Build Advice Budget Build Advice Please

Hi folks,

I'm building a budget gaming system for my daughter soon and I'm in the process of speccing it out.

I would appreciate any advice as to whether there are better / more cost effective components at the budget end as I'm not really up to speed. It needs to be a foundation that she can build on but I know that will be somewhat limited by cost.

Ideally, I'd like to try and get the total price down to £400 ish.

I've already got some of the components from old builds but this is what I have so far.

CPU - Intel Pentium G4560 @ £58.98
RAM - 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black @ £69.98
Mobo - Asus PRIME Z270-P @ £113.38
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti SC GAMING 4GB GDDR5 @ £144.98
Hard Drive - 120GB WD Green SSD @£51.49
Case - Aerocool Aero -500 White Windowed @ £39.98

PSU - Already got (850W BeQuiet) @ £0.00
OS - Already got (Win 10) @ £0.00
Mouse - Already got (G402) @ £0.00
Keyboard - Already got (Cyborg) @ £0.00
Monitor - Already got (Dell) @ £0.00

TOTAL = £478.79

Cheers

 

I don't think you need such a sophisticated motherboard for a CPU that is not overclockable nor particularly demanding. Dropping down the sockets will save some serious cash.

The PSU is also overkill - I don't know if you could sell it and get a lower-power one to save money, but it would also save in the long run as the lower power PSU would run in its highest efficiency range.

You might be able to pick up a leftover RX480 for not much more than the 1050 too.

 

Did you think about going down the second hand route? You'd get significantly more bang for your buck.

 

As omnislip said, the motherboard isn't needed with that pentium, save some dorrah and go B250.

 

Thanks for the replies and advice.

@Omnislip / @modd1uk The PSU is pretty old and not worth much now but yeah, I do realise it's total overkill for this build but it's just sat around not being used.

The reasoning behind the mobo was to enable a future CPU upgrade with the possibility of overclocking but it does add a lot to the cost so I'll keep looking for something cheaper.

@TheMadDutchDude I'd prefer to go the new route as I've been burnt buying second hand components before but I am keeping my eyes on the sellers forum

 

The chipset won't be alive for much longer so if you don't want to go second hand then it might be tricky to source that CPU upgrade in the future!

You could downgrade to a Z170 motherboard still and save some money, unless you need copious numbers of drives.

 

Aye but there are plenty of options on that chipset with the dreaded second hand but you're right, the mobo is overkill.

I'll have a look at Z170 and B250 and see what's around

Thanks everyone.

 

Z170 and its cut down variants are a gamble, some of them require a bios update to work with Kaby Lake CPUs and you would then first need to get your hands on an old CPU just for the bios update.
No such risks with Z270 and its cut down variants though.

The Asus Prime B250M-K is somewhere in the £60 - 70 range for example.

 

I just got a used HP elite desk for my wife's work pc with a I7 8gb ram and 128 GH SSD for 300 pounds on ebay. Add in the Lowprofile 1050ti and it is at the same price as your build. Just food for thought.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated

I've taken it all onboard and pretty much settled for the following:

CPU - Intel Pentium G4560 @ £58.98
RAM - 8GB (1x8GB) Corsair DDR4 Vengeance LPX Black, PC4-19200 (2400) @ £63.98
Motherboard - Asus PRIME B250M-K @ £61.99
GPU - Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 TURBO White @ £178.99
Hard Drive - 120GB WD Green SSD @ £51.49
WiFi - - Asus PCE-N15 PCIe 300Mbps 802.11b/g/n Wireless Adaptor @ £13.99
Case - Corsair CC-9011086-WW Carbide Series 88R £51.98

TOTAL @ £497.24


Slightly over budget but I think it's a good balance for a cheap little gaming system