Low budget Ryzen 5 3600 Build

ZeroG · 26 Jun 2020 at 17:46

My dad has tasked me with spec'ing him a new PC. It's not for gaming but for office work and he wants it to last him 5+ years and still be quick. I was thinking about building it around an AMD Ryzen 5 3600 which seems pretty cheap at the moment. I might be able to salvage the SSD in the existing machine, although I might include a new one as I think it was an old SSD I gave him when I built his last machine.

I'm unsure where to go from there i.e. motherboard/ram etc. and would welcome any suggestions.

Donnie Fisher · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:03

Get a 3400g ? It's plenty nippy for any normal work in Windows and will continue to be for a long time yet.

Would save needing a GPU which would save a bit. Could put that to an m.2 ssd which you fit directly into the board, saving cable mess.

ZeroG · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:08

How would that compare to using a 3600 and a monitor plugged in via the motherboard? It's been a very long time since I've used onboard.

Joxeon · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:18

ZeroG said:
How would that compare to using a 3600 and a monitor plugged in via the motherboard? It's been a very long time since I've used onboard.

A 3600 doesn't have onboard so would need a dedicated GPU which would bump up the cost a bit.

ZeroG · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:25

Fair enough, thanks for the information, I'll have to look into that.

As far as the motherboard is concerned then would just a cheap one do as I don't need any fancy features on it?

Joxeon · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:40

The asrock pro4 b450 would be a decent cheap board and do the job

ZeroG · 26 Jun 2020 at 18:49

hmm if I choose the 3600 or the 3400g I get the following error about compatibility.

Warning!Some AMD B450 chipset motherboards may need a BIOS update prior to using Picasso CPUs. Upgrading the BIOS may require a different CPU that is supported by older BIOS revisions.

The_Arbiter · 26 Jun 2020 at 19:27

B450s typically only support 2nd gen Ryzen. But many manufacturers updated the bios to support 3rd gen. But getting a motherboard that is already updated isn't a guarantee unless you get one that is specifically advertised as supporting 3rd gen. I know MSI Max boards do, but not sure of others. Those boards start at about £70

Whether or not OCUK can supply you information on what boards they have that support 3rd gen out of box, i don't know. Or even know if they would know either.

Another vote for the 3400G. You can even play games on it, it really is that good for the money. I know it's for your Dad though

Joxeon · 26 Jun 2020 at 19:58

Would think most new b450s would have updated bios by now unless it was stock that was I over a year old.

BogEyes · 27 Jun 2020 at 09:57

Joxeon said:
Would think most new b450s would have updated bios by now unless it was stock that was I over a year old.

MSI Max boards can be had for £60 if you look around too, which is dirt cheap imo.

Pair that with a 3400g as other have said, sorted!!

ZeroG · 27 Jun 2020 at 10:00

Just noticed this on the ocuk website. Would this be a good idea since I guess the board is either compatible or they flash it for the customer?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/rang...ndle-w-radeon-vega-11-graphics-bu-09t-og.html

The_Arbiter · 27 Jun 2020 at 10:16

ZeroG said:
Just noticed this on the ocuk website. Would this be a good idea since I guess the board is either compatible or they flash it for the customer?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/rang...ndle-w-radeon-vega-11-graphics-bu-09t-og.html

You can choose 3000mhz for the same cost which is good. Knowing it's fully compatible and parts shouldn't be DOA is also reassuring. I'd happily roll with that deal.

ZeroG · 27 Jun 2020 at 18:46

Would it be worth going for the 3200G bundle on Ocuk and overclocking a bit if it handles it as the 3200G bundle is £50 cheaper?

Journey · 27 Jun 2020 at 18:50

Why does he need a new system just for office work? He would be better off just grabbing a second hand Dell or HP system for ~£100 and whacking an SSD in it. Most of them come with Windows 10 and you can get lovely small form factor systems they are very quiet.

What is the current system he uses? Spending more money on a quality display and input devices is more beneficial that running a word processor faster.

ZeroG · 27 Jun 2020 at 19:02

He's currently running an Intel G3240 with 2x4 GB DDR3 ram (pc3-12800), ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 motherboard, 120GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD and Win7.

The SSD was an old one I had lying about when it was built, I'm surprised it's still alive, and the system is just very sluggish even when doing basic stuff.

I was looking to build him something more snappy and with Win10 that will last him a good time with a possibility of upgrading in the future if needed.

Journey · 27 Jun 2020 at 19:10

Well there are an awful lot of different systems at £100-150

i5 4570, with 16GB and Windows 10, and i5 6500, and some i7's just with less RAM etc. You could buy three systems over the next 5 years for the same spend buying new, or like I said get a lovely monitor.

ZeroG · 27 Jun 2020 at 19:16

That's an option, but I never see these cheap system. Everything that cheap is utter trash I find.

Journey · 27 Jun 2020 at 19:17

ZeroG said:
That's an option, but I never see these cheap system. Everything that cheap is utter trash I find.

Plenty on the world's biggest auction site.

ZeroG · 27 Jun 2020 at 19:29

Journey said:
Plenty on the world's biggest auction site.

Ah yes forgot about that, sifting through the trash to find something decent heh.

Journey · 27 Jun 2020 at 19:35

ZeroG said:
Ah yes forgot about that, sifting through the trash to find something decent heh.

If you know what you are looking for there isn't really much sifting though. e.g an HP Elitedesk 800 G1, or a Dell Optiplex 7040, or a Lenovo Thinkcentre M93 etc. So many to chose, do some research about the models you might be interested in then look to see if you can find any for sale.