Hi all,
I'm so out of touch with the PC component world, I'm still concerned that AMD is the new kid on the block and doesn't have the experience that Intel does! So I need your help.
It is time to introduce my son to the frustrations of building a PC from scratch. I’m probably not the best teacher; having only built 3 systems in my 40 years; but home schooling is forcing my hand; and I’m a sucker for punishment. As you could probably glean from the infrequent builds, I’m also slightly out of touch.
We do have some constraints though. Most notably – space. And I’m not a media system enthusiast; nor do I build because I enjoy it. I love the build; then I love the fact I don’t have to build again for a number of years. My last system was a mini-ATX build in a cube. It does the job well enough – has done for 5 years. This time, we have even less space, as we somehow have to fit TWO PC’s into our house with enough free room that they are actually usable. That means I’m about to dip my toes into the pool labelled “mini-ITX”.
But we also have budget constraints. I’ve spent ages reading up and trying to understand what stuff means; but I’ll admit – I’m not sure when this all became so complex. Or, probably more accurately, I’m not sure when I became my dad. I always laughed at his inability to understand the home PC market – he was a mainframe programmer for a large bank for crying out loud – he must be able to get it. Well, now I understand – stopped keeping up-to-date for 10 years and all of a sudden I don’t understand a thing.
Anyway – to the question. I’ve read up that the best way to start a build is to start with the case; then move on from there. So I’ve found a case that I think will work – the fractal node 202. That’s £80 worth of case, so not the most expensive, because I’m on a budget, but small, compact and has a separate compartment for the GPU which should help with temperatures. I’ve then started speccing it up; but here is where I need your superior knowledge. Because I’m an old fogey who doesn’t understand what I’m supposed to be looking for. I need to try and reduce this spend, but keep the performance good enough to last 5 years, and play games at a decent speed and quality at the least.
With a monitor for £80 and the OS for £100 that brings the total bill to about £750. Is there anything I can swap out to knock the budget down? Or have I already tried to cut back too much? Some guidance from better and more knowledgeable minds would be greatly appreciated.
I'm so out of touch with the PC component world, I'm still concerned that AMD is the new kid on the block and doesn't have the experience that Intel does! So I need your help.
It is time to introduce my son to the frustrations of building a PC from scratch. I’m probably not the best teacher; having only built 3 systems in my 40 years; but home schooling is forcing my hand; and I’m a sucker for punishment. As you could probably glean from the infrequent builds, I’m also slightly out of touch.
We do have some constraints though. Most notably – space. And I’m not a media system enthusiast; nor do I build because I enjoy it. I love the build; then I love the fact I don’t have to build again for a number of years. My last system was a mini-ATX build in a cube. It does the job well enough – has done for 5 years. This time, we have even less space, as we somehow have to fit TWO PC’s into our house with enough free room that they are actually usable. That means I’m about to dip my toes into the pool labelled “mini-ITX”.
But we also have budget constraints. I’ve spent ages reading up and trying to understand what stuff means; but I’ll admit – I’m not sure when this all became so complex. Or, probably more accurately, I’m not sure when I became my dad. I always laughed at his inability to understand the home PC market – he was a mainframe programmer for a large bank for crying out loud – he must be able to get it. Well, now I understand – stopped keeping up-to-date for 10 years and all of a sudden I don’t understand a thing.
Anyway – to the question. I’ve read up that the best way to start a build is to start with the case; then move on from there. So I’ve found a case that I think will work – the fractal node 202. That’s £80 worth of case, so not the most expensive, because I’m on a budget, but small, compact and has a separate compartment for the GPU which should help with temperatures. I’ve then started speccing it up; but here is where I need your superior knowledge. Because I’m an old fogey who doesn’t understand what I’m supposed to be looking for. I need to try and reduce this spend, but keep the performance good enough to last 5 years, and play games at a decent speed and quality at the least.
- Case: Fractal Node 202 (This part is probably the bit I’m most comfortable with tbh)
- Mobo: ASRock Z390M
- CPU: Intel Core i3 9100F (Went with Intel because the Ryzen 3 is £15 more and I’ve always been Intel)
- CPU cooler: Artic Freezer 11 LP
- RAM: 4GB Corsair DDR4 Value Select (Figured RAM was less important, and I can probably get by with 4GB instead of 8)
- GPU: Gigabyte Radeon RX 570 (Massive struggle with this one. Cost/Value arguments and I’ve always been green, so this is my first red; but I have no idea)
- Storage: 500MB Crucial P1 M.2
- PSU: 300W SFX (I must admit, I haven’t done the power calculation yet, but surely 300W would be enough as it’s only driving the CPU and a single GPU)
With a monitor for £80 and the OS for £100 that brings the total bill to about £750. Is there anything I can swap out to knock the budget down? Or have I already tried to cut back too much? Some guidance from better and more knowledgeable minds would be greatly appreciated.
