Picking out parts for PC for parents in NZ

Loony BoB

Loony BoB

Loony BoB

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Mum, who does Photoshop work on her PC (editing for art books/wedding albums/etc), is needing a replacement desktop. Something that'll last, be quality for photo editing, but no need for anything super high end. My stepdad is clueless with PCs but I figure if he can build a car, he can build a PC - so while I'm here in Scotland, I'd like to buy them some parts to build it themselves. Parts in NZ are limited, but I've managed to locate retailers for the following which I figure might be somewhat viable. Can you let me know if this seems like it'll work out physically? It passes all tests on ************ except a warning about the BIOS version, which we can work around if we need to.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.9 GHz 6-Core Processor
MBD: MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
RAM: Kingston FURY Beast 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
SSD: Crucial P3 Plus 500 GB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive
HDD: Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 7200 RPM Internal Hard Drive
GPU: Asus Phoenix OC GeForce GTX 1650 G5 4 GB Video Card
PSU: Corsair RM750e (2023) 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
Case: Phanteks XT PRO ATX Mid Tower Case

Any thoughts? I'd prefer to get a lower watt PSU for cheaper but the options for a fully modular gold PSU from a decent manufacturer were limited... at least this will futureproof a bit tho. Will use the stock fan for the CPU, I don't think they're going to need anything spectacular on cooling so long as they don't sit the thing in the sun.

Aiming for reliable part producers because doing tech support from the other end of the world is something I'm trying to minimise. Not wanting to build/buy a PC/parts in UK to ship to NZ because of, well, all kinds of reasons.
 
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For longer-term use I'd get 32GB of memory.

If you're going for the 5600G, I'd suggest dropping the graphics card and only ordering one afterwards, if required.
 
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Slightly confused
Are you buying the parts in Scotland
And taking them back?
Or buying from new Zealand?

@Tetras is miles better at build lists
Than I am
Usually you would give a budget
And he rattles off what you can get for budget
Which is why the where are you
Buying from question
 
Mcnumpty2323 said:
Are you buying the parts in Scotland
And taking them back?
Or buying from new Zealand?
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Buying from NZ stores (using their online shops), the parts arrive at their house and they build under my guidance, then set up something akin to TeamViewer so I can take over their PC and do the software side remotely.

Budget is a bit off because NZ prices are crap, but generally just going for something that will achieve what they need, is available in NZ stores (the major limiter, sadly), and is reliable enough to not die anytime in the near future.

hornetstinger said:
Would on die CPU GPU be ok for photo editting?
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Nope. Unless there are massive advancements made that I'm unfamiliar with.
 
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Loony BoB said:
Buying from NZ stores (using their online shops), the parts arrive at their house and they build under my guidance, then set up something akin to TeamViewer so I can take over their PC and do the software side remotely.

Budget is a bit off because NZ prices are crap, but generally just going for something that will achieve what they need, is available in NZ stores (the major limiter, sadly), and is reliable enough to not die anytime in the near future.


Nope. Unless there are massive advancements made that I'm unfamiliar with.
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Fair enough
And doesn't take much to confuse me :cry:
I dont read blocks of text very well
So was just to make sure

Is what you listed at the absolute limit of their budget?
Been to Australia a few times
So I know you guys down under get a bit of
A rough deal on prices
What you've listed isn't great specification
Though we also don't know what spec they are replacing
If they only upgrade their PC once in a blue moon
It's probably worth stretching the budget a bit
If at all possible

And yes if you can build a car
A pc of that sort should be pretty easy for him
 
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Loony BoB said:
Nope. Unless there are massive advancements made that I'm unfamiliar with.
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Modern integrated graphics in something like the 5600G or 12400 are waaaaaay better than they used to be. They're plenty sufficient for simple 2D photo editing.

That said, some apps are being updated with AI features that can hammer the CPU/GPU, so in those circumstances it might be a different story. I doubt that we're talking about that here.

I'd second my recommendation to not buy the graphics card until afterwards, since it is a lot of money to spend if it is not required.
 
Loony BoB said:
Buying from NZ stores (using their online shops), the parts arrive at their house and they build under my guidance, then set up something akin to TeamViewer so I can take over their PC and do the software side remotely.

Budget is a bit off because NZ prices are crap, but generally just going for something that will achieve what they need, is available in NZ stores (the major limiter, sadly), and is reliable enough to not die anytime in the near future.


Nope. Unless there are massive advancements made that I'm unfamiliar with.
Click to expand...

Do you have any photo editting tests to compare? I can run on on my ryzen laptop, that has IGPU.
 
sHo0sH said:
Mac mini m4 surely?
Zero faffo, will last a decade and blazing fast.
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No chance on a Mac, for various reasons (reliance on MS Office for her work side of things, my lack of knowledge for tech support, high cost for tech support locally, lack of easy upgrading and of course the fact my Mum's very far from a spring chicken and the less teaching I have to do for her the better :D )
hornetstinger said:
Do you have any photo editting tests to compare? I can run on on my ryzen laptop, that has IGPU.
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Not to hand, nope. It's mostly just the fact she runs stuff at super high resolutions from fancy high end cameras that can cause her current PC to struggle a lot, but again, I've not really managed in this end of stuff myself, certainly not at the resolutions she deals with. My reading up on it earlier said that while photo editing can be done on the 5600G, that it's for "basic to moderate" stuff. Honestly, my lack of knowledge here may be showing, as I know old CPUs were absolute trash. Fair play if they're better now, I may indeed just try without the GPU, it's not hard to buy it afterwards if needed.
WARburton said:
i agree with this but i feel the 13500 for this sort of a set up is a monster of a CPU, the 8 e cores would het with photo editing.
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I was thinking about Intel at first, but the offerings in NZ were limited, way higher priced, and said limited offerings almost always lacked a stock CPU cooler, which in my experience tend to be far easier to install for a PC build newbie. Don't need anything fancy there.
 
WARburton said:
with an air cooler this is a very good case but if you want to go AIO its a pain in the ass thats why i got rid of my XT pro
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Honestly I'm targeting a stock cooler, they just don't use the PC intensively enough for me to justify anything higher (they use the PC about once a week and the photo editing is about once a month).
 
Loony BoB said:
Honestly I'm targeting a stock cooler, they just don't use the PC intensively enough for me to justify anything higher (they use the PC about once a week and the photo editing is about once a month).
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the ryzen 5600g would be a good choice if you can find a cheap ryzen 8000 chip that would be very fasat and last a very long time

EDIT: GPU: Asus Phoenix OC GeForce GTX 1650 G5 4 GB Video Card
if you looking at a system with a GPU just buy a 5600 is faster then the 5600g and can be had cheaper surely
 
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WARburton said:
the ryzen 5600g would be a good choice if you can find a cheap ryzen 8000 chip that would be very fasat and last a very long time

EDIT: GPU: Asus Phoenix OC GeForce GTX 1650 G5 4 GB Video Card
if you looking at a system with a GPU just buy a 5600 is faster then the 5600g and can be had cheaper surely
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For an example of the struggle with finding parts in NZ, here's the 'huge' AMD offering on NZ Parts Picker that actually show a price tag:
ouM09Xc.png
 
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Loony BoB said:
Honestly I'm targeting a stock cooler, they just don't use the PC intensively enough for me to justify anything higher (they use the PC about once a week and the photo editing is about once a month).
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You can get good cheap coolers like thermalright's assassin line and honestly even a cheap tower cooler is better than the stock cooler.

I'd look at a 12400 too though, as mickyflinn suggested (or 13400/14400), since they have hardware acceleration that I'm not sure the old Vega architecture used in the 5600G can compete with.
 
the 5600g is a cut down 5600 with gpu cores, if your putting a GPU in the system the 5600 is faster
im sure Ebay in NZ will have some intel chips
 
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