Budget Race Rig for my Son

markyb

markyb

markyb

Soldato
Joined
28 Oct 2002
Posts
3,148
Location
Essex
A few years ago we purchased a Logitech G923 for the PS5 which never got much use given its footprint in the front room. My Son, Ollie who's just turned 10 has been bugging me for the past couple of months to get it all setup in his room with a PC.

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The project is going to be a strictly budget build, using what I have accumulated over the years!

Parts I already have...
  • Ryzen 1700 CPU + Noctua tower cooler
    This has been sitting on the shelf for some time. It is fully working and overclocks well. AM4 Build then.
  • 16Gb Corsair DDR4 3200 RAM
    This is one stick from a 32Gb kit, the other stick has failed causing BSOD.
  • Radeon 7950 3GB Graphics Card
    Quite a power hungry card, but will be used until I can source something else cheap.
  • 240Gb m.2 / 240Gb Samsung SSD
    Storage drives are fully functional.
  • Corsair AX850w PSU
    Very decent PSU, fully working, and pulled from a machine I was stripping down.
  • 120/140mm Fans
Parts I need to source...
  • Case
  • Replacement Graphics Card
  • Motherboard
Games to run
  • BeamNG.drive
  • Project Cars 2
  • Race Room
  • Forza 4/5 (Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)
  • Kart Kraft
  • EuroTruck
  • Assetto Corsa

Total Cost to date - £0.00
 
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A couple of days ago I saw an Antec case on Facebook marketplace for £15. I used to use Antec back in the day and really like the look of this. It also gives me a chance to use an old Blueray drive which I'm unable to house anymore! It was up the road from me, so went and collect it!

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It had an old AM3 motherboard and CPU already In it. In great condition.

Total Cost to date - £15.00
 
I tried to find a semi-decent used Motherboard locally, but nothing! People actually wanting the same price new for boards with very limited features. In the end I went for the MSI B450 Gaming Plus Max, opened (Saving another £10) for £55.91. It supports all Ryzen Generations up to and including the 5xxx with 4 RAM slots.

Bios is actually quite decent.

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Total Cost to date - £70.91
 
Gepetto said:
I have cases you'd be welcome to. Whereabouts are you in Essex?

Doh! Sorry, thought someone was pointing you to an available case.

May also have a GPU depending on what you're after.
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Thanks for the message. I think we are almost there thought! I managed nab a bargain on a Graphics card!
 
It's all built. I found a card reader that I connected in place where the floppy slot went! Actually works - it fills the gap!

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Windows 11 installed and running well. The Radeon 7950 runs incredibly hot with it's blower despite new thermal paste and cleaning it out. As a result I've had to run both front and rear fans at 100%
CPU wise, I've overclocked it to 3.7Ghz using stock voltage, running perfectly and yet to see it hit 50c with just one fan on PMW.

I've ordered a wireless media keyboard/mouse for it.
 
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So the quest to upgrade the graphics card to a budget ended very well!

In my parts bin I own a RX590 which was previously water cooled. I know the card posts, it was from a machine I stripped down a while back but was a bare card, no original cooler etc. I was looking around for a stock cooler on ebay but could not find anything. I then looked at faulty RX580/590 cards, most wanted over £30-40 for a non-working card!

The other night I saw a listing for a "Faulty/For parts - not working RX580 4GB Nitro" Looking at the part number it looks to use the same backplate and cooler so offered them £15. Offer accepted.

I received the card but actually was not a Nitro, In fact was a Pulse with 8Gb of RAM. As a result, the cooler differed but the card looked incredibly clean. I plugged it in to see if It would post and to my surprise it booted right up! Installed drivers and started to load up some games - It works perfectly! Card runs cool and is a nice little upgrade from the 7950.

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Total Cost to date - £85.91
 
With regards to cooling you could drill the rivets out on the bottom HDD cage and remove it, then you could fix a additional 120mm fan in it's place.

Also, I notice the case is on carpet and that is going to starve that psu of air so you should either stick something under each of the cases feet to raise the case out of the pile or stick a plank of wood under the case. It doesn't matter how light the load is, the psu is always going to need airflow.
 
pastymuncher said:
With regards to cooling you could drill the rivets out on the bottom HDD cage and remove it, then you could fix a additional 120mm fan in it's place.

Also, I notice the case is on carpet and that is going to starve that psu of air so you should either stick something under each of the cases feet to raise the case out of the pile or stick a plank of wood under the case. It doesn't matter how light the load is, the psu is always going to need airflow.
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I was going to remove the other cage at some point when I get time.

Regarding the carpet, the case actually has quite tall feet and there is actually some clearance underneath which should not cause any issues.
 
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Small update, PC is going well, pretty much all of the simulators such as Race Room, Assetto Corsa, Project Cars & Forza Horizon 4 all run at a solid 60fps. At some point I'll look into swapping out the processor if something comes up cheap!

Temps are fantastic, The overclocked 1700 when gaming is around 45c, I've yet to see it hit 50 - Thats with just one of the 140mm fans connected. I've left the other off. Graphics card wise with the Auto fan curve it's around 72c on long sessions but almost silent. When setting the fan to 60% its around 50c!

I bought a Wireless Logitech Media Keyboard and mouse which makes things far easier to navigate when we are on the wheel.

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