Starter PC Build for a friend

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mans said intel chip for budget builds, choose one bro lmao either intel chip or budget pc
also no, 2019 was the golden year for AMD, Ryzen works better for games like gmod either way because it has more cores/threads
 
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just install windows 10 and use the cmd method to activate, literally takes 1 minute
 
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my keyboard and mouse is a combined total of like $50, they've lasted me years and they work perfectly fine.

EC2-A is a pretty good mouse, it's basic but it works.
 
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AMD Ryzen 5 is subjectively worse than an Intel I5.
Subjective or not, both brands have different use cases where AMD slighty shifts more towards workspaces due to higher core count but still having on-par numbers in titles against Intel while still offering cheaper costs as well being able to upgrade on the current AM4 platform where as Intel releases a new socket for every new generation because why the fuck not.
You will start seeing more impact on games that utilize more cores+threads like AC Odyssey or Division 2.

As for Benchmarks, avoid UserBenchmark.

Back to your build:
We'll keep this starter/budget oriented as for the parts you've picked.

  • 2600 is on par with 9400F and I would go with Ryzen due to the AM4 socket still being supported (max 2 years left I think?) which offers great upgrades for the future. Stock/Boxed fan will do the job even with PBO (Auto OC) if you get a 3600.
  • 3600 is about 10-15% faster than a 2600 but you'd need a X570 chipset motherboard, some of which are not that cheap. B550 chipset is confirmed but still takes time to release so we'll go with a 2600 and a B450 chipset motherboard if you wish.
  • CL16 or CL17 RAM from G.Skill or Corsair, if you get Ryzen make sure its 3600Mhz minimum kit, if you can't afford it get a 3200Mhz kit. As I said, a kit is important here (2 sticks of ram) for dual channel. 8GB total ram is a pain and 16GB is a nice investment, new games these days actually recommend this much.
  • Get a HDD and SSD combination. Any 1-2TB drive from Seagate or Western Digital will do. Corsair MP510 have also good value and durability (max. write cycles)
  • 1660 Super is like half the price of a 2060 Super (and like half the speed lol), depends what you need a strong GPU for other than actually hitting your high refresh rate (again, bit more budget oriented as I said above). Avoid MSI Armor, get EVGA, other MSI options, ASUS, Gigabyte.
  • You selected a Noctua case fan, gg, good shit. Case selection is subjective but I suggest Fractal Design Meshify C.
  • Power supply should be fine and so is 500W. I run a 5700XT which is a power hungry bitch on a 450W power supply along a 3700x.
  • You don't need a Windows 10 key. You can literally activate windows with cmd. Look up MyDigitalLife Windows 10 activation.
  • Get a PCI-E Wi-Fi card instead of a USB dongle if your motherboard doesn't have one. Way better https://www.tp-link.com/de/home-networking/adapter/archer-t6e/
  • Peripherals is whatever, your choice. Monitors are expensive anyways.
 
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I'm interested in what you've said, "3600 is about 10-15% faster than a 2600 but you'd need a X570 chipset motherboard, some of which are not that cheap. B550 chipset is confirmed but still takes time to release so we'll go with a 2600 and a B450 chipset motherboard if you wish. ". There are still good performance gains to be had utilzing a B450 chipset motherboard with a Ryzen 3600 over a Ryzen 2600 and generally unless you're overclocking, you might as well go with a B450 motherboard. Personally I don't think at stock speeds there is going to be much difference at all between a B450 and X570 board.
 
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Oh I went with the 2600 and B450 because of the BIOS. Some vendors want money for getting the BIOS updated which can be like 30 euros here in Germany. If it's not that big of deal then definitely go for a 3600 with a B450 board, won't hurt the budget that much.
 
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The RAM and CPU seem a little bit overkill, mainly the RAM. From what it seems like his friend is only going to be mainly gaming so 32GB RAM is quite honestly a waste. This PC seems more suited as a workstation. Also, that CPU is over £100 more than a 3600 and in most games, you won't notice a difference in performance.
 
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true, could save £ and get 16gb with the other CPU and you'd be able to get the monitor
 
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Like I said, OP can get 16gb of ram and the 3600 and still have cash for the monitor, Im just giving options..
 
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I hope that's true for other motherboards, my friend got a ASRock motherboard that was B450 but said Zen 2/Ryzen 3000 ready on the box but wasnt :/ Had to get my old Ryzen 5 1600 and update the BIOS.
 
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I actually updated it last night it appears the link didn’t update. @Creepis he won’t be doing any upgrading on this, it’s meant to last him a few years, I swapped to a 94k I5 I considered using AMD but out of personal preference and the slight performance gap over the Ryzen 5 3600 I stuck with intel, and as he isn’t upgrading it’s justified imo.
@THECRX the build you are looking at is outdated but either way, the 9400f comes with a stock cooler that is more than enough to keep the chip cool.
And I chose the SSD as it’s plenty of storage for someone who’s never owned a gaming PC before, if it does get full (which would take a while considering he doesn’t own any games) he can uninstall and fuck around with that shit which isn’t the end of the world. Storage is also easily upgradable. But the reason I’m sticking with the internal SSD is simply preference.
Also I ordered that 500w for my PC I’m doing some upgrades I have a 450w in my closet thanks for mentioning that @Creepis
 
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