Hi Everyone. I’d really appreciate your help! I posted something very similar to this 6 months ago and life got in the way of pulling the trigger. With some annual leave coming up I’m determined it won’t happen again but wanted to check with you what is still best to buy. Gaming focussed. I have a Mini-ITX case and a 1920x1080 monitor now. Trying to hit the right £ to performance value mark. If you think I need to up my budget just say. Thanks again. Budget: £700 – happy to go higher Main uses of intended build: Gaming have been building up a Steam library (Fallout 4, Metal Gear Solid V etc.) also some working from home. Parts required: Everything apart from case and monitor Previous build information (list details of parts): Have Monitor https://iiyama.com/gl_en/products/prolite-xub2492hsu-b1/ and mini-ITX case https://en.sharkoon.com/product/16433 Monitor resolution: 1920 x 1080 Storage requirements: Enough for gaming, 500GB SSD/NVMe maybe? Will you be overclocking: yes/no (delete as required): Yes Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): No Extra information about desired system: Mini-ITX
You could build something around a Ryzen 3 3100, with 16gb 3600 RAM, 5600XT and 1TB m.2 SSD for that budget - based on a 450W PSU (I assume you need a new one?). Of course, you're paying a premium for an ITX motherboard, which limits you to ~ B450 unless you up the budget a little. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about ITX/SFF but, unless you have a pretty nice case, it'd probably be marginally cheaper to go mATX B550 and buy a new case.
Yes would need a PSU. Happy to up the budget if it is worth it. Please do recommend a pricier settup, it's really helpful. The size of the case works well in the room, it might not make sense financially but I'd like to keep it.
To be honest, i'd sit on this until mid December and see what Zen 3 and Big Navi do to the prices of last gen parts. The 5600XT offers great performance for the money but 6000 series could tank the price, assuming they have stock at launch, which frees up more cash from your budget for other parts - it might put something like the Ryzen 5 3600 on the table, or allow you to add more SSD storage or choose a higher end motherboard with better VRM cooling, 2.5GbE or a second m.2 slot.
Buying a low-to-mid-range system right now is kinda meh. All the latest offerings (AMD 5000 series and Intel 10th gen Core series) are out of your budget or lacking. If you go Intel 10th gen, best within your budget will be a 10400F, 10600K(F) would be pushing it. As for AMD, your best choice would be a Ryzen 5 3600 or even a 3100, but with one you're missing out on GPU grunt and with the other your CPU would possibly bottleneck your slightly nicer GPU. If the 3300X were available I'd say get that but they're no-where to be seen, instead you'll find the 4350G but that's a whole other story. If you want a more capable unlocked Intel part you could go with 9th gen 9600K but then you're buying into an already dead platform. Then currently there's no new low-to-mid GPUs, so you'll be deciding between a 1660Ti, 1660 Super, 2060 (non super) or a 5500XT or 5600XT. Again, no current gen stuff at full retail price. I know everyone says this all the time, but just wait. Low-to-mid tier new stuff always comes later down the road. Wait for the 3050s or the 6500XTs and the 5300Xs of the world.
