guy called Jeff Bezos) that the friend has to fit themselves. Saves a few quid.
This comes in at £715 +£35 for the HDD or £750 total.
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/UpuBkgTh6g/

For another £37 (so £787 total) you could upgrade the processor from a 3500X (6 core, 6 thread) to a 3600X (6 core, 12 thread). That would give you about 5% more single thread performance but 33% more multi-thread performance.

This build is still lacking in the GPU but at least other components can be kept or easily upgraded.
 
jamiephillips909

jamiephillips909

Godlike
Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030
1st Storage Drive
1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £945.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/2DZfnU4!xH/
Lowest I would recommend with pathway to upgrade gpu in future
If your mate was able to wait and save some more would get a way better base build to improve upon
Edit = motherboard was suppose to be b550 my bad !
 
Last edited:
Martinr36

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
jamiephillips909 said:
Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-4.6GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3000MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 1030
1st Storage Drive
1TB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 470MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NOT REQUIRED
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 12 working days
Price: £945.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/2DZfnU4!xH/
Lowest I would recommend with pathway to upgrade gpu in future
If your mate was able to wait and save some more would get a way better base build to improve upon
Edit = motherboard was suppose to be b550 my bad !
Click to expand...
with the b550 that comes in at £959
 
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