Super budget gaming rig

Richard_16v

Richard_16v

Richard_16v

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So my son (11) has decided that he wants a PC after always being a console gamer, he is saving to buy the parts himself so we are looking at a very limited budget of around £300 (I have a spare monitor, keyboard/mouse, SSD and PSU)

I was looking at a Ryzen 3 3200G to give him half decent frame rate but the option to add a GPU later, however is there anything else out of or the horizon that is better value/performance than the 3200G?

He plays mostly Fortnite, rocket league and Minecraft.

Thanks Richard
 
I built my Mrs a PC for her birthday (she doesn't have it yet) sub £300 using my spare 3600 and grabbing a load of bits from the MM (Board, RAM, NVME and case from cleareance). I don't know much about the 3200G but if you can get a cheap 3500x/3600, you could always throw in a 480 or something.

A quick look for reviews:
I always expect the least from the integrated GPUs. However, the Radeon Vega 8 on the Ryzen 3 3200G is has proven me wrong. It is a 2GB graphics card, which can handle some high-end games like GTA-V, Crysis 3, and CS Go. Similarly, it also offers good performance for battle royale games like PUBG, offering 60fps with medium graphics settings. On GFXBench (based on DX12), the GPU runs at an average FPS of 73. Similarly, the device offers an average FPS of 59 on Heaven benchmark (based on DX11). I used a 1080p monitor and all the games that I mentioned above ran without any issue with an average 50 to 60 FPS at medium graphics settings. Cranking up the graphics to high or extreme did improve the detailing on these titles. However, the frame rate fell below 30fps, resulting in lousy game-play.

Read more at: https://www.gizbot.com/computer/rev...rformance/articlecontent-pf107498-062386.html
Click to expand...

In short, with demanding AAA games, you should be able, in many cases, to squeak out playable frame rates at 720p and low settings. (Depending on the game, 1080p/low settings might even see 30fps attainable.) Esports titles and low-spec shooters like CS:GO, meanwhile, should be reasonably smooth even at 1080p with low or medium settings.

Looking at the graphics subscore on the 3DMark Night Raid test, it's also clear that you should expect roughly a 25 percent 3D-graphics performance improvement if you choose the Ryzen 5 3400G over the Ryzen 3 3200G. If you're going the budget-gaming-PC route with this chip, that's another major reason to try and save up for the Ryzen 5.

One thing to bear in mind is that memory speed will be a factor in frame rates with many games when you're running them on IGPs like these. The fact that the Ryzen 3 3200G can make use of memory speeds up to 2,933MHz is an additional point in its favor if you're trying to put together a bare-budget gaming system, or use the Vega 8 graphics for gaming until you can afford a dedicated card.

https://uk.pcmag.com/chipsets-processors/123094/amd-ryzen-3-3200g
Click to expand...
 
Maybe something like this and then pick up a used GTX 770 for around £40-50

Down the line you could always upgrade ram + GPU to something like a 3060ti once availablity and prices are better as even a modern high end GPU would work fine with this build.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £278.07 (includes shipping: £11.10)
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In the current climate and depending on what your son is expecting to play, a £300 PC is going to be a poor experience even compared to something like a PS4.
 
Thanks, I'll have a chat with him and set expectations.

Looking at some reviews on YouTube I'm actually impressed with some of the Ryzen APU chips, it looks like a game like Fortnite can get 60+ FPS with settings lowered.

Starting to wish I hadn't sold my last components after upgrading :/
 
I'd avoid the ryzen APUs as they are overpriced and offer much less performance than say a 10th gen i3 with an old GPU for which can be had for around the same cost.
 
Saw a review recently of a prebuilt with a 4650G in it, Think it was about £400ish for the full system. Its a similar CPU to the 3600. So should be a really good placeholder until the GPU market sorts its self out.

Unfortunately the chip isn't available at retail, so while you can get it its overpriced.
 
I'm running a 4650g (picked up 2nd hand for less than £200) on my MSI X470 mobo with Ballistix 3200 (clocked to 3600cl16) It runs Fortnite very well, medium settings and detail set up in the 90's. Fps 70-80's.
Very happy with it. Now to find a 4750g....
 
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