I've been out of touch with the PC scene for a while and my old rig is in the loft about to be brought down and see if I have any life in it. I am looking to build a machine but would like some hints or maybe some basic builds that are not going to break the bank. That said again mid level at best. Thanks for any support or info in advance !
First things first, will you need more than a CPU with inbuilt graphics? Even low end cards are still silly money although it is slowly improving.
**EDIT** Ninja'd more succinctly by @adidan Really the whole planning thing at the moment hinges on how much graphics horsepower you need. Graphics card prices are sky high new and (decent) used, which is pushing build prices up madly. Most Intel CPUs have built in / integrated graphics, which will cover office and home stuff plus potentially some light gaming. Intel CPUs with an F suffix (i3 9100F etc) DON'T have built in graphics... Conversely, AMD Ryzen CPUs DON'T have built in graphics... Any with a G suffix do have built in graphics (Ryzen 3 5600G etc) Be aware that the 2x00G and 3x00G are previous gen Ryzen with graphics added...HTH
I think about 5/600 to be perfectly honest. I have a friend who Is selling a 3060ti that I may purchase but I appreciate that this would not to be included in the build cost if that makes sense.
Take the 3060ti, you may of heard that the GPU market is mental and has been for years at this point. Rest of it i would get a mix of used and new for that budget.
I second what @Otis1337 said. If you have a mate who's selling one, they're less likely to rip you off and easily help with any warranty claims. Bite his hand off, basically. 3060ti is a decent card. Probably the lowest in the 3000series round I'd suggest getting, does well at 1440 and will cope with 4k in some titles. As for the rest, there are tons of good cases about at the minute that won't break the bank; fractal meshify 2 compact, Corsair 4/5000d airflow, thermaltake divider 300/500 air, nzxt h510 flow, be quiet 500dx. Probably more but I'd look at those, at least one will be bound to suit your eye and all have good enough airflow. Features vary and may influence your decision there. CPU wise, AMD 5600X or Intel 12600k will do you well, 5800X or 12700k if your budget allows and you want a bit more longevity. Do bear in mind that AMD are likely to release the 5800XT later in March, which will have a big chunk of cache on the cpu and give a decent bump in performance Coolers; most decent ones will do you fine, but my preference is for an aio. The Arctic liquid freezer is a fantastic quite cooler. 240mm would be minimum, 280 or 360 preferable. Alternatives if you don't like the style would be EK-AIO, be quite silent loop 2, Lian Li Galahad. As for motherboards, find one for your CPU that has all the features you want: usb ports, M.2 drive slots, fan, led, internal usb headers. Don't overspend, the difference between a £200 and £400 motherboard are minimal in most cases. 16gb bare minimum, 32gb preferable for longevity. Depending what CPU you go for, AMD is on DDR 4 which is widely available, Intel 12th gen is on ddr4 or ddr5, depending what motherboard you go for. DDR 5 is a bit scarce and expensive. An m.2 nvme drive is an absolute must. They're so fast, even compared to SATA SSD. I'd get a 500gb drive as a minimum, with modern games it fill up pretty dam quick, a 1tb drive would be preferable. Samsung 980 pro, WD black sn850, Seagate firecuda 520/30. Power supplies, 750W will have you operating in the PSU's sweet spot with a nice bit of headroom. Corsair RM OR RMx gold, EVGA supernova g5 or G6, Silverstone strider. Think that just about covers it?
Definitely bite your mate's hand off. I have a 1070 ti, it makes easy work of MMORPGs at 1440p and, a 3060 ti will comfortably outperform it.
Shoutout for the Corsair 4000D. Not because I have it but because it has to be the most user friendly case I have built a PC in and to access on a day to day basis. (Side panel and front panel, simply removal to access innards and dust filter) Brilliant cable management channels and space behind the mobo tray.
Also, useful info on a recent video here from JayZ2Cents This is one of the BIGGEST lies in PC Building... - YouTube
