Budget £500 Used Parts mATX gaming rig build advice please?

[G4Gaming]

Hi Guys

I wanted some advice on building a budget gaming rig for around £500 (can probably stretch to £600)

I have a converted Apple PowerMac G4 case that I modified to take an mATX build a few years back, and I always planned on building a Hackintosh to go inside, but ended up just buying an actual Mac instead. I wanted to use the chassis for a casual gaming rig, as I put a lot of time and effort into the case, and I think it would make an awesome little rig!

Here's a picture of it for those interested:

So here are my requirements:
£500-600 max budget
Motherboard has to be mATX to fit in the case.
16GB of RAM
Would like an M.2 SSD (1TB preferably)
I'm running an ultra wide monitor, so will have to be able to comfortably game at 3840 x 1600 60fps
I would like a semi modular or fully modular power supply, just because I might need to get longer cables for certain things depending on where I choose to mount the PSU.


I was thinking about a GTX 1070 or 1070ti for graphics, as they are a decent price on the second hand market, but if there's something that would better bang for the buck, please say
I was probably going to go for a Noctua air cooler rather than water-cooled, something like a NH-U9S or NH-C14S due to case height restrictions.

I'm not going to be a hard core gamer with it, mostly a casual gamer. Probably playing things like GTA5, Forza Horizon 4 and any future releases that take my fancy. Also enjoy playing higher demanding emulators like Dolphin and PCSX2, and some not so taxing games like Parkitect and Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty.

It's been a while since I last built a PC, and my last one was a higher budget i7 4930k build, so I'm a bit out of touch with the latest PC parts.

Please tell me if my budget is unrealistic what what I'm after!

Thank you in advance!

Have a great day everyone, and stay safe

 

[dfour]

Maybe its a bit unrealistic on your budget. Heres my try without a gpu.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI MAG B550M Mortar (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £129.98
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £209.99
• 1 x Noctua NH-U9S PU Cooler - 92mm= £52.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan TUF Gaming Alliance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C19 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Blac= £64.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99
• 1 x be quiet! Pure Power 11 600W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply= £79.99

Total: £659.03 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

MSI have a cashback promotion with amd chip so you should get £36 cashback
https://uk.msi.com/Promotion/back-t...fVCh0MQgtBEAAYASAAEgKHz_D_BwE#AMD-Motherboard

Certain parts on the list can be bought cheaper elsewhere to save £50 roughly.

I thnk you need a 4K capable gpu as your playing at 4K levels of pixels so a 2070 or even better maybe a 3070 when they are released.

 

[mickyflinn]

This is £110 MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...am4-b550-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-358-ms.html

£10 more get a you the wifi version MSI MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI

 

[dl8860]

Would a 3600 not be ok on stock cooler if you don't OC?

To actually fit budget
Ryzen5 2600 - 130
Asus Prime B450M-K - 70
RAM and SSD from dfour's build above - 175
CX-M SERIES CX550M 550W 80 PLUS BRONZE SEMI MODULAR POWER SUPPLY - 68
Used GTX 1070 - 160 (going off recent MM sales)

Total - 603

It won't comfortably run 4k, but if you can find 3 quid down the back of the sofa then it fits budget.

 

[Chaos666]

Would a 3600 not be ok on stock cooler if you don't OC?

its ok but can be loud

 

[G4Gaming]

Thank you for everyones suggestions, I've gone for most of what dfour suggested.

I've ordered:
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Processor (£180)
Be quiet! Pure Power 11 600W CM PSU (£79.99)
MSI MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI Motherboard mATX (£129.98)
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR4 3200 MHz RAM (£57.98)
WD Blue SN550 1TB High-Performance M.2 Pcie NVMe SSD (£83.29)

Came to £531.24

I also ordered a pair of Noctua NF-P12 redux-1700 PWM 120mm case fans.

I'm going to try the stock Ryzen CPU cooler for now and see how I get on, I'm just worried about temps, as the case isn't the best for ventilation!

As for the GPU, I might wait til next month when there is a steady supply of RTX 3070 and 3080s, and hopefully the older cards will come down in price.
I was hoping to snag a good GTX 1080ti, but they are still selling for around £400, and I didn't really want to spend more than £250 on the GPU.

Thanks

 

[mickyflinn]

I would remove the name where you purchased your parts as it's against the forum rules , tx.

 

[G4Gaming]

I would remove the name where you purchased your parts as it's against the forum rules , tx.

Thanks, I've removed them, I didn't know that was against the rules!

 

[dfour]

Nice one . The stock cooler is OK (as long as you dont overclock)but might struggle after a while without much air flow.

You can pick up 2080TI for around £450 it seems so that 1080ti is bad value. Also bare in mind how long the graphics cards are bcause that case doesnt look that long to take a 300mm+ card.

The forums are part of and run by Overclockers.co.uk so thats why they dont allow competitors pricing etc.

 

[G4Gaming]

You can pick up 2080TI for around £450 it seems so that 1080ti is bad value. Also bare in mind how long the graphics cards are bcause that case doesnt look that long to take a 300mm+ card.

Where are you seeing these £450 2080ti's? They're still selling for over £1000 brand new, and second hand ones on eBay are selling for at least £600!
That's a good point about the length of the GPU! Space is a little tight in the case so I will have to measure before hand!

 

[Chaos666]

some lucky people were able to buy 2080ti for around 450 when everyone panicked just before the launch
not now

 

[dfour]

There have been 2080 non ti under £400 on the MM and 2080ti just over £500 on the MM so it is possible.

They will die a bigger death when the 3070 is released with as much performacne for less money at the end of the month after big navi also savages them

 

[Chaos666]

There have been 2080 non ti under £400 on the MM and 2080ti just over £500 on the MM so it is possible.

the problem with MM is that you need to have 1000posts ... :/

 

[dfour]

the problem with MM is that you need to have 1000posts ... :/

Keeps the riff-raff out

Agreed but there are trusted alternatives . FB and ebay are cess pits for things like that and your as much likely to get scammed or ripped off as get a decent card in general.

 

[Chaos666]

i do use ebay and fb ... but i keep hearing about those crazy good deals in MM from my friends all the time ... makes me jelly :>

 

[G4Gaming]

Thought I would update this with the final specs and pictures of the finished build.

Had to increase the budget a bit, and couldn't really wait for GPU prices to come down any longer and just went for a 2070 super, which I paid £400 for.

Final Specs:

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Processor
ASUS Dual GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER EVO OC Edition
MSI MAG B550M MORTAR WIFI Motherboard mATX
Crucial Ballistix 16GB 3600MHz CL16 DDR4 RAM
Be quiet! Pure Power 11 600W CM PSU
WD Blue SN550 1TB High-Performance M.2 Pcie NVMe SSD
Noctua NF-F12 PWM chromax black Fans x2
EZDIY-FAB Sleeved Cable extension kit



Pictures:

 

[Shaolin Chicken]

Thanks for the pics, looks good.
What are the temps like?

 

[G4Gaming]

Thanks for the pics, looks good.
What are the temps like?

Thanks, they are pretty good actually considering. Max temperature under synthetic load was 69'C, and under real world load was 62'C, and the build is whisper quiet with the Noctua fans, So I'm really happy about that as well!

 

[dfour]

Very nice and really neat build

 

[Shaolin Chicken]

Thanks, they are pretty good actually considering. Max temperature under synthetic load was 69'C, and under real world load was 62'C, and the build is whisper quiet with the Noctua fans, So I'm really happy about that as well!

That's very good, great little system you got there.