$550 Build Please help me finish it.

[birdflyer]

Greetings community.

 

I was wondering what would be the best lasting build. I am building one for my grandma and would like recommendations. here is the list. 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$79.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	MSI B450M BAZOOKA V2 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$82.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$64.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$64.89 @ OutletPC
Case	Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$89.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA BT 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$422.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-07 23:12 EDT-0400

 

 

I would like to keep the case I have chosen. I would normally never have a case that is over $50 for a build like this. However I since my grandma is going to be using this for a while I would like her to have this one. 

That brings me to my next point, it is for my grandma. She needs something that will last her at least 6. The other thing with the case is eventually I might build her a new PC in the same case. I am going to replace the PSU as I have heard it is a "fire cracker".

[Herman Mcpootis]

parts list is private.

[Fasauceome]

l

 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Fasauceome

[birdflyer]

oops, one moment I will fix that

9 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

 

9 hours ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

parts list is private.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$79.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	MSI B450M BAZOOKA V2 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$82.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$64.99 @ Best Buy
Storage	Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive	$64.89 @ OutletPC
Case	Cooler Master SILENCIO S400 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$89.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA BT 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply	$39.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$422.74
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-07 23:10 EDT-0400

 

[Herman Mcpootis]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($79.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($64.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($59.98 @ Amazon) 
Case: Thermaltake Versa H18 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($43.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Amazon) a good PSU would have made more sense for a rig to last long than an expensive case.
Total: $383.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-07 23:13 EDT-0400

[birdflyer]

I agree and would use the case you suggested except she needs an optical drive. Is that motherboard reliable? I started a thread earlier and got mixed answers.

 

3 minutes ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($79.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($69.99 @ Newegg) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($64.99 @ Best Buy) 
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($59.98 @ Amazon) 
Case: Thermaltake Versa H18 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($43.98 @ Newegg) 
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply  ($64.99 @ Amazon) a good PSU would have made more sense for a rig to last long than an expensive case.
Total: $383.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-07 23:13 EDT-0400

 

[Herman Mcpootis]

Just now, birdflyer said:

I agree and would use the case you suggested except she needs an optical drive. Is that motherboard reliable? I started a thread earlier and got mixed answers.

you can get an external disc drive for her to use. It's a pretty good board for the price.

[LogicWeasel]

12 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

Is that motherboard reliable?

Since I strongly doubt you plan to upgrade to a Ryzen 9 3950x the VRMs (and overall quality) that come on that ASRock B450M board are just fine.  Your MSI Bazooka pick makes for more of an enthusiast option as it's a fancier mATX B450.  The reliability I doubt changes in any big way between the MSI and the one Herman picked; and with this budget, makes sense to save the $.

[dizmo]

I can't help but think your build is excessively overkill. Does your grandma play games at all?
If she doesn't, just get 8GB of RAM. Don't bother with NVME storage, and honestly, I'd consider something like a 256GB SSD, it should still be plenty.

No need for an expensive PSU, you're just running a low power APU, I'd just get a case with one built in.

[birdflyer]

No she doesn't play anything more graphically intense than Be Jeweled. She does however store lots of files and my grandpa (he is used to be a photographer in the film days) stores lots of photos. The computer that they are upgrading from has a 1tb drive in it and they are currently using almost 256gb. Now before you suggest that I put that old hard drive in there as a secondary drive, I would say no. Why? 

1: My grandpa isn't the most careful about downloading things and the current drive is full of malware and a couple viruses (one of which I believe is a more calm version of meltdown).

2: Neither of them are computer illiterate to understand how to use a second drive.

 

Why did I go with and NVME storage? I was going to get a SATA drive but discovered that an NVME drive was the same price.

The reason for a better PSU is I would like it to last her at least 6 years. Unfortunately, yes it does make a difference in life span to have a good PSU, I have a really hard time spending money on them.

Thanks. please make more suggestions and feel free to correct me if you think I am wrong.

8 hours ago, dizmo said:

I can't help but think your build is excessively overkill. Does your grandma play games at all?
If she doesn't, just get 8GB of RAM. Don't bother with NVME storage, and honestly, I'd consider something like a 256GB SSD, it should still be plenty.

No need for an expensive PSU, you're just running a low power APU, I'd just get a case with one built in.

Thanks guys really appreciate it.

 

9 hours ago, Herman Mcpootis said:

you can get an external disc drive for her to use. It's a pretty good board for the price.

I would use an external drive; however, she is adamant that she wants it to be internal, so I pulled the old one out of her old system. At least it saves $20.

[Herman Mcpootis]

27 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

I would use an external drive; however, she is adamant that she wants it to be internal, so I pulled the old one out of her old system. At least it saves $20.

you can drop down to a couger MG110 or versa H15 then.

[Energycore]

I've always been a fan of small form factor for light workload builds. You don't pay a huge premium (usually about $40 in price difference for the motherboard only) and you get a computer that's easier to move around and takes up less space. Maybe your grandma would like that

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Team T-Force Vulcan 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory  ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Case: Fractal Design Core 500 Mini ITX Desktop Case  ($52.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $399.73
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-08 02:05 EDT-0400

[LogicWeasel]

14 minutes ago, Energycore said:

and you get a computer that's easier to move around and takes up less space. Maybe your grandma would like that

Yeah! Making it so much easier to carry when she goes to all-night LAN parties at her friend Rose's to pwn noobs in Apex Legends.  

 

 

Seriously though, a smaller footprint certainly seems like a nice touch for this non-gaming rig.

[VEXICUS]

I'll recommend something like this instead....

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($79.89 @ OutletPC) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  ($114.99 @ Amazon) 
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory  ($33.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Sabrent Rocket 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  ($59.98 @ Amazon) 
Case: Silverstone SG13 Mini ITX Tower Case  ($57.99 @ B&H) 
Power Supply: Corsair CX (2017) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($53.98 @ Newegg) 
Total: $400.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-08 05:05 EDT-0400

[hello_there_123]

8 hours ago, Energycore said:

Storage: Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive  ($64.89 @ OutletPC)

Sabrent Rocket at $60, Tcsunbow X3 at $49. And yet you still chose this...

[Energycore]

1 hour ago, hello_there_123 said:

Sabrent Rocket at $60, Tcsunbow X3 at $49. And yet you still chose this...

NVME SSDs for consumers are not really an upgrade, so I chose one that I'm familiar with, that's good performance for the money.

 

If you have a review for the Sabrent or the Tcsunbow, I'll gladly take a look at them

[hello_there_123]

1 minute ago, Energycore said:

NVME SSDs for consumers are not really an upgrade, so I chose one that I'm familiar with, that's good performance for the money.

 

If you have a review for the Sabrent or the Tcsunbow, I'll gladly take a look at them

Sabrent Rocket is a Phison E12 drive, same as Corsair MP510, Inland Premium etc. So you can search up reviews for the MP510 instead. 
 

And Tcsunbow X3 is an SM2258 drive, same controller as the MX500. Just lower binned nand, worse firmware and i believe smaller SLC cache which won't matter for boot drives. 

[Energycore]

5 minutes ago, hello_there_123 said:

Sabrent Rocket is a Phison E12 drive, same as Corsair MP510, Inland Premium etc. So you can search up reviews for the MP510 instead. 
 

And Tcsunbow X3 is an SM2258 drive, same controller as the MX500. Just lower binned nand, worse firmware and i believe smaller SLC cache which won't matter for boot drives. 

If the Sabrent is as good as the MP510 then it's got my blessing. I'd take a look at the brand's customer service before pulling the trigger myself but it looks like good value for money.

[hello_there_123]

20 minutes ago, Energycore said:

If the Sabrent is as good as the MP510 then it's got my blessing. I'd take a look at the brand's customer service before pulling the trigger myself but it looks like good value for money.

There the same drive. And the customer service is great because the drive is sold on Amazon, Sabrent are more known for HDD enclosures and that type of stuff. 

[birdflyer]

 

23 hours ago, Energycore said:

NVME SSDs for consumers are not really an upgrade, so I chose one that I'm familiar with, that's good performance for the money.

 

If you have a review for the Sabrent or the Tcsunbow, I'll gladly take a look at them

Ya the only reason I chose a NVME drive was because it was the same price as an mx500 crucial SATA drive. As far as form factor for a case she wants a tower ITX or mini ITX she doesn't care. she previously used a mid tower Dell so the height doesn't mater but width does.

[trevb0t]

29 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

 

Ya the only reason I chose a NVME drive was because it was the same price as an mx500 crucial SATA drive. As far as form factor for a case she wants a tower ITX or mini ITX she doesn't care. she previously used a mid tower Dell so the height doesn't mater but width does.

You could always look at something like the Node 202.

Very thin, sleek look and good airflow

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$119.08 @ OutletPC
Motherboard	Gigabyte B450 I AORUS PRO WIFI Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard	$114.99 @ Amazon
Memory	GeIL EVO POTENZA 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory	$59.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$109.98 @ Amazon
Case	Fractal Design Node 202 HTPC Case w/450 W Power Supply	$141.98 @ Newegg
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$546.02
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-09-09 12:43 EDT-0400

• 2400G for the extra threads, and slightly better iGPU
• Wifi board
• Node 202 case with included 450W Fractal Design Integra SFX PSU (it's not a tier list topper, but it's a decent enough unit.)

Linus especially loved the Node 202:

 

[birdflyer]

12 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

You could always look at something like the Node 202

Ya that's a little spendy; I would rather go with the one I have unless there is a better case for cheaper.

[trevb0t]

1 minute ago, birdflyer said:

Ya that's a little spendy; I would rather go with the one I have unless there is a better case for cheaper.

See the build above. I've achieved a better APU and a larger/better SSD.

[birdflyer]

3 minutes ago, trevb0t said:

See the build above. I've achieved a better APU and a larger/better SSD.

OK, I have not had any experience with sabrent ssds. Are they reliable?

[trevb0t]

3 minutes ago, birdflyer said:

OK, I have not had any experience with sabrent ssds. Are they reliable?

See the above conversation. Honestly a NVMe isn't going to do granny any good unless she's moving and making huge video files on a regular basis.

This case has a cage for 2x 2.5 SSDs if you so desire. So a 2.5" MX500 is just fine, and likely a savings.

 

But pricing wise the Sabrent Rocket is pretty well priced!