New build - around £650 - light gaming

Sennhoven

Sennhoven

Sennhoven

Associate
Joined
19 May 2017
Posts
25
Hi, I am looking to do a new build and wanted to get some thoughts on it from some wiser people than myself! I am coming into this pretty new so please bear with me.

I play games every so often but I am nowhere near a regular gamer, but it would be good to be able to play games like Civilisation, and Battlefield. I will be using it for lightroom, Sony Vegas, photoshop. I guess I would like a bit of future proofing aswel if I decide to play a few more games.

I am going to use my old Samsung T220HD monitor for just now and upgrade at a later point. Don’t require OS. I also don’t need any additional storage.

I used the - OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator to get the following spec, but I would like to build it myself -

  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator = £693.83
    • Processor:AMD Ryzen 5 Quad Core 1500X 3.70GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail
    • Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • CPU Cooler:Alpenfohn Ben Nevis CPU Cooler - 120mm
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
    • Memory:Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 PC4-21300C16 2666MHz Dual Channel Kit - Red (CMK8GX4M2A2666C1
    • Case:Bitfenix Nova Midi Tower Case - Black Window
    • Power Supply:Kolink KL-500 500W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply
    • M.2 Solid State Drive **For Operating System If Selected**:Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive
    • Graphics Card:Gigabyte Radeon RX 560 Gaming OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Total: £707.93
(includes shipping: £14.10)



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1) Is the 1500x overkill for me playing games every so often?
2) I like the idea of getting a 1440p monitor later? maybe run that to the side of my current 1600x1050 monitor, is that graphics card too cheap/too powerful?
3) Any other parts I should spend more on/spend less?
4) Do I need a sound card to output 5.1 to an receiver or is that covered with the motherboard?
5) Do I need a wifi card?

Any thoughts would be appreciated! thanks!

S
 
 
the case is budget, but fine , ive used it myself. worth making sure you have some cable ties to bundle up the psu cables and make use of that cable management bar hat to the right of the motherboard. there is no room behind the motherboard

this was mine with a matx board

Dd1iUlK.jpg
 
Sennhoven said:
Prices broken down...

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £707.04
(includes shipping: £13.20)



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Click to expand...


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £713.59
(includes shipping: £11.70)



​


Ryzen 1600 comes with cooler.

Better PSU (agree with Kurgen).

Case with PSU shroud.

Better GPU.

Different/cheaper SSD.
 
Danny75 said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £713.59
(includes shipping: £11.70)
​

Ryzen 1600 comes with cooler.

Better PSU (agree with Kurgen).

Case with PSU shroud.

Better GPU.

Different/cheaper SSD.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the help everyone! I knew you guys would be able to help me line up my choices better :)

Danny - with the chosen items there, do you think a 1600 and the RX 570 would be a bit overkill? I will play games, but not all the time and I guess I wouldn't be too concerned about playing them with super high frame rates etc. Also, I take it switching to a SATA SSD from the M2 is worth the price saving?
 
Sennhoven said:
Danny - with the chosen items there, do you think a 1600 and the RX 570 would be a bit overkill? I will play games, but not all the time and I guess I wouldn't be too concerned about playing them with super high frame rates etc. Also, I take it switching to a SATA SSD from the M2 is worth the price saving?
Click to expand...

The extra cores/threads should definitely help for Lightroom, Vegas etc. Some of these programs now can also use GPU power, so was thinking of that as well as your mention of future-proofing a bit, for the 570.

However, more RAM would also be useful here. Was thinking you could just add on more in future, but if you're happy to start off with a 560, then I'd get 16GB RAM with the savings there.

The M2 is nice, but too expensive for a budget of this kind, I'd focus more on CPU/RAM/GPU. For Lightroom it works best as a separate scratch disk anyway, so that's something you could pop in later on (and keep the cheaper SSD as OS/Page File/Programs drive).


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £723.59
(includes shipping: £11.70)



​

1050Ti gets better fps in Battlefield 1 and across a wider variety of games, but get the 560 if you prefer.


4) Do I need a sound card to output 5.1 to an receiver or is that covered with the motherboard?
Click to expand...

Covered.

5) Do I need a wifi card?
Click to expand...

If you can't run an ethernet cable to your router somehow, then yes you'd need wireless card/USB or Powerline Adapters. This motherboard doesn't bring wireless.
 
Some ssd speed while having large affordable storage, nvidia graphics card, you could save a few quid by going with the bronze rated xfx xt 500w power supply, I did choose a low profile cooler that probably better than this one I've chosen, but it's also over 15 quid more(not much choice in the lower price range for AM4).

was a choice of 2x4gb or 4x4gb, but given the board supports 64gb and you do editing etc, having dual over quad right now be more beneficial as far as the budget goes which then leaves the option add either another 8gb or even 16gb later on.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £705.08
(includes shipping: £13.20)



​
 
That Asus board is trash, no vrm cooling.

SSHD are useless too, either get a proper SATAIII/m.2 SSD or just get a regular HDD.
 
Boom

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £13.19
(includes shipping: £8.70)



​

Not all motherboards have that cooling option, for the price of the board you'd expect so though.

I put an sshd in because an m.2 was too much for the budget and the cheapest 240gb sata was out of stock or preorder, but it seemed the op wanted ssd like performance so I chose the middle man, I did choose the 550w psu along with the cheapest 1060 6gb, I lowered the ram quantity to fit the better graphics card and power supply.

Plus there was no mention of a secondary drive and I'm pretty sure a 240gb ssd/m.2 is going to fill up pretty quickly with the usage, if the op doesn't care too much for ssd performance they could get a 2tb hdd or a 120gb ssd + 1tb.
 
Unfortunately there is too cheap.

This is like the minimum I would suggest - https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...am4-ddr4-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-559-gi.html - Heatsink around the VRM, dual BIOS etc etc.

Not matter how much I like gigabyte I could also never suggest,

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...am4-ddr4-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-55a-gi.html
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...am4-ddr4-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-55b-gi.html

Because they are also budget trash missing VRM heatsinks.
 
Thanks again everyone for the suggestions!

A few questions I have -

1) IS VRM cooling essential? does the original one I spec'd have it and is it a decent Mboard? - Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
2) For the board I chose, there is an option for Gaming/Gaming 3. I cannot work out from specs what the difference is! is it worth paying the extra bit of money for a Gaming 3 board?
3) CPU - Is a Ryzen 1400 probably suitable for my needs? It seems like if some people are speccing 1500x/1600 for gaming rigs in other threads, then this seems like its far beyond my casual gaming (Civilisation/Battlefield etc.) Am I right in saying that because I have an AM4 board, that in a few years time I could stick a Ryzen 1700 or equivalent in there and it would be a beast? :)
4) Graphics card - You guys have given me so many options :) ...RX560,RX570,1050,1060... Again, same question before, if I am not too concerned about having a high performing gaming rig and even my video editing/photo editing is only every so often, should I just pick the cheapest of those four cards? Which one represents good bang for buck?

Appreciate all the help guys!

S
 
ExoMale said:
Boom

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £13.19
(includes shipping: £8.70)



​

Not all motherboards have that cooling option, for the price of the board you'd expect so though.

I put an sshd in because an m.2 was too much for the budget and the cheapest 240gb sata was out of stock or preorder, but it seemed the op wanted ssd like performance so I chose the middle man, I did choose the 550w psu along with the cheapest 1060 6gb, I lowered the ram quantity to fit the better graphics card and power supply.

Plus there was no mention of a secondary drive and I'm pretty sure a 240gb ssd/m.2 is going to fill up pretty quickly with the usage, if the op doesn't care too much for ssd performance they could get a 2tb hdd or a 120gb ssd + 1tb.
Click to expand...


No need for a second drive. I just need the one SSD (M2/SATA). I understand now that I should just go for SATA so thats fine. 250GB is enough for just now and I will probably salvage another drive from somewhere else at a later point. Using Large External USB drives for just now.

Cheers!
 
1) Yes that one has it, I believe it is essential for longevity, keeps the VRM temps down thus prolonging life.

2) Comparison between them - http://www.gigabyte.us/Comparison/Result/2?pids=6166,6225

3) The Ryzen 1400 core speed is slow VS the 1500X and yes you could put a better Ryzen in later and again this maybe helped by the VRM heatsink as the board maybe able to cope with higher TDP (power draw) CPUs better.
 
I've had various brands for parts before, but nothing newer than my haswell and had no issues really, I just figured the B range would be better then the A ones that are cheaper, but also preorder or no stock, I guess if there's a small heatsink then maybe it should have a cooler on it, but I've had old gaming boards that had them with no fans which do get very hot, but cases have always had good airflow and never caused throttle issues, doubt that board would have much issue if any otherwise theyd standardised it.

Op - if you only need 240gb this second then get the m.2, the interface should be better I'd imagine to warrant it and would leave sata ports unused for future, plus the cheapest one is in stock compared to 2.5 version, if you already have a computer and a hard drive then best to use it, I don't know how big the software is that you use.

I didn't think about the 1500x being a 4c8 thread like the 1400 lol, but you would only pick that one in this instance if you wanted to have the Nvidia gpu, the 450w psu someone suggested , the ssd and to keep it under £700
 
Thanks for the help everyone. I still haven't bought the system yet but getting closer!

I have done a fair bit of research and have now decided I don't think I will need a full ATX motherboard. So I have specced up the following system.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £655.19
(includes shipping: £12.30)



​


500w should be enough shouldn't it? and the EVGA PSU from what I have read on the site is suited to a budget build like this.

Anyone see any issues with the switch to micro atx motherboard? I think I wil be getting the Thermaltake Versa H15 M-ATX Gaming Case, but its not on Overlockers so I will have to shop around for that one.

One other question, I will be buying the Dell U2515h (1440) monitor to use with this as I like the extra detail when surfing the web and watching videos. If my graphics card isn't good enough to play games at 1440, I can still play them at a lower resolution like 1080 can't I? and the performance will have been the same as if I had bought a 1080 monitor?

Thanks all!

S
 
Superior CPU (worth the extra), quality PSU, and a lesser SSD (but you wont tell the difference) to keep within your above budget:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £666.19
(includes shipping: £12.30)




Sennhoven said:
One other question, I will be buying the Dell U2515h (1440) monitor to use with this as I like the extra detail when surfing the web and watching videos. If my graphics card isn't good enough to play games at 1440, I can still play them at a lower resolution like 1080 can't I? and the performance will have been the same as if I had bought a 1080 monitor?
Click to expand...

Yes you can drop the res to 1080p - and performance will compensate.
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