New AMD Build Approx £2,000 budget help please!

[Matt_West_Mids]

Hi All,

This is a bit of a reboot of an old thread here:

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/new-build-approx-2000-budget-amd.18862742/

I now have the funds at last, so looking to build something over the next couple of weeks hopefully, I understand now isn't the perfect timing to be building due to new hardware / part shortages but would like other people's ideas on what might be a good starting point. If I could get something to play on now and have to upgrade the GPU in a year or two that fine by me.

Budget includes tower and monitor only (have everything else mouse keyboard etc).

£2000 I was thinking 3700X, B550 / X570, RTX 2070S GPU. Nice 1440p 144 MHz monitor.

Size wise due to size of desk space I was thinking Micro ATX might be more suitable.

What are others people's opinions? help and assistance greatly appreciated!

Here's what I said last time for games etc (they haven't changed) :

Hi All,

I have been reading this forum for awhile now and trying to take as much of the advice on board as possible.

It has now come to a point where I can think about building my own rig after watching lots of build videos etc.

Budget I'm thinking approximately about £2000 ish all in (less cost would be nice!) need monitor, keyboard mouse etc as starting from scratch just don't need windows.

This will hopefully replace my PS4 and need to get another console (PS5 etc when released). Would like it to last a good few years with minor upgrading along the way.

Games I play vary quite a bit from Football Manager, GTA and FPS, open world games also really want to get Cyberpunk 2077 when its released.

I'm also leaning towards AMD CPU due to costs but will consider anything suggested.

Screen wise due to space I'd probably limit it to 27"

Thank you in advance for your assistance!

 

[Sparx]

Not much changed since your last thread by the looks of it, so yeah I agree with your initial thoughts on the sorta build I'd go with for ~£2k.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £299.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G360C7K)= £74.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £134.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 3X 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99
• 1 x Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 650W 80 PLUS Gold Modular Power Supply - Black= £114.95
• 1 x Thermaltake S100 Micro-ATX Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass= £44.99
• 1 x LG 27GL850-B 27" 2560x1440 NANO IPS 144Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync Compatible Widescreen LED Gaming Monit= £499.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £164.99

Total: £1,834.88 (includes shipping: £0.00)​

​

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

Not much changed since your last thread by the looks of it, so yeah I agree with your initial thoughts on the sorta build I'd go with for ~£2k.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £299.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G360C7K)= £74.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £134.99
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 3X 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99
• 1 x Super Flower Leadex III ARGB 650W 80 PLUS Gold Modular Power Supply - Black= £114.95
• 1 x Thermaltake S100 Micro-ATX Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass= £44.99
• 1 x LG 27GL850-B 27" 2560x1440 NANO IPS 144Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync Compatible Widescreen LED Gaming Monit= £499.99
• 1 x Asus TUF Gaming B550M-Plus (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £164.99

Total: £1,834.88 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

Thanks for that will have a look!

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

Anyone else have any opinions? getting close to ordering finally.

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

Definitely going for Micro ATX better space wise I think.

thinking of this case:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh RGB Micro-ATX Case - Black= £59.99

Total: £71.09 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

 

[Sparx]

Seems decent the new Kolink Citadel, but not keen on the chunky front mesh panel and RGB looks a bit much

If you want a sleek and premium mATX case, the Lian-Li Lancool 205M is very tidy. Just not in stock with OcUK atm It is in stock elsewhere though...

Also to revise my spec suggestion, I'd swap the PSU to this NZXT C650 650w that's just had a few land in stock by looks of it today.

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

Seems decent the new Kolink Citadel, but not keen on the chunky front mesh panel and RGB looks a bit much

If you want a sleek and premium mATX case, the Lain-Li Lancool 205M is very tidy. Just not in stock with OcUK atm It is in stock elsewhere though...

Also to revise my spec suggestion, I'd swap the PSU to this NZXT C650 650w that's just had a few land in stock by looks of it today.

haha yeah you might be right on the rgb the lancool 205m looks tasty.

Thanks for different PSU.

Another thing I'm stuck on is a cooler, any suggestions?

 

[Sparx]

Depends on what's left in the budget and what you're looking for, some great air and water coolers out there these days.

Very powerful and quiet the Noctua NH-U12A air cooler
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/noctua-nh-u12a-high-performance-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-03k-nc.html

Great all rounder and low temps
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-mugen-5-black-rgb-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-04j-sy.html

Cheap and cheerful (it's actually very good for the money)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arct...duo-white-cpu-cooler-2-x-120mm-hs-074-ar.html

Or if after an AIO water cooler, then one of the Arctic Cooling AIO will do great (obv depends on case you pick as to what case/radiator you can fit)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/air-...e-watercooling?ckSuppliers=46&ckTab=0&sSort=2

Or if you go higher end AIO water coolers then NZXT and Corsair all do great coolers (again, depends on what case you get as to which model/radiator will fit)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/air-...-watercooling?ckSuppliers=431&ckTab=0&sSort=2

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

Thanks for those that will keep me busy awhile.

I had the Mugen 5 in already so glad you recommended that one! May stick with that one.

 

[Sparx]

I meant to actually link the dual fan model, which performs very well. I don't doubt the single fan one is also great https://www.overclockers.co.uk/scythe-mugen-5-argb-plus-dual-fan-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-04h-sy.html

But tbh if you can fit a 240mm rad in the case you get and fancy an AIO - a big favourite atm is the AC Liquid Freezer 2 - Gamers Nexus did a great review on it below.

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

Still undecided case wise how's this looking?

Changed cooler.

Also switched the mobo as wanted one with wifi, sorry wasn't in the spec.

I did look the artic freezer the only thing that put me off was the 2 year warranty. How does that compare to the Cosair H100i RGB Pro?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 3700X Eight Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £299.99
• 1 x MSI MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £169.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G360C7K)= £74.99
• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh RGB Micro-ATX Case - Black= £59.99
• 1 x NZXT C-Series C650 650W 80+ Gold Fully-Modular Power Supply= £99.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Gaming OC 3X 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £499.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £124.99
• 1 x Scythe Mugen 5 ARGB Plus Dual Fan CPU Cooler - 120mm= £64.99

Total: £1,406.58 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

 

[Sparx]

Looks good, the decent thing about the case I guess is the dual rad support.

You could get the 240 or 280mm AIO if you wanted and fit it at the top (unless you just want the RGB air cooler )

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

Looks good, the decent thing about the case I guess is the dual rad support.

You could get the 240 or 280mm AIO if you wanted and fit it at the top (unless you just want the RGB air cooler )

Thanks

How does this compare to the artic freezer? Looks like it maybe the AIO you have

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Corsair Hydro Series iCUE H100i PRO XT RGB Performance Liquid Cooler - 240mm (CW-9060043-WW)= £119.99

Total: £128.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)
​

 

[Sparx]

It's a good AIO, but for the money even the Arctic LF2 280mm air cooler outperforms it in temps/noise.

If you want a decent RGB AIO then the NZXT X53 is slightly better than the Corsair in temps/noise as well

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/nzxt-kraken-x53-aio-cpu-water-cooler-240mm-hs-01j-nx.html

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

It's a good AIO, but for the money even the Arctic LF2 280mm air cooler outperforms it in temps/noise.

If you want a decent RGB AIO then the NZXT X53 is slightly better than the Corsair in temps/noise as well

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/nzxt-kraken-x53-aio-cpu-water-cooler-240mm-hs-01j-nx.html

Thanks maybe ill go with the X53 if I go away from Air.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

Anyone else have any opinions? getting close to ordering finally.

you could save a lot of money - yet have absolutely no noticeable difference in games by going

3600X - that will last you 5 years easy. plenty of power and cores.

instead of an AIO - which won't last more than 5 years get a cheap air cooler which will run quiet and cool.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpe...ion-dual-fan-cpu-cooler-140-mm-hs-05h-al.html

that is what I would buy.

try and get a platinum power supply and you don't need 650W. 550W should be fine. in fact 450W should be fine but I'd go 550W anyway or thereabouts.

motherboard b450 tomahawk is around £100 - the saving can be put towards your next cpu and mobo upgrade in 5 years time.

i'd also try and save on the monitor if possible. there are loads of options and i find monitors are really expensive especially g sync.

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

you could save a lot of money - yet have absolutely no noticeable difference in games by going

3600X - that will last you 5 years easy. plenty of power and cores.

instead of an AIO - which won't last more than 5 years get a cheap air cooler which will run quiet and cool.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/alpe...ion-dual-fan-cpu-cooler-140-mm-hs-05h-al.html

that is what I would buy.

try and get a platinum power supply and you don't need 650W. 550W should be fine. in fact 450W should be fine but I'd go 550W anyway or thereabouts.

motherboard b450 tomahawk is around £100 - the saving can be put towards your next cpu and mobo upgrade in 5 years time.

i'd also try and save on the monitor if possible. there are loads of options and i find monitors are really expensive especially g sync.

Thanks for that you make sure great points, this is why I'm glad I asked you guys for help. I've had a look and thought about it and think Air makes more sense especially for me as a first time builder.

I originally had the b450 mortar max spec'd so might go back to that.

I'm thinking a freesync monitor that's compatible with g sync or do they not work as well?

Will have a look what PSU's are in stock, looks like some are returning now.

 

[tamzzy]

I'm thinking a freesync monitor that's compatible with g sync or do they not work as well?

they're fine and if it's gsync certified then are guaranteed to work fine
but even non-certified gsync monitors that are freesync work fine 99% of the times. i wouldn't worry

 

[tamzzy]

Size wise due to size of desk space I was thinking Micro ITX might be more suitable.

go proper SFF https://www.overclockers.co.uk/silv...itx-htpc-case-black-sst-rvz03b-ca-43x-sv.html

PS if you need help, @Journey lives in wolves and I'm in brum - though coronavirus and social distancing may be an issue (if you still follow the lockdown)

 

[Matt_West_Mids]

they're fine and if it's gsync certified then are guaranteed to work fine
but even non-certified gsync monitors that are freesync work fine 99% of the times. i wouldn't worry

Thanks I was originally thinking about the LG 27GL850-B quoted above but now the price has shot back up not sure what to look at.

Any other suggestions? not sure what would suit the games I want to play. I don't want something that won't be good for FPS for example as may get into those at some point. Don't want to narrow my options before I've started.