Need advice on budget build CPU option.

[StrawberryShortCakes]

A school friend (non - pc club member) wants to get his first PC, he watched us play command and conquer remastered at school and got intrested. He has a budget of $800 sgd  so I was thinking the 4 core series. 

But I dunno to go 3400G or 3300X because if I went the apu I can get him an ssd but if I went the 3300X I'd have to budget for an rx5500 (the cheapest gpu other then a 1050ti)

 

So what should I go for? 

Ryzen R5 3300X

Ryzen R5 3400G

Thanks.

[Haro]

4 minutes ago, StrawberryShortCakes said:

3400G or 3300X

3300x

 

5 minutes ago, StrawberryShortCakes said:

but if I went the 3300X I'd have to budget for an rx5500

Wait what ? 

What does that have to do with the SSD. 

Just get a cheap tlc with dram cache drive like the mx500. And the 5500xt. That's not a bad gpu. 

Also consider the 580 which should be cheaper. 

[Mateyyy]

The 3300X and 5500XT (or RX 580 or GTX 1650 Super) option is definitely the way to go, though to be fair C&C: Remastered will run even on the Vega 11 on the 3400G.

 

Edit: Just reread your post and noticed what you said about the SSD. Basically, you need an SSD, and considering you can get a 120/240GB SSD for as cheap as 1TB hard drives (which is pretty much the lowest capacity you can get nowadays), I don't see why it wouldn't fit the budget.

Edited July 14, 2020 by Mateyyy

[StrawberryShortCakes]

3 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

3300x

 

Wait what ? 

What does that have to do with the SSD. 

Just get a cheap tlc with dram cache drive like the mx500. And the 5500xt. That's not a bad gpu. 

Also consider the 580 which should be cheaper. 

His budget is $800 sgd not usd, and rx 580s no longer in shops in Singapore. 

2 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

The 3300X and 5500XT (or RX 580 or GTX 1650 Super) option is definitely the way to go, though to be fair C&C: Remastered will run even on the Vega 11 on the 3400G.

As I said rx 580s no longer in stock in shops, as for gtx 1650 they cost $258( that's the cheapest one too leadtek brand) and the cheapest rx 5500xt cost $245 pulse(sapphire) a d that's the cheapest one too

[steelo]

17 minutes ago, StrawberryShortCakes said:

A school friend (non - pc club member) wants to get his first PC, he watched us play command and conquer remastered at school and got intrested. He has a budget of $800 sgd  so I was thinking the 4 core series. 

But I dunno to go 3400G or 3300X because if I went the apu I can get him an ssd but if I went the 3300X I'd have to budget for an rx5500 (the cheapest gpu other then a 1050ti)

 

So what should I go for? 

Ryzen R5 3300X

Ryzen R5 3400G

Thanks.

He won't need much if C&C remastered is what he's interested in playing. A R5 3400g or even a R3 3200g should be enough. Although a rx 570 is now quite old, it still is a very cheap, competent GPU for 1080 gaming...I'd recommend that over a 1050ti.

[Haro]

1 minute ago, StrawberryShortCakes said:

and the cheapest rx 5500xt cost $245 pulse(sapphire) a d that's the cheapest one too

The 5500xt and the 3300x will work just fine.

[Gaires]

8 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Basically, you need an SSD

No you don't, you just need different kind of mindset and habits. Even if he bought some cheap 120/240gb ssd for windows, he would still need hdd for games.

Seeing how few biggest games are already over 100gb, and most games are around 30-70gb, the small ssd will be pretty much useless as an only storage solution.

[steelo]

4 minutes ago, Gaires said:

No you don't, you just need different kind of mindset and habits. Even if he bought some cheap 120/240gb ssd for windows, he would still need hdd for games.

Seeing how few biggest games are already over 100gb, and most games are around 30-70gb, the small ssd will be pretty much useless as an only storage solution.

You don't need a SSD...what I would do if I was on an extreme budget is buy a cheaper, small SSD (something like a 120gb) for the OS and nothing else. Put everything else on a cheap 500gb/1tb barracuda HDD.

[StrawberryShortCakes]

1 minute ago, steelo said:

You don't need a SSD...what I would do if I was on an extreme budget is buy a cheaper, small SSD (something like a 120gb) for the OS and nothing else. Put everything else on a HDD.

Believe me $800 sgd is like usd $450 d-_-b

[Gaires]

2 minutes ago, steelo said:

You don't need a SSD...what I would do if I was on an extreme budget is buy a cheaper, small SSD (something like a 120gb) for the OS and nothing else. Put everything else on a HDD.

I'm assuming OP's friend doesnt have an hdd and his budget is really limited, so buying a ssd would take away from some other aspect of the build.

I would rather buy 1-2tb HDD now and later on buy a small ssd for windows.

[steelo]

3 minutes ago, StrawberryShortCakes said:

Believe me $800 sgd is like usd $450 d-_-b

You should still be able to build a respectable system...

 

IMO, go with a 3400g or a 3200g, buy a 500gb (or 1TB) HDD, 8gb RAM and a cheap m.2 SSD for the OS. You should be able to fit that into a $800 sgd budget unless prices are seriously inflated there.

 

If you can't find a ssd that falls in that budget, then a HDD will work just fine for now. 

[StrawberryShortCakes]

Just now, Gaires said:

I'm assuming OP's friend doesnt have an hdd and his budget is really limited, so buying a ssd would take away from some other aspect of the build.

I would rather buy 1-2tb HDD now and later on buy a small ssd for windows.

*Hugs* you and nods yes finally someone who understand me, I dad to get 2666mhz ram jut to fit his budget. 

[StrawberryShortCakes]

1 minute ago, StrawberryShortCakes said:

*Hugs* you and nods yes finally someone who understand me, I dad to get 2666mhz ram jut to fit his budget. 

Edit dad I ment had

[steelo]

1 minute ago, StrawberryShortCakes said:

*Hugs* you and nods yes finally someone who understand me, I dad to get 2666mhz ram jut to fit his budget. 

LOL...just know that later on you'll have to clone your OS onto the SSD. It can be a pain, in some cases unless you're willing to do a fresh install  

[StrawberryShortCakes]

Just now, steelo said:

LOL...just know that later on you'll have to clone your OS onto the SSD. It can be a pain unless you're willing to do a fresh install  

Don't worry I promise I'll do it for him free if he can save the money. 

[steelo]

Just now, StrawberryShortCakes said:

Don't worry I promise I'll do it for him free if he can save the money. 

Also, you MAY be able to overclock the RAM to 2800mhz. Ryzen CPU's like fast RAM. If you don't know what you're doing though, I'd just leave it.

[Gaires]

Just section the HDD for windows and other stuff, so when you do fresh installation of windows you don't need to format the whole hdd.

[steelo]

Just now, Gaires said:

Just section the HDD for windows and other stuff, so when you do fresh installation of windows you don't need to format the whole hdd.

Good point...I wish I took your advice when I had to do this...LOL

 

The issue I had when I mirrored the OS onto a SSD (with Macrium Reflect) was the system would not recognize it as a bootable device. 

[StrawberryShortCakes]

2 minutes ago, steelo said:

Also, you MAY be able to overclock the RAM to 2800mhz. Ryzen CPU's like fast RAM. If you don't know what you're doing though, I'd just leave it.

I'll get my sister's friend that overclocked my system to help, do that. 

[Mateyyy]

14 minutes ago, Gaires said:

No you don't, you just need different kind of mindset and habits. Even if he bought some cheap 120/240gb ssd for windows, he would still need hdd for games.

Seeing how few biggest games are already over 100gb, and most games are around 30-70gb, the small ssd will be pretty much useless as an only storage solution.

Have you ever tried using Windows 10 on a mechanical hard drive?

The game size argument is definitely valid, but I think getting an SSD now and throwing in a larger hard drive later on is a much better option than getting just an HDD in the first place and installing Windows on it.

[steelo]

Just now, StrawberryShortCakes said:

I'll get my sister's friend that overclocked my system to help, do that. 

Just to warn you, it may or may not work...it's really hit or miss and depends on the RAM. 

[steelo]

2 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

Have you ever tried using Windows 10 on a mechanical hard drive?

The game size argument is definitely valid, but I think getting an SSD now and throwing in a larger hard drive later on is a much better option than getting just an HDD in the first place and installing Windows on it.

It's definitely the better option, even if he just gets a small ssd for the OS. However, I think his budget is very limited right now and he plans on cloning the OS onto a SSD later on.

[Gaires]

Just now, Mateyyy said:

Have you ever tried using Windows 10 on a mechanical hard drive?

The game size argument is definitely valid, but I think getting an SSD now and throwing in a larger hard drive later on is a much better option than getting just an HDD in the first place and installing Windows on it.

Yes, yes I have. Infact I bought my first ssd last December.

I booted the computer as a first thing when I came home and went to the toilet etc as it was booting, when it was actually on it was fine. And if I had to restart the computer during the day, I would usually just do something quick while it was restarting.

[steelo]

6 minutes ago, Gaires said:

Yes, yes I have. Infact I bought my first ssd last December.

I booted the computer as a first thing when I came home and went to the toilet etc as it was booting, when it was actually on it was fine. And if I had to restart the computer during the day, I would usually just do something quick while it was restarting.

I built my brother in law a very budget minded system with a HDD only and a Ryzen 3 2200g. Although it takes awhile to boot, load times for applications still weren't horrendous. He mainly only plays world of warships with his boys and will get a drink or something while it loads. After that initial loading period, it runs just fine.

 

SSD's DO make the overall system experience feel 'snappier' though and it is a night and day difference. I HIGHLY recommend getting one eventually.

[Mateyyy]

5 minutes ago, Gaires said:

Yes, yes I have. Infact I bought my first ssd last December.

I booted the computer as a first thing when I came home and went to the toilet etc as it was booting, when it was actually on it was fine. And if I had to restart the computer during the day, I would usually just do something quick while it was restarting.

Well, getting a new computer and having to wait around for it to just boot isn't exactly a great experience. And it's not just the boot time, it's the time it takes to load applications in general, and in terms of the overall snappiness, the difference between an SSD and HDD is night and day.

 

Regardless, I do admit that the wording might not have been the best on my part, but I still think that not having an SSD in this day and age is far from ideal. In fact, if OP could find a 1600AF for cheaper than a 3300X and could afford to fit in a 120GB SSD along with the HDD with the money saved, I reckon that'd be the best choice.