First PC Build for My Son

[benlanky]

Hi

It has been almost 10 years since I last built my PC, so I am in need of some up to date advice!

He has seen this spec and is quite keen on it, but I wanted to ask here first to see what you all think and if there are any better options on OCUK:

Processor AMD Ryzen 5 3500
Processor Type AMD FX
No of Cores 6
Core Speed 4.10GHz
CPU Cooler Standard CPU Cooler
Motherboard Asus Prime A320M-K (M-ATX)
Case Antec NX100 Black Case
Power Supply 500w Standard
Memory Size 8GB
Hard Drive Size 1TB
Graphics 4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650
Graphics Card Connections Displayport, DVI, HDMI
Audio 8-Channel High Definition Audio
LAN 10/100/1000 Gigabit LAN Port
USB2 Ports 4
USB3 Ports 2
Operating System Windows 10 Home 64 bit

He's found this for £677 which seems a decent price. He already has a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc.

He plays games such as Minecraft, wants to do some video editing and streaming and wants to be able to update it in the future.

Any help would be appreciated.

edit - just noticed my old spec in my signature, you can see how long it's been since I did a build!

 

[Minibiker]

What's the final budget your son has to spend?

Tbh the price of a 3500 is close to a 3600 so you may aswell go for the 3600 with the extra threads...

GPU market is abit pricey at the moment, youd probably save money on 2nd hand if your able to shop around local ads etc...

I'd go 16gb RAM over 8gb especially if streaming/editing etc

Also go for SSD over HDD, much faster load speeds and write speeds

 

[benlanky]

Unfortunately £700 is already pushing his budget a bit, so not much movement above that spec...

I do have some parts from my old pc that he might be able to reuse such as the case and a couple of SSDs.

 

[Gray2233]

I'd be wary of that build.

• Is it an AMD FX or a Ryzen 5? They're very different beasts.
• Is it actually a 3500 or a 3600? The 3500 is rare to find but is essentially a 3600 without SMT.
• Can guarantee it'll be a generic low quality PSU, it's the only reason it would be listed like that.
• 16GB is the minimum for gaming now, and if video editing/streaming 8GB is on the short side.
• Pretty bottom of the barrel motherboard from the looks of it.
• HDD with no SSD? An SSD is a necessity now, a lot of games stream assets from the drive they're installed on.

Try something like this instead:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £179.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G320C6K)= £68.99
• 1 x Seasonic Core Gold GC-650 650W 80+ Gold Power Supply= £79.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £86.99
• 1 x Aerocool Aero One Mini Eclipse ARGB Micro- ATX Case - Black Tempered Glass= £49.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £89.99

Total: £555.94 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

You'll need to source something like a RX570/RX580 or 1650S GPU to go with it, should be doable if you hit the second hand markets and have a bit of luck. If you have access to the Members Market section of these forums, I've seen a couple of RX580's go for under £120 since Christmas.

Much higher quality parts all round, I wouldn't touch the build in the OP for best part of £700 even with the current parts situations.

 

[ASMB]

As you will likely be aware pc prices are on the high side at the moment. Before the gpu shortage I would have advised to upgrade to the 1650 super for not much more Nvidia GTX 1650 Super vs. GTX 1650: The Budget Battle | Digital Trends
https://youtu.be/Im8kPWatRxc?t=641
If you want to upgrade to a higher core cpu in the future a b450 or b550 will have a stronger vram than that board to support one
As above a 3600 will be better for video editing & streaming as it supports SMT (6 more threads) and isn't usually much more

 

[benlanky]

Thanks. It's a Ryzen 5 and a 3500. He could swap my old Corsair 620w psu into it for now too.

It isn't a great time to buy, is it? Prices do seem pretty high.

 

[benlanky]

I'd be wary of that build.

• Is it an AMD FX or a Ryzen 5? They're very different beasts.
• Is it actually a 3500 or a 3600? The 3500 is rare to find but is essentially a 3600 without SMT.
• Can guarantee it'll be a generic low quality PSU, it's the only reason it would be listed like that.
• 16GB is the minimum for gaming now, and if video editing/streaming 8GB is on the short side.
• Pretty bottom of the barrel motherboard from the looks of it.
• HDD with no SSD? An SSD is a necessity now, a lot of games stream assets from the drive they're installed on.

Try something like this instead:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £179.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G320C6K)= £68.99
• 1 x Seasonic Core Gold GC-650 650W 80+ Gold Power Supply= £79.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £86.99
• 1 x Aerocool Aero One Mini Eclipse ARGB Micro- ATX Case - Black Tempered Glass= £49.99
• 1 x Gigabyte B550M AORUS ELITE (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £89.99

Total: £555.94 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

You'll need to source something like a RX570/RX580 or 1650S GPU to go with it, should be doable if you hit the second hand markets and have a bit of luck. If you have access to the Members Market section of these forums, I've seen a couple of RX580's go for under £120 since Christmas.

Much higher quality parts all round, I wouldn't touch the build in the OP for best part of £700 even with the current parts situations.

I meant to say - that's a nice looking build, thanks.

 

[Gray2233]

I meant to say - that's a nice looking build, thanks.

You can run W10 temporarily without a key, and there's grey market options out there too.

Check to see if you have Members Market access and put in a request for a cheap 1650/RX580-570 or similar in the 'Wanted' sub-section. Coupled with the build I listed it'd work out around the same and as mentioned you'll have a much better rig with plenty of upgrade options down the line.