Split of spend

[sargan]

Looking for a guide ... a 'rule of thumb' over how to split your money on a PC build
Don't want to unbalance things and buy one very expensive item that is meismatched to the others ...

sort of thinking for comparative costs
CPU = Mobo = GPU
PSU = RAM = 50% CPU cost
CASE=PSU= 1/3 of CPU cost

 

[Tetras]

It is hard to do that because it really varies on what is the best use of your budget and what the purpose of the PC is.

Tell us what your budget is and what the use of the PC is and we'll do you a spec.

Generally speaking: if the motherboard is 50% of the CPU you're probably fine. The graphics should be around 2-3x the CPU cost. The majority of gaming builds will pick a 750+ PSU that costs somewhere between £80 and £130. The majority of gaming builds will have 32GB of DDR5 which costs about the same as the PSU (£80-£130).

 

[sargan]

It is hard to do that because it really varies on what is the best use of your budget and what the purpose of the PC is.

Tell us what your budget is and what the use of the PC is and we'll do you a spec.

Generally speaking: if the motherboard is 50% of the CPU you're probably fine. The graphics should be around 2-3x the CPU cost. The majority of gaming builds will pick a 750+ PSU that costs somewhere between £80 and £130. The majority of gaming builds will have 32GB of DDR5 which costs about the same as the PSU (£80-£130).

Thanks that is rule of thumb I was looking for, its not overall cost but how I should split the cost.

 

[Tetras]

Thanks that is rule of thumb I was looking for, its not overall cost but how I should split the cost.

Yeah, I know, but it would be silly to split the cost based on a set of rules because like I said, it depends on the PC.

To give you an example: if you're gaming at 4K, you're likely to spend A LOT more on the graphics card than the CPU, however if you're playing at 1080p, esports and use low settings, you might even match the CPU and GPU cost.

The same goes for the RAM, if you're building a budget PC then you might buy cheaper RAM with the intention of upgrading it later.

I would always start a gaming PC with asking for the resolution and then choose a graphics card to play at that resolution, everything else comes after, since e.g. if the budget is large you might get an AM5 CPU/motherboard for future upgradability, whereas if the budget is small, you might go AM4 instead.

 

[tamzzy]

it would be silly to split the cost based on a set of rules

this

 

[FredFlint]

I do it this way:
Good PSU: this is so I don't need to upgrade it. I used to get 650W but now I get 1000W.
Good Mobo that has what I need now and what I might want 2 years from now (PCIe gen 5 and stuff)
Case: One that's easy to work with, the one I have now is a nightmare, should have put more thought into it.
RAM: I don't get the fastest RAM as I can not be bothered with all the time/effort it can take to get it stable, just get any good (5600-6000) 32/48/64 GB kit.

GPU,CPU: if all you do is game: Get the best GPU you can and any (AMD/Intel) mid-range CPU.