Building first gaming pc

annetted

Hi, hope you can help us.
Our 12 year old son really would love to build his own gaming PC, starting at Christmas.
He has done a lot of research and came up with this specification.
Could you please advise if this is a good set up. Is it all compatible. It will be a first try to build a pc so just would love it to work out for him. Any help would be appreciated. He is on a budget and will have to do the building in stages. Thanks a million

case: NZXT H500i - Compact ATX Mid-Tower PC Gaming Case - Front I/O USB Type-C Port - Tempered Glass Side Panel - Cable Management System - Water-Cooling Ready - Steel Construction - Black €54.02

graphics card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB Boost Graphics Card, ZT-T16510F-10L £169.99

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Processor (4C/8T, 6 MB cache, 4.2 GHz Max Boost) with Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics £128.97

motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ATX Motherboard, AMD Socket AM4, Ryzen 3000 Ready, PCIe 3.0, M.2, DDR4, Intel GB LAN, HDMI, DP, USB 3.1, Aura Sync RGB £119.99

cpu cooler: Corsair iCUE H100i PRO XT RGB Liquid CPU Cooler (240mm Radiator, Two 120mm Corsair ML Series PWM Fans, 400 to 2,400 RPM, Advanced RGB Lighting and Fan Control with Software, Easy to Install) Black £106.61

case fans: Corsair AF120 Air Series, 120 mm LED Low Noise Cooling Fan - Blue (Triple Pack) £28.99

case fans: Corsair AF120 Air Series, 120 mm LED Low Noise Cooling Fan - Blue (Single Pack) £9.98

power suply: Corsair VS650 £54.99

ram:Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 High Performance Desktop Memory Kit, Black £59.99

solid state drive: Western Digital WDS500G2B0A WD Blue 3D NAND Internal SSD 2.5 Inch SATA, 500 GB £51.98

HDD: WD WD10EZEX 1 TB PC Hard Drive - Blue £34.79
total= €896.32

Homelander

I will come back to this shortly if no-one else replies but your son is prioritizing expensive fancy lights and fans. Basically, what you have there is a €450 PC, that costs €900.

annetted

Thanks Homelander, I am afraid we haven't a clue and bright lights and fans are very tempting for a 12 year old. We would love him to have a really good pc that also looks good (cool)!! He is building it himself so lots of luck needed as well 🤞

DrSpongeBobz

Maybe see if you can get a good deal on an Alienware Pc on black Friday. Got one 3 years ago discounted by 500 euro

Homelander

So, the thing is that he's placing the overwhelming emphasis on expensive lights and fans, basically, things that look cool to an 11 year old.

The obvious problem is that you're getting really poor value for money from a performance point of view. You can still have the bling factor while still building a good value PC.

CPU choice, the 3400G - this choice makes no sense. Either get a) Ryzen 3100, same amount of cores/threads, but more powerful and $30 cheaper or b) Ryzen 3600, has more cores/threads, $30 more expensive, but worth getting for longevity.

The 3400G is a different sort of CPU entirely, not at all designed for gaming PCs, but for home office, media type PC's, who want to play a bit of FIFA or Minecraft.

Motherboard - Nothing wrong with B450M, but again, for an 11 year old, I suspect it was 100% purchased based on that model being cool looking. In your case, a cheap B450M or A320M at half the price or less will suffice perfectly fine.

CPU Cooler - this is honestly the biggest waste of money given your budget, and again, was clearly chosen for the cool factor. The problem being that it eats up a huge amount of your budget just to look good. Either use the cooler that comes with the processor which is perfectly fine, or get a good $30 cooler.

Case fans are fine, PSU is fine, RAM is fine. SSD + HDD combo is technically fine, also consider a NVME model SSD rather than Sata, as they are faster and neater.

Graphics card - with the big savings made above, you can afford a graphics card that is almost 100% faster than the GTX1650 your son has chosen. Like a GTX1660 Super, maybe even a Radeon 5600XT.

Ultimately up to you and your son, but your original build is sacrificing huge performance for flashy looks. You can still buy a nice case, install nice LED fans, and have a cool looking PC that had the performance behind it.

You can also buy a pre-built which are good value too when bought from the right places. For the same price as your son wanted to spend on his build, you can get a pre-built that is way, way faster and still have a case with the cool fans and lights.

The original PC, again is basically a $450 PC with the rest spent on lights, fans, and cool accessories.

K.O.Kiki

annetted wrote: »

Hi, hope you can help us.
Our 12 year old son really would love to build his own gaming PC, starting at Christmas.
He has done a lot of research and came up with this specification.
Could you please advise if this is a good set up. Is it all compatible. It will be a first try to build a pc so just would love it to work out for him. Any help would be appreciated. He is on a budget and will have to do the building in stages. Thanks a million

case: NZXT H500i - Compact ATX Mid-Tower PC Gaming Case - Front I/O USB Type-C Port - Tempered Glass Side Panel - Cable Management System - Water-Cooling Ready - Steel Construction - Black €54.02

graphics card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB Boost Graphics Card, ZT-T16510F-10L £169.99

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G Processor (4C/8T, 6 MB cache, 4.2 GHz Max Boost) with Radeon RX Vega 11 Graphics £128.97

motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ATX Motherboard, AMD Socket AM4, Ryzen 3000 Ready, PCIe 3.0, M.2, DDR4, Intel GB LAN, HDMI, DP, USB 3.1, Aura Sync RGB £119.99

cpu cooler: Corsair iCUE H100i PRO XT RGB Liquid CPU Cooler (240mm Radiator, Two 120mm Corsair ML Series PWM Fans, 400 to 2,400 RPM, Advanced RGB Lighting and Fan Control with Software, Easy to Install) Black £106.61

case fans: Corsair AF120 Air Series, 120 mm LED Low Noise Cooling Fan - Blue (Triple Pack) £28.99

case fans: Corsair AF120 Air Series, 120 mm LED Low Noise Cooling Fan - Blue (Single Pack) £9.98

power suply: Corsair VS650 £54.99

ram:Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 High Performance Desktop Memory Kit, Black £59.99

solid state drive: Western Digital WDS500G2B0A WD Blue 3D NAND Internal SSD 2.5 Inch SATA, 500 GB £51.98

HDD: WD WD10EZEX 1 TB PC Hard Drive - Blue £34.79
total= €896.32

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£179.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: GameMax Gamma 500 ARGB 51.18 CFM CPU Cooler (£29.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£87.66 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£59.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Patriot Burst 960 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£82.74 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 5600 XT 6 GB MECH OC Video Card (£265.48 @ Amazon UK)
Case: SHARKOON VG7-W RGB ATX Mid Tower Case (£51.90 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE Bronze 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.95 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £806.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-29 13:10 GMT+0000

If you can genuinely find the NZXT H500i for €54 it's a great deal, get it instead.

Homelander

^^

Basically exactly this build is what he should be aiming for. It would run rings around his original build, way more "future proof" and you still have a nice looking build with some cool fans and whatnot.

Cathalw123!

I am looking to build a gaming pc for the first time and I was wondering if these specs were ok

Case=Nzxt h510(€76.40)
Cpu=Amd ryzen 5 3600x(€235.37)
Motherboard=Asrock x570 steel legend(€216.86)
Ram=Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 6GB(€79.71)
Graphics card=XFX Radeon rx 580(€187.15)
Hard drive=Seagate Barracuda 3(€85.06)
M.2 ssd=Adata XPG S40G 512GB(€77.79)
Power supply=Evga br 650(71.93)
Total=1030.27

JoyPad

Cathalw123! wrote: »

I am looking to build a gaming pc for the first time and I was wondering if these specs were ok

Case=Nzxt h510(€76.40)
Cpu=Amd ryzen 5 3600x(€235.37)
Motherboard=Asrock x570 steel legend(€216.86)
Ram=Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 6GB(€79.71)
Graphics card=XFX Radeon rx 580(€187.15)
Hard drive=Seagate Barracuda 3(€85.06)
M.2 ssd=Adata XPG S40G 512GB(€77.79)
Power supply=Evga br 650(71.93)
Total=1030.27

When the GPU costs less than the motherboard, you know you got it wrong.

I'd take the R5 3600 and a B450 motherboard, and put the savings towards a better GPU.

K.O.Kiki

Cathalw123! wrote: »

I am looking to build a gaming pc for the first time and I was wondering if these specs were ok

Case=Nzxt h510(€76.40)
Cpu=Amd ryzen 5 3600x(€235.37)
Motherboard=Asrock x570 steel legend(€216.86)
Ram=Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 6GB(€79.71)
Graphics card=XFX Radeon rx 580(€187.15)
Hard drive=Seagate Barracuda 3(€85.06)
M.2 ssd=Adata XPG S40G 512GB(€77.79)
Power supply=Evga br 650(71.93)
Total=1030.27

Hell no.

The only €200 motherboard to buy is MSI X570 Tomahawk WiFi (€195 on AmazonDE) - but for a budget build, you're better off with a sub-€95 board (AsRock B550M Phantom Gaming 4 or Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite/DS3H)

For SSD, get a 1Tb SATA model.
Graphics card, do not buy an RX580.
GTX 1660 Super/Ti OR AMD RX 5600 XT - latter is better by a decent amount.

Cathalw123!

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

For SSD, get a 1Tb SATA model.

Should I not get a m.2 seen as it can run at 3000 mbs but a sata could only run at 550 to 600 mbs

BloodBath

You should. No idea why he's recommending sata. The prices aren't much different and NVME is far superior.

Overheal

Cathalw123! wrote: »

Should I not get a m.2 seen as it can run at 3000 mbs but a data could only run at 550 to 600 mbs

Yep get an m.2 and install it under one of the included heat spreaders. If comparing products lean for ones that are NVMe.

K.O.Kiki

BloodBath wrote: »

You should. No idea why he's recommending sata. The prices aren't much different and NVME is far superior.

Still haven't seen any games that load significantly faster on NVMe than SATA.

Overheal

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Still haven't seen any games that load significantly faster on NVMe than SATA.

Well, that is true, but won't be after DirectStorage is rolled out

Game workloads have also evolved. Modern games load in much more data than older ones and are smarter about how they load this data. These data loading optimizations are necessary for this larger amount of data to fit into shared memory/GPU accessible memory. Instead of loading large chunks at a time with very few IO requests, games now break assets like textures down into smaller pieces, only loading in the pieces that are needed for the current scene being rendered. This approach is much more memory efficient and can deliver better looking scenes, though it does generate many more IO requests.

Unfortunately, current storage APIs were not optimized for this high number of IO requests, preventing them from scaling up to these higher NVMe bandwidths creating bottlenecks that limit what games can do. Even with super-fast PC hardware and an NVMe drive, games using the existing APIs will be unable to fully saturate the IO pipeline leaving precious bandwidth on the table.

That's where DirectStorage for PC comes in. This API is the response to an evolving storage and IO landscape in PC gaming. DirectStorage will be supported on certain systems with NVMe drives and work to bring your gaming experience to the next level. If your system doesn't support DirectStorage, don't fret; games will continue to work just as well as they always have.

Read more: https://www.tweaktown.com/news/74898/directstorage-will-optimize-gen4-ssds-for-windows-10-gaming/index.html

But since the API won't be given as a preview for developers until next year, it could be 2022 before you see any titles take advantage of it just yet. Since we're talking new builds though, it makes sense to plan ahead for the feature.

BloodBath

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Still haven't seen any games that load significantly faster on NVMe than SATA.

That's true but it's also going to be used for windows and all other programs and the price difference is minimal.

We know direct storage access is coming to windows in the coming months/year as well that will dramatically improve game loading times like the next gen consoles.

Cathalw123!

Is there any particular NVMe m.2 ssd I should go for or aee they all the same

JoyPad

Cathalw123! wrote: »

Is there any particular NVMe m.2 ssd I should go for or aee they all the same

I would recommend watching this video.

IMO, you want a small(er) fast SSD for your operating system, e.g. 250 or 500 GB NVMe (either PCIe 3.0 or 4.0, whichever is the fastest for your CPU), and a SATA for your games.

The difference in speed for games is negligible, and SATA is slightly cheaper.
Crucial and Adata are some of the cheaper options, Samsung has the highest speeds (and prices).

Cathalw123!

Would you get a nvidia rtx 2060 and msi b450m or the Radeon rx 5600 xt and gigabyte b550m aorus elite

Homelander

I think he obviously meant 5600XT.

But I would still get the RTX2060. They're basically the same price and the 2060 is a bit better.

JoyPad

Cathalw123! wrote: »

Would you get a nvidia rtx 2060 and msi b450m or the Radeon rx 560 xt and gigabyte b550m aorus elite

There's no value in getting the 550 over the 450, unless you buy a PCIe 4.0 drive, and those are way too expensive, for relatively little gain in performance.

I would go with the 450 and the 2060.

BloodBath

JoyPad wrote: »

I would recommend watching this video.

IMO, you want a small(er) fast SSD for your operating system, e.g. 250 or 500 GB NVMe (either PCIe 3.0 or 4.0, whichever is the fastest for your CPU), and a SATA for your games.

The difference in speed for games is negligible, and SATA is slightly cheaper.
Crucial and Adata are some of the cheaper options, Samsung has the highest speeds (and prices).

No, just get the biggest NVME you can afford. Buying SATA SSD's at this time is pointless. It's a slow outdated technology that's barely any cheaper.

Bigger SSD's are also faster and last longer.

If you really need a big bit of storage on the side get a 2TB HDD to store some games that don't benefit from faster access.

Overheal

JoyPad wrote: »

I would recommend watching this video.

IMO, you want a small(er) fast SSD for your operating system, e.g. 250 or 500 GB NVMe (either PCIe 3.0 or 4.0, whichever is the fastest for your CPU), and a SATA for your games.

The difference in speed for games is negligible, and SATA is slightly cheaper.
Crucial and Adata are some of the cheaper options, Samsung has the highest speeds (and prices).

Yeah about that. I was just reading the patch notes for No Mans Sky. If any of you recall this title has pretty frustratingly long loading times disguised as warp travel. Well, their Next Generation patch for the new consoles takes advantage of the DirectStorage already implemented for the consoles and they are boasting that it improves loading times 5 to 10x, with in many cases players being expected to see nearly instantaneous jumps between star systems.

If that type of performance is to be believed, if you’re going SSD make sure you get an NVMe drive so you’re ready when titles make these uplifts available to PC, which is still waiting on Microsoft to roll it out next year, but it is coming and sounds game changing.

Cathalw123!

Could anybody recommend a keyboard and mouse that is good for gaming

K.O.Kiki

Cathalw123! wrote: »

Could anybody recommend a keyboard and mouse that is good for gaming

No.

But I can recommend you check out RocketJumpNinja for sizing guides & reviews.

I will say that for most people, a TKL (87 key) keyboard is a better size than one with a numpad.

DrSpongeBobz

Cathalw123! wrote: »

Could anybody recommend a keyboard and mouse that is good for gaming

Logitech g502 best gaming mouse

K.O.Kiki

DrSpongeBobz wrote: »

Logitech g502 best gaming mouse

Best OVERALL mouse maybe, I wouldn't use it for FPS games.

DrSpongeBobz

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Best OVERALL mouse maybe, I wouldn't use it for FPS games.

I love it especially if your moving on from controller u can assign all the buttons to melee, revive, throw a grenade and use a special ability

annetted

Hi,
Thanks for all your help. Our son did more research based on all your suggestions and he has come up with this specification.

What do ye think? Would ye suggest any alternatives?

Thanks again for all the help and information.

Ut54
cpu: AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Processor (4C/8T, 18 MB Cache, 3.9 GHz Max Boost) £95.99

motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B450-F Gaming ATX Motherboard, AMD Socket AM4, Ryzen 3000 Ready, PCIe 3.0, M.2, DDR4, Intel GB LAN, HDMI, DP, USB 3.1, Aura Sync RGB £100.00

cpu cooler: NZXT Kraken M22 120mm - All-In-One RGB CPU Liquid Cooler - CAM-Powered - Infinity Mirror Design - Reinforced Extended Tubing - Aer P120mm PWM Radiator Fan (Included) £65.26

HDD: WD WD10EZEX 1 TB PC Hard Drive - Blue £34.79

SSD: Sabrent M.2 NVME SSD QLC (500GB) £69.99

ram:Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3200C16 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 High Performance Desktop Memory Kit, Black

power suply: Corsair VS650

case fans: Corsair AF120 Air Series, 120 mm LED Low Noise Cooling Fan - Blue (Triple Pack) £28.99

case: NZXT H500i - Compact ATX Mid-Tower PC Gaming Case - Front I/O USB Type-C Port - Tempered Glass Side Panel - Cable Management System - Water-Cooling Ready - Steel Construction - Black €54.02

graphics card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4GB Boost Graphics Card, ZT-T16510F-10L £169.99

total = €739.82

Homelander

Honestly at this point there is not really any point trying to change his mind. He didn't do any research, he just tried to pretend he did.

That PC is barely any different to the first one, still pumping money into fans and lights.

annetted

0

annetted

Oh crap.. This is his mum!! So sorry I don't really understand the specification at all.

Homelander

There was a PC posted on the first page by K.O Kiki. That is light years ahead of his build. It will play games way better, and last much longer.

Here is a direct link to that - here.

He is 11. To be honest you can't let him pick his own stuff. Of course he is going to gravitate towards flashing lights. I'm sure he will try and convince you that he needs all these parts he has chosen, but he doesn't.

His proposed build directly sacrifices a ton of performance for lights and cool looking stuff. He'll be looking for an upgrade in a year or two.

annetted

Thanks a million for your help.. definitely want it to last for a few years. We will go through the spec that K. O kiki did up.. Thanks K. O kiki for your help.

It is a minefield trying to figure out building a pc. It is all advertising and bright lights on YouTube and that definitely swayed him.

We will get there. Thanks again for replying and your help.

Homelander

You can also buy a pre-built.

This PC is just £632 when configured with a 500GB SSD.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-mb520-argb-ryzen-7-2700x-nvidia-gtx-1660-super-16gb-ram-desktop-gaming-pc.html

It's way faster than your son's proposed build, cheaper, and still has the lights.

It has a much better processor, and a much better graphics card.

Your son's proposed build is squandering a huge portion of the budget on unnecessary fans and lights, while cheaping out on the core components.

It would be like giving your son €1K to buy his first 2nd hand car and instead of buying a solid car he goes out and buys a €400 banger and throws a spoiler and fancy rims on it with the rest of the money.

K.O.Kiki

In addition to this thread, this case just came out & has 4x RGB fans built-in.

https://www.cclonline.com/product/327885/385VM70-0004/Cases/Cougar-MX410-Mesh-G-RGB-Mid-Tower-ATX-Case-in-Black-with-Tempered-Glass-ARGB-Hub-Illumination-4x-ARGB-Fans/CAS4124/

A bargain at only £43!

annetted

Thank you, that is a fab case.

Thanks for the pre built option as well.

It is a steep learning curve.. But we do need value for money as well. It is a massive amount of money to be spending so trying to go in the right direction... Thanks for your help keeping us on track.

annetted

case: NZXT H510 $69.99

PSU: Corsair VS650 650 W Active PFC 80 PLUS Certified Power Supply Unit - Black £54.99

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Processor (6C/12T, 35 MB Cache, 4.2 GHz Max Boost) £180.00

GPU: EVGA GeForce RTX 2060 KO GAMING, 06G-P4-2066-KR, 6GB GDDR6, Dual Fans, Metal Backplate £286.00

ASRock B450M Pro4 AM4 M-ATX D-Sub/HDMI/DVI DDR4 Retail - AMD Socket AM4 (Ryzen) - Micro/Mini/Flex-ATX £70.98

Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16 XMP 2.0 Enthusiast RGB LED Illuminated Memory Kit £76.99

CPU cooler: NZXT Kraken M22 120mm - All-In-One RGB CPU Liquid Cooler - CAM-Powered - Infinity Mirror Design - Reinforced Extended Tubing - Aer P120mm PWM Radiator Fan (Included) €67.32

SSD: Sabrent M.2 NVME SSD QLC (500GB) £69.99

Can we please your opinion on this spec. We are thinking of KO Kiki design or the pre built one.. But our son just wanted to try one more time to make his own spec. He is hoping there will be loads of discounts over the next few weeks. Thanks a million

Homelander

I would drop the CPU cooler and spend the money instead on a 1TB SSD, 500GB is too little these days with some games taking up half that on their own.

The 3600 comes with a cooler which is decent, though you could also buy a €30 one if you really wanted. There is no need for liquid cooling with this CPU, it's not a hot processor and doesn't overclock.

The build is generally fine although it's not the best time to be buying a graphics card as new ones are due out soon, in a few months cards will be available for the same price as the 2060 that are much faster.

But for buying now, it's generally an OK build.

annetted

Thanks Homelander.. We really appreciate your help and all the advice we have gotten.. We will come back and show ye the pc 🤞hopefully all going well!

Cathalw123!

These are the specs I was thinking of getting. Can he give some advice were needed

Case : Nzxt h510 (76.40)
Cpu :and ryzen 5 3600 (197.85)
Motherboard :Msi b450 tomahalk max (106.41)
Ram :corsair vengeance lpx 16gb 3600mhz(66.50)
Graphics card :msi geforce rtx 2060 venus (328.12)
Storage :crucial p1 1tb m.2 NVMe (107.69)
Storage :seagate barracuda 2tb (56.91
PSU :evga 650 bq (73.54)
Nzxt aer f 120mm ×2 (25.62)
Total : 1039.04