Budget build for some photoshop/CAD with some games

[Hawkesbury]

My son has recently got into photography and wants to learn photoshop (He is getting badly bullied at school, and I am delighted he has found something that makes him smile again)

I have decided that I will start the process of building a PC that we can add to and upgrade over time. Initially I do not want to spend more than £350-400

I have a monitor, mouse, KB, 3 corsair RGB fans and controller, RX 590 GPU that I will remove from my PC to give him, (I will use an old 7950 GPU). I also have a Powercool 550W PSU (old but working - should I look to replace this?)

I am settled on either an Ryzen 7 2700 or 5 2600 (Hoping the price/performance makes sense here)
A B450 mobo - is there any genuine benefit on an expensive one vs a cheaper one - we will be not overclocking in the short term. (Although he likes the idea of some RGB stuff - is this mobo controlled?)
16GB RGB ram
I need a small ish (cheapish) case that some subtle RGB stuff will look okay through
SSD

Windows - is there anyway to transfer a licence from an old laptop? If not what is the cheapest way possible?

Many thanks.

 

[Grimley]

Hows this?
My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x ASUS PRIME B450M-A (Socket AM4) DDR4 MATX Motherboard= £74.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Team Group Night Hawk RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - RGB Black (TF1D4= £69.95
• 1 x Kolink Inspire Series K1 RGB Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black Window= £28.99
• 1 x Gigabyte 240GB SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive= £25.99
• 1 x Bitfenix Formula Series 550W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply= £66.95

Total: £468.16 (includes shipping: £12.30)​

​

Up to date Ryzen CPU (2600 is £19 less) Some RGB hardware can be controlled from the Mobo, some not.
Your PSU, Replace it. I wouldnt trust an old PSU that isnt a decent make with £400 of new PC bits. I own that RAM & I can vouch that its good.

Windows - Download & Install Belarc advisor on the laptop to obtain the Windows product key. Then follow the steps here:
https://www.windowscentral.com/how-transfer-windows-10-license-new-computer-or-hard-drive

 

[tamzzy]

1 x ASUS PRIME B450M-A (Socket AM4) DDR4 MATX Motherboard= £74.99

that's a terrible mobo i wouldn't touch it with a bargepole

 

[Grimley]

/\/\/\ Personally I'd go with a Mortar Max but I tried to stick to the OP's Budget.

 

[tamzzy]

the ryzen 2600 can be had for £57 cheaper elsewhere (inc free shipping), bringing the build price down to £370 inc shipping (you get free shipping from ocuk)
decent board with decent VRMs (and VRM heatsink)
480gb ssd
rgb case
My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 2600 3.90GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £169.99
• 1 x Asrock B450M Pro4 (Socket AM4) DDR4 MATX Motherboard= £70.99
• 1 x Gigabyte 480GB SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive= £41.99
• 1 x Kolink Modular Power 500W 80 Plus Bronze Modular Power Supply= £44.99
• 1 x Kolink Aviator M RGB Micro-ATX Gaming Case - Black= £38.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/Grey (TLGD= £59.99

Total: £439.24 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​

 

[tamzzy]

/\/\/\ Personally I'd go with a Mortar Max but I tried to stick to the OP's Budget.

asrock b450m pro4 is a better choice for budget-oriented ryzen 2000 builds
(and cheaper than the trash asus mobo too!)

 

[Grimley]

/\/\/\ I'll bear that in mind thanks. I was aware that ASUS B450 boards aren't that good for overclocking & for higher end Ryzens, So I've gone to the AM4 mobo tier list on LTT forums & you're dead right on that model!

 

[tamzzy]

@Grimley there's only 5(6) boards to consider for B450

budget: asrock b450m pro4

mid-range matx = msi b450 mortar
mid-range atx = msi b450 tomahawk

mid/high-range itx = msi b450i gaming plus
mid/high-range atx = msi b450 pro carbon ac (or asus b450 strix-e but this board has limited availability)

 

[Grimley]

/\/\/\ Thanks.

 

[champion1642]

that's a terrible mobo i wouldn't touch it with a bargepole

You can tell just by looking at the image of it. It has no heatsinks in any of the vital places, just looks completely bare.

 

[Hawkesbury]

So - about a year later things have started to fail! PC wouldn't power off properly - so he held the power button down - it now wont display anything.

I have tried the GPU in my PC and its fine, tried mine in his and nothing.
I have reseated everything I can.
Removed the button battery.

Everything sounds like it should be working - GPU fans spin up, the HDD clicks away, the aRGB lights do their thing but nothing displays.

I have tested the monitor with an Xbox, it works, I have changed all cables. Interestingly the mouse RGB lights come on but the keyboard does not - random?

Any ideas.

 

[Donnie Fisher]

Mm.

 

[Gray2233]

So - about a year later things have started to fail! PC wouldn't power off properly - so he held the power button down - it now wont display anything.

I have tried the GPU in my PC and its fine, tried mine in his and nothing.
I have reseated everything I can.
Removed the button battery.

Everything sounds like it should be working - GPU fans spin up, the HDD clicks away, the aRGB lights do their thing but nothing displays.

I have tested the monitor with an Xbox, it works, I have changed all cables. Interestingly the mouse RGB lights come on but the keyboard does not - random?

Any ideas.

Sounds like the motherboard might be bricked, I assume that you mean you reset the bios by removing the motherboard battery when you state you removed the 'button battery'?

There's a very slim chance that it could be the PSU, but given everything else is spinning up I'm doubtful.

Which motherboard did you end up buying exactly, as well as the exact specs of his PC?