Build advice

BizzyC

Hi Guys,

Going off UK prices here, but looking to build a PC for some moderate gaming and working from home for under £700 (soft limit).

For the guts of the system, I was looking at buying these parts:
Intel Core i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor - £156
Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard - £70
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory £121
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB G1 Gaming Video Card - £145

I've built the pc using uk.pcpartpicker.com, so I know that I can build a pc with these parts and have it come in around £670.

My actual question here is whether I've gone overboard on CPU choice based on my choice of GPU?
The 1050 ti seems like great performance for the price level it's at, and I cant see anything for under £200 that outperforms it from my own searches.

Would I be better off saving some money on CPU here, or upgrading GPU to something a little more pricey?

Thanks

Redfox25

Hi
Do you need 16gb Ram?
If not, then maybe you can bump up your GPU to a 570 or 580, or a 1060 if you prefer Nvidea. More GPU grunt will help with gaming.

What games do you have in mind for this rig and whats your current monitor? , if you fil in the help me build a pc questionare, you might get some other options. Link http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74542374

K.O.Kiki

B250 board can't address faster than DDR4-2400, so that's £20 saved.

This lets you upgrade the GPU to the much more powerful RX570 (e.g. this Gigabyte model)
RX570 annihalates the 1050Ti

AMD Ryzen 5 1400 (4core/8thread) on B350 board is another option.

Can you post your list?

BizzyC

Redfox25 wrote: »

Hi
Do you need 16gb Ram?
If not, then maybe you can bump up your GPU to a 570 or 580, or a 1060 if you prefer Nvidea. More GPU grunt will help with gaming.

What games do you have in mind for this rig and whats your current monitor? , if you fil in the help me build a pc questionare, you might get some other options. Link http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=74542374

The ram is more of a work requirement than for the gaming use, 8gb may be too little.
A 1060 is an option, but then the question still remains, would an i5 7400 really be required or would it make sense to downgrade to an i3 7100?
Monitor will be a small 1080p and possibly a HD TV - but still at 1080p.

Games will be along the lines of Titanfall 2/Star Citizen.
They wont need to run Ultra @ 60fps, but a decent quality would be good.

Serephucus

I'd go for Ryzen here. Once overclocked, it (at worst) matches the 7400 in average frames, and beats it in minimums. In compute performance it stomps it.

Here's a comparable motherboard too.

BizzyC

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

B250 board can't address faster than DDR4-2400, so that's £20 saved.
...
AMD Ryzen 5 1400 (4core/8thread) on B350 board is another option.
Can you post your list?

Thanks for that, thought the website would have picked up a compatibility issue like that.

1. What is your budget? [£700]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming (Civ 5, Titanfall 2, Star Citizen), Work

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [Hard drive/DVD Drive/Case/PSU/etc.] No

5. Do you need a monitor? No

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1920x1080

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? No

Seems like downgrading Ram to DDR4-2400 and upgrading GPU to RX570 brings my current spec up to £695

Switching MB and processor to the Ryzen 1400 comes out more expensive.
From what I can see on comparison sites, the Ryzen 1400 doesn't seem to be any better that the i5-7400, they seem fairly evenly matched.

Alpha8

.

Alpha8

PCPartPicker part list: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/k6qXGf
Price breakdown by merchant: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/k6qXGf/by_merchant/

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock AB350M-HDV Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£65.39 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£68.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£87.27 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 580 4GB PULSE Video Card (£194.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Cooler Master MasterBox Lite 3 (Windowless) MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£36.46 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£49.97 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £695.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-26 14:10 BST+0100

Hope this helps

K.O.Kiki

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-7400 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.94 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£67.21 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£102.60 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Plextor M7V 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£63.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4GB Gaming 4G Video Card (£164.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 88R MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£51.00 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£70.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £714.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-26 14:24 BST+0100

650W Gold PSU for better efficiency.

BizzyC

Thanks for the suggestions guys, a lot of food for thought there.

BloodBath

Why are people still recommending i5's? Especially the non overclockable versions.

Those processors are dead. It makes no sense to buy them for anything including gaming.

You can get a 4/8 Ryzen that clocks to 4Ghz for less than that 3.5Ghz non overclockable 4/4 i5.

KOKikis build is good but I'd swap the processor and board.

BizzyC

BloodBath wrote: »

Why are people still recommending i5's? Especially the non overclockable versions.

Those processors are dead. It makes no sense to buy them for anything including gaming.

You can get a 4/8 Ryzen that clocks to 4Ghz for less than that 3.5Ghz non overclockable 4/4 i5.

I don't intend to overclock, so it's still a relevant comparison.

BloodBath

Honestly it's so simple these days. You would have it done in a matter of minutes.

Even without the overclocking you get an extra 4 threads which is relevant The current range of i5's are dead. That's why intel is rushing forward 6 core i5's.

Serephucus

I'd also advise overclocking. It's pretty simple to do (easier than building your own computer, in fact) and it brings Ryzen from being a little on the slow side clock-wise, to being in a really nice spot, where it'll show very tangible gains.

BizzyC

I'm leaning towards the Ryzen right now, so it may be something I do in future, but I'd want to run the system as is for a while first to check temps before doing anything that would increase them.

BloodBath

Here's some benchmarks testing the i5 7400 vs stock Ryzen 1400 vs overclocked Ryzen 1400.

It's fairly back and forth between the 2. There is still headroom for improved Ryzen performance here with memory overclocking though.

Also note the i5 cpu is being maxed out at 100% usage with a 480 in a lot of games. If you plan on updating your GPU in a couple of years there is a good chance the i5 will be a bottleneck.

Also benchmarks like the BF1 are in single player. The extra threads on the Ryzen come into their own in 64 man multiplayer.

BizzyC

Ok, so after looking into some recommendations, I'm now looking at this setup:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (?149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (?76.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (?68.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (?87.27 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (?41.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4GB Gaming 4G Video Card (?164.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case (?45.46 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (?63.62 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: HP 624192-B21 DVD/CD Writer (?32.60 @ Amazon UK)
Total: ?731.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-26 16:15 BST+0100

I chucked in an optical drive to allow me the option of playing some older games I have, and have selected amazon where prices were similar to take advantage of amazon prime quick shipment....
Originally I had opted for 16gb of ram, but I figure I can run with 8 for now and upgrade down the line if I have any issues.

edit:
Dang, one wrinkle there, another Ram v motherboard issue. For some reason the website seems to be hit and miss on compatibility between the two...

K.O.Kiki

Change the optical drive to a cheaper model, and upgrade the PSU to Corsair CSM 650W

Looks fine otherwise.

BizzyC

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (?149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (?76.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (?61.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (?87.27 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (?41.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4GB Gaming 4G Video Card (?164.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case (?45.46 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (?70.47 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSD1 DVD/CD Writer (?13.85 @ Amazon UK)
Total: ?712.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-26 17:08 BST+0100

I'm pretty happy with this setup now, thanks for the help guys

Lu Tze

BizzyC wrote: »

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (?149.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B350M-A Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (?76.98 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (?61.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (?87.27 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (?41.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 4GB Gaming 4G Video Card (?164.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case (?45.46 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (?70.47 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSD1 DVD/CD Writer (?13.85 @ Amazon UK)
Total: ?712.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-26 17:08 BST+0100

I'm pretty happy with this setup now, thanks for the help guys

Its nothing major, but just to point out you have a micro atx motherboard and an atx case. There is no issue with that unless you need more PCI/PCI express slots. Typically have 4 slots on m-atx, with two unavailable due to a dual slot graphics card. Typically 6 on an atx motherboard. Again unless you are adding 3 extra cards (like WiFi, soundcard, satellite tuner) you should be fine. Most have USB equivalents anyway.

Edit: looking at the board you picked it seems to only have 3 slots.

BizzyC

So I went ahead an built my new PC over the weekend.

Made a few rookie mistakes when putting it together though..
1 - Installed the CPU fan in a way that blocked the A1 Ram port, had to flip it around
2 - The case was longer than I expected (probably should have looked at the measurements), I need to find a new space for it!
3 - I bought 3 sata devices, but I only have 2 data cables - no HDD for now...

I've had 1 weird issue, where the only working video output right now seems to be the HDMI from the GPU, no outputs on the mobo worked and neither did the DVI from the GPU.
I haven't finished downloading all the drivers etc yet though, so I'm hoping that's just a temporary issue.
Everything else seems to be working fine though, looking forward to some bench-marking.

K.O.Kiki

BizzyC wrote: »

So I went ahead an built my new PC over the weekend.

Made a few rookie mistakes when putting it together though..
1 - Installed the CPU fan in a way that blocked the A1 Ram port, had to flip it around
2 - The case was longer than I expected (probably should have looked at the measurements), I need to find a new space for it!
3 - I bought 3 sata devices, but I only have 2 data cables - no HDD for now...

I've had 1 weird issue, where the only working video output right now seems to be the HDMI from the GPU, no outputs on the mobo worked and neither did the DVI from the GPU.
I haven't finished downloading all the drivers etc yet though, so I'm hoping that's just a temporary issue.
Everything else seems to be working fine though, looking forward to some bench-marking.

Ryzen 5 1400 does not have an on-board GPU so the motherboard output won't work, there's no fault here.

DVI you might have the wrong DVI cable for your monitor's resolution/frequency (Hz)

BizzyC

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Ryzen 5 1400 does not have an on-board GPU so the motherboard output won't work, there's no fault here.

DVI you might have the wrong DVI cable for your monitor's resolution/frequency (Hz)

Ah, good to know, It's my first time using any AMD CPU.

I'd be surprised if it's the cable frequency, it's the one that came with the monitor.
Unfortunately I don't have another monitor or cable to test the DVI connection with...