Build Gaming PC for R10k.

[StangV2_0]

Hey Guys,

My neighbor has asked me to come up with a PC he can get for his son. Will be used to play games such as Fortnite and Warzone. His son and my son get along very well and they either playing games here by me or they running wild somewhere in the complex.

Gave me a budget of R10k, and asked that I keep some headroom in the build for upgrades in future. Told him it can be done but might need to stretch just a little more, especially since they have nothing. No monitor. No peripherals.

This is what I have come up with. Looking at z490 with i5 10500. Can be upgraded to 10700 or 10900 if ever needed. Another option, which makes more sense for future upgrades, is 13400F but cant see this and motherboard around for budget of R3k.

The power supply doesnt have to be 1000W. Can also be 850 but gonna cost around same.

GPU - Cant picture a better value for card in this price range than a 2060 super.

Monitor, etc can use generic from closest PC store for now. Seen a 1080P monitor in PE for R600.

Thoughts?

CPU	i5 10500	1500​
Board	Z490	1500​
Ram	ddr4 16gb	800​
PSU	1000w	1000​
CPUcooler	anything	500​
SSD	2 x 512 or 1 x 1TB	800​
GPU	2060 super	3000​
Case	mid tower	800​
Monitor		0​
mouse		0​
kb		0​
headphones		0​
Total:		9900​
Budget		10000​
Balance		100​

 

[yepsy]

Seems pretty solid to me

 

[𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓵.𝓒𝓱𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓷 𝓸𝓯 𝓒𝓪𝔂𝓭𝓮]

This is about perfect. Should give him decent framerates high-ish to ultra @ native 1080p and whatever it can't run FSR will handle smoothly.

 

[ThatGuyJD]

Yeah no fault with this setup. Could do a lot worse.

 

[StangV2_0]

For the AMD gurus..

Is there an AMD option that may be more suitable here in same price range? I know AMD will keep same socket for many generations whereas intel will be around 2.

Is there an AMD option where he could upgrade to a way more powerful CPU in future?
I am not familiar with the AMD options but keen to know if there anything that can do budget now, and then just change CPU later for big upgrade.

 

[Switch]

For the AMD gurus..

Is there an AMD option that may be more suitable here in same price range? I know AMD will keep same socket for many generations whereas intel will be around 2.

Is there an AMD option where he could upgrade to a way more powerful CPU in future?
I am not familiar with the AMD options but keen to know if there anything that can do budget now, and then just change CPU later for big upgrade.

3600 and b450 is in that same price point (and vs the 10500 the 3600 should be strictly faster by low single digit percentage), if you manage to find a b550 then 3600 has better peripheral tech like pcie4, gen4 nvme, and faster ddr4 ram support.

The am4 platform allows you to upgrade to the 5800x3d (out performs 12th gen i7 in some instances) later if your mobo vrm can support it, but in both cases for the intel 10500 and 3600 both platforms are end of life.

 

[Oj0]

R 1,000 for a 1,000w PSU? That's optimistic unless it's Raidmax or something?

Cooler, knock off almost the full R 500 and run stock or something very generic for now.

Case, you can get brand new for cheaper.

 

[StangV2_0]

Neighbor came over with his wife last night and we discussed the build mentioned above. Said I must up budget a little for board and cpu. So, with that in mind, I am now thinking along lines of i5 13400 with Z690 board. Still DDR4 Ram. They might just look at new in which case @Oj0 will get a call!!

I looked at a few AMD options in sim price range but DDr5 is required which then pushes price up a bit much. So right now, it appears as if he may go for around R14k budget.

They also asked if, in this price range, it's advisable to go with a console. I was as unbiased as possible and gave them a breakdown of pros and cons of both options. I think they will prob go PC route.

 

[Oj0]

i5 13400 with Z690 board. Still DDR4 Ram

DDR4 is being phased out already. A year or two from now when it's time for faster/more memory, it could prove to be challenging. Everything other than value DDR3 disappeared off the market stupidly quickly once DDR4 arrived, same with DDR2 once DDR3 arrived.

What is the need for Z690? I doubt it offers a single required feature that H610 doesn't offer, and that money would be better spent on something tangible. An H610 DDR5 board can be had for well under R 2k, and 16GB DDR5 is within R 200 of what you budgeted.

13th Gen is a nice improvement over 12th Gen, but a big price jump. Too big, in fact. I'm going to assume you're talking about the -F variants, in which case a 12400F is R 3.7k while a 13400F is R 4.9k - R 1,200 for CPU performance in a budget gaming PC is hard to swallow.

You initially had a breakdown of R 4,300 for the CPU, board, RAM and cooler. The following will eat R 2,200 of the additional R 4,000 you added:

Intel Core i5-12400F 6 Core CPU with HyperThreading, No Integrated Graphics, LGA1700, 2.5GHz (4.4GHz Turbo) — Best Deals at Progenix — South Africa

Intel Core i5-12400F Processor (7.5M Cache, up to 4.40 GHz) quick reference guide including specifications, features, pricing, compatibility, design documentation, ordering codes, spec codes and more.

progenix.co.za

Gigabyte H610M K, Intel H610 Chipset, LGA1700, DDR5, Micro ATX Desktop Motherboard — Best Deals at Progenix — South Africa

Cleaner and more efficient power delivery to the CPU with better thermal performance ensure stability under high CPU frequencies and heavy loading. GIGABYTE H610 Motherboards feature the latest DDR5 architecture and XMP 3.0 capability. The new DDR5 memory

progenix.co.za

ADATA XPG LANCER BLADE DDR5 16GB (1 x 16GB) Low Profile DDR5 DRAM 5600MHz CL46 1.10V AX5U5600C4616G-SLABBK Memory Module — Black — Best Deals at Progenix — South Africa

The LANCER BLADE boasts a low-profile heatsink that fits perfectly in smaller PC cases and avoids interference with tower CPU coolers. Its sleek geometric lines add versatility and visual appeal to any case design. The XPG LANCER BLADE DDR5 features a bui

progenix.co.za

The RAM will be single channel for now, but easy enough to upgrade to dual channel at a future stage. It's not some DDR5-7200 CL34 kit and the motherboard doesn't support it, but the budget isn't unlimited. If low memory speed is a concern, this is another R 900 of the budget (still leaving R 900 of the additional R 4k):

Gigabyte B760M D2H, Intel B760 Chipset, LGA1700, DDR5, Micro ATX Desktop Motherboard — Best Deals at Progenix — South Africa

GIGABYTE B760 Motherboards are ready to work with the PCIe 4.0 devices which are expected to experience triple bandwidth than the current PCIe 3.0 devices. To reach the high speed and maintain good signal integrity, GIGABYTE R&D uses the low impedance

progenix.co.za

With all that said, I don't think the i5 is even necessary. The i3-12100F is within 30% of the 12900K at stupidly low resolution, within 20% at 1080p, within 15% at 1440p, and within 2% at 4k - and that's with a high end card (RTX 3080).

Intel Core i3-12100F Review - 5.2 GHz OC with an Asterisk

Core i3-12100F is the most affordable quad-core Alder Lake CPU from Intel. In our review, we test with DDR4 and DDR5 to see whether it has what it takes to build a lean work PC or cost-efficient gaming machine. Thanks to BCLK overclocking, we even managed to overclock it to 5.2 GHz all-core.

www.techpowerup.com

Dropping down the a 12100F, it's within 15% of the 13400F at 1080p, and 13% at 1440p - again with a high end card (this time an RTX 4090):

Intel Core i5-13400F Review - Force of Efficiency

The Intel Core i5-13400F is only $200, but comes with six Performance Cores and four E-Cores, bringing the total thread count to 16. Performance is good, as expected, but what's even more impressive is the energy efficiency as confirmed by the detailed testing in our review.

www.techpowerup.com

That R 1,400 saving on the CPU would be far better spent on a faster GPU, more RAM, more storage, RGB lighting, whatever.

Fortnite only really needs two CPU cores:

Get Maximum Fortnite Performance: 'Epic' Mode With 10 Graphics Cards

Fortnite is the hottest game of 2018. We pulled out our mainstream gaming PC and 10 graphics cards to see how to run it at its top ("Epic") quality settings.

www.tomshardware.com

Warzone 2.0 only RECOMMENDS an i5-6600K, which is slower than the i3-12100F.

Food for thought based on a chat I had with Neo/ShockG/TheOverclocker/whatever you wanna call him about a week ago - basically, a Core i5/i7/i9 is a waste for many gamers as things have changed to the point that a modern i5 beats an older i9 even in CPU benchmarks.

 

[StangV2_0]

What is the need for Z690?

I agree 100%, just typed that out of habit of always looking at the Z option for myself. Not because I feel it's necessary. Nothing wrong with the H series boards.

Ok all noted on all advice, will have a chat to you once they make a decision.

 

[el_guapo3291]

Could also go with something like this: PC Builder - Wootware

 

[StangV2_0]

Update on this, looks like they are going ahead with the R10k budget.

 

[StangV2_0]

Got the go ahead. Busy shopping.

@Oj0 budget is staying R10k.

 

[StangV2_0]

PSU sorted from @Vinnige Fanie - 850W modular
Mobo, CPU, Ram sorted from @Ravi - 12500, Asus prime, 2 * 8gb DDR4 3200 RGB

Unfortunately I am a little over budget. R7700 spent.

24" LCD in PE for R600 meeting guy on Weekend I hope.

They prepared to add 1 - 2k if needs be.

Shopping for GPU next.

 

[StangV2_0]

PSU sorted from @Vinnige Fanie - 850W modular
Mobo, CPU, Ram sorted from @Ravi - 12500, Asus prime, 2 * 8gb DDR4 3200 RGB

Unfortunately I am a little over budget. R7700 spent.

24" LCD in PE for R600 meeting guy on Weekend I hope.

They prepared to add 1 - 2k if needs be.

Shopping for GPU next.

5700Xt added to build.

All that's left now is case, and SSD. If anyone has an M2 drive for a song let me know.

 

[StangV2_0]

SSD sorted.

Just case now and CPU cooler.