Cheap and Dirty Media Consumption build

[Dbzeag]

1. Budget & Location

US with $USD, most importantly 15 minutes away from Microcenter.

 

2. Aim

Testing Steam OS/Windows 11. Media consumption. VERY light gaming. Maybe testing a Intel Arc card in the future (the cheapest one available, A380 from Newegg). To build a fully running Windows 11 supported machine for the cheapest budget.

 

3. Monitors

One monitor at 1080p for now. Possibly up to 4K for media consumption later.

 

4. Peripherals

Windows 11 and Steam OS dual boot, if possible. I have a KVM so keyboard and mouse are already available.

 

5. Why are you upgrading?

Replace my current laptop that is unsupported and wearing out. Just play with Steam OS outside of my Steam Deck. Try out Windows 11 because I haven't played with it before. Practice building a system because I haven't in a while. Very low budget, trying to make it as cheap as possible to see if it can be done.

 

 

AMD 5600G - $120 on sale - The current plan is to hit up Microcenter and see what I can build as cheaply as I can around the AMD 5600G chip. This should be similar but faster than the hardware in the Steam Deck, and should support Steam OS. Also it includes the cooler in the OEM packaging, so that saves money. 

 

Asrock A520M-HDV - $43 on sale - For MB, going with an Asrock because it was the cheapest AM4 board. Comments and the Asrock website confirm this should be compatible with the 5600G chip with a BIOS update.

 

G.Skill Aegis 2X8gb DDR 4-2400 CL 17 - $36 - Simply put, the cheapest memory that would work for a 2 X 8gb size. There is a set for $5 more than runs DDR4-3000 CL 16. Is that a better deal?

 

Inland QN322 500GB NVMe SSD - $27 - Cheapest storage that is relatively quick.

 

Themaltake V100 Case - $45 - Cheapest case that is compatible.

 

Thermaltake Smart Series 500W 80 Plus - $42- Cheapest power supply that is not absolutely garbage. I have a Corsair 1000W that I can pull from another system, but if I was going new, I would choose this.

 

 

So grand total $313 for a full system. Is this a good set up for just being the cheapest possible Windows 11 system that isn't a complete dog?

[Somerandomtechyboi]

You do know that a cheap ivy or haswell prebuilt is a fraction of the price and will handle media consumption just fine right?

 

1 hour ago, Dbzeag said:

G.Skill Aegis 2X8gb DDR 4-2400 CL 17 - $36 - Simply put, the cheapest memory that would work for a 2 X 8gb size. There is a set for $5 more than runs DDR4-3000 CL 16. Is that a better deal?

dont get slow ram thatll cripple the igpu, if you wanna save as much money as possible look for used samsung or hynix as they have codes that you can request to sellers and consistently get the same ics though prefer hynix. For hynix preffered ram is HMA41GU6AFR8N dual rank 4gbit afr though HMA81GU6DJR8N-VK (2666) or XN (3200) single rank 8gbit djr is also fine but youll have to clock em alot higher (4600-5000) to match the former sticks that can be run at 3600-4200 with a simple lazy overclock, lower speed is alot easier to stabilize and run. Though if you dont care about ideal ram config to maximize igpu performance then the latter ram (XN) will work fine for stock operation but you may get price gouged compared to buying the former and lazy overclocking it to 3600c18 due to 3200 stock speed

 

1 hour ago, Dbzeag said:

Themaltake V100 Case - $45 - Cheapest case that is compatible.

45$ for a bog standard office case is egregious, look on the used market instead like what linus did in his 500$ gaming pc video, no more than 10$ wasted on a bog standard office case, though 40-50$ is justifiable if you are buying an airflow mesh case

 

 

59 minutes ago, Dbzeag said:

Thermaltake Smart Series 500W 80 Plus - $42- Cheapest power supply that is not absolutely garbage. I have a Corsair 1000W that I can pull from another system, but if I was going new, I would choose this.

42$ for a low end 500w unit is also egregious, look at the used market where you can get a 500-600w gold unit (an actually decent one too) for the same price

 

 

1 hour ago, Dbzeag said:

Asrock A520M-HDV - $43 on sale - For MB, going with an Asrock because it was the cheapest AM4 board. Comments and the Asrock website confirm this should be compatible with the 5600G chip with a BIOS update

You can get better b3/450 boards on the used market but a520 will work fine for a build like this

[Dbzeag]

13 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

You do know that a cheap ivy or haswell prebuilt is a fraction of the price and will handle media consumption just fine right?

Haswell does not support Windows 11, nor Ivy Bridge. Also, Steam OS will run more like Steam Deck better on AMD. 

13 minutes ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

 

dont get slow ram thatll cripple the igpu, if you wanna save as much money as possible look for used samsung or hynix as they have codes that you can request to sellers and consistently get the same ics though prefer hynix. For hynix preffered ram is HMA41GU6AFR8N dual rank 4gbit afr though HMA81GU6DJR8N-VK (2666) or XN (3200) single rank 8gbit djr is also fine but youll have to clock em alot higher (4600-5000) to match the former sticks that can be run at 3600-4200 with a simple lazy overclock, lower speed is alot easier to stabilize and run. Though if you dont care about ideal ram config to maximize igpu performance then the latter ram (XN) will work fine for stock operation but you may get price gouged compared to buying the former and lazy overclocking it to 3600c18 due to 3200 stock speed

 

45$ for a bog standard office case is egregious, look on the used market instead like what linus did in his 500$ gaming pc video, no more than 10$ wasted on a bog standard office case, though 40-50$ is justifiable if you are buying an airflow mesh case

 

 

42$ for a low end 500w unit is also egregious, look at the used market where you can get a 500-600w gold unit (an actually decent one too) for the same price

 

 

You can get better b3/450 boards on the used market but a520 will work fine for a build like this

 

I didn't think about the memory speed because of the iGPU. That is a good point and I will look for some faster parts. Thank you.

 

When I am looking for cases, I don't see anything under $40 (after shipping), nor anything close by me under $60 for anything compatible with a standard ATX board.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

12 minutes ago, Dbzeag said:

I didn't think about the memory speed because of the iGPU. That is a good point and I will look for some faster parts. Thank you.

If you are serious about maxing the igpu then a used b3/450 or x3/470 with either of the 2 rams i mentioned (former is easier to max out) will do just fine. But at the very least get 3200c16 rams or if you wanna save money lazy overclock some cheap bare pcb to 3600c18 so the igpu and the cpu doesnt run slow as shit

 

14 minutes ago, Dbzeag said:

When I am looking for cases, I don't see anything under $40 (after shipping), nor anything close by me under $60 for anything compatible with a standard ATX board.

Then look for used cases cause 40$ for a bog standard pile of junk case is egregious. If you insist on new then dont waste money on cases worth 10$ at most on the used market and buy a perforated/mesh front case

[Dbzeag]

1 minute ago, Somerandomtechyboi said:

If you are serious about maxing the igpu then a used b3/450 or x3/470 with either of the 2 rams i mentioned (former is easier to max out) will do just fine. But at the very least get 3200c16 rams or if you wanna save money lazy overclock some cheap bare pcb to 3600c18 so the igpu and the cpu doesnt run slow as shit

 

Then look for used cases cause 40$ for a bog standard pile of junk case is egregious. If you insist on new then dont waste money on cases worth 10$ at most on the used market and buy a perforated/mesh front case

I should clarify, I don't see anything under $40 after shipping for used cases. Might as well get new, especially if it's cheaper than used.

[Somerandomtechyboi]

13 minutes ago, Dbzeag said:

I should clarify, I don't see anything under $40 after shipping for used cases. Might as well get new, especially if it's cheaper than used.

Huh you are right atleast looking at ebay, id give facebook marketplace a look aswell though shipping in the usa seems really expensive

 

And i thought 50 cents for sub 1kg and 2$ for >5kg cargo shipping was expensive and thats for hundreds of kilometers here in indonesia

[Lurking]

Since you are near Microcenter, check out their incredible AM5 deals. That will be more than you need now, but will be much faster and future proof for maybe the same price.

 

I don't have Microcenter nearby, so I really hated to pay full price for AM5 while knowing the Microcenter deal.  

[Dbzeag]

55 minutes ago, Lurking said:

Since you are near Microcenter, check out their incredible AM5 deals. That will be more than you need now, but will be much faster and future proof for maybe the same price.

 

I don't have Microcenter nearby, so I really hated to pay full price for AM5 while knowing the Microcenter deal.  

The cheapest bundle with memory, board, and chip is $400. For what it is, it's an amazing deal. I think I will look closer at it. It still needs SSD and a cooler, too, so then it starts getting "expensive".

[Lurking]

7 minutes ago, Dbzeag said:

The cheapest bundle with memory, board, and chip is $400. For what it is, it's an amazing deal. I think I will look closer at it. It still needs SSD and a cooler, too, so then it starts getting "expensive".

If you don't OC and a little noise is OK, the stock cooler should be fine in a well ventilated case. It is a pretty good cooler, at least miles better than what Intel has. At least you could try for now till you have more $. I have the $36 Thermalright Peerless Assassin, which keeps my 7900 at under 70°C under Prime 95 on all 12 cores in a Define R5 case and fans just at 80%. 

 

SSD, PSU, case etc. all will be the same price regardless. Before my recent upgrade I considered the 5600G as well. Keep in mind it is based on Zen2, and not Zen 3 like the non-APU 5000 series. So the IPC difference to the AM5 (Zen 4) is substantial plus more clockspeed (over 5GHz on all 12 cores running). Am5 isn't even a comparison to the 5600G. Especially if you get a dGPU later, you want the better CPU. the 5600G also only uses PCIe 3.0 for the SSd, even if you have an MB with PCIe 4.0. So again, future-proofing. AM5 actually allows PCIe 5.0, but the budget MB may only be PCIe 4.0 for m.2. 

 

Maybe AM5 isn't for everyone and merits are debatable for your current use, but with Microcenter deal, you almost have to go AM5. 

 

I'd go for the $500 AM5 deal to get 32GB/6000 RAM. More speed = more better for iGPU and generally and future-proofing. Cry once...