£900 build for gaming teenager, stuck on trade-offs

q974739

q974739

q974739

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Hi. I've been asked to build a Christmas Present for the deserving child of a very poor single parent. Right now he's trying to play Minecraft on a potato. He can't play much of anything else, because the potato is a small factor ex office machine that, if it were a person, would be old enough to hold a reasonable conversion.

It's taken a bit of finagling (and a pandemic) but every relative has contributed, to the tune of 900, but I'm stuck.

Where I'm stuck is the upgrade tradeoff.

In the current market, the obvious answer is a 3700(X?) on a cheap 320 series motherboard and as big a graphics card as I can fit in budget.

On the other hand, there's a non-zero chance that the relatives might get a grip a second time and organise a joint upgrade in a couple of years. In which case the 320 solution is a waste.

Alternatively a cheap 550 motherboard would allow later upgrades to a 5x00 CPU in a few years, a better pcie 4 graphics card, more memory, pcie 4 storage and so on.

But this comes at the cost of less bang for initial bucks. Which might make a repeat effective joint present later less likely. My PC building experience isn't very current, so don't feel bad for just telling I'm wrong. Just say *where*.
 
This should be a 'balanced' gaming rig which you can upgrade the CPU & GFX card at a later date with little effort. The remaining £15 (assuming you get free shipping) can be spent on a W10 oem key off the auction site, job done.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £898.17 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​
 
q974739 said:
In the current market, the obvious answer is a 3700(X?) on a cheap 320 series motherboard and as big a graphics card as I can fit in budget.

On the other hand, there's a non-zero chance that the relatives might get a grip a second time and organise a joint upgrade in a couple of years. In which case the 320 solution is a waste.

Alternatively a cheap 550 motherboard would allow later upgrades to a 5x00 CPU in a few years, a better pcie 4 graphics card, more memory, pcie 4 storage and so on.

But this comes at the cost of less bang for initial bucks. Which might make a repeat effective joint present later less likely. My PC building experience isn't very current, so don't feel bad for just telling I'm wrong. Just say *where*.
Click to expand...
So we are looking at an AMD build?

I really wouldn't recommend a 3xx series board if you are thinking of upgrading it; the 5xxx series CPU's won't work in it.

I'd say: get them the best that they can for what money you can. There's an offer on at MSI for some cash back on processors and motherboards: https://uk.msi.com/Promotion/back-to-school-2020#AMD-Motherboard

And of course someone beats me to it :D

Grimley said:
This should be a 'balanced' gaming rig which you can upgrade the CPU & GFX card at a later date with little effort. The remaining £15 (assuming you get free shipping) can be spent on a W10 oem key off the auction site, job done.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £898.17 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​
Click to expand...
Hmm, what would happen if that mobo got changed for a B550 series one instead?
 
The B550s support PCI 4.0 and with bios update Zen 3. May as well just get a 1tb SSD for £90. Much better quality of life with SSD even if you have to uninstall games vs a larger HDD.
I'd wait and see if Nvidia and AMD have got any new GPU releases that come within budget. Will be getting close to xmas but no harm in buying the rest now.
You could even just get a Ryzen 3100 to save money. Some wouldn't agree there. But that CPU is decent for the money. Even going with a 1660 Super isn't going to disappoint.
But B550 and SSD would be my minimum.
 
Unfortunately it's only B550 and x570s that are included in the cash back offer.

  • MSI B550 Tomahawk ~£160 (£36 cashback) B550 not essential - but has PCIe 4 GPU, x1 Gen 4.0 M.2. slot and built around Zen 3 - but MSI B450 will officially support Zen 3 - update in Jan.
  • 3600 ~$160
  • 16GB 3600MHz memory ~£65
  • 1TB WD Blue SN550 ~£110
  • Bitfenix Formula 650W ~£75 (will give you more options in future for GPU upgrades)
  • 1660 Super ~£200
  • Kolink Case ~£60
 
geekyadz said:
So we are looking at an AMD build?

I really wouldn't recommend a 3xx series board if you are thinking of upgrading it; the 5xxx series CPU's won't work in it.
Click to expand...

I was thinking AMD because they are the current king of value, for the moment. Would be happy to go Intel, but I just don't think the upgrade path works as well?

Totally agree about 3xx boards - but it's that trade off between better now vs better latter, which is where I'm stuck. Where it might help is I do have a 2TB spinning rust drive I can just throw in, for large storage - 2TB gathering dust, frees up a few pennies.
 
q974739 said:
Question to everyone - you've all gone 3600, not 3700 - why? What am I missing?
Click to expand...
A combo of your budget - allowing you to get a better motherboard/GPU (vital for games)/more wattage PSU (for future GPUs)/larger capacity SSD - which will carry you through future upgrades.

Plus, the 3600 is great bang for buck, a mighty CPU for ~£160 and if he intends to upgrade in a couple of years it will bridge the gap admirably during that period (and the B550 giving a solid base for Zen 3 when needed/wanted).
 
q974739 said:
I was thinking AMD because they are the current king of value, for the moment. Would be happy to go Intel, but I just don't think the upgrade path works as well?

Totally agree about 3xx boards - but it's that trade off between better now vs better latter, which is where I'm stuck. Where it might help is I do have a 2TB spinning rust drive I can just throw in, for large storage - 2TB gathering dust, frees up a few pennies.
Click to expand...
You'll get no complaint from me about AMD :D

Well, maybe; but I can assure you upgrading to a M.2 will make it so much faster than the HDD which I would recommend as additional storage should you need it and therefore can possibly go smaller on the SSD?

Me personally I run a M.2 for Windows 10 and put all my games on a HDD and I have no issues with it
 
You get significant improvement single core performance from 3100 to 3600, but negligble from 3600 to 3700. But pay equally each time. The general consensus is that 8 core is more future proof due to next gen consoles having decent 8 cores now. But games that are next gen for consoles are looking to be a year away. It's why i suggested that a 3100 now might be worth a look, and then that gives him a good upgrade path to the 5700/5800 in the future, while saving money now.

q974739 said:
Question to everyone - you've all gone 3600, not 3700 - why? What am I missing?
Click to expand...
 
3700X isn’t worth it over 3600 for a gaming build with that budget. 3600 is optimum and spending the budget on a decent PSU, better GPU etc.
 
Also when working with a small budget and wanting maximum value, buy when there are bargains to be had. e.g. you can get the MSI X470 GAMING PLUS MAX Motherboard for £75 today, and £49 with get you 16GB of DDR4 3200MHZ Hyper X Fury RAM, oh and the Kingston A2000 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD can be had for £87. That is three major components for only £211, so £689 left to get the rest.

Don't just buy it all, and waste huge sums of money keep doing you research and buy bargain when you see them. That is the best present you can offer. :)
 
Journey said:
Also when working with a small budget and wanting maximum value, buy when there are bargains to be had. e.g. you can get the MSI X470 GAMING PLUS MAX Motherboard for £75 today, and £49 with get you 16GB of DDR4 3200MHZ Hyper X Fury RAM, oh and the Kingston A2000 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD can be had for £87. That is three major components for only £211, so £689 left to get the rest.
Click to expand...
Wait, is that on here??

How do you see these prices, just check different sites every day? Newsletters?
 
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