B450M+5600G | workstation low-budget build (~400 EUR, new only) | MB and case suggestions

[jellybutt]

Budget (including currency): 420-ish EUR ex. OS licence

Country: Netherlands

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Basic workstation (email, browsing, text processing). Little to no storage used (30GB or so for personal files)

 

Other details

The current system is an HP Slimline 260-A180ND (Intel J3060, 4GB, HDD) with W10, bought new for 330 EUR about 6 years ago (a scam IMO).

 

Dear reader,

 

TL;DR: I would like advice on the motherboard choice and opinions on the case(s), optional are verification of SSD for boot and PSU choice. Currently picking parts for a workstation build, for a senior (90+). The current PC is not usable anymore in terms of responsiveness and loading times. A clean install did not help. I have researched and selected medium to good low-budget parts to the best of my abilities, especially on the PSU and SSD front.

 

 

I have offered to find a prebuilt or build this person a new system. I have looked at prebuilts / manufacturer systems such as Lenovo IdeaCentre 3 07IAB7 i5-12400, HP Pavilion TP01-2055nd AMD Ryzen 5-5600G and Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 i5-12400, all between 500 and 550 EUR. They're probably not bad, but I can't do any servicing other than the RAM, if there ever is a problem (see disassembly videos). I am the person they call for tech support.

Plus, I'd rather assemble a system with parts I know are of somewhat decent quality, as well as industry standard interfaces and form factors. I don't want to risk the lower tier systems (300-400 EUR). I keep some future-proofing in mind (larger/better than necessary PSU, SSD, CPU) for both ease of mind reasons, as well as the fact that I might buy/recieve this system in a few years if they don't need/can't use a PC anymore.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LGHWwg

Current selection (give or take a few EUR per item):

CPU: AMD 5600G (130 EUR) 
CPU Cooler: stock (wraith stealth)
Motherboard: A520M or B450, no model selected yet (65-ish EUR)
Memory: Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 2x8GB 3200 C16 CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 (45 EUR)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 500GB NVMe (58 EUR), or anything with DRAM and pref. no QLC
Video Card: iGPU
Case: Sharkoon VS9 (45 EUR) 
Power Supply: pref. Corsair CX550 CP-9020277-EU (60 EUR); alt: Cooler Master MWE White 450/550W 230V V2 (60EUR, same price) (yes it's overkill, but not many >C tier 350W and 450W available + no massive price difference)

OS: Most likely W10 to avoid change of environment, probably without license to save 110-ish EUR.

Connectivity: USB mouse, USB keyboard, USB printer. Extra I/O on top is desired (for USB sticks etc.). CD drive not needed, but optional. Panel is VGA now, but supports DVI and HDMI.
Total: 400-ish EUR

 

1. Motherboard: mainly picked A520M for the price, as the user needs no real features of B450/550. I can't really find any in-depth reviews or comparison tests for the A520M boards. Some B450M boards are around the same price, but I've read that you may be better off with the A520M in terms of up-to-dateness and quality (low end B450 vs low-mid A520M for that price range). Selection:

• MSI A520M-A PRO (63 EUR)
• Gigabyte A520M H 1.0 and Gigabyte A520M K V2 (65 EUR)
• Asrock A520M-HDV (60 EUR)
• MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX (67 EUR) (4 DIMM slots) (new BIOS compatible with 5600G)
• Asrock B450M-HDV R4.0 (60 EUR) (new BIOS compatible with 5600G)

2. Storage: I've searched for a TLC SSD with DRAM, as it will be the boot and only drive in the system. Any other suggestions, or is this one OK for the system's purposes?

3. Cases: Not many options. I selected the following, but chose the Sharkoon for now for its fans, neutral styling, ventinaltion, no glass and I/O location.

• Aerocool Hexform Mini Tower Micro ATX (for the extra fans and open ventilation style), was 50 EUR but jumped up to 70 EUR.
• Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L (least desirable, I/O on the side)
• DeepCool MATREXX 30 Mini Tower Micro ATX (only 1 fan, but CD bay)
• Sharkoon VS9 (for extra fans and no glass, a big plus; downside is its quite large)

 

Would love to hear your input on the motherboard choice, verification of PSU and SSD for boot and opinions on the case(s). 

Thank you in advance.

 

Kind regards,

JB

[bal723]

1 hour ago, jellybutt said:

Budget (including currency): 420-ish EUR ex. OS licence

Country: Netherlands

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Basic workstation (email, browsing, text processing). Little to no storage used (30GB or so for personal files)

 

Other details

The current system is an HP Slimline 260-A180ND (Intel J3060, 4GB, HDD) with W10, bought new for 330 EUR about 6 years ago (a scam IMO).

 

Dear reader,

 

TL;DR: I would like advice on the motherboard choice and opinions on the case(s), optional are verification of SSD for boot and PSU choice. Currently picking parts for a workstation build, for a senior (90+). The current PC is not usable anymore in terms of responsiveness and loading times. A clean install did not help. I have researched and selected medium to good low-budget parts to the best of my abilities, especially on the PSU and SSD front.

 

 

I have offered to find a prebuilt or build this person a new system. I have looked at prebuilts / manufacturer systems such as Lenovo IdeaCentre 3 07IAB7 i5-12400, HP Pavilion TP01-2055nd AMD Ryzen 5-5600G and Lenovo IdeaCentre 5 i5-12400, all between 500 en 550 EUR. They're probably not bad, but I can't do any servicing other than the RAM, if there ever is a problem (see disassembly videos). I am the person they call for tech support.

Plus, I'd rather assemble a system with parts I know are of somewhat decent quality, as well as industry standard interfaces and form factors. I don't want to risk the lower tier systems (300-400 EUR). I keep some future-proofing in mind (larger/better than necessary PSU, SSD, CPU) for both ease of mind reasons, as well as the fact that I might buy/recieve this system in a few years if they don't need/can't use a PC anymore.

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/LGHWwg

Current selection (give or take a few EUR per item):

CPU: AMD 5600G (130 EUR) 
CPU Cooler: stock (wraith stealth)
Motherboard: A520M or B450, no model selected yet (65-ish EUR)
Memory: Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 2x8GB 3200 C16 CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 (45 EUR)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 500GB NVMe (58 EUR), or anything with DRAM and pref. no QLC
Video Card: iGPU
Case: Sharkoon VS9 (45 EUR) 
Power Supply: pref. Corsair CX550 CP-9020277-EU (60 EUR); alt: Cooler Master MWE White 450/550W 230V V2 (60EUR, same price) (yes it's overkill, but not many >C tier 350W and 450W available + no massive price difference)

OS: Most likely W10 to avoid change of environment, probably without license to save 110-ish EUR.

Connectivity: USB mouse, USB keyboard, USB printer. Extra I/O on top is desired (for USB sticks etc.). CD drive not needed, but optional. Panel is VGA now, but supports DVI and HDMI.
Total: 400-ish EUR

 

1. Motherboard: mainly picked A520M for the price, as the user needs no real features of B450/550. I can't really find any in-depth reviews or comparison tests for the A520M boards. Some B450M boards are around the same price, but I've read that you may be better off with the A520M in terms of up-to-dateness and quality (low end B450 vs low-mid A520M for that price range). Selection:

• MSI A520M-A PRO (63 EUR)
• Gigabyte A520M H 1.0 and Gigabyte A520M K V2 (65 EUR)
• Asrock A520M-HDV (60 EUR)
• MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX (67 EUR) (4 DIMM slots) (new BIOS compatible with 5600G)
• Asrock B450M-HDV R4.0 (60 EUR) (new BIOS compatible with 5600G)

2. Storage: I've searched for a TLC SSD with DRAM, as it will be the boot and only drive in the system. Any other suggestions, or is this one OK for the system's purposes?

3. Cases: Not many options. I selected the following, but chose the Sharkoon for now for its fans, neutral styling, ventinaltion, no glass and I/O location.

• Aerocool Hexform Mini Tower Micro ATX (for the extra fans and open ventilation style), was 50 EUR but jumped up to 70 EUR.
• Cooler Master MasterBox Q300L (least desirable, I/O on the side)
• DeepCool MATREXX 30 Mini Tower Micro ATX (only 1 fan, but CD bay)
• Sharkoon VS9 (for extra fans and no glass, a big plus; downside is its quite large)

 

Would love to hear your input on the motherboard choice, verification of PSU and SSD for boot and opinions on the case(s). 

Thank you in advance.

 

Kind regards,

JB

u can use ssd for boot and hdd for storage also if you are not gonna overclock either momory or cpu then u dont need b450 and u can go with a520 and if u go with a520 get asrock or gigabyte, as they have good quality and seem to have hdmi unlike msi, also aerocool case could be fine as they make great mini tower cases that can fit alot of things (i use cs107 now and it fits 3 fan gpu and 2 slot water radiator, but for 2 slot radiator you need a gpu with less than 3 fans)

[bal723]

and about psu idk, i myself have an "unreliable" aerocool 500 vx plus one

[jellybutt]

Thank you for your input and suggestions.

 

Small correction on the case: it only has 1 included fan. The webshops' product page was wrong (doesn't have 3).

 

I went with the following:

CPU: AMD 5600G (130,90 EUR) with iGPU + stock Wraith Stealth
Motherboard: Asus Prime B450-A II (68,45 EUR)
Memory: Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX 2x8GB 3200 C16 CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 (46,99 EUR)
Storage: Crucial P5 Plus 500GB NVMe (57,83 EUR)
Case: Sharkoon VS9 (44,90 EUR) 
Power Supply: Corsair CX550 CP-9020277-EU (59,90 EUR)

Extra cooling fan: Gelid Solutions Silent 12 PWM (7,90 EUR)

Total: 416.87 EUR

Total minus extra fan: 408.97 EUR

 

All bought at the same webshop for convenience.

 

I went with the B450 instead of the A520M because of increased I/O, 4 DIMM slots, heatsink on chipset and VRMs, BIOS Flashback button and a little bit more headroom for future use (by me) (processor / OC). Price was about the same. Also, going by the Motherboard Tier List on this forum, the chosen B450 is slightly better than the A520Ms I had selected / are available in this pricepoint.

 

Runs very well, better than I had expected. I ran Cinebench 2024 for 20 minutes continuously with stock cooling profile (no background processes, no internet, stock W10 OS, no driver or chipset updates installed yet aside from the newest BIOS version). The CPU hotspot temperature would not go over 77 Celcius (20 Celcius room) and wasn't extremely loud. The score was 590, in line with the reported average for this CPU. No artifacts or other issues detected.

 

 

 

Remarks on my experience with this Sharkoon VS9 case so far (excluding available general specifications and included items)

+ Finish is pretty good for this price point, can't find any badly covered/sprayed/coated areas

+ Tolerances and fit are OK to good, to be expected from this pricepoint

+ Material thickness of all components is average to thin, but OK to work with and to be expected from this pricepoint

+ Stiffness of barebones frame is average, but not terrible

+ Included 120mm fan isn't loud / doesn't rattle; average to silent

+ Plenty of cable management room (back of motherboard) and routing cutouts

+ Plenty of space for PSU (and non-modular PSU cable storage) + PSU separated with cover panel

+ Front panel is easily removed to access mesh filter; no attached cables

+ Spare mounting hardware (screws etc.)

 

/ Average on cable tie mounting spots

/ Far too big for a mATX build

/ A bit wide

/ Includes several extras with mounting hardware, such as washers, but no idea what they're for. See negative point on the 'manual'. Based on the amount and size, I'd say for the motherboard screws, but you'd increase electrical insulation of motherboard-to-ground by using these. I didn't.

 

- TERRIBLE manual, if you can even call it that. Both the currently available (as of day of writing) datasheet as manual don't include any information on the case and mounting hardware, besides generic specifications and images of SSD/HDD and AIO loop mountings. Also, NO paper manual

- PSU vibration / resting rubbers are positioned for longer PSU's, not shorter ones like the CX550. Can be peeled off and re-positioned, but not as firmly as the original position (small ridge, only 70% will be stuck to steel on new/other spots)

- Ratio of open and closed surface area of top panel ventilation is pretty bad. Probably OK for exhaust, not for intake

- Front panel ventilation holes only line up for full ventilation for the middle fan, the bottom and top fan positions only have 50% intake area (the other 50% is closed off / solid, despite the visual pattern indicating otherwise)

- No CD/DVD bay / cutout

- Mine seems askew/warped. Tends to wobble, even with all components installed. No obvious damage or height difference of case feet

 

General conclusion: I respect the corners they 'rounded' (no real corner-cutting, IMO) in order to offer this case. It is a solid option as a low-budget case, pretty well rounded. I wouldn't trust it to handle a lot of (overhanging/mounted) mass / objects though.

 

Kind regards,

JB

Edited February 22 by jellybutt
added negative aspect about front panel ventilation