Thoughts on my £500 build

macca72

macca72

macca72

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Joined
9 Nov 2013
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79
Afternoon

Five years on from my first build it's given up the ghost so am going to give another one a go rather than repairing.

I'm looking at £500 max with upgrade potential and so far am looking at

CPU / APU - Ryzen 5 2400g
Motherboard - Gigbyte AB350N
RAM - Hyperfury X 8gb (3200 DDR4)
SSD - Samsung 970 EVO M.2 250gb
PSU - Silver strider gold 450w SFX
Case - Sharkoon C10

Don't need windows or monitors or anything like that.

I want as small a build as possible so went with (what I think) is a decent case and the APU and single 8gb RAM gives me upgrade potential.

Would be grateful for your knowledge / opinions & help.

Cheers
 
I hear the Ryzen / APUs are badly hampered without dual channel, so the highest performing RAM you can get in a 2 x 4 GB format would be advisable from the get go.
 
better board, more ram (and dual channel)
changed the nvme ssd to a sata ssd for more storage
real-life differences in speed are minimal, unless hammering the storage subsystem (eg massive file copies on the same drive or large file reads/writes for video editing)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £507.56 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 
tamzzy said:
better board, more ram (and dual channel)
changed the nvme ssd to a sata ssd for more storage
real-life differences in speed are minimal, unless hammering the storage subsystem (eg massive file copies on the same drive or large file reads/writes for video editing)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £507.56 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
Click to expand...
Thanks, was ideally looking at Mini ITX - which is why I went for the Gigabyte. Looks like there is the Mini ITX - ASROCK AB350?

The M.2 was more for convenience, I have plenty of storage kicking around, I just wanted to add some in.

The RAM is a great find, thanks - and thanks for the advice on Dual Channel @Vexr.
 
So I'm on this atm..

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £466.61 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

Plus £50 for a case = £500 (ish)

EDIT: I can save about £15 shopping around on the Ryzen and the board.
 
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macca72 said:
Cheers, so you reckon this is the best board?
Click to expand...
yes. reasons:
(1) b450 - supports XFR2 and PB2 (aka automatic overclocking with 2nd gen ryzen parts of which the 2400g is one of them). b350 board doesn't
(2) asrock b350 that you listed above doesn't have display port out, their newer b450 board does
(3) same price, why not get the newer board? lol
(4) old b350 boards may need a bios flash
 
slightly over budget and the case might not be to your liking, but thought i would put a 1st gen and non APU in to the mix

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £522.59 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​

its essentially the 2400g, but generally it was always better to not have an APU if you plan to upgrade, might not be the case these days? and you might want to get a better gpu on the used market, but just a comparison.

to your mention on a B350 board, if you were talking about the one i listed then you will likely need to update the bios for the 2000 series which you would need a 1st gen(even the cheap rubbish refreshed APU chips) to do the update, its a pain in the button i read which is why i got 1st gen ha.
 
Awesome stuff - Sounds like the B450 is an easy decision based on price and performance then.

I thought I'd try the APU to be honest this time round, am intrigued to see how it performs. The case is nice but I need a 5.25 (which I didn't mention...)

I realised the be quiet! I posted isn't SF so am now at...

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £508.61 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​

It's a touch over (especially with case), but can bring it back down with a little shopping around.
 
macca72 said:
Hadn't thought of it like that, cheers. If that's the case then the price difference is quite stark for 2400g vs 1400+gt 1030.
Click to expand...

before i submitted my post i did do a 1600 + 1030 with a more expensive sfx style psu and i even did the 1400 + 1050 2gb and both builds were coming up to around the £550ish mark.

because you said about upgrading potential, if you were able to stretch to the 1600 or even 2nd gen 2600 then that be a much better starting point, all you would then need to upgrade is the gpu if you went the 1030 route or wanted better than the 1050.
 
Thanks - will the 2400g hamper future upgrade? - I do actually have a sapphire R9 270 x from my old build that works just fine, could I put this in or not?

EDIT: I'm thinking now that the Ryzen 5 1600 is the way forward, bung the 270 in for now and wait on a GPU deal. As you said @ExoMale :).

I could get the 2600 but my only worry is if the 270 was to stop working then I'd be stumped and the 2400g would at least keep me going for a while. Decisions :confused:

Also on the PSU - there's a deal on another site for a Silvertsone 450w 80+ gold PSU for circa £62 - worth it?
 
Last edited:
macca72 said:
Thanks - will the 2400g hamper future upgrade? - I do actually have a sapphire R9 270 x from my old build that works just fine, could I put this in or not?

EDIT: I'm thinking now that the Ryzen 5 1600 is the way forward, bung the 270 in for now and wait on a GPU deal. As you said @ExoMale :).

I could get the 2600 but my only worry is if the 270 was to stop working then I'd be stumped and the 2400g would at least keep me going for a while. Decisions :confused:

Also on the PSU - there's a deal on another site for a Silvertsone 450w 80+ gold PSU for circa £62 - worth it?
Click to expand...

yes the 270x will be good enough still, its beyond a 1050 i believe as i know its behind a 660, but it will save you some money if you can use it.

as for the 2400g it will only hamper performance because it being an APU you cant upgrade it so you are stuck with the 2400(technically the 1400 with graphics), all you can do is up the ram and add a dedicated graphics card, an APU is only best suited if you need a cheap solution with next to no gaming involved.

mean you could get the 1400/1500x and have the same 4c8t performance of that APU with the added bonus of upgrading, but obviously how cheap the 6 cores are in comparison, you will have better longer performance with that and as for your gpu, if for whatever reason it does fail, then you will still have the budget to buy even a decent used card if you exclude the gpu from these system specs.

silverstone usually make good stuff and its not a bad price, would depend if its atx or sfx? if its atx then a 450w focus 80 gold will be better, think the 550w not much more, that silverstone be only advisable depending on your chosen setup. just a little heads up, i have a 300w silverstone sfx that included an atx bracket, i had it fitted in the coolermaster elite 110 case which is similar size to that case i suggested and it was a godsend, okay that system was low end APU, but when you havent got a separate psu chamber it makes it more spacious for cables.
 
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