Budget Build ~€600 Family pc/light gaming

Ryath

1. What is your budget? €600
2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Family PC light/gaming

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? No

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes

5a. If yes, what size do you need. 20'/22'/24' best bang for buck!

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? Yes keyboard and mouse something fairly decent.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [No]

8. How can you pay? [Credit Card/Laser]

9. When are you purchasing? ASAP

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
Should be fine. I've never done a full build but have replaced parts/done BIOS stuff. Haven't done it in years and my knowledge is a little rusty but I'll hopefully manage.


With kids getting older and homeschooling there's starting be more demands on devices in the household. Daughter has also started playing Sims on my wife's laptop so need another windows devise. Good chance she's going get more into gaming. I wouldn't mind getting back into it a bit myself if I can find the time.

Was considering this laptop from bargain alerts. €579 so that's the benchmark value wise. Would prefer a desktop I think, at least it can't be taken of to a bedroom and should be more powerful and I can always upgrade it. Unsure if I should just be looking for an off the shelf system with integrated graphics that I can stick a graphics card in later to spread the cost. I was wondering if I can do this with a self build but am I correct in thinking that most of desktop processors for desktop builds don't have integrated graphics so this may not be an option.

Don't know if it's achievable in my budget. I see builds for on the forum for €500- 600 but needing a monitor and keyboard eats into this. Not sure even building I can get something that beats this spec wise but it is more future proof. This will be in the sitting room so needs a small case. mITX size would be nice but I'm stuck with mATX at my budget. Any advice?

Just to add I'd like an optical drive, I've a mountain of DVD's and bluerays I'd like to rip. To keep case size down I probably should leave this out though and get and external down the line.

Lenovo Ideapad 5
Processor : AMD Ryzen 7 4800U Processor (1.80GHz, Max Boost up to 4.20GHz, 8 Cores, 8MB Cache)
Operating System : Free-DOS
Operating System Language : Free-DOS
Memory : 16GB DDR4 3200MHz Onboard
Second Hard Drive : 256GB Solid State Drive, M.2 2242, PCIe-NVMe, TLC
Display : 15.6" FHD (1920x1080), IPS, Anti-glare, 2.6mm Thickness, 300nits, Narrow bezel
Graphic Card : Integrated Graphics
Color : Graphite Grey
Keyboard : Keyboard Backlit Iron Grey English (UK)
Camera : 720p HD Camera with Array Microphone
Surface Treatment : Anodizing
Fingerprint Reader : Fingerprint Reader
Palmrest : PC/ABS
Battery : 4 Cell Li-Polymer Internal Battery, 70Wh
Power Cord : 95W AC Adapter (3pin)-UK (USB Type C)
Wireless : Wi-Fi 6 2x2 AX, Bluetooth Version 5.0 or above
Language Pack : Publication-English
Warranty : 1 Year Courier or Carry-in
Web Price:€479 with discounts

Homelander

Laptop would be fine for Sims but not for 'normal' gaming. I would spend the €600 on a PC and pick up a 2nd hand monitor for €50-60, you can get 1080P 24" for close enough to that.

Not saying get this, but just as an example, for about €630 you can configure this PC with Ryzen 2600, 16GB Ram, 480GB SSD plus Nvidia GTX1650 Super. Just to give you a ballpark.

Or you could build something very similar for similar money but a better case, balance certain things bit better, etc.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-apex-legends-2300x-quad-core-4.0ghz-gtx-1650-super-desktop-pc-for-gaming.html

K.O.Kiki

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£82.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B450M-A PRO MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£56.06 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£76.72 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Silicon Power Ace A55 256 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£34.20 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 88R MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£45.03 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Bronze V2 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£47.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: Philips 246E9QJAB/00 23.8" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor (£109.99 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: SteelSeries Rival 3 Wired Optical Mouse (£34.99 @ Amazon UK)
Custom: HiveNets 87 mechanical keyboard (£32.99)
Total: £519.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-26 20:01 BST+0100

Same GPU (Vega 8), no hyperthreading but at least the CPU & GPU can be upgraded.

As an idea.

Homelander

The above is fine as a general build but keep in mind it's more or less useless for gaming. Fine for Sims but not for mainstream games even at lowest settings/resolution (Your Call of Duty, Battlefield, Assassins Creed, Far Cry type games).

The 3200G is also a bad base processor if you plan adding a graphics card down the line, would perform fairly poorly even with a good graphics card in many modern games....it doesn't make any sense to me in context of what you said you needed it for.

Spending £70 on a mechanical keyboard and decent mouse in the above setup seems ludicrous in this scenario really when it basically amounts to an office PC.

Ryath

Thanks for the advice.

Was thinking the same myself about a mechanical keyboard and gaming mouse. Nice to have bit they can wait. I'll make do with a cheap logitech one for the moment. Worth dropping it to get a graphics card. Is this one ok? XFX Radeon RX 570 8 GB think it offers the best value for money.

Don't know if I can get much cheaper. I could save £20 by going for a A320 motherboard and there is some cheaper cases. But doesn't seem worth the saving? The Corsair 88R case seems much better reviewed than anything cheaper. Don't think I can drop any lower on PSU. Any else I can save on? Monitors are in short supply and hard to get a budget one. The Philips one K.O.Kiki posted has gone up to £151! Hard to make a decision on some components too as prices and availability on some are changing daily especially RAM.

Might just try and nail down spec and pick a few similar level components and set price alerts and pick it up bit by bit. I'm not in a huge rush but would like to get it built in the next month.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (14nm) 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor (£96.94 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£69.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX500 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£41.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon RX 570 8 GB Video Card (£129.99 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 88R MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£46.22 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Bronze V2 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£47.00 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ EW2480 23.8" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor (£135.47 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £622.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-05-04 12:56 BST+0100

Homelander

It seems fine. You could shave off a little here and there. Get an A320M instead of B450, will save about £15 and there are some on Amazon that have M2 and confirmed 3rd gen support. Like this one here.

The Corsair VS550 is £7 cheaper and still an OK PSU for your build. You can get cheaper PSU's, but then you are actually stepping down in quality...I would draw the line at the VS550 @ £39.

Case wise I would probably agree. You can get cheaper, but I probably wouldn't bother. Amazon are not the best for cheap PC cases, places like SCAN and OCUK tend to have way better range of decent, cheap cases but everything else would end up being more expensive...this one does seem pretty decent from reviews though.

So with the motherboard, PSU and case change, that saves about....£35? Up to you as to whether or not it's worth it!

However, keep in mind a 250GB SSD is nothing these days. The new Call of Duty is almost 200GB alone....with Windows installed, it would barely even fit!

I'd consider getting a 2nd hand monitor off Adverts, usually you can get 1080P 24" monitors for fairly small money, €50-80 depending....and at least get a 500GB M2, or else a 250GB M2 + 1TB storage drive.

jonerkinsella

Here's a rig I've put together for my daughter with CCL.
I know that the PSU is not the greatest, but Kolink seem to be one of the best budget brands according to reviews, and she will not be overclocking or stressing the system. The CPU is the AF 1600 (2600). The rig cam in at €499 delivered (prices have slightly increased on CCL since I placed this order last week).
In this era of gouging, I think it was a good deal.
No monitor or HDD required as we already have that.
[IMG][/img]


Ps, Just after I posted this, it all arrived at my door. Sweet. It took CCL 3 days from payment clearing to get it to my door.

Homelander

Seems fine. Kolink are reliable enough for budget builds. I've used that CIT case before, it's OK but very squishy with limited room to work with and the fan is pretty bad.

SweetCaliber

Heres a quick build, The 570 is still a decent card and can get you decent frames on 1080p.

Priced on CCL it comes in at 601 euro including delivery.

jonerkinsella

jonerkinsella wrote: »

Here's a rig I've put together for my daughter with CCL.
I know that the PSU is not the greatest, but Kolink seem to be one of the best budget brands according to reviews, and she will not be overclocking or stressing the system. The CPU is the AF 1600 (2600). The rig cam in at €499 delivered (prices have slightly increased on CCL since I placed this order last week).
In this era of gouging, I think it was a good deal.
No monitor or HDD required as we already have that.
[IMG][/img]


Ps, Just after I posted this, it all arrived at my door. Sweet. It took CCL 3 days from payment clearing to get it to my door.

3hrs from start of build to playing games on it. It all worked perfectly together.
I placed the two fans that came with the case to the top and back extraction and placed two higher pressure fans I already had in the front, on the inside of the case to give me more room for fresh air supply against the front panel. This limited the space further inside the case, but there was still plenty to work with the components chosen.
A few bios and fan profile settings and the PC is flying.

The Kolink PSU seems to be decent quality with a good bit of weight to it and flat black cabling, but be warned... it does NOT come with a mains power lead ( I have a few kicking about).

Good deal.

SweetCaliber

jonerkinsella wrote: »

3hrs from start of build to playing games on it. It all worked perfectly together.
I placed the two fans that came with the case to the top and back extraction and placed two higher pressure fans I already had in the front, on the inside of the case to give me more room for fresh air supply against the front panel. This limited the space further inside the case, but there was still plenty to work with the components chosen.
A few bios and fan profile settings and the PC is flying.

The Kolink PSU seems to be decent quality with a good bit of weight to it and flat black cabling, but be warned... it does NOT come with a mains power lead ( I have a few kicking about).

Good deal.

I've found CCL fantastic the last few weeks all orders delivered within 2 days max.

Strange you got no power cable they should have threw one in, probably a misstep on their part.

Homelander

It's actually not, Kolink don't include leads with their supplies, suppose it helps them get prices so rock-bottom.

A lot of their PSU's cost similar to rubbish brands but manage to be much better, usually they are fairly similar to Corsair or EVGA PSU's in the respective categories they compete in and cost a bit less.

They have everything from ultra budget to around upper mid-range at really competitive prices. I would never usually 'trust' a £25 power supply but the Kolink Core ones are pretty decent, £25 for 400w, £30 for 500w, etc.

My own back-up PSU is a 600W Kolink modular 80+ gold, it was only £60.

SweetCaliber

Homelander wrote: »

It's actually not, Kolink don't include leads with their supplies, suppose it helps them get prices so rock-bottom.

A lot of their PSU's cost similar to rubbish brands but manage to be much better, usually they are fairly similar to Corsair or EVGA PSU's in the respective categories they compete in and cost a bit less.

They have everything from ultra budget to around upper mid-range at really competitive prices. I would never usually 'trust' a £25 power supply but the Kolink Core ones are pretty decent, £25 for 400w, £30 for 500w, etc.

My own back-up PSU is a 600W Kolink modular 80+ gold, it was only £60.

Learn something new everyday, youd imagine those cables are dirt cheap to manufacture to begin with. Anytime I've ordered off Komplette in the past they always threw in a power cable free of charge when a PSU was added.

Ryath

Thanks for the advice guys. It's got put on the long finger and spending too much time researching all the options. So much to get my head around. Hard as well at moment the way prices are fluctuating and stock availability is to make decisions. Ended up ordering the Lenovo laptop in op as it was too good of a deal to turn down, so not as much of a rush. I set up pricetrackers on a few options might even wait for the B550 motherboard to future proof a bit.

A monitor is something I could do with though looking at these two in argos.
HP 24f 24in Ultra-Slim FHD IPS
Acer Nitro VGC240 24 Inch 75Hz

Hp seems to be the better screen goes to 300nits. The Acer is 250 has an extra
hdmi input and speakers. This will be used a bit as a second tv in the house and I may set up my switch on it so the built in speakers as rubbish as they are will be handy. I will get some external ones down the line. Either a good option or is there anything online I should consider? I could probably budget up to €200 on it. Argos is tempting though as it's in stock and with the way lead times are now with online orders.

Ryath

Never made a decision on anything which in hind site is a huge mistake!

Want to get something to tide me over till I prices go back to normal and I can build something decent. Only affordable option seems to be prebuilt with onboard graphics at the minute. so seems to be back to my original plan! If I could get a Ryzen APU I think I would go back to to building something till I could get a graphics card but seems they seem nearly as scarce as graphics cards.

Budget is still up to €600 but I'd prefer to keep that closer to 500. I do have a monitor, keyboard and mouse now so my budget for PC it's self has gone up pity prices have gone up ahead of that! Monitor is a fairly decent 24" Benq IPS 1080p, 144hz.

Considering this Lenovo Thinkcentre M75T @ €550, could save €50 going for a 4600g I can get a i5 10400f ThinkCentre M70s version with a Radeon RX550 for similar money. Can get M90t version with a GTX1660 super for €810 bit over budget though. 6 weeks plus for shipping though on these.
[url][/url]

Processor : AMD® Ryzen™ 7 4700G Processor (8 Cores / 16 Threads, 4.40 GHz, 4 MB Cache)
Operating System : No Operating System
Operating System Language : No Operating System
Form Factor : Tower 92% Power 310W
Memory : 16GB(8+8) DDR4 3200MHz UDIMM
Video Adapter : Integrated Graphics
Third Hard Drive : 256GB Solid State Drive, M.2 2242, PCIe-NVMe, TLC
Optical Device : Slim DVD Rambo 9.0mm
Networking : Integrated Intel Gigabit Ethernet
WiFi Wireless LAN Adapters : Intel Wireless-AC 9260 2x2 AC, Bluetooth Version 5.0 High Profile
Memory Card Reader : 3 in 1 Card Reader
Default USB Port : USB-C 4 Front 4 Rear USB Ports
Publications Pack : Publication-English
Warranty : 3 Year On-site

Can't decide if they are worth the money. The 4700g is very good performace wise and the integrated graphics aren't that far of an Nvidia gt1030. Could still stick in a graphics card down the line but will I regret the Lenovo PSU and motherboard.
Know best option for a proper gaming rig is the Dell G5 it's more than I went to spend and the space I have is a little tight for a full size desktop.

Was even looking at some cheaper Ryzen barebones system. This Asus PN50 looks decent value? Another £100 for RAM and an SSD, would tide me over and make a good second kids pc/media centre down the line.

Some Lenovo's from komplet are ok value and are available for immediate shipping but slightly lower spec.

IdeaCentre 5 Ryzen 4600G 8GB RAM @ €560

Ideacentre G5 i5 10400f and GTX 1650 super @ €700 worth stretching to?

Are any of the UK companies still worth looking at for custom builds. This does seems a great deal and lead time isn't to bad and I can pick a smaller case and upgrade a few bits. Ryzen 4600g for £410 if I upgrade RAM to 16GB
https://www.palicomp.co.uk/pc_budget_buy_fac3

I'm finding it very hard to make up my mind about it. I'd still like to build but parts availability and shipping issues from UK are making it very hard to pick anything. Is it worth still building and going for a i5 10400 processor with integrated graphics and stick in a card down the line? Or should I stick with a Ryzen 2600/3600 and stick in the cheapest GT 1030/730 I can find? Build threads are gone very quite here so thinking it may be very hard do it in budget even with integrated graphics?

Simi

My advice if you're going the build your own route, is to secure a graphics card before building the rest of the system. But saying that you're likely to blow your whole budget on one at this moment in time.

The least worst option right now is buying a prebuilt. You could do a build with integrated graphics, but there's no telling how long you'd be stuck with them.

minitrue

The 310W PSU is going to make it a bit painful to find a gpu to put in down the road.

"Nearly" matching a GT1030 is really not much of a claim once it comes to gaming.

Gaming wise a 10400F and 1650 Super is in a whole other league, the 1650 Super is pretty much a 4GB 1660. That's still "only" a 380W psu though and it's 8GB in 2x4GB with only 2 dimm slots.

Buying from the UK could mean double-VAT so you would really want to be certain about that before considering anywhere.

Building a machine with Intel onboard graphics that will take a gpu when you find one isn't a problem and personally I'd do that before buying a 1030/730 unless you could find one for a genuinely sane price. Here's an example that's probably €560 from Amazon Germany, psu is a bit overkill and ssd is bigger then you were looking at so two easy places to shave off a little more if you went this route and wanted to.

CPU: Intel Core i5-11400 2.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (€222.92 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: ASRock H510M-HDV/M.2 Micro ATX LGA1200 Motherboard (€89.49 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€78.78 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (€49.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Case: Aerocool QS-240 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (€38.63 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Power Supply: KOLINK ENCLAVE 600 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€74.90 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Total: €554.62

The AMD onboard graphics are better than Intel though but that's part of why they are hard to pick up for any kind of sane price.

Homelander

The one for €699 with the 10400F and 1650 Super is genuinely a solid deal, and would run most of the latest demanding games well enough, let alone popular kids games like Fortnite/Minecraft/Fifa/whatever that would all run effortlessly.

In time you probably would want to install 2x8GB to replace the 2x4GB but overall, solid build, excellent all-rounder and games machine for the money.

I wouldn't overthink it. Like, the 4700G is a good processor but the integrated graphics are pretty bad if you're looking to do some gaming - they're "great" for integrated graphics, but they would struggle with games.

What you want is something like that machine with the 10400F/1650Super, or a Dell Inspiron, they are around €850 with 10400F and GTX1660 Super card.

Ryath

Thanks for the advice guys

Simi wrote: »

My advice if you're going the build your own route, is to secure a graphics card before building the rest of the system. But saying that you're likely to blow your whole budget on one at this moment in time.

The least worst option right now is buying a prebuilt. You could do a build with integrated graphics, but there's no telling how long you'd be stuck with them.

That's that's everyone is trying to do though! I cant justify blowing Half the budget on on.
Some of the prebuilts do seem good value alright but I'm just afraid I'll regret it in the long term. Part of the temptation of building my own is for a bit future proofing that I can repair upgrade bits as I need to and most computer manufactures ones seems compromised.

minitrue wrote: »

The 310W PSU is going to make it a bit painful to find a gpu to put in down the road.

"Nearly" matching a GT1030 is really not much of a claim once it comes to gaming.

Gaming wise a 10400F and 1650 Super is in a whole other league, the 1650 Super is pretty much a 4GB 1660. That's still "only" a 380W psu though and it's 8GB in 2x4GB with only 2 dimm slots.

Buying from the UK could mean double-VAT so you would really want to be certain about that before considering anywhere.

Building a machine with Intel onboard graphics that will take a gpu when you find one isn't a problem and personally I'd do that before buying a 1030/730 unless you could find one for a genuinely sane price. Here's an example that's probably €560 from Amazon Germany, psu is a bit overkill and ssd is bigger then you were looking at so two easy places to shave off a little more if you went this route and wanted to.

The AMD onboard graphics are better than Intel though but that's part of why they are hard to pick up for any kind of sane price.

The difficulty upgrading is what's putting me of the Lenovo alright.

The AMD might only come close to the gt1030 integrated graphics blow but it Intels out of the water. That build from Intel build from amazon de is tempting though, I actually had the 11400 in my basket there already and I have some money on my account. Bigger SSD is good alright 256gb SSD was just best value option on lenovo.

The Intel will only run the most basic games while the Vega in the 4700g is genuinely capable of running newer stuff. We have a 4800U that has no issues running GTA V.

Some of the UK company's build to orders do still seem ok on on pricing but most aren't clear alright if they are paying Irish VAT. Amazon UK seems the only safe option.

The 4700g or a 3600 with a GT 1030 may actually be enough for my need's. I'm not that big of a gamer anymore. I just don't have the time I'm lucky if I get to play my Nintendo switch once a week these days.

This doesn't seem to badly priced @ £120?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0716S9LZ3/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A3IF948IEHZB5R&psc=1

The cost of this gt1030 and a Ryzen 2600/3600 isn't going to be that much more than the Intel build as the 11400 costs more and the intel motherboards are a little dearer?

Homelander wrote: »

The one for €699 with the 10400F and 1650 Super is genuinely a solid deal, and would run most of the latest demanding games well enough, let alone popular kids games like Fortnite/Minecraft/Fifa/whatever that would all run effortlessly.

In time you probably would want to install 2x8GB to replace the 2x4GB but overall, solid build, excellent all-rounder and games machine for the money.

I wouldn't overthink it. Like, the 4700G is a good processor but the integrated graphics are pretty bad if you're looking to do some gaming - they're "great" for integrated graphics, but they would struggle with games.

What you want is something like that machine with the 10400F/1650Super, or a Dell Inspiron, they are around €850 with 10400F and GTX1660 Super card.

@ €700 it's tempting alright but annoyingly I could have a got it a few weeks ago for just over €600 or €500 with the i3 direct from Lenvo. I didn't bite though as I needed to replace my phone so was saving money for that.

The 4700g is very good though as I said above we have a 4800U laptop that has become my daughters and it seemed very fast to me and the 4700g matches is a nice bit faster. Productivity and general work, photo editing etc will be it's main function so I want something fast. It may actually be enough for me gaming wise but the option to get back into pc gaming is tempting. I've only ever had Nintendo consoles so the switch is the most power gaming device I've ever got used to. When I last gamed on a PC it was with a Pentium 4 and 64Mb Nvidia which tells you how long ago that was! So a 4700g apu still seems pretty decent to me!

Still think the Lenovo 4700G 16B is good value at €560, it's going to be better that the €700 i5 10400 gtx 1650 Lenovo at the day to day stuff without spending another €100 on RAM? Thinkcentre model is a plus too as it has a 3 year onsite warranty vs one on the Ideacentre.

Homelander

Yes the 4700G is a better CPU than the 10400F for raw uses that can use all cores but you really have to consider that the graphics capability between a 4700G v a 10400F/1650S is night and day.

You're talking lowest settings v high settings in recent games.

It really depends on what the priority is. The problem here is the confusion about gaming. If you want to play games? The 4700G is more or less useless. Yeah, the integrated graphics are impressive for what they are, but on the wider scheme of gaming things....still useless.

You say here "the option to get back into pc gaming is tempting" but in the OP it says gaming as a use.

If there's any gaming to be done, the 10400F/1650F obliterates the 4700G, thrice over if not more.

If gaming is suddenly off the table, and it's more about general use and raw processing, obviously the 4700G is a good choice.

Ryath

Gaming was to be a use but it was more of a bonus to have the option to add a graphics card for €150 at the current costs not sure if it was worth it for me.

Thanks for the advice I spent a good bit of time researching and was close to ordering a Ryzen 3600 bundle from here as it seems the only place to get a graphics card at a decent price RX 570 would cost €255.

https://www.csl-computer.com/mainboard-cpu-bundles/amd-mainboard-cpu-bundles

Had most of the other bits picked and was going to ask here when I spotted the Lenovo G5 above on sale on their site but with i5 10400, 16gb Ram, 512gb M2 drive and a GTX 1660 Super. The price of this €329! :eek: I added to cart and bought it instantly was sure it would be canceled as a misprice but it shipped that evening. I could have actually saved another 10% with the discount code but I didn't want to chance it going out of stock while I waited for the code!

Landed two days ago. Its a good fit for the space I have but I not sure whether to just take the graphics card out and use it as a base of a build. Processor is regular i5 so has integrated graphics so I could use it elsewhere or just sell it.

Cheapest option I guess is just try and improve the cooling on it. I guess CPU cooler could be upgraded but airflow for graphics card is probably the biggest issue. Not sure I can do much about that with the lenovo case?

UserBenchmarks: Game 69%, Desk 96%, Work 63%
CPU: Intel Core i5-10400 - 91.6%
GPU: Nvidia GTX 1660S (Super) - 69.5%
SSD: Samsung MZVLB512HBJQ-000L7 512GB - 272.1%
RAM: Samsung M378A1K43DB2-CVF 2x8GB - 80.6%
MBD: Lenovo 90N90031UK

Graphic card performance seems to be main thing holding it back and the BIOS has no option to to enable XMP on RAM.
Don't think it safe to overclock GPU it with current cooling and the 310watt psu? I did install MSI afterburner but was afraid to change anything yet!

I'll probably just use as is now but in the long run my best option may be just a new case, PSU and motherboard. What's the best value upgrades I could do CPU cooler? There's not a whole lot of space best video I've found of it open at 3 minute mark.

I've other things I want to get first though decent set of open back headphones are a priority and a mechanical keyboard to. Tenkeyless Gateron brown switches is my preference if anyone has a recommendation?

Want to sort out speakers too but I get terrible upgradeitous when I start looking at audio equipment! I have a pair of Wharfedale diamond dx1 left over from my surround sound system that I could just get a cheap amp to drive them or I could get Creative Gigaworks T20 for similar money to the amp. Tempted to spend more and get a DAC/ amp that can drive the speakers and makes a decent headphone amp that I could add a subwoofer to later. Topping MX3 seems to be about best budget option for this.

Space is tight though the Wharfedales don't quite fit either side of the monitor the T20s would. That would mean moving the pc under the desk which I don't really want to do as we have a dog who's hair gets everywhere! Could put the speakers on the shelf above and use speaker pads to angle them down.

Aodhan5000

How in the name of God did it come up that cheap and not get cancelled? Was it a returned one that they sold at a discount or brand new? Would've been a bargain when the market was normal even.

Homelander

Amazing bargain, obviously a misprice, you did well to have it honoured!

As for the machine itself you don't need to upgrade anything. The 1660S isn't holding it back unless you're gaming (in the latest games) at resolutions higher than 1080P.

The 69.5% indicates that the CPU is capable of driving higher frames than the 1660S can deliver. So, say you were running on a 4K tv, or even a 1440P monitor and running at ultra.....then the 1660S might hold it back a little.

But even in that case it's still a fine card for 1440P medium-high settings just fine.

On a "normal" 1080P monitor it's a great card and everything will more or less run at ultra settings just fine.

CPU cooler wise, you will have to check but it could be a standard mount, I assume the CPU cooler is screwed into a backplate, if you check it should be easily to see if it is standard socket type so you can replace with a 3rd party cooler, though I'd wager there's no real need.

Finally, you can't change case and psu. The Lenovo motherboard is non-standard as is the power supply naturally, they're not compatiable with off the shelf parts. Naturally your GPU upgrades are also limited to a card that uses a single 8-pin connector.

Best card you can get (if/when stock normalises) would be an RTX3060. Which is a lot faster than a 1660S, but realistically, for a casual to average gamer playing the latest games at 1080P, a 1660S is perfectly good.

Ryath

Aodhan5000 wrote: »

How in the name of God did it come up that cheap and not get cancelled? Was it a returned one that they sold at a discount or brand new? Would've been a bargain when the market was normal even.

Yea it was a stroke of luck. Brand new there was 10 in stock when I ordered. They have form for it but not in the last year though. Whether it's mistakes or especially generous sales. There was cases before where you could stack codes. I know February last year a good few got Legion Ryzen 3400/RTX1650 desktops for €380.

€329 was steal though. In hindsight I should have ordered a second. I ordered in the morning just before heading out the door to work. I checked at 11 and there was still a couple in stock and I could add one to basket with 10% discount code but I didn't have time to checkout and they were were gone by lunch time.

Homelander wrote: »

Amazing bargain, obviously a misprice, you did well to have it honoured!

As for the machine itself you don't need to upgrade anything. The 1660S isn't holding it back unless you're gaming (in the latest games) at resolutions higher than 1080P.

The 69.5% indicates that the CPU is capable of driving higher frames than the 1660S can deliver. So, say you were running on a 4K tv, or even a 1440P monitor and running at ultra.....then the 1660S might hold it back a little.

But even in that case it's still a fine card for 1440P medium-high settings just fine.

On a "normal" 1080P monitor it's a great card and everything will more or less run at ultra settings just fine.

CPU cooler wise, you will have to check but it could be a standard mount, I assume the CPU cooler is screwed into a backplate, if you check it should be easily to see if it is standard socket type so you can replace with a 3rd party cooler, though I'd wager there's no real need.

Finally, you can't change case and psu. The Lenovo motherboard is non-standard as is the power supply naturally, they're not compatiable with off the shelf parts. Naturally your GPU upgrades are also limited to a card that uses a single 8-pin connector.

Best card you can get (if/when stock normalises) would be an RTX3060. Which is a lot faster than a 1660S, but realistically, for a casual to average gamer playing the latest games at 1080P, a 1660S is perfectly good.

Yea monitor is just a 1080p 144hz so I'm sure it's more than enough for the games I'll be playing. Just knowing if I can get a bit more out of the card I'd like to try if possible. The 69.5% is for GPU though. CPU scored 91.6 so does seem to be performing well and wouldn't be the bottleneck?

CPU cooler is probably the only upgrade worth doing. It does look ok though? it has a fan at least compared to the Dell xps/G5 that just have a giant heatsink. It seems to be standard? and enough space and height to fit a low profile one?

Page 94 for CPU cooler
https://gzhls.at/blob/ldb/9/a/1/b/f5f5138a909de66b5c266c9327a50a7b747a.pdf
Would the case fans be proprietary connectors to? They do seem on the noisy side when running full tilt but in reality with headphones on gaming I won't here it.

Know the motherboard would need upgrading to if I change the case at that stage I probably will just use the graphics card for a new build and let the kids use the Lenovo with the i5 integrated graphics. I'd say I will in the long run but I may be forced into it sooner. I want to fit a firewire card as I have some mini DV's to transfer. There is a PCI slot but it's covered by the graphics card. Hoping maybe a riser cable will work but it looks tight.

Homelander

Is that picture actually yours? Or is that from a random video? It has a 1650 Super which is slower than 1660S.

In terms of bottleneck - at 1080P 144hz the 1660s is a technical bottleneck.

In the sense that games will largely run at 1080p ultra 60-90fps depending, but, the 10400 would support probably up to 100-120hz in the main with a better card. It's not a huge deal really. Games will still run fluidly at 1080 ultra.

Also that picture has single channel ram - a single stick. Should always be running in a dual stick config, 2x8GB, or whatever. A single stick can massively hurt performance in some games.

Unless you want to change it due to noise, the basic CPU cooler is perfectly fine.

Ryath

Homelander wrote: »

Is that picture actually yours? Or is that from a random video? It has a 1650 Super which is slower than 1660S.

In terms of bottleneck - at 1080P 144hz the 1660s is a technical bottleneck.

In the sense that games will largely run at 1080p ultra 60-90fps depending, but, the 10400 would support probably up to 100-120hz in the main with a better card. It's not a huge deal really. Games will still run fluidly at 1080 ultra.

Also that picture has single channel ram - a single stick. Should always be running in a dual stick config, 2x8GB, or whatever. A single stick can massively hurt performance in some games.

Unless you want to change it due to noise, the basic CPU cooler is perfectly fine.

No that's just from a video. Haven't opened mine up yet!
Mine has a MSI 1660 super and 2*8Gb Samsung 2933mhz Ram though userbench says it was at clocked @ 2667 MHz. I'll see if I can find any bios updates to change Ram settings seems it was available for some of the Legion models.

The monitor has freesync premium which apparently can work with Nvidia so I'll try and get that going to.

Thinks its safe to use Msi afterburner to overclock the GPU a bit a with the 310watt psu or will I be pushing my luck?

Homelander

No, it should be fine for mild OC.

Even if it's 2x2933 it will run at 2666mhz unless it's a Z490 chipset which I highly doubt it is, it's probably H410M. Unless it's Z490 there's no way to get it faster than 2666mhz. Not a huge deal though.