Attempting a build for my sons birthday but out of my depth. Opinions please

[Eamono]

Budget (including currency): 600-700 U.K.£

Country: U.K.

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: not sure of games but COD GTA etc type and some streaming 

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): ( have a 1920x1080 14 hz monitor mouse and keyboard so just machine needed

Hi all, I am having a go a my first build for my sons upcoming birthday. Obviously trying to get best bang for my buck but don’t know what my parts pick stack up like . I’d be grateful for any opinions like do I need any additional cooling or would I benefit from swapping out anything Budget is £600-£700.

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/qP9Ktp

[FavoringWinter]

Seems good, but just wondering, why do you need an optical drive. Most games are digital now, and you can always get an external usb one if you need it.

 

[Oswin]

any reason why you need an optical drive..?

[Mateyyy]

PCPartPicker Part List: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/FrPKtp

 

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3300X 3.8 GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£119.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: MSI B450M MORTAR MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£94.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL16 Memory  (£92.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£69.99 @ AWD-IT) 
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB Twin Fan Video Card  (£213.48 @ Ebuyer) 
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case  (£57.67 @ Ebuyer) 
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  (£69.99 @ Currys PC World) 

Total: £719.09
 

Something along these lines should be better for gaming and streaming. Granted it is 20 quid overbudget, but if needed, you could the memory to a CL17/18 kit and probably make the £700 limit.

Either way, I think he'll really enjoy it. Happy birthday!

[Eamono]

Thanks so far- optical drive... guess that’s the 1990’s coming out in me

[SSOB]

For the price point given, I'd go with this configuration:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£98.48 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B450M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£56.53 @ CCL Computers) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (£60.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£100.64 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card  (£219.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Silverstone PS15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£50.47 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£55.47 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Total: £642.56
 

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-01 23:32 BST+0100

 

If you want to go to 700 pounds, Upgrade to a Ryzen 5 3600 for an extra 50 pounds, It delivers a lot more performance but I don't think your son will need it. 

 

An extra HDD for Games can also be added for 40-50 pounds.

 

 

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, SSOB said:

For the price point given, I'd go with this configuration:

 

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  (£98.48 @ Amazon UK) 
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B450M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  (£56.53 @ CCL Computers) 
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory  (£60.98 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive  (£100.64 @ Amazon UK) 
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card  (£219.99 @ Amazon UK) 
Case: Silverstone PS15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case  (£50.47 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  (£55.47 @ Scan.co.uk) 
Total: £642.56
 

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-07-01 23:32 BST+0100

 

If you want to go to 700 pounds, Upgrade to a Ryzen 5 3600 for an extra 50 pounds, It delivers a lot more performance but I don't think your son will need it. 

 

An extra HDD for Games can also be added for 40-50 pounds.

 

 

That board is absolute crap, and the SSD is overpriced.

[SSOB]

9 minutes ago, lee32uk said:

That board is absolute crap, and the SSD is overpriced.

It's a good board, check the prices, it's a deal, It's 80 pounds everywhere. + the SSD is 100% worth it, if you know anything about longevity and IOPS, the SSD will make the PC feel super fast and resposive.

 

What more do you need in the board, It doesn't need OC'ing, It's super durable and yes, It's basic but that leaves money to the places where it actually matters. 

 

Tbh you just go of by the name, whilst in the real world, these parts are indeed a great fit...

 

 

[Max1996LTT]

5 hours ago, SSOB said:

the SSD is 100% worth it, if you know anything about longevity and IOPS, the SSD will make the PC feel super fast and resposive.

 

 

Any SSD will do that. You'd only need Samsung if you absolutely want the fastest SSDs out there.

[Herman Mcpootis]

5 hours ago, SSOB said:

the SSD is 100% worth it, if you know anything about longevity and IOPS, the SSD will make the PC feel super fast and resposive.

yes, a whole 3 seconds faster in boot times. wow, what a super fast SSD. Plus phison E12s are just as fast for much less.

5 hours ago, SSOB said:

What more do you need in the board

a VRM that doesn't throttle to hell with anything past a quad core?

[narrdarr]

Food for thought:

Games now days can take up a lot of space.

• Add a hdd 1 or 2 TB.
  • ((optional idea) to keep a lower budget)) get a smaller ssd maybe a 240gb, larger hdd. Use the ssd as cache for the hdd. write speeds will be about the same, but reads will be like an ssd.

Ditch the optical drive

 

ASRock B450M PRO4 is probably a better choice. It does have vrm cooling. same price point.

 

Are you going to need wireless? If you do you'll need a usb dongle, pcie card, or just grab a motherboard that has it.

 

nothing wrong with the 3100 but a 3300x would be a better option.

 

[Eamono]

3 hours ago, narrdarr said:

Food for thought:

Games now days can take up a lot of space.

• Add a hdd 1 or 2 TB.
  • ((optional idea) to keep a lower budget)) get a smaller ssd maybe a 240gb, larger hdd. Use the ssd as cache for the hdd. write speeds will be about the same, but reads will be like an ssd.

Ditch the optical drive

 

ASRock B450M PRO4 is probably a better choice. It does have vrm cooling. same price point.

 

Are you going to need wireless? If you do you'll need a usb dongle, pcie card, or just grab a motherboard that has it.

 

nothing wrong with the 3100 but a 3300x would be a better option.

 

Thanks - will include a pci card or similar. Was intending to add in Hdd once system built.

 

[Guest]

11 hours ago, SSOB said:

It's a good board, check the prices, it's a deal, It's 80 pounds everywhere. + the SSD is 100% worth it, if you know anything about longevity and IOPS, the SSD will make the PC feel super fast and resposive.

 

What more do you need in the board, It doesn't need OC'ing, It's super durable and yes, It's basic but that leaves money to the places where it actually matters. 

 

Tbh you just go of by the name, whilst in the real world, these parts are indeed a great fit...

 

 

A good board in what way ? If you are ranking boards by how crap the VRM is then it would be top of the pile. There is no upgrade path on that board. An ASRock B450M Pro4-F is only £10 more and is much better.

 

The SSD is overpriced because it is Samsung. He would be fine with a WD Blue SATA for less. In fact he could get a 1TB for the same price, or a Crucial P1. 

[Eamono]

If I swap out the tomohawk max with the asrock pro4-f I get a part incompatibility notice on parts picker ??

[narrdarr]

23 minutes ago, Eamono said:

If I swap out the tomohawk max with the asrock pro4-f I get a part incompatibility notice on parts picker ??

Oops sorry. Thought you were getting the prime b450m that's why I mentioned getting the pro4. 

The tomahawk max is a great board you cant go wrong it. However it defiantly more expensive and the money could be better spent on a better something like a better cpu. Your choice. 

 

The error happens because the board can't use 3xxx chips out of the box. You'll need a bios update first. Which mean you'll need access to a 1xxx or 2xxx chip to update the bios then you can put the 3xxx chip in there. I'm 99% sure all max board support 3xxx out of the box. 

 

 

[narrdarr]

@Eamono the msi 450 a pro max would be a really good choice. Cheaper then the tomahawk but really solid. 

 

Also that case is dated af. You can get something nice and cheaper like a p300a or p400a. Plus the air flow benefits is a plus. 

 

 

[Nena Trinity]

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/Fzf2sk

This is also a good option, the board is good enough to support a 3700x if a eight core is needed later and you have some budget left for some other stuff, but beware make sure the board comes with the "Ryzen 3000 ready" sticker! (true for most B450 & X470 boards)

[narrdarr]

I took a minute to put together a build under 700$. The link at the bottom. 

 

Asrock b450 pro4 will save about 20-40$.

 

700$ Budget Beast TOTAL : $690 

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler AM4 $ $161 
 
MSI B450M-A Pro Max AMD B450 AM4 Micro ATX DDR4-SDRAM Motherboard $ $107 
 
Biostar Radeon RX 580 8GB DDR5 DirectX 12 Elpidia Ram HDMI / DVI-D / DP PCI-E Graphics Card VA58D5RV82 $ $159 
 
TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 16GB Kit (2 x 8GB) 3200MHz (PC4 25600) CL16 Desktop Memory Module Ram - Gray - TLZGD416G3200HC16CDC01 $ $64 
 
Crucial P1 500GB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - CT500P1SSD8 $ $64 
 
Silverstone SST-ET550-HG - Strider Essential Netzteil 550W, ATX, semi-Modular,80+ Gold,  Low Noise 140mm, semi Modular $ $76 
 
Phanteks Eclipse P300A (PH-EC300ATG_BK01) high airflow full-metal mesh design, compact ATX Mid-tower, 120mm black case fan, Black $ $59 
 
By PC Builder http://bit.ly/2BF4Qi9

[Eamono]

29 minutes ago, narrdarr said:

I took a minute to put together a build under 700$. The link at the bottom. 

 

Asrock b450 pro4 will save about 20-40$.

 

700$ Budget Beast TOTAL : $690 

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core, 12-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler AM4 $ $161 
 
MSI B450M-A Pro Max AMD B450 AM4 Micro ATX DDR4-SDRAM Motherboard $ $107 
 
Biostar Radeon RX 580 8GB DDR5 DirectX 12 Elpidia Ram HDMI / DVI-D / DP PCI-E Graphics Card VA58D5RV82 $ $159 
 
TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 16GB Kit (2 x 8GB) 3200MHz (PC4 25600) CL16 Desktop Memory Module Ram - Gray - TLZGD416G3200HC16CDC01 $ $64 
 
Crucial P1 500GB 3D NAND NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD - CT500P1SSD8 $ $64 
 
Silverstone SST-ET550-HG - Strider Essential Netzteil 550W, ATX, semi-Modular,80+ Gold,  Low Noise 140mm, semi Modular $ $76 
 
Phanteks Eclipse P300A (PH-EC300ATG_BK01) high airflow full-metal mesh design, compact ATX Mid-tower, 120mm black case fan, Black $ $59 
 
By PC Builder http://bit.ly/2BF4Qi9

Thanks for taking the time