Please check my build :D

[Happy Teaspoon]

Budget (including currency): As bang for your buck as possible

Country: South Africa (Its often cheaper to buy off amazon so half my parts are from there)

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Strictly games, I dont really play high fps compettitive games. Im ok with a lower fps is my pixels are prettier. 

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): 

 

I got a sweet deal on a 4k monitor and I bought it before remembering that my poor little gtx1660ti wont run it, so here I am. I tried specing out the most bang for your buck build I could that can still run games in 4k .Im keeping an eye out for a second hand gpu, but the market isnt great here so I might just end up with the rtx5080, I was going to go for the rtx5070ti but my leave runs out before its released and Im hoping to play with my new toy before I have to start work again. 

 

Heres the build, any advice is appriciated. Oh if you have a good recommendation for a new keyboard and a nice pair of speakers Id like to hear about it as well  Thank you!

 

[OddOod]

Welcome to the forums!
TBH, I'd recommend just playing your games at 1080p which will scale perfectly to a 4k display.
What's your current spec? Any chance we can just upgrade that and not build a whole new rig?

As for your linked spec, that SSD is SUPER sus and remember, you're going bang for buck, stay far away from any AIO

[podkall]

Yeah, it looks pretty good, if you want bang for a buck, I can show you alternatives to your parts here:

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/vMHhKq

 

If you get white PSU, 80% of them usually come with white cables too.

 

But I can also show you cheaper black PSUs if you want.

 

The motherboards, some of them are white in the selection.

 

The selection is there more for the parts, you can check yourself if any part is cheaper.

[podkall]

Also, you could get like a cheap 10-30$ Windows key instead of buying whole license.

 

Each have their own advantage though, the key market is bit sketchy.

[Happy Teaspoon]

@OddOod My current system is: 

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor 
HP EX920 512GB m.2 ssd
GTX 1660 Ti
16GB DDR4 memory
550w psu
B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (MS-7C02)

 

Good point on the AIO, I think Ill swap that out. My thought process on the admitedly really sketchy ssd is that it has a warranty and my pc is just for games so if it dies I dont care about loosing data .  I basically expect it to die, but the store selling it is legit so I know I wont be hung out to dry when it does. 

[Happy Teaspoon]

@podkall Thank you for the list of alternatives!!! 

 

I already swapped out the PSU for the one you recommended, I didnt really think about the white cables. Im going through the rest of it now. 

 

For the motherboard, dont I need gen 5 pcie for the gpu? Its basically why I went with the board I did. 

 

Oh as for windows I added it just so no one thinks Im doing a Linux build or something, Ill probably just do that hack to activate windows for free after you install the trial version. 

[Happy Teaspoon]

Ok Ive updated the build. Ive cut it down to 1162 USD without the (import duties suck) I swapped out the case somewhere along the way, Im still seeing about switching out the aio. Im a little worried about airflow in the new case. Im watching reviews and stuff to see if an air cooler will be ok. My MB choice isnt ideal but most of the cheaper ones wont arrive until mid March .

 

Thanks again for all the help, its helped a bunch! 

 

New build link

[podkall]

7 hours ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

For the motherboard, dont I need gen 5 pcie for the gpu?

no, and I think 50 series will be 4gen anyway, and it's forwards and backwards compatible

 

7 hours ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

I already swapped out the PSU for the one you recommended, I didnt really think about the white cables. Im going through the rest of it now. 

have you checked out the other NVMEs on that list? they might be cheaper while giving you similar performance as the one you have on yours

 

7 hours ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

Oh as for windows I added it just so no one thinks Im doing a Linux build or something, Ill probably just do that hack to activate windows for free after you install the trial version. 

sure, the middle way is to just download Windows for free on official Microsoft website, and then grabbing like 10-20$ key to activate it,

 

also if you want W11 and don't want to be forced to make a Microsoft account, there are videos that show how to skip that step during installation

 

5 hours ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

Ok Ive updated the build. Ive cut it down to 1162 USD without the (import duties suck) I swapped out the case somewhere along the way, Im still seeing about switching out the aio. Im a little worried about airflow in the new case. Im watching reviews and stuff to see if an air cooler will be ok. My MB choice isnt ideal but most of the cheaper ones wont arrive until mid March .

 

Thanks again for all the help, its helped a bunch! 

 

New build link

in O11 vision, the idea is to grab fresh air from side intake and bottom intakes,

 

and GPU + last 1/2 rear fans exhaust, since there's many intake fans a good idea would be to run those bit slower than the exhaust fans, but no need to match even pressure, positive pressure is fine,

 

for AIO, you could swap to these if they're cheaper, or even use air cooler,

 

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hBrMwY

 

 

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White ARGB

 

Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 White

[podkall]

7 hours ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

For the motherboard, dont I need gen 5 pcie for the gpu? Its basically why I went with the board I did. 

 

PCIe Gen 3 board + 5090 = compatibility still green:

 

 

 

This is same list, but I picked most white motherboards, and I kept the AIO selection, but the choice is yours: (some MB are black and white, some are fully white)

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/Twkfh7

[Happy Teaspoon]

27 minutes ago, podkall said:

no, and I think 50 series will be 4gen anyway, and it's forwards and backwards compatible

Thanks! I ended up getting a much cheaper board, not as cheap as you reccomended due to country constraints but its still a massive win. 

 

29 minutes ago, podkall said:

have you checked out the other NVMEs on that list? they might be cheaper while giving you similar performance as the one you have on yours

I did, unfortunately between some of them not shipping to SA and import duties on others my dodgy one ends up being the cheapest by quite a bit. 

 

30 minutes ago, podkall said:

also if you want W11 and don't want to be forced to make a Microsoft account, there are videos that show how to skip that step during installation

Ill be sure to look it up when when I install

 

45 minutes ago, podkall said:

for AIO, you could swap to these if they're cheaper, or even use air cooler,

Thanks, I swapped to the Thermalright Frozen Edge

 

@podkall Thanks again for all your help. Seriously you went to so much effort, I really apriciate it . Ill post a pic once its built.

 

I think Im ready to hit the buy button 

[podkall]

1 hour ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

Thanks! I ended up getting a much cheaper board, not as cheap as you reccomended due to country constraints but its still a massive win. 

Which one?

 

1 hour ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

I did, unfortunately between some of them not shipping to SA and import duties on others my dodgy one ends up being the cheapest by quite a bit. 

it's not that dodgy/bad, there's just better alternatives if price can afford it

 

1 hour ago, Happy Teaspoon said:

Thanks, I swapped to the Thermalright Frozen Edge

 

@podkall Thanks again for all your help. Seriously you went to so much effort, I really apriciate it . Ill post a pic once its built.

 

I think Im ready to hit the buy button 

very nice, you can make new post with the build complete, the sub-forum for it is called Build Logs

[Happy Teaspoon]

On 1/24/2025 at 7:28 PM, podkall said:

Which one?

I went form the Gigabyte X870 AORUS ELITE to the B850 of the same board, saved about 50USD when factoring in taxes and such