Super budget £600 build?

[Drake5]

Hello guys,

My nephew wants to make the move from console gaming to a PC setup, but the budget is limited at £600. He's already got a monitor so it'll literally just be a system only with no OS required as I've got some Windows 11 licences

The games he plays are Fortnite, Rocket League and Apex so nothing super high end but I imagine 120FPS+ is going to be important

Is it doable at all with such a small budget or should be wait and save for a little longer?

Cheers

 

[Fluffybob]

have a look in the Members Market, some bundles available in there.

 

[Drake5]

have a look in the Members Market, some bundles available in there.

Yeah, I think going 2nd hand will definitely give more value for money but ideally I wanted to keep everything new for him but if the budget doesn't allow for that then I'll certainly consider it

 

[almostgfx]

Members markets and other used websites.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/clearance can always have gems

You can grab a 3060 for around £180 depending where you look and thats still a great card.
3600mhz 16gb ram around £30/40
I think you could do it! Probably get a PSU from new.

 

[tamzzy]

Fortnite

JFYI fortnite has released DX12 performance mode so you no longer have to "just" get nvidia cards
radeons now perform as well as their nvidia counterparts with DX12 performance mode

 

[tamzzy]

realistically for that sort of budget you'd be looking at intel 12400/ryzen 5600
the only caveat is that you HAVE to get the DDR4 ram from the used market as DDR4 is now end-of-life, so new sticks are extremely overpriced

with a few well thought out purchases, £600 will get you a ryzen 5600 build with a 9060xt 16gb

 

[Tetras]

It is doable, you could go with B580 if a 9060 XT 16GB is too pricey, but as tamzzy said, DDR4 is the problem right now.

 

[Drake5]

It is doable, you could go with B580 if a 9060 XT 16GB is too pricey, but as tamzzy said, DDR4 is the problem right now.

When you say doable, do you mean brand new or within the used market? The B580 looks like an interesting card, I had no idea Intel made them. I wonder how stable in terms of drivers a card like that is. No gsync/freesync though I'd assume

 

[Tetras]

When you say doable, do you mean brand new or within the used market? The B580 looks like an interesting card, I had no idea Intel made them. I wonder how stable in terms of drivers a card like that is. No gsync/freesync though I'd assume

Brand new, except for the memory.

The drivers are a lot better than they were, but older games can be a problem.

It has their own version of upscaling. Freesync: I think this is supported, but I wouldn't like to just say "yes".

An example spec below. Personally, I'd stick with new parts (except the DDR4) rather than b-grade, but it would put you about ~£30 over budget.

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x B Grade AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: BG-134-AM) = £84.00
• 1 x Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC R2 (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-06023) = £88.98
• 2 x B Grade Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: BG-01T-TG) = £11.99
• 1 x B Grade Intel ARC B580 12GB PCI-Express GDDR6 Limited Edition Graphics Card (SKU: BG-GRA-INT-03759) = £209.98
• 1 x Team Group MP33 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02681) = £43.99
• 1 x Antec CX600M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04160) = £54.95
• 1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95

Total: £602.82 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[tamzzy]

1 x Phanteks AMP GH 750W 80PLUS Gold ATX Power Supply Modular - Black (SKU: POW-PHK-02517) = £84.95

swap the psu to this: My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x MSI MAG A650BN UK PSU 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: POW-MSI-03345) = £49.99

 

[Tetras]

For the type of games being played, I think there could be a good argument for a different card too, because Arc doesn't like those kind of games, especially at a low resolution (driver overhead). It is best for gaming at higher res, high details.

 

[tamzzy]

For the type of games being played, I think there could be a good argument for a different card too, because Arc doesn't like those kind of games, especially at a low resolution (driver overhead). It is best for gaming at higher res, high details.

absolutely, but OP's budget is a bit low-ish. for £700 5600 + 9060xt 16gb is perfectly doable
for £600, will need a few choice purchases to get the 5600 + 9060xt 16gb...but it's definitely well worth it lol

as a matter of fact, i recently built a 5700x/32gb/9060xt 16gb combo for a friend for a grand total of £510, so it is certainly doable

 

[Tetras]

absolutely, but OP's budget is a bit low-ish. for £700 5600 + 9060xt 16gb is perfectly doable
for £600, will need a few choice purchases to get the 5600 + 9060xt 16gb...but it's definitely well worth it lol

as a matter of fact, i recently built a 5700x/32gb/9060xt 16gb combo for a friend for a grand total of £510, so it is certainly doable

I thought I'd give it a go, but:
- I lost 2 cores on the CPU.
- There's no wifi with the motherboard and just 1x M.2 slot.
- VRM might melt with an 8 core (not even a VRM heatsink), so limited upgrade potential.
- Case is small and restricted graphics length (~315mm) which would limit upgrades to 4070 type cards or less.

On the other hand, 16GB GPU, woo!

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Intel Core i3-12100F 3.30GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AS-IN) = £74.00
• 1 x MSI PRO H610M-E DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03383) = £55.00
• 2 x B Grade Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: BG-01T-TG) = £11.99
• 1 x XFX Swift 9060 XT Gaming OC Dual Fan 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05433) = £329.98
• 1 x Team Group MP33 PRO 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen3 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-02681) = £43.99
• 1 x Aerocool Bolt Mini TG Micro-ATX case - black (SKU: CA-234-AE) = £24.95
• 1 x MSI MAG A650BN UK PSU 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: POW-MSI-03345) = £49.99

Total: £613.87 (includes delivery: £11.98)​

 

[tamzzy]

2 x B Grade Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: BG-01T-TG) = £11.99

ooooh those are cheap!

Edit: aaaaaaand they're gone just like that lol

This product is no longer available.

 

[Tetras]

ooooh those are cheap!

Edit: aaaaaaand they're gone just like that lol

Dangit!

 

[Drake5]

Thanks for the further suggestions, much appreciated

If really needed, the budget can be stretched to £700 if it makes a 5600 + 9060xt achievable. Ideally want to avoid anything b-grade. I can source the DDR4 ram from the MM no problems. The spec above looks good but I'd like a bit more reassurance with the motherboard VRM ideally

 

[tamzzy]

If really needed, the budget can be stretched to £700 if it makes a 5600 + 9060xt achievable. Ideally want to avoid anything b-grade. I can source the DDR4 ram from the MM no problems. The spec above looks good but I'd like a bit more reassurance with the motherboard VRM ideally

easily done, and leaves you with £40 or so to source 32GB ram elsewhere

but as i said, you can trim the budget by looking elsewhere
parts that i would also consider buying b-grade/used: CPU, mobo, RAM, (semi-decent) PSU, air cooler
though definitely get a new case with lots of rgb bling bling for a kid. the case is what makes a used computer look new

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D2-AM) = £89.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550M DS3H (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BR-GI) = £72.99
• 1 x XFX Swift 9060 XT Gaming OC Dual Fan 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05433) = £329.99
• 1 x MSI MAG A650BN UK PSU 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: POW-MSI-03345) = £49.99
• 1 x Antec CX500M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04158) = £54.95
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• 1 x Thermalright Assassin X 120 R Digital Black CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-04203) = £14.99

Total: £662.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

 

[Tetras]

The spec above looks good but I'd like a bit more reassurance with the motherboard VRM ideally

The 5600 and 12400F perform pretty much the same, but AM4 has a 5700X3D as an upgrade option, whereas 1700 only has (potentially) dodgy 13th/14th gen CPUs. There's also the 14400F available at a good price some places, which is a better CPU than either of them, more like a slower 12600K (due to the presence of 4 E-Cores), but gaming performance isn't that different.

If you can stick with B550 or B660/B760 that would be preferable, especially if you can get a decent VRM (or at least a heatsink) and 2x M.2 slots. H610 boards are not great and you don't want older AM4 motherboards (like B450) with no PCI-E 4.0 graphics. Not at this point.

 

[henry hoov3r]

I could donate a motherboard only caveat is a couple of bent pins. Not sure if that’s fixable or not. Its a Z690 msi.

 

[Drake5]

easily done, and leaves you with £40 or so to source 32GB ram elsewhere

but as i said, you can trim the budget by looking elsewhere
parts that i would also consider buying b-grade/used: CPU, mobo, RAM, (semi-decent) PSU, air cooler
though definitely get a new case with lots of rgb bling bling for a kid. the case is what makes a used computer look new

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D2-AM) = £89.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550M DS3H (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BR-GI) = £72.99
• 1 x XFX Swift 9060 XT Gaming OC Dual Fan 16GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GRA-XFX-05433) = £329.99
• 1 x MSI MAG A650BN UK PSU 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: POW-MSI-03345) = £49.99
• 1 x Antec CX500M ARGB M-ATX Mini Tower - Black (SKU: CAS-ATC-04158) = £54.95
• 1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
• 1 x Thermalright Assassin X 120 R Digital Black CPU Air Cooler (SKU: COO-TLR-04203) = £14.99

Total: £662.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)​

Now this looks brilliant. Thank you. Is that a reasonably sound motherboard in terms of VRM/heat etc? I would have liked a gold rated PSU but I fully understand that at this budget, beggars can't be choosers