Budget gaming pc build (£5-600)

[DuncsGTi]

First off, I've had a search and looked at quite a few older threads on here but I know how quickly things change with PC gaming.

My lad wants to build his first PC.
His brother has given him a case and 600w PSU. He also has a MSI H270 motherboard if wanted.

At the price point I'm looking at, is it better to buy an Intel cpu compatible with that board or should I be looking at the likes of the Ryzen 2700 with a B450 tomahawk MB.

GPU wise, I'm leaning towards something like a RTX 2060 unless anyone can reccomend something better for similar money?
For storage, 500Gb M.2 and 1Tb 7200 will be plenty.
Initially, he will be using a tv as a monitor but this will be replaced with a 144Hz display when his brother buys himself a new one.
Ram, probably 16Gb DDR4 3200
Games wise he'll be playing the likes of fortnite, BF5, WoT, and driving games.

I know that cutting edge is not doable at this budget but am I missing anything to build a reasonable system?

I know he could realistically buy pre built but he really wants to do it himself.

[Miserablegit]

Assuming you can get the parts for that price (at this level prebuilt might be cheaper as they can buy in volume) I wouldn’t bother with m2. A cheap hdd for the games and a cheap ssd for the windows system is perfect.
I’d be looking at AMD in that price range

[3dge]

Have a look here and check the PCPartPicker links for each build (change the location to United Kingdom to see the price in £GBP). Chop and change as required if you already have some parts

https://pcmasterrace.org/builds

[FourWheelDrift]

Minus the case and PSU you have, I would go for this as a starter - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/wtFZ27 it allows for later upgrading and cash left for a monitor if needed, if the case has a glass side some RGB fan frippery, or a big HDD for storage, nice keyboard/mouse.

Unless he intends to SLI 2 graphics cards you can always save (£10-20) with the Micro ATX version mobo instead of the full ATX, all you really lose is the 2nd PCIe slot and sometimes a 2nd M2. Just get one that still has 4 RAM slots though.

I can't get your spec below £600 even using the cheapest ones I wouldn't want to use - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/6cDjWb

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Sunday 5th January 18:43

[DuncsGTi]

Miserablegit said:

Assuming you can get the parts for that price (at this level prebuilt might be cheaper as they can buy in volume) I wouldn’t bother with m2. A cheap hdd for the games and a cheap ssd for the windows system is perfect.
I’d be looking at AMD in that price range

Yup, I agree pre-built could be cheaper but he wants to build it himself. Ref the M.2, fair point, i'll look at normal 2.5 SATA SSD instead

3dge said:

Have a look here and check the PCPartPicker links for each build (change the location to United Kingdom to see the price in £GBP). Chop and change as required if you already have some parts

https://pcmasterrace.org/builds

I'll have a look, cheers.

FourWheelDrift said:

Minus the case and PSU you have, I would go for this as a starter - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/wtFZ27 it allows for later upgrading and cash left for a monitor if needed, if the case has a glass side some RGB fan frippery, or a big HDD for storage, nice keyboard/mouse.

Unless he intends to SLI 2 graphics cards you can always save (£10-20) with the Micro ATX version mobo instead of the full ATX, all you really lose is the 2nd PCIe slot and sometimes a 2nd M2. Just get one that still has 4 RAM slots though.

I can't get your spec below £600 even using the cheapest ones I wouldn't want to use - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/6cDjWb

Edited by FourWheelDrift on Sunday 5th January 18:43

Sorry, should have said that the only way I've got it within budget is going second hand on GPU.

No intention on SLI so micro ATX could be a good shout. The only issue with that would be the size of case he has, its bloody huge!!!!!


My eldest reckons its not worth the extra for the Ryzen 2700 over the 2600 so could possibly save a little there too.

[DuncsGTi]

And in true PH fashion, the budget may have gone out the window.....

Picked up a RTX 2070 on Ebay last night.

Got the ram, ssd, hdd, case and psu now so all I still need is a CPU and motherboard.

Rather annoyingly I ordered a B450 tomahawk on Amazon yesterday but it's now out of stock.

Cpu wise, I'm still stuck between the Ryzen 2600 and 2700.

[paulwoof]

only real difference between the two is the number of cores, in terms of gaming they will probably be about equal or very little difference.
edit: checking amazon, its about a £15 difference, In which case may be worth taking the 2700