Building a Gaming PC on a Budget: Components and GPU Choices

[Lynk]

Hello guys! I just bought a PC a week ago and it has the following components:

• Motherboard: MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi
• CPU: Ryzen 7 5700G
• RAM: Single slot TeamGroup 16GB
• PSU: 500W white edition TeamGroup

As for the rest, it's nothing fancy - just a decent case with a bunch of RGB fans. The reason behind buying this PC is that I could afford it, and it can also be improved. It contains an APU, since it's a Ryzen 7 5700G, so I can start playing games like League of Legends and Minecraft, at least for now.

I'm looking to buy a graphics card to play some more demanding games, such as Hogwarts Legacy, RDR2, The Witcher 3 (old, I know, but I haven't played it yet), Metal Gear Solid, etc., on 1080p without lag. My monitor is a Redragon Curved PEARL, which has a refresh rate of 165Hz and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

I have only a few choices of GPUs to buy, and they are:

• Inno3d RTX 2060 Super Twin X2 OC, which costs around $310
• AMD RX 6600, which costs around $350
• Inno3d RTX 3060 Twin X2, which costs around $370

In addition, I'm planning to buy another 16GB RAM to enable dual-channel.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to PC builds and stuff, but I've done some research. Some websites talk about bottlenecks, and some also say that with Ryzen 7 5700G and the MSI motherboard, I can't use a GPU that supports PCIE 4 because the CPU is a G edition. I don't really know which one of these cards is the most cost-effective for me, as well as if the statements about bottlenecks and PCIE4 compatibility are true.

Note: I know the prices may be high, but I live in Tunisia, where anything related to IT costs a lot compared to Europe or other regions.

Thank you in advance for any help!

 

 

[Hinjima]

12 minutes ago, Lynk said:

Hello guys! I just bought a PC a week ago and it has the following components:

• Motherboard: MSI B550M Pro-VDH WiFi
• CPU: Ryzen 7 5700G
• RAM: Single slot TeamGroup 16GB
• PSU: 500W white edition TeamGroup

As for the rest, it's nothing fancy - just a decent case with a bunch of RGB fans. The reason behind buying this PC is that I could afford it, and it can also be improved. It contains an APU, since it's a Ryzen 7 5700G, so I can start playing games like League of Legends and Minecraft, at least for now.

I'm looking to buy a graphics card to play some more demanding games, such as Hogwarts Legacy, RDR2, The Witcher 3 (old, I know, but I haven't played it yet), Metal Gear Solid, etc., on 1080p without lag. My monitor is a Redragon Curved PEARL, which has a refresh rate of 165Hz and a resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

I have only a few choices of GPUs to buy, and they are:

• Inno3d RTX 2060 Super Twin X2 OC, which costs around $310
• AMD RX 6600, which costs around $350
• Inno3d RTX 3060 Twin X2, which costs around $370

In addition, I'm planning to buy another 16GB RAM to enable dual-channel.

I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to PC builds and stuff, but I've done some research. Some websites talk about bottlenecks, and some also say that with Ryzen 7 5700G and the MSI motherboard, I can't use a GPU that supports PCIE 4 because the CPU is a G edition. I don't really know which one of these cards is the most cost-effective for me, as well as if the statements about bottlenecks and PCIE4 compatibility are true.

Note: I know the prices may be high, but I live in Tunisia, where anything related to IT costs a lot compared to Europe or other regions.

Thank you in advance for any help!

 

 

 

The 3060 is 9.2% faster over the 6600 in 18 games tested at 1080p.  The 2060 Super is actually quite a fast card and keeps up with the 3060 quite well, for that much lower price I would get the 2060 super. All 3 GPU's will work well with that motherboard even in PCIE 3.0

 

[Akira Shimazu]

 

@Hinjimaagree with him, sometimes the lower GPU can be competitive in price. sure might lose few percent of FPS but the price can drop down. and 2060 even the non-s is already pwerfull. 

as far as i know about witcher and RRD2 is already great using 1660TI at 1080P resolution. but not at 165hz. so i guess you can lowered the card down 2060/s. try to see benchmark for different cards. 

idk about Inno graphic card tho.

and ur single channel. as far as i remembered isnt ryzen benefit a lot from dual channel.

[Lynk]

12 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

The 3060 is 9.2% faster over the 6600 in 18 games tested at 1080p.  The 2060 Super is actually quite a fast card and keeps up with the 3060 quite well, for that much lower price I would get the 2060 super.

 

Thank you for responding; I really appreciate it. Do you think my PSU needs an upgrade, or is 500W sufficient :)?

[Hinjima]

1 minute ago, Wolfycapt said:

 

@Hinjimaagree with him, sometimes the lower GPU can be competitive in price. sure might lose few percent of FPS but the price can drop down. and 2060 even the non-s is already pwerfull. 

as far as i know about witcher and RRD2 is already great using 1660TI at 1080P resolution. but not at 165hz. so i guess you can lowered the card down 2060/s. try to see benchmark for different cards. 

idk about Inno graphic card tho.

and ur single channel. as far as i remembered isnt ryzen benefit a lot from dual channel.

Thank you!  He was planning to get an extra stick of ram for Dual Channel.   Inno3d are actually a very big in the GPU business,  mostly in China and Asia.  They are very solid GPU's and they have been making GPU's for over 30 years

 

[Hinjima]

2 minutes ago, Lynk said:

Thank you for responding; I really appreciate it. Do you think my PSU needs an upgrade, or is 500W sufficient :)?

 

2 minutes ago, Lynk said:

Thank you for responding; I really appreciate it. Do you think my PSU needs an upgrade, or is 500W sufficient :)?

500w is the recommended PSU for all 3 of your listed graphcis cards.  The 5700g is a low powered CPU as well, you will be fine My friend is running a brand new AMD 7700x and a 2070 Super with a 550w.   You listed your PSU as 500W white edition TeamGroup, but that is not correct.   Teamgroup doesn't make power supplies, see if you can find the exact model name

[Lynk]

4 minutes ago, Wolfycapt said:

 

@Hinjimaagree with him, sometimes the lower GPU can be competitive in price. sure might lose few percent of FPS but the price can drop down. and 2060 even the non-s is already pwerfull. 

as far as i know about witcher and RRD2 is already great using 1660TI at 1080P resolution. but not at 165hz. so i guess you can lowered the card down 2060/s. try to see benchmark for different cards. 

idk about Inno graphic card tho.

and ur single channel. as far as i remembered isnt ryzen benefit a lot from dual channel.

Yeah, indeed, the PC only came with one RAM slot, unfortunately. So, I'm forced to buy an extra 16GB RAM stick of the same exact type, just for dual-channel. thanks for your answer! you are awsome

[Lynk]

4 minutes ago, Hinjima said:

 

500w is the recommended PSU for all 3 of your listed graphcis cards.  The 5700g is a low powered CPU as well, you will be fine My friend is running a brand new AMD 7700x and a 2070 Super with a 550w.   You listed your PSU as 500W white edition TeamGroup, but that is not correct.   Teamgroup doesn't make power supplies, see if you can find the exact model name

Oh yeah, that's true. It's the Xigmatek X-Power 500W White 80 Plus, to be exact. Also, the RAM is a standard 16GB Teamgroup stick running at 3200MH!

[Lynk]

Thanks, guys, for all of this precious information. I had a lot of doubts, and I wasn't really able to figure out the best possible scenario for me. So, basically, I have to add a new 16GB RAM stick and buy either the standard or super edition of the 2060

[Hinjima]

1 minute ago, Lynk said:

Thanks, guys, for all of this precious information. I had a lot of doubts, and I wasn't really able to figure out the best possible scenario for me. So, basically, I have to add a new 16GB RAM stick and buy either the standard or super edition of the 2060

Yes, try to get the exact same memory stick you have in your PC. The 2060 Super is a very good option!  

[Somerandomtechyboi]

How about a far superior 6700xt for 310? Its even a triple fan model

[SteveGrabowski0]

2 hours ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

How about a far superior 6700xt for 310? Its even a triple fan model

He's in Tunisia so can't get our deals

[SteveGrabowski0]

3 hours ago, Lynk said:

Oh yeah, that's true. It's the Xigmatek X-Power 500W White 80 Plus, to be exact. Also, the RAM is a standard 16GB Teamgroup stick running at 3200MH!

That power supply is D-Tier in the Cultists list, which they only recommend for igp builds. I'd try to replace it with something higher quality if I could.

 

https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

 

It's not really a legit 500W psu, from this graphic from their site it claims 402W on the +12V rail which is what your cpu and gpu will be on. So it's really a 402W psu at best. And when it says max current output on that +12V rail is 33.5A (so 402W) I don't know if that's a continuous power it can do or if it's what it can do for a second and then die (that's how Sony has always marketed their speakers for instance). The fact they give you two 6+2 PCIE connectors is promising that maybe that 402W on the +12V rail is legit and if so it would be enough for a 3060 or a 2060 Super and a 5700G, but the low rating on the Cultists list makes me wonder.

 

[SteveGrabowski0]

I'd completely write off the RX 6600 in your case since it's a PCIE-4.0x8 gpu that would run PCIE-3.0x8 (which is PCIE-4.0x4) and it's only $20 cheaper than the 3060 12GB.

[SteveGrabowski0]

3 hours ago, Wolfycapt said:

 

@Hinjimaagree with him, sometimes the lower GPU can be competitive in price. sure might lose few percent of FPS but the price can drop down. and 2060 even the non-s is already pwerfull. 

as far as i know about witcher and RRD2 is already great using 1660TI at 1080P resolution. but not at 165hz. so i guess you can lowered the card down 2060/s. try to see benchmark for different cards. 

idk about Inno graphic card tho.

and ur single channel. as far as i remembered isnt ryzen benefit a lot from dual channel.

All gaming systems get wrecked by using only a single channel of RAM. I remember a guy doing a benchmark on a Dell system he bought with a 10400F and a 3070 and even though he ordered dual channel 16GB they sent him a system with a single 16GB stick and that RAM bottlenecked his 3070 so hard the system ran like he had a 1650 Super or something in it.

 

And yeah 1660 Ti should run RDR2 great at 1080p60. I played it on a 1660 Super and could mostly hold ~70 fps with my worst drops into the low 50s using Hardware Unboxed's optimized settings. And Witcher 3 I was running 1080p60 on a GTX 970, though I know it has gotten quite a bit harder to run now. Still, according to Gamegpu.ru's benchmarks you should get around 80-85 fps on a 3060 or 2060 Super at ultra settings in Toussaint as long as you select DirectX11 instead of DirectX12 and you should claw back a lot more performance dropping to high settings.

 

https://gamegpu.com/action-/-fps-/-tps/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-v-4-0-test-gpu-cpu

[SteveGrabowski0]

Tough call on the 2060 Super for $310 vs the 3060 for $370, especially if new, because they perform very close to each other even at 4k where you'd think the 12GB on the 3060 would have helped the card more. But 3060 and 2070 are neck and neck at all resolutions in this bench from a few months ago and the 2060 Super is very close to the 2070 in performance; 2060 Super was pretty much a 2070 replacement for $100 less when it launched.

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/review/msi-radeon-rx-6650-xt-gaming-x/31.html

 

If money is really tight probably go 2060 Super. If not I'd lean 3060 just for the longer driver support. Though I think you'll be really happy with either for 1080p gaming. If used I'd lean 3060 just because it'll tend to have less runtime on it on average comparing used 2060S to used 3060 being sold.

[Lynk]

9 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

That power supply is D-Tier in the Cultists list, which they only recommend for igp builds. I'd try to replace it with something higher quality if I could.

 

https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/

 

It's not really a legit 500W psu, from this graphic from their site it claims 402W on the +12V rail which is what your cpu and gpu will be on. So it's really a 402W psu at best. And when it says max current output on that +12V rail is 33.5A (so 402W) I don't know if that's a continuous power it can do or if it's what it can do for a second and then die (that's how Sony has always marketed their speakers for instance). The fact they give you two 6+2 PCIE connectors is promising that maybe that 402W on the +12V rail is legit and if so it would be enough for a 3060 or a 2060 Super and a 5700G, but the low rating on the Cultists list makes me wonder.

 

Oh, I have found a power supply unit (PSU) that costs around $150 - the CoolerMaster MWE Watt 750 Full Modular V2 80+ Gold. It's affordable for me, but I'm not sure if I want to add the same RAM stick (16GB from TeamGroup at 3200MHz) or upgrade to one of these:

• XPG Gammix D20 DDR4 3200 16GB (2x8GB)
• DIMM XPG Spectrix D60G RGB LED 16GB (2x8GB)
• TeamGroup Nighthawk RGB 16GB (2x8GB) 3600MHz

My motherboard is an MSI B550M Pro-VDH Wi-Fi. Which RAM option would be the best fit for my system?

[Akira Shimazu]

12 hours ago, Lynk said:

Oh yeah, that's true. It's the Xigmatek X-Power 500W White 80 Plus, to be exact. Also, the RAM is a standard 16GB Teamgroup stick running at 3200MH!

it'll run finewith 500W but normally even with low end gpu people still use higher watt PSU . for instance i5 and 1650 with 550W PSU. im not into electrical but probably goes 600W. 

oh and Xigmatek were not that great. u can get budget PSU like Corsair CX 2017/CXM bronze. or be Quiet! U9. there lot out there for better PSU

[Akira Shimazu]

9 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

All gaming systems get wrecked by using only a single channel of RAM. I remember a guy doing a benchmark on a Dell system he bought with a 10400F and a 3070 and even though he ordered dual channel 16GB they sent him a system with a single 16GB stick and that RAM bottlenecked his 3070 so hard the system ran like he had a 1650 Super or something in it.

 

And yeah 1660 Ti should run RDR2 great at 1080p60. I played it on a 1660 Super and could mostly hold ~70 fps with my worst drops into the low 50s using Hardware Unboxed's optimized settings. And Witcher 3 I was running 1080p60 on a GTX 970, though I know it has gotten quite a bit harder to run now. Still, according to Gamegpu.ru's benchmarks you should get around 80-85 fps on a 3060 or 2060 Super at ultra settings in Toussaint as long as you select DirectX11 instead of DirectX12 and you should claw back a lot more performance dropping to high settings.

 

https://gamegpu.com/action-/-fps-/-tps/the-witcher-3-wild-hunt-v-4-0-test-gpu-cpu

thank you for clarifiy the RAM issue and GPU performance. true that the game he want to play were not that heavy compare to 2060. that why people prefer hovering around 1660 list. but then again the Author can save money by going lower tier gpu. but he said he has 165Hz monitor so probably 2060 for better frame rate. but yeah casual game its enough with 1660ti

[Lynk]

3 minutes ago, Wolfycapt said:

it'll run finewith 500W but normally even with low end gpu people still use higher watt PSU . for instance i5 and 1650 with 550W PSU. im not into electrical but probably goes 600W. 

oh and Xigmatek were not that great. u can get budget PSU like Corsair CX 2017/CXM bronze. or be Quiet! U9. there lot out there for better PSU

Unfortunately, I can only buy one of these as there aren't many options to choose from. i think the best one of these is the cooler master MWE full moduler v2 with 750 watt

[Lynk]

6 minutes ago, Wolfycapt said:

thank you for clarifiy the RAM issue and GPU performance. true that the game he want to play were not that heavy compare to 2060. that why people prefer hovering around 1660 list. but then again the Author can save money by going lower tier gpu. but he said he has 165Hz monitor so probably 2060 for better frame rate. but yeah casual game its enough with 1660ti

I think I could also buy a 1660ti, but the price difference isn't that significant "50$ at most" when compared to the standard RTX 2060/2060 Super.

[Lynk]

  based on the informations you've provided guys, the best possible scenario for me would be:

1. Add another 16GB RAM stick to my system to enable dual-channel mode and increase RAM to 32GB.

2. Upgrade power supply to the Cooler Master MWE Watt 750 Full Modular V2 80+ Gold..

3. Install a graphics card RTX 2060 Super Twin X2 OC..

[Akira Shimazu]

 For psu tier list.

grab the 2060 series then. run great on 1660ti but run lighter on 2060.

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 hour ago, Lynk said:

I think I could also buy a 1660ti, but the price difference isn't that significant "50$ at most" when compared to the standard RTX 2060/2060 Super.

2060 Super is definitely the best buy of those three, not even close

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 hour ago, Lynk said:

  based on the informations you've provided guys, the best possible scenario for me would be:

1. Add another 16GB RAM stick to my system to enable dual-channel mode and increase RAM to 32GB.

2. Upgrade power supply to the Cooler Master MWE Watt 750 Full Modular V2 80+ Gold..

3. Install a graphics card RTX 2060 Super Twin X2 OC..

Sounds like it should be absolute killer for 1080p gaming. That psu is on the B-Tier of the Cultists list so will be pretty nice. Plus doesn't hurt to go gold with what energy prices are like these days. And you'd eventually want to go to 32GB anyways and this is about the cheapest we'll probably ever see RAM. Reminds me I need to grab some more myself since I'm only on 16GB.