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Building a Friends PC

parker13
By parker13
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Another friend of mine wants me to put together a PC for them. Their budget is 600 dollars. I've already gone over by 14 dollars but are there are ways I could get it down without cutting out too much performance? Also suggestions to make it better are greatly appreciated as I'm not an expert. Thanks!

 

[PCPartPicker Part List](https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xPgnZf)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/ndwkcf/amd-ryzen-3-3100-36-ghz-quad-core-processor-100-100000284box) | $114.99 @ B&H 
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hpRzK8/gigabyte-b450m-ds3h-micro-atx-am4-motherboard-b450m-ds3h) | $72.99 @ Best Buy 
**Memory** | [OLOy 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/smGnTW/oloy-16-gb-2-x-8-gb-ddr4-3000-cl16-memory-md4u083016bgda) | $49.99 @ Newegg 
**Storage** | [ADATA Ultimate SU800 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/V3mxFT/a-data-ultimate-su800-512gb-25-solid-state-drive-asu800ss-512gt-c) | $59.99 @ Amazon 
**Video Card** | [Asus Radeon RX 580 8 GB DUAL Video Card](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/jkFXsY/asus-radeon-rx-580-8gb-dual-video-card-dual-rx580-o8g) | $199.99 @ Newegg 
**Case** | [NZXT H510 ATX Mid Tower Case](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/b7hmP6/nzxt-h510-atx-mid-tower-case-ca-h510b-b1) | $69.98 @ Amazon 
**Power Supply** | [EVGA 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply](https://pcpartpicker.com/product/XCjG3C/evga-power-supply-100w10500kr) | $46.99 @ Walmart 
 | *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
 | **Total** | **$614.92**
 | Generated by [PCPartPicker](https://pcpartpicker.com) 2020-08-31 22:57 EDT-0400 |

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Posted

First off, that's a B450 motherboard, and you want to use a 3rd Gen Ryzen processor. That's fine, but just make sure you get a unit that actually supports 3rd Gen Ryzen. The B450 chipset was launched before 3rd Gen Ryzen, so some B450 motherboards still have an older BIOS that will not work with 3rd Gen chips. The only way to update is to use a 2nd or 1st Gen Ryzen chip. AMD does have a program where they will briefly lend you an older CPU so you can update your BIOS, but it's just a big hassle overall and you should try to avoid having to deal with it.

 

As for the rest of the parts list, there are a few things I would change:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kMdbWb

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($114.99 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($72.99 @ Best Buy) 
Memory: OLOy 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($27.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($44.94 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 580 8 GB DUAL Video Card  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($48.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA BQ 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.34 @ Walmart) 
Total: $619.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-31 23:24 EDT-0400

 

The total cost is $5 more, but I've made two minor QOL improvements. I added a smaller SSD, which allows you to also get an HDD for large games and archival storage (if you think your friend can handle only having 500GB of storage, then I'd switch back to the larger SSD). I also swapped out your PSU to one that at least gets a passing grade on the forum's PSU Tier List.

 

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Main PC:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X • Noctua NH-D15 • MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk • 2x8GB G.skill Trident Z Neo 3600MHz CL16 • MSI VENTUS 3X GeForce RTX 3070 OC • Samsung 970 Evo 1TB • Samsung 860 Evo 1TB • Cosair iCUE 465X RGB • Corsair RMx 750W (White)

 

Peripherals/Other:

ASUS VG27AQ • G PRO K/DA • G502 Hero K/DA • G733 K/DA • G840 K/DA • Oculus Quest 2 • Nintendo Switch (Rev. 2)

 

Laptop (Dell XPS 13):

Intel Core i7-1195G7 • Intel Iris Xe Graphics • 16GB LPDDR4x 4267MHz • 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD • 13.4" OLED 3.5K InfinityEdge Display (3456x2160, 400nit, touch). 

 

Got any questions about my system or peripherals? Feel free to tag me (@bellabichon) and I'll be happy to give you my two cents. 

 

PSA: Posting a PCPartPicker list with no explanation isn't helpful for first-time builders :)

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25 minutes ago, parker13 said:

Another friend of mine wants me to put together a PC for them. Their budget is 600 dollars. I've already gone over by 14 dollars but are there are ways I could get it down without cutting out too much performance? Also suggestions to make it better are greatly appreciated as I'm not an expert. Thanks!

 

you can save a bit on the GPU and case, and improve the other components a bit, especially the PSU

 

PCPartPicker Part List
Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor $114.99 @ B&H
Motherboard MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $84.99 @ Newegg
Memory OLOy 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory $49.99 @ Newegg
Storage ADATA Ultimate SU800 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $59.99 @ Amazon
Video Card Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB TUF Gaming OC Video Card $169.99 @ B&H
Case Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case $47.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply SeaSonic S12III 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply $64.98 @ Newegg
  Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts  
  Total $592.91
  Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-31 23:29 EDT-0400  

 

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 11 and Fedora Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

PSU tier list

How many watts do I need?

PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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11 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

First off, that's a B450 motherboard, and you want to use a 3rd Gen Ryzen processor. That's fine, but just make sure you get a unit that actually supports 3rd Gen Ryzen. The B450 chipset was launched before 3rd Gen Ryzen, so some B450 motherboards still have an older BIOS that will not work with 3rd Gen chips. The only way to update is to use a 2nd or 1st Gen Ryzen chip. AMD does have a program where they will briefly lend you an older CPU so you can update your BIOS, but it's just a big hassle overall and you should try to avoid having to deal with it.

 

As for the rest of the parts list, there are a few things I would change:

 

PCPartPicker Part List: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/kMdbWb

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($114.99 @ B&H) 
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard  ($72.99 @ Best Buy) 
Memory: OLOy 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory  ($49.99 @ Newegg) 
Storage: Kingston A400 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($27.99 @ Amazon) 
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($44.94 @ Amazon) 
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 580 8 GB DUAL Video Card  ($199.99 @ Newegg) 
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($48.99 @ Amazon) 
Power Supply: EVGA BQ 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply  ($59.34 @ Walmart) 
Total: $619.22
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-31 23:24 EDT-0400

 

The total cost is $5 more, but I've made two minor QOL improvements. I added a smaller SSD, which allows you to also get an HDD for large games and archival storage (if you think your friend can handle only having 500GB of storage, then I'd switch back to the larger SSD). I also swapped out your PSU to one that at least gets a passing grade on the forum's PSU Tier List.

 

If you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Thank you!! I have a question about the SSD portion. Don't video games usually run better on SSD's? I had a hard drive for my games and as soon as I upgraded to a Western Digital 1 TB SSD, my games were much smoother. Just curious and anxious to know more lmao

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12 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

you can save a bit on the GPU and case, and improve the other components a bit, especially the PSU

 

PCPartPicker Part List
Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 3 3100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor $114.99 @ B&H
Motherboard MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $84.99 @ Newegg
Memory OLOy 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 CL16 Memory $49.99 @ Newegg
Storage ADATA Ultimate SU800 512 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive $59.99 @ Amazon
Video Card Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB TUF Gaming OC Video Card $169.99 @ B&H
Case Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case $47.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply SeaSonic S12III 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply $64.98 @ Newegg
  Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts  
  Total $592.91
  Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-08-31 23:29 EDT-0400  

 

Thank you!! With yours and the other response I think this PC will be even better while staying close to budget.

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2 minutes ago, parker13 said:

Thank you!! I have a question about the SSD portion. Don't video games usually run better on SSD's? I had a hard drive for my games and as soon as I upgraded to a Western Digital 1 TB SSD, my games were much smoother. Just curious and anxious to know more lmao

Everything runs better on an SSD. I'm personally just a bit of a data hoarder, so I like to have at least 1tb of storage in any given system. Like I said earlier, if you think your friend will be able to deal with the 500gb limit (or buy a hard drive at some point in the future), then there's no reason not to go with the ADATA one.

Main PC:

AMD Ryzen 7 5800X • Noctua NH-D15 • MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk • 2x8GB G.skill Trident Z Neo 3600MHz CL16 • MSI VENTUS 3X GeForce RTX 3070 OC • Samsung 970 Evo 1TB • Samsung 860 Evo 1TB • Cosair iCUE 465X RGB • Corsair RMx 750W (White)

 

Peripherals/Other:

ASUS VG27AQ • G PRO K/DA • G502 Hero K/DA • G733 K/DA • G840 K/DA • Oculus Quest 2 • Nintendo Switch (Rev. 2)

 

Laptop (Dell XPS 13):

Intel Core i7-1195G7 • Intel Iris Xe Graphics • 16GB LPDDR4x 4267MHz • 512GB M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD • 13.4" OLED 3.5K InfinityEdge Display (3456x2160, 400nit, touch). 

 

Got any questions about my system or peripherals? Feel free to tag me (@bellabichon) and I'll be happy to give you my two cents. 

 

PSA: Posting a PCPartPicker list with no explanation isn't helpful for first-time builders :)

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4 minutes ago, bellabichon said:

Everything runs better on an SSD. I'm personally just a bit of a data hoarder, so I like to have at least 1tb of storage in any given system. Like I said earlier, if you think your friend will be able to deal with the 500gb limit (or buy a hard drive at some point in the future), then there's no reason not to go with the ADATA one.

Thanks! Also about the motherboard, I'm pretty sure it does support the 3rd gen CPU, but is there a way to double check?

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9 hours ago, parker13 said:

Thanks! Also about the motherboard, I'm pretty sure it does support the 3rd gen CPU, but is there a way to double check?

When the motherboard arrives it would say on the box what generation of CPU it supports. It depends on when that particular board was manufactured, because a motherboard gets whatever is the freshest BIOS when it comes off the factory line.

 

The Max motherboards from MSI, however, are guaranteed to all support third gen.

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 11 and Fedora Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

PSU tier list

How many watts do I need?

PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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https://linustechtips.com/topic/1241191-building-a-friends-pc/#findComment-13977262
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3 hours ago, Fasauceome said:

When the motherboard arrives it would say on the box what generation of CPU it supports. It depends on when that particular board was manufactured, because a motherboard gets whatever is the freshest BIOS when it comes off the factory line.

 

The Max motherboards from MSI, however, are guaranteed to all support third gen.

Thank you! I went to the motherboard that's in the budget and saw that it does support 3rd Gen Ryzen. 

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26 minutes ago, parker13 said:

Thank you! I went to the motherboard that's in the budget and saw that it does support 3rd Gen Ryzen. 

you have the box in front of you physically?

 

all B450 motherboards can support 3rd gen, but not by default.

I WILL find your ITX build thread, and I WILL recommend the SIlverstone Sugo SG13B

 

Primary PC:

i7 8086k - EVGA Z370 Classified K - G.Skill Trident Z RGB - WD SN750 - Jedi Order Titan Xp - Hyper 212 Black (with RGB Riing flair) - EVGA G3 650W - dual booting Windows 11 and Fedora Linux - Black and green theme, Razer brainwashed me.

Draws 400 watts under max load, for reference.

 

PSU tier list

How many watts do I need?

PSU misconceptions, protections explained, group reg is bad

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4 minutes ago, Fasauceome said:

you have the box in front of you physically?

 

all B450 motherboards can support 3rd gen, but not by default.

Well I used their website, looked up pictures of the box to see and read that if I get a newer model right from the factory, I should be fine.

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