Budget PC Build - Looking For Advice

[Adrian_UK]

Hey!

Looking for a bit of advice for my first PC build, I will be using it for basic work stuff, plus a bit of YouTube and online shopping, possibly a bit of gaming for if I ever decide to roll back the years and buy Football Manager.

Here's the plan...
The idea was to buy the main parts I/E motherboard, CPU and GPU from a well known seller like OverClockers - For that added confidence - but I wanted to buy them last as they'll be costly.

Other parts I'm going to buy will be new but sourced as cheap as possible because I don't have a big budget.

Parts I have so far...
ATX Case:
Slave HDD: WD 1TB SN850X M.2 HDD
PSU: Corsair CX550W 550W


Parts to get...
Main HDD: Crucial MX500 SATA HDD - this is going to be for the operating system.
Memory: 32gb to start with a view to upgrading to 64gb.
Motherboard: no idea yet.
CPU: AM5 but no idea what yet.
GPU: no idea yet.

With the memory, I was looking at Crucial DDR5 Pro 2x16GB or Corsair Vengeance 2x16GB DDR5 - If i buy one of the 2, would I be able to buy another set the same later and run them together as 4x16GB? or would it be better to buy 1 x 32gb and add another 1 x 32gb later?

I was hoping to buy the memory next but am I right in thinking that the Crucial and Corsair will work with pretty much any AMD AM5 motherboard?

Any suggestions RE a CPU (around £150) motherboard (around £150) and GPU (around £150) would be appreciated

I have some stuff to sell on eBay which will hopefully allow me to spend a little more hence leaving the 3 main items until last

Adrian

 

[Tetras]

With the memory, I was looking at Crucial DDR5 Pro 2x16GB or Corsair Vengeance 2x16GB DDR5 - If i buy one of the 2, would I be able to buy another set the same later and run them together as 4x16GB? or would it be better to buy 1 x 32gb and add another 1 x 32gb later?

Neither of those options is really a good idea. Current DDR5 systems are not keen on running 4 sticks, though YMMV.

If you get a 32GB stick, you'll lose performance from not running dual channel and when you buy the second stick, we don't know if the memory chips will be the same and it may play less than happily with the second stick.

If you think you'll want more than 32GB, but don't want to buy 64GB, I'd suggest a 48GB kit. For the usage you have described (office, YouTube, shopping), I doubt you'd need more than that for a long time.

I was hoping to buy the memory next but am I right in thinking that the Crucial and Corsair will work with pretty much any AMD AM5 motherboard?

No. This is dependent on the speed and the memory chips used, DDR5 can be unexpectedly fussy.

Any suggestions RE a CPU (around £150) motherboard (around £150) and GPU (around £150) would be appreciated

For the sake of optimising your build, can you please be clearer about this, do you want it for gaming?

£150 is a lot of money to spend for an unnecessary graphics card, when all Ryzen 7000/8000/9000 CPUs except -F models have integrated graphics that is sufficient for all your needs except for gaming.

If you do want the GPU for gaming, then I would strongly recommend you get a RX 6600 non-XT instead of a 3050 (6 or 8GB) or a 6400/6500 XT, since it is a much stronger performer.

 

[tamzzy]

Slave HDD: WD 1TB SN850X M.2 HDD
Main HDD: Crucial MX500 SATA HDD - this is going to be for the operating system.

wtf that's madness lol
just ditch the mx500 and use the 850x as your main drive

 

[Adrian_UK]

wtf that's madness lol
just ditch the mx500 and use the 850x as your main drive

I thought it was a sensible idea to use the cheaper sata SSD for the operating system and the faster M.2 for my data?

The thinking behind it was that if there's any issues with the operating system I can just re format without having to transfer my data back n forth, I know operating systems are more stable these days but last year there was a windows update problem which required fiddling with partitions which caused a bit of a fuss haha

 

[Adrian_UK]

For the sake of optimising your build, can you please be clearer about this, do you want it for gaming?

£150 is a lot of money to spend for an unnecessary graphics card, when all Ryzen 7000/8000/9000 CPUs except -F models have integrated graphics that is sufficient for all your needs except for gaming.

If you do want the GPU for gaming, then I would strongly recommend you get a RX 6600 non-XT instead of a 3050 (6 or 8GB) or a 6400/6500 XT, since it is a much stronger performer.

The only game I think I'll end up playing would be Football Manager, so it would be nice to know the PC is capable of running it just in case,

I have a mate who had lots of trouble with his onboard graphics a few years ago so always thought having a GPU keeps things simpler and gives more scope when it comes to upgrading?

Problem I'm having is deciding which to get, I set my mind on what I want, then I'll read some reviews and get put off, I have also noticed some websites have totally different specs listed for what is supposed to be the same item, hence after reading a few threads on here I thought the replies and info given out seems more accurate and written by humans over what I was reading elsewhere

 

[mickyflinn]

If your not gaming much or intenseive games you wish to play, maybe consider the 8600g.

AMD Ryzen 5 8600G

A new champ for gaming on integrated graphics

uk.pcmag.com

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B650 EAGLE AX (Socket AM5) DDR5 ATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-GIG-03573) = £149.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance EXPO/XMP 32GB (2X16GB) DDR5 PC5-48000C36 6000MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MEM-CRS-00996) = £82.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 8600G Six Core 4.3GHz (Socket AM5) APU with Radeon 760M Graphics (SKU: PRO-AMD-01797) = £149.99

Total: £386.96 (includes delivery: £3.99)​

 

[Tetras]

I have a mate who had lots of trouble with his onboard graphics a few years ago so always thought having a GPU keeps things simpler and gives more scope when it comes to upgrading?

Integrated graphics are a lot better than they used to be and modern drivers are pretty mature. Almost all every CPU sold now has integrated graphics and it is more than capable enough for playing videos and basic desktop use.

I don't think spending £150 (at least, if buying brand new) is worth it when 1. they're mostly crap and struggle even with many games today and 2. if you're going AM5 it will compromise the other parts of your build. If you were buying something like a 6600, 3060 or 4060, then I'd get behind that, because they're capable of playing almost anything at decent frame rates.

The option suggested by mickyflinn is a good compromise, it gives you a powerful CPU and pretty strong graphics (at least, for integrated).

If you were definitely going for gaming, I'd suggest changing your build and maybe not even going AM5 (or getting a cheaper CPU, like a 7500F), so that you can put more budget into the graphics card.