Is this going to work, do you reckon?

N

NotVeryTechnicalActually

Member
I have a monitor and gpu already:

Benq GW2480 monitor
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti

Can someone smarter than me tell me if they'd be compatible with this build, and if this build is compatible with itself? Many thanks!

Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Quad Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.3GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Surge Protection
6 Socket 2m Surge Protector
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 22 to 24 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/HXhJpe8xPp/
 
Last edited:
N

NotVeryTechnicalActually

Member
It's for light gaming, music and office/web browsing. I don't need something massively powerful, just good enough.

My max budget is £550 but I already have a Windows license and peripherals as well as the gpu and monitor mentioned above.
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
When I googled the monitor i get a 24" IPS 1080p 60Hz monitor.
Are you moving any drives from the old machine too?

Some changes straight off though, remove the soundcard (onboard sound is very good these days), if you decide you still want a soundcard they are easy to put in later, would also recommend Soundblaster Zx, the one youve picked is not going to be much different to whats already onboard. Should also point out that you wont really get any benefit from a soundcard without high grade (audiophile) speakers, and most headsets have inbuilt soundcards already so it wont use the soundcard anyway.
Soundblaster Zx (even though its an older card than many others on offer) literally wiped the floor with most the competition, excellent reviews for it.

3200MHz RAM if you can.. its going to pair better with a AMD CPU and worth the little extra.
WiFi...switch to the AX200 (extra £10) its a far, far better card, even recommended over the more expensive options.

If you go to the quote/order and view it, theres a button for posting to the forums, copy and paste the whole thing (including the link at the bottom) and stick it here. Helps a lot with spec configurations when offering alternatives.
 
N

NotVeryTechnicalActually

Member
One more quick question: the pcspecialist site tells me:

"We have calculated your specification to require around of 330W power including a 20% allowance."

Would it be safe/practical to go with a 350W power supply, or am I better off with the higher option? Many thanks!
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
All depends what you intend on doing with it later... Personally, I wouldnt order a brand new custom build expecting to have to replace it at all within at least 5 years, and more pushing 10... Otherwise you might as well buy off the shelf. I get you are doing a lower budget one, but you can still (and should still) build with the idea that you can upgrade parts as you go.

The 550 board will allow you to upgrade to the 4000 series CPU's from AMD when available, also put Gen 4 M.2 drives in and GPU's can easily be upgraded too.
Personally, I would take a bit more than you need to allow for those kind of changes, the one I ordered has about a 550W requirement but i went for the 750W RMx (RMx are much better quality and also modular so far easier to connect everything up, or change single parts later)
 
N

NotVeryTechnicalActually

Member
sibun1 said:
When I googled the monitor i get a 24" IPS 1080p 60Hz monitor.
Are you moving any drives from the old machine too?

Some changes straight off though, remove the soundcard (onboard sound is very good these days), if you decide you still want a soundcard they are easy to put in later, would also recommend Soundblaster Zx, the one youve picked is not going to be much different to whats already onboard. Should also point out that you wont really get any benefit from a soundcard without high grade (audiophile) speakers, and most headsets have inbuilt soundcards already so it wont use the soundcard anyway.
Soundblaster Zx (even though its an older card than many others on offer) literally wiped the floor with most the competition, excellent reviews for it.

3200MHz RAM if you can.. its going to pair better with a AMD CPU and worth the little extra.
WiFi...switch to the AX200 (extra £10) its a far, far better card, even recommended over the more expensive options.

If you go to the quote/order and view it, theres a button for posting to the forums, copy and paste the whole thing (including the link at the bottom) and stick it here. Helps a lot with spec configurations when offering alternatives.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for your comments!

I'm pretty new to this, what do you mean by "drives" in this context? Like a hard drive?

I was wondering about the sound card. I have a pair of decent headphones (not a gaming headset) and listen to quite a lot of music. Based on your feedback, perhaps I'd benefit from saving for a higher-end sound card later.

Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Quad Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.3GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st Storage Drive
256GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (500MB/R, 400MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Surge Protection
6 Socket 2m Surge Protector
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 22 to 24 working days
Price: £0.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/HXhJpe8xPp/
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
Drives, yeah Hard Disk or Solid State or the newer M.2 Solid State (HDD, SSD and M.2 SSD)
HDD are the old classics, still got a place for mass storage for stuff like word files, photos, movies etc
Solid State are much faster, and M.2 SSD even faster still.

Modern builds would normally have something like a 500GB SSD or M.2 SSD as operating system drive (primary drive) and then pair with a 2TB HDD. So all your programs and the OS is on a nice fast drive which then boost whole speed of the system (assuming other components dont bottle neck it and slow it down)

If budget wasnt a concern, Then a 1Tb Firecuda M.2 (Gen 4 connection so fastest currently available) as the primary and a 2 or 4 GB SSD as a storage drive, which is the direction i plan on taking with mine as I upgrade. For your budget though, thats not gonna happen now, but with the 550 (or a 570) motherboard you have those options for later down the line when all the prices drop for example.
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
You would need to check your headphones to see if they have inbuilt sound or not.... its very common in current gaming sets and such, but may not be in older models so worth looking its specs up.
But even then, onboard sound is definately worth checking out, and a soundcard later if you need it.
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
You said £550 budget, but you have a GPU, 1080p 60Hz monitor, keyboard and mouse already.
That link is for a £1K build?

Did you also have any drives from your existing system that you could put in it? What about RAM?
For £550 you will want to save as much as you can on components.
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
Ok, so as a very rough starting point...also about £25 over your budget...
Annoyingly, you cant get 8Gb of 3200MHz RAM its just not an option on there, also, I would want to change the case....its not good
But this is a rough idea of what kind of build I would look at in your shoes.
Upgradable with a 550 motherboard, a good all-round CPU that will do everything you mentioned about light gaming, multimedia and office use type stuff, 8Gb RAM where you say only light gaming (you can always add more) Basic SSD (would want to add more space though, so a next purchase might be a 1TB HDD or something).

Honestly though, if you can find a way to even add £75 or so to the budget, so you can hit £600 to £650, you would find it worthwhile.
Opens up a few more options to tweek stuff, like better case or upgrading to 16Gb 3200MHz RAM for example

If you have drives you can use you could either add it in, or not order a drive at all and save some cash (depends what drives you have)
Same again with and RAM you may have.

Case
PCS 6003B BLACK CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.4GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st Storage Drive
512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 22 to 24 working days
Price: £578.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/emkHCeVs9H/
 
N

NotVeryTechnicalActually

Member
sibun1 said:
You said £550 budget, but you have a GPU, 1080p 60Hz monitor, keyboard and mouse already.
That link is for a £1K build?

Did you also have any drives from your existing system that you could put in it? What about RAM?
For £550 you will want to save as much as you can on components.
Click to expand...

Weird that it's showing a £1k build, it definitely say £508 for me.

I have a 1.5Tb HDD I can transfer to the new PC and use it for storage.

I have some RAM but it's very, very bad: 4x2gb DDR2 400MHz. I'm replacing a refurbished old Dell, I don't think there's too much to be salvaged!
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
How old is the HDD? and yeah, bin the RAM lol
Certainly put the HDD in, then pair it with a 500Gb SSD like i've put (not sure a M.2 SSD is really in your budget atm, but again, future upgrades are possible with a 550 or above motherboard.

Might be worth contacting PCS to see if theres a way to do 8Gb 3200MHZ, or if you can stretch that budget a little, take 16Gb 3200MHz anyway and should you wanna play some heavier games, you can.

Be aware that the new GPU's are due out in few months, so you will also likely see a drop in price of current GPU's, so maybe something to hint at for Xmas....

Im really not an expert at this, so what I have put is a very rough guide, and ideally one of the Moderators will have a look for you and tweek to get the best out of your money. But think about what ive said, and also if you can add a little to the budget (even if its just £50) that will make life a lot easier in putting the build together.
 
D

Deleted member 17413

Guest
...and along came a Spyder....
Now's your chance...he's a LOT (LOT) better at this than me lol
 
N

NotVeryTechnicalActually

Member
sibun1 said:
How old is the HDD? and yeah, bin the RAM lol
Certainly put the HDD in, then pair it with a 500Gb SSD like i've put (not sure a M.2 SSD is really in your budget atm, but again, future upgrades are possible with a 550 or above motherboard.

Might be worth contacting PCS to see if theres a way to do 8Gb 3200MHZ, or if you can stretch that budget a little, take 16Gb 3200MHz anyway and should you wanna play some heavier games, you can.

Be aware that the new GPU's are due out in few months, so you will also likely see a drop in price of current GPU's, so maybe something to hint at for Xmas....

Im really not an expert at this, so what I have put is a very rough guide, and ideally one of the Moderators will have a look for you and tweek to get the best out of your money. But think about what ive said, and also if you can add a little to the budget (even if its just £50) that will make life a lot easier in putting the build together.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your help! I'm definitely not rushing into anything.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
I wouldn't recommend a £550 PC at all to be honest. You just aren't going to get the value for money, longevity and productivity from such a system. There will be compromises that would be FAR better dealt with at the start rather than ending up with triggers brush.

I would strongly advise you up the budget by around £150. Even save a little more and come back when it's viable. You will get a night and day different system that will last far longer without bottle necking. Compatibility is never going to be the issue on the configurator.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
Surprisingly, it can actually be done with only a £100 increase (which is very good news). Below is what I would actually stand by as a minimum build with reasonable potential.

Case
CORSAIR 275R AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W TXm SERIES™ SEMI-MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 22 to 24 working days
Price: £647.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/AA54qncWJS/
 
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