A Full On Gaming PC For Less Than £500? - PC Tech - Part 29
With GPU prices remaining at an all time high, PC gamers are struggling to build a new gaming PC. Or are they?
We all know that the current prices of graphics cards is out of control, and the ones who are suffering is mainly gamers who want to upgrade or buy new PC's. Now thanks to the new AMD Ryzen based APU's (advanced processing units), with there integrated graphics chips. It is possible to build a gaming PC without the need for a graphics card. This will have the advantage of not only being able to game on most modern games, but be able to wait out the GPU price problem, and be able to buy a GPU later down the road.
So after searching and putting together several systems on a few sites, I found that Newegg has the widest options available and all at very reasonable prices.
Yes RAM prices are still high, but at least we don't have to go to the expense of buying a new GPU on top for up to 4 times the retail value.
So here is a run down of all the parts I chose, that can all be found on Newegg for a mid range gaming PC for less than £500, but has the option of being able to fully upgrade in the future.
CPU - £121.99 - $169.99
The new Ryzen APU's, have integrated VEGA graphics chips that allow you to build a PC without the need for a Graphics Card.
With this in mind, I chose the AMD Ryzen 5 2400G. It is a full quad core CPU with 8 threads that has a max stock turbo speed of 3.9Ghz, which is a huge improvement over the 1400. it has the same thermal design power of 65 watts, but it has half the level 3 cache at only 4mb, but this doesn't hurt its performance all that much. But this chip includes an RX Vega 11 chip that has 11 compute units, that works with the CPU via AMD's infinity bridge. The only down side to the chip is it uses up to 2Gb of system memory and it will take some tweaking in the PC's bios to get it to work at its full potential.
Motherboard - £73.99 - $102.50
The AM4 motherboard I found is actually a very good find at an even better price. There are not many companies that are making AM4 based ITX motherboards that can utilize the new AMD APU's, but this one is a steal, and should be snapped up. The Gigabyte GA-AB350N board is a full on B350 board which are very good mid range boards that have a good compromise between the A320 and X370 board in features and interface.
The board will support up to 3200mhz DDR4 memory, possibly slightly faster with overclocking if you plan on doing so it has all the usual I/O interfaces you would expect from a high end board with the inclusion of integrated Wi-Fi which makes this system all the more mobile, and it has the integrated HDMI and display ports which take advantage of the AMD APU's, no GPU required, although it does come with a 16x PCIe socket if you plan on getting a GPU later on.
As an added bonus, the board also features an M.2 socket on the back which is fully compatible with either SATA or NVME storage drives.
Memory/RAM - £124.99 - $172.99
The memory is something to really think about when choosing some to work with AMD chips, as the faster the better, and with the inclusion of a graphics chip in the APU, if you want better performance, you may want to consider spending the extra for faster memory. With that said, I decided on the GeIL EVO Potenza memory which is 2 sticks of 8Gb, giving 16Gb of total memory for this system, and it is clocked as stock at 3000Mhz, so not enough to max out the motherboards capabilities, and not so slow it could hinder the system, but will also give some head room if you are planning on overclocking to get the full potential out of this PC.
With having dual sticks of this memory, it will also take advantage of the motherboards dual channel. You could choose a single stick or 16Gb, but will not have the same performance when running in single channel only.
Storage - £43.99 - $61.99
This one is more optional if you already have a storage solution you can place in this system, but if you don't, this Seagate Firecuda Gaming SSHD is an excellent compromise between high capacity storage like a standard hard disk, and the low capacity but speed of a solid state drive.
This little 2.5” SSD sized drive has 1 TB of storage, which is stored on standard disk platters running at 5400 RPM, but the speed comes in the 16Gb of SSD onboard, this will store to most used programs for quick access. It will take a short amount of time for the drive to reach full speed, as it has to learn what programs are the most used on your PC. And at such a low price, you would be a fool not to buy one if you were on a budget.
Cooling - £35.99 - $49.99
Although the included Wraith Spire cooler that comes stock with the Ryzen APU, which is more than capable of cooling the chip, if you are wanting to over clock or want a more efficient cooling solution, you will not get any better than an AiO. (all in one). So I revert to the Cooler Master, MasterLiquid Lite RGB 120. it is a slim radiator design and the pump/heat plate fits just about any modern socket, including both Intel and AMD mounting solutions.
The advantage over the stock cooler is it exhausts the hot air directly out of the case instead of circulating inside. It also comes with an RGB 120mm fan which is always a bonus.
Power Supply - £43.99 - $61.99
to power this system, I thought about a no compromise solution that is also quiet under load and fully modular so cable management will be much easier in a small case. So I settled on the EVGA 450 B3 PSU. A fully modular power supply that has an 80+ bronze rating that runs on a single 12V rail that can provide up to 38 amps, so more than powerful enough for a GPU when you decide to upgrade.
It is cooled by a large 130mm fan which is also very quiet as it only needs to run at a low RPM, and it also includes all the cables you will possibly need. Good quality at a reasonable price.
I did want to put a game max PSU in this system but they don't have one on newegg. Because I love those PSU's and most of my PC's have one in them.
Case - £35.99 - $49.99
With this being such a compact system already, I thought I may as well put it all in a console sized case that has the advantage of having a full size GPU slot available, enough room for water cooling and a full size ATX power supply. With that said, the AZZA CSAZ-103 Mini ITX tower was an awesome option. It is cheap at only £35 but does everything I need it to do and it looks cool. And its green/black.
It has full support for ATX power supplies, so the EVGA one will fit no problems.
It has room for a full size GPU up to 382mm long, so a triple fan ASUS Strix RX Vega 54 will fit no problem. It has brackets for a 120mm radiator/fan cooling solution and enough room left over to fit a 2.5” drive.
Plenty of air vents to keep any system inside nice and cool.
It is also small and discreet, and will look awesome in any setup.
So lets quickly add up everything in this compact system...
| GBP | USD | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 2400G | £121.99 | $169.99 |
| Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-AB350N | £73.99 | £102.50 |
| RAM - GeIL EVO Potenza Dual Channel 16GB (2 x 8GB) | £124.99 | $172.99 |
| Storage - Seagate Fircuda SSHD 2.5" 1Tb | £43.99 | $61.99 |
| Cooling - Cooler Master MasterLiquid Lite 120 RGB | £35.99 | $49.99 |
| PSU - EVGA 450 B3 450 watt Power Supply | £43.99 | $61.99 |
| Case - AZZA CSAZ-103 Mini ITX Tower | £35.99 | $49.99 |
| TOTAL | £480.93 | $669.44 |
So for less than £500 you can get a full on gaming PC that has all the benefits you would want from a mid range computer that also has the space and ability to upgrade to the next gen AM4 chips and GPU's in the future.
Its a no shits given system that has the power to game with the best of them and a good choice for those that are struggling to find a graphics card at a reasonable price for an upgrade or new system, or for those looking to move away from console gaming.
Even if you don't particularly want a gaming PC, this will work just as well as a workstation for video or audio work or as a fantastic Home Theatre PC for everyday media use.
No compromise at a fantastic value that can not be ignored. Hell, I may just have to buy this exact system for myself.
If you have any questions or are thinking about upgrading or buying, leave a reply below or you can always Join our Discord Channel where myself or my team will be more than happy to help you out.
Thanks for reading.
(All images are taken from Newegg.com)
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