First build in years - any help greatly appreciated

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8 Jul 2008
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Uk
Hi all,

hope everyone is doing ok. Im working to put together a build for my sister. I did post a few months back but life got in the way so thought its better we start fresh. I havent build a rig in 5 or 6 years now so very out the game.
We are trying to keep the spend to under £1200. Ideally £1000. So we dont need a screen or peripherals.
It will mostly be used for games like Sims 4 and old city builders. Possibly the odd new game but nothing too mental.

We have 1 none negotiable and that's the case and form factor. She loves the - Lian Li A3-mATX Tempered Glass Micro-ATX Case (Black)
And 1 we would like - Some sort of AIO with a screen as its going to be a desk based build.

This is what i have so far but motherboards confuse the hell out of me. Still need cooling and powersupply etc so will need to cutback somwhere, any help would be great. Ideal we want to order this week and build next weekend so might try avoid pre order products if i can.

any help would be really appreciated
My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,015.88 (includes delivery: £11.98)​
 
That motherboard will not fit, you need MATX.

Not sure which board is best so will let others advise on that, but you should be able to get B650/B850 for around the the same price as the one you listed.

Example PSU and cooler.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £132.89 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

The X3D will be better for gaming, especially with city builders etc. everything should fit, @tamzzy has an A3 so should be able to confirm.

Stuck on phone at work ATM so apologies for any guffs.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,107.88 (includes delivery: £11.9
8)​
 
Pushing the budget here so sure there are a few bits i can cut back on.
You don't need an AIO for that CPU, it actually comes with a half decent cooler (at least, it used to), so you can get away with nothing.

Alternatively a £15-£20 thermalright single tower would be more than adequate (they do a digital version with a temperature readout). I think the freezer 36 fit quite well in the A3, but I can't recall why I thought that.

I'd swap the PSU for the Phanteks AMP GH, just because I'm not sure if there are compatibility issues with the extended part out of the back? The A3 has several different mounting positions, so maybe it wouldn't matter, but I've always tried to pick a PSU that is compact for this case (which the AMP GH is).

Given the type of games being played, I'd switch to Crucial's 48GB kit that is £100, an extra tenner is worth it for the headroom.

The XFX dual fan 9060 XT 16GB saves £30.

You could get a motherboard like Gigabyte's B850M D3HP, which would save a few pennies.

Please note about your choice:
That motherboard will not fit, you need MATX.
 
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My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,231.84 (includes delivery: £11.98)​


ITX PSU and MB, means that you can fit full fat GPUs in and then also 360mm AIO in top at a future date.

Squizzed a 9070 in but if you want a 360 aio there is the Lian li hydroshift 360 and downgrade the GPU to a 9060xt for around the same price, however you will have more gaming performance now with the 9070 compared to the 9060xt 16gb.

7600 can be upgraded at a latter date as well, left with stock cooler to save on costs and not needing more then that as its a 65w CPU. the 9600x sometimes goes for same price and its about 10% more performance.

the only thing this might need in some extra fans.
 
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Hi all, Thank you so much for all the help so far. Taken suggestions from everyone so far and have come up with this.
Couple of bits im not sure on.
  • M.2 compatibility, is it ok for that motherboard ?
  • shame the motherboard is mostly white, is there anything similar in black, had a good look and didnt find much (i'm no expert so probably missed it)
  • i appreciate everyone's suggestions on the cooler, as an aio is probably overkill for this cpu. It's more for looks as thats what she wanted but if anyone can suggest a nice looking air cooler im all ears.
  • Would you change anything else ? im really pushing the budget here and would be nice to stick to under £1200.
Thanks again everyone, would be lost without everyone's suggestions.

My basket at OcUK:

Total: £1,182.74 (includes delivery: £0.00)​
 
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