$400 Starter Build

[aidancomi]

Budget (including currency): $400USD

Country: US

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Basic work, nothing super tough to run

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): 1080p TV over HDMI, already have keyboard, mouse. This will be first complete build, planning to do microATX to fit under my desk. Looking to do it pretty recently and looking to buy all new, focusing on Amazon or BestBuy, but willing to buy at other places. 

 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$148.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$55.99 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$68.00 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$59.95 @ Amazon
Case	Rosewill FBM-X2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$34.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	Thermaltake Smart 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$50.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$418.91
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 13:11 EDT-0400

 

[berberries]

I would recommend trying to get a B series board (B350/450) instead of an A320 for better upgrade path in the future. PSU wise I'd recommend to go for a corsair CX450 over the thermaltake.

[NickPickerWI]

Make sure that motherboard will support that CPU, and that RAM. You should be able to find this information on the product page for that motherboard on Gigabyte's website.

 

You will most likely need to flash the BIOS in order for the motherboard to use that CPU, and if you don't have a 1st generation Ryzen/AM4 processor from that generation laying around, you won't be able to do so. I don't know if AMD is still doing a service where they send you a loaner CPU for flashing BIOS, but that used to be a thing.

 

Also, make sure the motherboard has video out. Some AMD motherboards don't, because the vast majority of AMD CPU's don't have onboard video.

[kolchinsky]

Definitely should go b450/550 at least, like mentioned before. You will be much better off for not much more investment.

[You_found_dom]

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$148.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	MSI A320M-A PRO MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$66.01 @ Amazon
Memory	ADATA XPG Z1 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory	$49.99 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$59.95 @ Amazon
Case	Rosewill FBM-X2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$34.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA W3 450 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$44.99 @ Best Buy
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$404.92
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 13:44 EDT-0400

 

[aidancomi]

Thanks for everyone’s help! I just checked out on Amazon and BestBuy. I swapped some of the suggested components and ended up with this list.
 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$148.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard	Asus PRIME B450M-A/CSM Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$77.98 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$68.00 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive	$59.99 @ Amazon
Case	Rosewill FBM-X2 MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$34.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply	EVGA W3 450 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$44.99 @ Best Buy
Custom	Sabrent USB 3.0 Sharing Switch for Multiple Computers and Peripherals LED Device Indicators (USB-SW30)	$14.99 @ Amazon
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$449.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-19 20:52 EDT-0400