Budget PC for son

bs0jdd · 2025-01-25T15:05:53+0000

Hi all,

My 2nd son (1st got a used PC for bday/Christmas) is wanting to save up for a PC. All he plays on is Fortnite, on PS4 at the moment, not interested in other games. We wants to see some decent FPS and storage to record and edit videos.

I also would like to build it with him as it could be a fun project and get him into some practical side of things (not just the fun of being on the screen!).

In an ideal world, he would be in the £300-£350 range leveraging used and potentially new parts. Obviously we can have a discussion around GPU's being what will drive how much he would need to save...!

Whilst this wouldn't be "budget", I can't help but feel this CPU (I know very little about all of these things!) is an absolute steal, so would be willing to chip in a small amount myself to make it a robust CPU. Sub-£100 for the AMD 5600X must be a good deal??

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail

Order AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

What Mobo would be good to pair this with? I'm thinking DDR4 is fine (?) and I'm not sure if I want microATX as my assumption is that would make the build more challenging for wiring. I completed my first build over Christmas break using full ATX and a big case, and found that pretty good but I'd say my cable management isn't the best (fat hands).

Any other thoughts on used parts and good options for a best low budget is appreciated! My son wants to make a list and see what he has to save for.

Thanks!

Tetras · 2025-01-25T15:19:01+0000

bs0jdd said:
Whilst this wouldn't be "budget", I can't help but feel this CPU (I know very little about all of these things!) is an absolute steal, so would be willing to chip in a small amount myself to make it a robust CPU. Sub-£100 for the AMD 5600X must be a good deal??

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail

Order AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

I wouldn't say a great deal, the 12400F performs similar and has been the same price for awhile, but for a budget PC it is a good option. The 7500F is available pretty cheap, but it would require DDR5 and that pushes the cost up.

bs0jdd said:
I'm thinking DDR4 is fine (?)

No choice if you're getting that CPU.

bs0jdd said:
What Mobo would be good to pair this with?

At this point, just whatever is cheap and available, but shop around because prices for AM4 are a bit mental, e.g. you can get a board that used to be £150+ for £100, or a board for £100 that used to be uhh... £100.

bs0jdd said:
Any other thoughts on used parts and good options for a best low budget is appreciated! My son wants to make a list and see what he has to save for.

You could make an offer on OCUK b-grade graphics card, the warranty is shorter than new, but often better than used elsewhere:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/clearance/graphics-cards

There's a 6500 XT or 1650 for £100, not great cards either of them, but they're acceptable performance for a budget build. You could make an offer on the A750 (£170, at the moment).

6500 XT perhaps best avoided if recording is a big thing because it doesn't have hardware encoders.

RX 6600, RTX 3060 or 4060 would all be MUCH better, but obviously the price is higher.

bs0jdd · 2025-01-25T15:22:08+0000

Thanks Tetras, very helpful!

tamzzy · 2025-01-25T15:25:55+0000

bs0jdd said:
£300-£350

Unfortunately this will be the biggest constraint.
Realistically for a semi decent build you'd be looking at £450-ish.

bs0jdd · 2025-01-25T15:37:40+0000

Thanks, Venomx. Suspected this, but maybe that's fine and will teach him the value of saving/waiting longer...!

What components should NOT be bought 2nd hand? SSD? PSU?

tamzzy · 2025-01-25T15:40:17+0000

bs0jdd said:
What components should NOT be bought 2nd hand? SSD? PSU?

Haha I'm all about saving pennies, it depends on who/where you're buying from
Between my two computers, nearly all the parts have been bought pre-owned, ssds included.
The general recommendation is to buy SSDs new, but if you do go down the pre-owned route, you'd want to see the crystaldiskinfo stats at minimum

tamzzy · 2025-01-25T15:51:01+0000

Cross posting from another thread:

tamzzy said:
it's a bit hard to recommend used parts as prices tend to fluctuate somewhat

but in general for £500 or so, used parts, this is what i would get if it were my money:

cpu: ryzen 5600, or intel 12400f
cpu cooler: thermalright assassin king 120 se (this is £17 new, not on ocuk, a quick google will suffice)
mobo: any am4 board for ryzen, or intel b660/b760 board
ram: 32gb (2x 16gb) ddr4 3200mhz
gpu: rx 6600/xt or rtx 3060
ssd: a reputable 1tb nvme m.2 ssd
psu: a reputable 650w psu
case: any case to your/their liking

Rob_B · 2025-01-25T15:52:21+0000

You'd be best going 2nd hand AM4 with at least a 5600 (non X) Your budget does put some very tight restrictions on what you will end up with.

Look for pre owned AM4 bundles as some are decent value. Remember that you're limited to at best a 5800X3D down the line but you don't have the bnudget to go with AM5 which would be better long term.

B450 motherboard ~ £50
5600 (or above) - some have gone for ~ £60 with the cooler
2 x 8GB DDR4 3200 - £30 new from OCUK, can probably buy cheaper 2nd hand.
1TB NVMe - ~ £50 new
PSU - Buy new, don't buy a no-name brand thinking you should skimp there. Be-Quiet! do a 650W for about £55
Case - Anything will do, ~ £30 minimum

That takes you to £275 with no GPU and no Windows license/monitor/peripherals. A cheap Radeon 6600 is your best bet but you only have £75 left so you'll struggle. Whatever you do, do NOT buy a 3050 or 6500XT because they're cheap, they are also terrible.

Options to reduce cost:
Cheaper CPU, go with a cheaper 3000 series AM4 CPU for now, you can upgrade in the future to 5000 series.
NVMe - Buy a smaller 500GB or even a SATA SSD, the latter is slower but will be a bit cheaper and again you can upgrade down the line.
PSU - Something like a 500W decent brand *should* be ok for the specs you're looking at. Again if you ever buy higher end components you can swap it for a higher wattage.
RAM - look 2nd hand
GPU - buy one of the cards I just told you not to. Perhaps a 2nd hand 1650/1660. But then upgrade in the future if he has more budget.

Options for worthwhile upgrade:
GPU - If you have £200 for a GPU you open yourself up to better options that'll last longer.

jigger · 2025-01-25T19:15:04+0000

3600x and a heatsink.

Any motherboard with 3600X support

32gb of memory. 2x16gb or 4x8gb DDR 3200 if possible. 3000 would be fine.

RX 5700, 5700xt or 2080, 2080ti.

500gb- SSD If possible. Multiple smaller drives might save you some money. SATA is fine.

A reasonably decent 600- watt PSU. Seasonic, EVGA, Corsair, Superflower. If buying used check the cables are original and present.

Case with at least a pair 120mm front fans and at least a single exhaust.

ooStevo · 2025-01-26T01:15:53+0000

bs0jdd said:
Hi all,

My 2nd son (1st got a used PC for bday/Christmas) is wanting to save up for a PC. All he plays on is Fortnite, on PS4 at the moment, not interested in other games. We wants to see some decent FPS and storage to record and edit videos.

I also would like to build it with him as it could be a fun project and get him into some practical side of things (not just the fun of being on the screen!).

In an ideal world, he would be in the £300-£350 range leveraging used and potentially new parts. Obviously we can have a discussion around GPU's being what will drive how much he would need to save...!

Whilst this wouldn't be "budget", I can't help but feel this CPU (I know very little about all of these things!) is an absolute steal, so would be willing to chip in a small amount myself to make it a robust CPU. Sub-£100 for the AMD 5600X must be a good deal??

AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail

Order AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

What Mobo would be good to pair this with? I'm thinking DDR4 is fine (?) and I'm not sure if I want microATX as my assumption is that would make the build more challenging for wiring. I completed my first build over Christmas break using full ATX and a big case, and found that pretty good but I'd say my cable management isn't the best (fat hands).

Any other thoughts on used parts and good options for a best low budget is appreciated! My son wants to make a list and see what he has to save for.

Thanks!

The 5600x is a great CPU. It even has integrated graphics so you don't really need a graphics card. I should've taken good advice and got one. But I'm a tight a*rise and I got a 5500 instead. Doh!

tamzzy · 2025-01-26T02:11:08+0000

ooStevo said:
The 5600x is a great CPU. It even has integrated graphics so you don't really need a graphics card.

No, the 5600X does not have an iGPU.
You're thinking of the 5600G.

Threepwood · 2025-01-26T02:15:16+0000

worth noting that fortnite has an ultra low graphics setting , if needed

tamzzy · 2025-01-26T02:28:55+0000

Threepwood said:
worth noting that fortnite has an ultra low graphics setting , if needed

Performance mode does not work well with AMD cards, just to bear in mind

ooStevo · 2025-01-26T03:17:07+0000

tamzzy said:
No, the 5600X does not have an iGPU.
You're thinking of the 5600G.

Oh you're right. My mistake.

Joxeon · 2025-01-26T09:12:37+0000

I’d say to save at least £700 otherwise you might as well just go for a ps5

pastymuncher · 2025-01-26T11:12:19+0000

I agree with Joxeon, £350 just isn't enough for a pc to have acceptable performance. Whats the point if you have to have the settings on the lowest setting, it will look terrible and you and your son will end up disappointed. It would be far better to buy a PS5/XBox than go for a crippled pc, especially if he only plays a single game.

Joxeon · 2025-01-26T11:18:40+0000

You’ll get 120fps in Fortnite running performance mode on a new console so it’s still a good upgrade over 60fps that the ps4 was capable of and it’ll look far better than any PC around that price can run at 4k upscaled.

WARburton · 2025-01-26T11:54:19+0000

if your happy to go used on some parts, mainly GPU you can build a acceptable tower for 500/600

Threepwood · 2025-01-26T14:18:19+0000

tamzzy said:
Performance mode does not work well with AMD cards, just to bear in mind

didn't know that, I'll add it to my own memory bank
It does beg the question that, don't PS5 and the Xbox Series X use AMD gpus/igpus?

tamzzy · 2025-01-26T14:38:45+0000

Threepwood said:
didn't know that, I'll add it to my own memory bank
It does beg the question that, don't PS5 and the Xbox Series X use AMD gpus/igpus?

Something to do with the CPU integer tasks offload by the driver. Issue known for years apparently, but never addressed. Easily googled:

AMD DRIVERS with fortnite performance mode

FPS DROPS ON FORTNITE PERFORMANCE MODE. IT IS UNPLAYABLE A few months ago, I switched teams and got myself an AMD GPU (6700xt). I've been very happy with how it performs on every game, except Fortnite when using Performance Mode. It is literally unplayable. After doing some research on...

community.amd.com

https://www.reddit.com/r/FortNiteBR...the_performance_mode_problem_for_amd_gpus_at/

The workaround is to use dx 12.