Building for a friend

[Jack0f5pades]

Budget (including currency): $500 USD

Country: United States

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Minecraft, some FPS games like cod or siege. Mostly going to be used as a general use PC with some gaming capabilities.

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): 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (14nm) 3.1 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$70.00
Motherboard	ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$71.99 @ Newegg
Memory	G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$54.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$26.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	MSI Radeon RX 570 8 GB GT OC Video Card	$144.99 @ Newegg
Case	Cougar MG130-G MicroATX Mini Tower Case	$50.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$55.00
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$474.94
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-27 23:08 EDT-0400

A friend who knew I had PC knowledge sent me a PM earlier with a link to an amazon listing for a prebuilt that was $500 for an i5 2400 and a 1gb gtx 650. I told him that system was worth less than half what they were asking, and he asked me to make a list for a better one for a similar price. I ended up putting together the above list based on no logic in particular, I just used what I thought would be good. Thought I'd come over here and get your guys' thoughts on it first, though. Recommendations welcome. Thanks.

[AndreiArgeanu]

I'd suggest swapping the motherboard for something a little better, since the B450M HDV, only has 2 ram slots and can only fully support a ryzen 5 3600 at max boost clock, something like the Asrock B450 Pro4 (any model) will be much better, has extra expansion and is a tier above allowing it to fully accomodate a ryzen 7 3700, should your friend choose to upgrade to one in the future. The power supply, isn't exactly of a great quality. The EVGA BQ 500W (Tier C) is only an extra 4$ and, it's also semi modular making it easier to manage cables, but it's also a tier above the Thermaltake Smart PSU, which for refference is a Tier D -Recommended only for very cheap, iGPU systems.

 

Otherwise I don't see other issues in your build, though one thing to consider, is that a used rx 480 or rx 580 can be found for a similar price if not cheaper than a new rx 570, however if you don't want to get used parts it's fine.

 

[Jack0f5pades]

2 minutes ago, AndreiArgeanu said:

I'd suggest swapping the motherboard for something a little better, since the B450M HDV, only has 2 ram slots and can only fully support a ryzen 5 3600 at max boost clock, something like the Asrock B450 Pro4 (any model) will be much better, has extra expansion and is a tier above allowing it to fully accomodate a ryzen 7 3700, should your friend choose to upgrade to one in the future. The power supply, isn't exactly of a great quality. The EVGA BQ 500W (Tier C) is only an extra 4$ and, it's also semi modular making it easier to manage cables, but it's also a tier above the Thermaltake Smart PSU, which for refference is a Tier D -Recommended only for very cheap, iGPU systems.

 

Otherwise I don't see other issues in your build, though one thing to consider, is that a used rx 480 or rx 580 can be found for a similar price if not cheaper than a new rx 570, however if you don't want to get used parts it's fine.

 

Well, the processor is pretty much only available used, so definitely going to have used parts one way or another. The power supply is just one that I clicked on PCP because it was the first one I saw for around the price I thought he should spend and thought I'd find a proper one later. And currently, the pro4 is only available for cheap if it's used, which I have no problems with but I'd have to ask him. If I could convince him to let me run wild with used parts, I could definitely bring the price down, but that's up to him. Thanks for the input, anyways.

[VeganJoy]

imo you should get an old haswell or earlier combo and stick a used 580/1060 in there, a 3770, 2600k, 4690, etc would all be pretty good for basic games. if you cant get a cheap unlocked i7 from those gens, a locked i7 will be enough, or perhaps an unlocked i5. oced 4c4t or locked 4c8t should be more than adequate. alternatively, maybe a 3400g with the vega 11 apu may be enough for those games?

 

if you stick with the current idea then for the new stuff id make these changes: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (14nm) 3.1 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$70.00
Motherboard	MSI B450M BAZOOKA MAX WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$93.98 @ Newegg
Memory	OLOy 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$54.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$26.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 570 4 GB RS XXX Video Card	$139.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Cougar MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case	$50.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$55.00
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$491.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-28 00:22 EDT-0400

the oloy stuff popped up for the parametric filter, the gskill stuff is fine too. the b450m pro4 should be like 80 bucks but it went up and im pretty sure the bazooka is better. this other cougar case has better airflow and room to expand for future mobos.

[Jack0f5pades]

20 minutes ago, VeganJoy said:

imo you should get an old haswell or earlier combo and stick a used 580/1060 in there, a 3770, 2600k, 4690, etc would all be pretty good for basic games. if you cant get a cheap unlocked i7 from those gens, a locked i7 will be enough, or perhaps an unlocked i5. oced 4c4t or locked 4c8t should be more than adequate. alternatively, maybe a 3400g with the vega 11 apu may be enough for those games?

 

if you stick with the current idea then for the new stuff id make these changes: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 3 1200 (14nm) 3.1 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$70.00
Motherboard	MSI B450M BAZOOKA MAX WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard	$93.98 @ Newegg
Memory	OLOy 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$54.99 @ Newegg
Storage	Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$26.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	XFX Radeon RX 570 4 GB RS XXX Video Card	$139.99 @ Best Buy
Case	Cougar MX330 ATX Mid Tower Case	$50.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply	Thermaltake Smart 600 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$55.00
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$491.93
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-28 00:22 EDT-0400

the oloy stuff popped up for the parametric filter, the gskill stuff is fine too. the b450m pro4 should be like 80 bucks but it went up and im pretty sure the bazooka is better. this other cougar case has better airflow and room to expand for future mobos.

 I have a few older intel components kicking around, but from what he says, he plans on upgrading sometime before he goes to college, so I'd prefer to keep it AM4. He okayed a few more used parts so I'm currently looking at a b450m pro4 for $70 and an MSI RX480 8gb Gaming X for $120. Thanks for the case recommendation also!

[VeganJoy]

13 hours ago, Jack0f5pades said:

 I have a few older intel components kicking around, but from what he says, he plans on upgrading sometime before he goes to college, so I'd prefer to keep it AM4. He okayed a few more used parts so I'm currently looking at a b450m pro4 for $70 and an MSI RX480 8gb Gaming X for $120. Thanks for the case recommendation also!

decent pricce on the pro4, but damn gpu prices are fucked lol. 480 used to be under 100 bucks pre covid. better than a 570 though, would be a solid build. good luck with the deals!