ADVICE PLEASE: Budget/entry-level gaming PC

[ColonelPara]

My 17 year old son has been playing games like SMITE, Battlefield 5, Modern Warfare, COD WW2 on a PS4. He's a really good player. But he wants to migrate to PC gaming (much to my disappointment because I love the PS4 - too old and slow for PC 😌) Point being I don't want to buy something that he's going to be excited to get and then be disappointed when he plays the fps games he's good at playing because the performance isn't what he needs to excel. But my budget is limited to about R10k. Not a lot, I know.

The best and most flexible config that fits my budget and has been recommended to me by a couple of vendors is an AMD B450 (because it can OC), a Ryzen 5 3400 (which has a Radeon Vega 11 iGPU), 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. This way I don't have to fork out a lot of money to get the GPU. But I have three big concerns that I hope somebody can give me advice on:

1. Will the AMD CPU and iGPU have the capacity to play the Triple-A FPS's without being the potato? Will he be able to play the game without getting frustrated two weeks into having the PC. Then I regret it and have invested in something that he won't use.
2. If the iGPU isn't coping, will something like the Radeon RX580 (which seems to be a lot of for sale on this forum) be a good addition to improve the graphics.
3. And is the recommended config sufficient to expand as we can afford without big major costs of replacing the base config (because the PC gaming world seems to be a bottomless bucket)

I been watching YouTube streams and reviews like crazy. But that doesn't give one a true show of how it looks because YouTube has compression of it's own and so the final render isn't a perfect representation. Some rave about the iGPU. Some are meh!

Maybe there's a different config that I or the vendor haven't thought of.

Is there some advice for me?

 

[CaptainSlow]

@SILTECH786 @souljazk

 

[SILTECH786]

@Senshi this is your forte sir

 

[Senshi]

My 17 year old son has been playing games like SMITE, Battlefield 5, Modern Warfare, COD WW2 on a PS4. He's a really good player. But he wants to migrate to PC gaming (much to my disappointment because I love the PS4 - too old and slow for PC 😌) Point being I don't want to buy something that he's going to be excited to get and then be disappointed when he plays the fps games he's good at playing because the performance isn't what he needs to excel. But my budget is limited to about R10k. Not a lot, I know.

The best and most flexible config that fits my budget and has been recommended to me by a couple of vendors is an AMD B450 (because it can OC), a Ryzen 5 3400 (which has a Radeon Vega 11 iGPU), 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. This way I don't have to fork out a lot of money to get the GPU. But I have three big concerns that I hope somebody can give me advice on:

1. Will the AMD CPU and iGPU have the capacity to play the Triple-A FPS's without being the potato? Will he be able to play the game without getting frustrated two weeks into having the PC. Then I regret it and have invested in something that he won't use.
2. If the iGPU isn't coping, will something like the Radeon RX580 (which seems to be a lot of for sale on this forum) be a good addition to improve the graphics.
3. And is the recommended config sufficient to expand as we can afford without big major costs of replacing the base config (because the PC gaming world seems to be a bottomless bucket)

I been watching YouTube streams and reviews like crazy. But that doesn't give one a true show of how it looks because YouTube has compression of it's own and so the final render isn't a perfect representation. Some rave about the iGPU. Some are meh!

Maybe there's a different config that I or the vendor haven't thought of.

Is there some advice for me?

I can definitely try and help. What screen are you using? If you are on a 60hz screen, then the gpu becomes less relevant as going above 60fps is effectively "wasted" performance. Yes, 144fps even on a 60hz screen provides for a better gaming experience, but the limitation here is your budget rather than the gaming experience.

In my humble opinion, stay away from integrated graphics. Yes it's a cheaper investment to buy a CPU with GPU however they are never up to the task especially if you compare them to dedicated alternatives.

Unfortunately getting into PC gaming is a lot more expensive than vs consoles. Your initial outlay is a lot higher than a console and you have the added option of upgrading which adds an ongoing cost.

Personally I'm not a big fan of B450 motherboards as they offer you little to no future proofing. More specific to your questions though:

1. Will it play AAA titles? Yes. Will it be a good experience? No (unless you are a fan of running a game on 1080p on low settings).
2. The RX580 is a previous generation mid-range GPU. It'll offer heaps and bounds more performance than an iGPU. Budget allowing, it's not a bad card for 1080p gaming at medium to high settings.
3. This is difficult to answer as "expand" in your mind could mean a few things. The board will allow the next generation of cpu's, but other than the cpu performance it gives you none of the other newer tech (pci express 4.0).

If at all possible, if you could stretch your budget to R12000 or even R13000 you could possibly fit a B550 motherboard into the setup.

I do want to give a fair headsup, building a PC for R10k (full pc) generally means that most if not all the parts are from the bottom of the list. This means that many vital components (such as the PSU and motherboard) are skimped on to allow them to fit into your budget, but at the cost of quality and longevity.

Things like PSU's need to be taken into consideration as low end psu's are really not a good idea (especially with our bad and unreliable power in SA) and tend to take the whole machine with them if they should die.

Hope this helps. Feel free to drop me a private message if you need more info.

 

[souljazk]

iGPU = poo , forget about playing anytthing but Angry birds on it. Ok, its not as bad as that but for gaming its a BIG no.

16GB RAM may be a little over kill.

1TB SSD is WAY overkill. Grab a 250GB or 512GB SSD (M.2 SSD).

Wait for B550 & put a 3300x (quadcore CPU) .

This will give him a nice start, def a console beater if you put a 1070Ti in it & he can then work / save for a better CPU etc. I'd steer clear of ATI GPU's , just too many driver issues that come up.

Buy new:
CPU+mobo

Buy 2nd hand:
RAM + GPU + PSU + SSD - make sure to verify warranty 1st. I've bought PLENTY stuff on carbs with valid warranty.

 

[TRINITRON]

Rather get a secondhand full combo off here than buying new.

 

[ColonelPara]

I can definitely try and help. What screen are you using? If you are on a 60hz screen, then the gpu becomes less relevant as going above 60fps is effectively "wasted" performance. Yes, 144fps even on a 60hz screen provides for a better gaming experience, but the limitation here is your budget rather than the gaming experience.

In my humble opinion, stay away from integrated graphics. Yes it's a cheaper investment to buy a CPU with GPU however they are never up to the task especially if you compare them to dedicated alternatives.

Unfortunately getting into PC gaming is a lot more expensive than vs consoles. Your initial outlay is a lot higher than a console and you have the added option of upgrading which adds an ongoing cost.

Personally I'm not a big fan of B450 motherboards as they offer you little to no future proofing. More specific to your questions though:

1. Will it play AAA titles? Yes. Will it be a good experience? No (unless you are a fan of running a game on 1080p on low settings).
2. The RX580 is a previous generation mid-range GPU. It'll offer heaps and bounds more performance than an iGPU. Budget allowing, it's not a bad card for 1080p gaming at medium to high settings.
3. This is difficult to answer as "expand" in your mind could mean a few things. The board will allow the next generation of cpu's, but other than the cpu performance it gives you none of the other newer tech (pci express 4.0).

If at all possible, if you could stretch your budget to R12000 or even R13000 you could possibly fit a B550 motherboard into the setup.

I do want to give a fair headsup, building a PC for R10k (full pc) generally means that most if not all the parts are from the bottom of the list. This means that many vital components (such as the PSU and motherboard) are skimped on to allow them to fit into your budget, but at the cost of quality and longevity.

Things like PSU's need to be taken into consideration as low end psu's are really not a good idea (especially with our bad and unreliable power in SA) and tend to take the whole machine with them if they should die.

Hope this helps. Feel free to drop me a private message if you need more info.

Thanks a lot for your prompt feedback. What is the difference between B450 and the B550 as suggested by

I can definitely try and help. What screen are you using? If you are on a 60hz screen, then the gpu becomes less relevant as going above 60fps is effectively "wasted" performance. Yes, 144fps even on a 60hz screen provides for a better gaming experience, but the limitation here is your budget rather than the gaming experience.

In my humble opinion, stay away from integrated graphics. Yes it's a cheaper investment to buy a CPU with GPU however they are never up to the task especially if you compare them to dedicated alternatives.

Unfortunately getting into PC gaming is a lot more expensive than vs consoles. Your initial outlay is a lot higher than a console and you have the added option of upgrading which adds an ongoing cost.

Personally I'm not a big fan of B450 motherboards as they offer you little to no future proofing. More specific to your questions though:

1. Will it play AAA titles? Yes. Will it be a good experience? No (unless you are a fan of running a game on 1080p on low settings).
2. The RX580 is a previous generation mid-range GPU. It'll offer heaps and bounds more performance than an iGPU. Budget allowing, it's not a bad card for 1080p gaming at medium to high settings.
3. This is difficult to answer as "expand" in your mind could mean a few things. The board will allow the next generation of cpu's, but other than the cpu performance it gives you none of the other newer tech (pci express 4.0).

If at all possible, if you could stretch your budget to R12000 or even R13000 you could possibly fit a B550 motherboard into the setup.

I do want to give a fair headsup, building a PC for R10k (full pc) generally means that most if not all the parts are from the bottom of the list. This means that many vital components (such as the PSU and motherboard) are skimped on to allow them to fit into your budget, but at the cost of quality and longevity.

Things like PSU's need to be taken into consideration as low end psu's are really not a good idea (especially with our bad and unreliable power in SA) and tend to take the whole machine with them if they should die.

Hope this helps. Feel free to drop me a private message if you need more info.

@Senshi Thanks for your prompt response. What is the major difference between the 450 and 550. Why does the latter offer more expansion options and is there a definite performance issue to consider?

 

[Senshi]

I'd start here: AMD Chipset Comparison: B550 Specs vs. X570, B450, X370, & Zen 3 Support (2020)

Sorry, busy eating, typing with one hand.

In short, the older tech is slower and outdated (in a nutshell), hence I wouldn't go for b450.

 

[ColonelPara]

I'd start here: AMD Chipset Comparison: B550 Specs vs. X570, B450, X370, & Zen 3 Support (2020)

Sorry, busy eating, typing with one hand.

In short, the older tech is slower and outdated (in a nutshell), hence I wouldn't go for b450.

@Senshi Thanks a lot. You asked what monitor I've got. It's a Dell 2717 27". I deliberately bought it at the time because it's affordable for what we're using it for, but that it also uses FreeSync. So, I thought the Radeon GPU's would suit it nicely. Anybody's opinion?

 

[Valdo8]

Rather get a secondhand full combo off here than buying new.

Agreed, plenty of nice deals floating around in the combo forum. Like this: [Sale] - 9th gen MB, i5, AIO, 16GB, RX570 @ R7000 | Combo (multi-item) sales & full systems
Pickup some storage new off Wootware/one of the resellers here and it's a pretty solid PC. Could maybe get a cheapo secondary monitor too for TeamSpeak or whatever for 10K total.

 

[Jack_Bauer_ZA]

What i would buy for 10k budget.

i5 9400f - dirt cheap but great for gaming
B360 (the cheapest i can find)
16gb 2666mhz (2x8gb elcheapos)
250gb elcheapo sata ssd
2tb hdd
550W Cm/Corsair/Seasonic/branded psu
RX480/570/580

Later on just upgrade the gpu when prices normalize.

 

[BearZA]

Things like PSU's need to be taken into consideration as low end psu's are really not a good idea (especially with our bad and unreliable power in SA) and tend to take the whole machine with them if they should die.

Hope this helps. Feel free to drop me a private message if you need more info.

Never ever ever cheap out on a PSU, and I agree with everything else he has said.

Although if "future-proofing" is not too big of a deal, you might be able to grab the B450 chipset to try to stick in your budget. Gaming at 1080p is viable with some older parts and will scale up nicely in the future just by upgrading the GPU.

In terms of motherboards you can go fairly cheap, but stick to a decent brand, the more expensive boards offer great features for enthusiasts who like to tweak and Overclock, but for someone who just wants to play, the price premium just does not make sense.

Rather get a secondhand full combo off here than buying new.

The Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB is still a lekker card for 1080p gaming and available fairly cheap second hand.

I helped a friend put a build together with just second-hand parts for just over R5k (Excluding monitor and peripherals), he is playing titles such as Far Cry 5 on high settings at 1080p 60fps no issues.

Should you want 4k or higher refresh rates, R10k will be hard to build with.

 

[Azurety]

This would actually be perfect for you:

[Sale] - Complete Ready to Go Full AMD System | Combo (multi-item) sales & full systems

CPU: AMD Ryzen 2600x GPU: Palit GeForce RTX 2060 GamingPro OC NE62060T18J9-1062A 6GB GDDR6 192-bit PCI-E 3.0 Desktop Graphics Card Cooler: Fractal Design FD-WCU-CELSIUS-S24-BK Celsius S24 240mm Liquid CPU Cooler Mobo: MSI B450 Gaming Pro Carbon AC PSU: Super Flower SF-650F14EG(BK) Leadex II 650W...

carbonite.co.za

 

[TheJudge]

I'm in a similar boat, busy pulling together the last parts (bought and will ship next week)... well except for a new PSU.

I ended up going with:
Ryzen 3 3100
B350 Mortar refurbished
16Gb GSkill (their base RAM)
An old 500Gb mech drive
A WD Green 240Gb SSD
A Thermaltake Versa H18
XFX RX 5500 XT 4Gb

Any suggestions in a particular PSU? I see recommendations for a 550W. What are safe brands the OP (and myself) could look at? I have a 10 year old 600W Coolermaster which is working fine but I do worry that it gives up!

To the OP, it's more power hungry but I think a second hand RX 580 or 570 would be a good investment.

 

[BearZA]

I'm in a similar boat, busy pulling together the last parts (bought and will ship next week)... well except for a new PSU.

I ended up going with:
Ryzen 3 3100
B350 Mortar refurbished
16Gb GSkill (their base RAM)
An old 500Gb mech drive
A WD Green 240Gb SSD
A Thermaltake Versa H18
XFX RX 5500 XT 4Gb

Any suggestions in a particular PSU? I see recommendations for a 550W. What are safe brands the OP (and myself) could look at? I have a 10 year old 600W Coolermaster which is working fine but I do worry that it gives up!

To the OP, it's more power hungry but I think a second hand RX 580 or 570 would be a good investment.

I would recommend a CM or Corsair PSU, 550W or 650W.

Arachne Systems

Here at Arachne Systems we aim to build you your best PC yet! Clean, efficient and purpose built for your needs. We build personal computer systems from the office PC to a monster gaming machine or design workstation, we do it all! Watercooling and RGB? YES we do that too! Custom fabrication and...

arachnesystems.co.za

You can also email or PM me then I can get pricing on other units next week.

 

[Xb07]

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