Builds On The Budget ($200-$1500)

[KaoGomi]

Just here to post a few parts lists that I've put together on PCPP.

 

$1,500 Entry-Level Threadripper Build (Could Use Some Tuning, IMO)

$1,200 Core i7-8700K Build (Haven't config'd an Intel build in a while. Could use tuning.)

$1,000 Ryzen 7-1700 Build (INB4, why not a 2700? Answer: Budget and I want my 8-core/16-threads. Primarily workstation tasks.)

$1,000 Ryzen 7-1700 ITX Build (Loss of storage for a smaller footprint. Still primarily workstation.)

$800 Core i5-8600 Build (Tried my best to squeeze in what I could on the Blue Team.)

$750 Ryzen 5-1600 Build (Was going to go with the R5-1500, but it was more expensive, lol)

$650 Core i5-8400 Build (Not sure how I feel about this one, TBH. Could likely be better balanced, I guess.)

$500 Ryzen 3-1200 Build (At this point, you should just look at the used market, but, hey, I won't knock ya' for wanting yer' warranty.)

$450 Core i3-8100 Build (Holy sh*t. I didn't think that I could frugal this hard. I was sweating. I really needed the i3 in this.)

$400 Ryzen 5-2400G Build (RIP GPU, but you'll get upgradability.)

$400 Pentium Gold G5500 Build (Just... save the extra $50 and get the i3 system I put together. It's so much better.)

$300 Ryzen 3-2200G Build (Worked with what I was given.)

$250 Athlon-200GE Build (I hope you enjoy 2D platformers, oldies but goldies and visual novels, because that's about as much as you're gonna be able to play.)

$240 Pentium G4400 Build (Okay, it's Sky Lake. You'll love this is you only play visual novels. Hulk: Puny iGPU.)

$201 Athlon-200GE Build (At this point.... you really should be interesting in web-browsing. Be sure to go with Linux instead here, otherwise RIP 32GBs.)

$200 Celeron G3930 Build (This is about as cheap as building a PC can get from new parts. You won't get much out of this hardware on Windows. Linux is recommended.)

 

Satirical, but I tried to put together some alright balanced builds for certain budgets. Overclocking isn't really considered when putting these parts lists together.

 

Edit 1: I guess if you want a cheap Ryzen upgrade path, you could get the $400 build I posted, but I'd still suggest getting something used in the $400 price bracket. Something like a good LGA-1156 board, a Xeon X3470, a Hyper 212, some cheap Rosewill case, an EVGA B-Stock PSU (please get something 80+ Bronze or higher) and you can pick up a 4GB RX 570 on the used market for about $50-80 USD.

Edit 2: Took a suggestion and edited a few builds. And added clarification for the $1,000 R7 Build.

Edit 3: Invalided Edit 1.

Edit 4: Added ITX build for $1,000.

Edit 5: Enabled team balance and grammar.

Edit 6: Enhanced team balance.

[Spotty]

5 minutes ago, Kaoru-chan said:

$1,500 Entry-Level Threadripper Build (Could Use Some Tuning, IMO)

Don't use 2x16GB 2400MHz RAM with Threadripper. Go with a 4x8GB 3000MHz kit instead.

 

6 minutes ago, Kaoru-chan said:

$1,000 Ryzen 7-1700 Build (INB4, why not a 2700? Answer: Budget and I want my 8-core/16-threads.)

Depending what it's being used for, might not be any need for 32GB RAM here.

 

7 minutes ago, Kaoru-chan said:

$750 Ryzen 5-1600 Build (Was going to just use the R5-1500, but it's more expensive, lol)

Too slow RAM for Ryzen again.
Super old, crappy PSU. There's better stuff for cheaper.
Could save money with a smaller SSD (250GB or 500GB).
Can save $30 by using the stock Ryzen cooler that comes with the CPU.
 

10 minutes ago, Kaoru-chan said:

$400 Athlon 200GE Build (Please FFS guys, DO NOT BUY THIS. Just get something on the used market. You will regret buying this PC. Don't worry about the warranty.)

Could buy a 2200G/2400G system instead and forego the graphics card. Would be able to get a much better system, and would give you a better starting point to upgrade later by adding a graphics card.

[monjessenstein]

For 400$ I'd probably get a 2200g with a b series board and skip the gpu to be honest, since you won't be investing money in a dead platform.

[Guest]

Why would you spend an extra $500 on a TR4 build just to get an 8 core cpu when you already have one in the $1000 build ? Makes zero sense.

[Spotty]

7 hours ago, lee32uk said:

Why would you spend an extra $500 on a TR4 build just to get an 8 core cpu when you already have one in the $1000 build ? Makes zero sense.

PCIe lanes. Memory.
If you're doing tasks that aren't CPU intensive, but might benefit from having 4 GPUs installed, then it would make sense to go a cheap Threadripper over Ryzen 7. Give me a dedicated Folding@Home rig with a 1900x, Asrock Taichi X399 (full ATX, not that pansy ass mATX shit), and a couple of RTX2080s and I'll be a happy boy

 

But yeah, for everyone else who doesn't need 60 PCIe lanes or 8 memory slots, may as well just go the Ryzen 7 2700X.

[KaoGomi]

17 hours ago, monjessenstein said:

For 400$ I'd probably get a 2200g with a b series board and skip the gpu to be honest, since you won't be investing money in a dead platform.

True. I edited the parts list to reflect this and invalided my 1st edit where I suggested this.

Although, the point of investing in a dead platform isn't for longevity. It's suggested more towards those who want to get into PC gaming at as strict a budget as possible.

[KaoGomi]

17 hours ago, Spotty said:

Don't use 2x16GB 2400MHz RAM with Threadripper. Go with a 4x8GB 3000MHz kit instead.

 

Depending what it's being used for, might not be any need for 32GB RAM here.

 

Too slow RAM for Ryzen again.
Super old, crappy PSU. There's better stuff for cheaper.
Could save money with a smaller SSD (250GB or 500GB).
Can save $30 by using the stock Ryzen cooler that comes with the CPU.
 

Could buy a 2200G/2400G system instead and forego the graphics card. Would be able to get a much better system, and would give you a better starting point to upgrade later by adding a graphics card.

TR Build: Took the suggestion and changed to 4x8@3000Mhz
R7 Build: Added clarification; included in Edit 2.

R5 Build: Selected a faster RAM kit. I was just trying to squeeze what I could into $750. Removed CPU cooler from the list.

Athlon Build: Changed to the R5-2400G and added a R3-2200G build @ $300 price point.

 

I enabled team balance as well, if you'd like to take a look and critique those builds as well.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Spotty said:

PCIe lanes. Memory.
If you're doing tasks that aren't CPU intensive, but might benefit from having 4 GPUs installed, then it would make sense to go a cheap Threadripper over Ryzen 7. Give me a dedicated Folding@Home rig with a 1900x, Asrock Taichi X399 (full ATX, not that pansy ass mATX shit), and a couple of RTX2080s and I'll be a happy boy

 

But yeah, for everyone else who doesn't need 60 PCIe lanes or 8 memory slots, may as well just go the Ryzen 7 2700X.

But the $1500 spec is already maxed out on ram as the matx board only has 4 slots. If you are going to build a TR4 setup then go with a board with 8 slots for 128GB support.

Same goes for pcie lanes. He has a normal sata ssd in the M.2 slot so it is not even being used to it's potential. And if you wanted support for more gpu's then go ATX rather than trying to cram them onto a smaller board.