Novice building pc on the cheap, upgrade over time support.

[Gaogier]

so, hello

I am rewriting this post so I can get and build a gaming pc.

case.
motherboard
cpu
gpu
memory
storage
power
Operating system.

i am thinking of the colour of the cases should be red/black as i have a LG CM4330 radio, which could look good together. Maybe one with usb-c connection? Max I want to spend is about £50.

For the motherboard, I think an atx would be best for myself due to wanting to expand in future. However I am still unsure on this. Budget of £100-£130

For the CPU, I am thinking AMD but unsure on this, I want the best I can get for about £100-£130

i am unsure on the gpu, I don’t really know what’s best for £150

then memory, I am thinking of about 8gb for about £30-£50

i Am thinking storage should be Kingston A400 240GB - as I can expand later (only need storage for RuneScape, which is web base and dosent require much room, when I get halo and battlefield games starting at the end of the year, I will get a secondary hard drive.

I am not sure on power, or how much W I would need, get a lower W one and upgrade when I add new sound cards, ram, WiFi, Bluetooth?

I am hoping to install and run linux for a few months before I overwrite and install windows. Is this possible?

when I choose what parts I will be putting the final items here.












old post

Hello, I have never built any type of pc before, although I have just repaired my old MacBook Pro (Mid 2009)

Approximate Purchase Date: I plan to buy some parts this week, then get further parts later in the year.

Budget Range: about £150 this week, about £450 total (saving for each part over the coming year.) something than I can keep upgrading over the years

What will your machine be used for? to play 3 main games, RuneScape, Halo and battlefield.

Are you buying a monitor: I plan to use my tv if possible

Parts to Upgrade: everything, I am starting from scratch

Do you need to buy OS: Yes - though plan to use Linux to play RuneScape, then when I have everything I will install Windows 10.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts? anywhere I can that ships to the uk, and are reliable.

Parts Preferences: motherboard with Bluetooth (or can that be a separate part?) maybe with WiFi (again unless there is a separate part), with 4 ram slots. Would like a case that could have water cooling In the far future.

Overclocking: Maybe - completely unsure yet.

SLI or Crossfire: unknown yet

Your Monitor Resolution: I hope it can be a tv, of which I will be upgrading to a new system but unknown what just yet

Additional Comments: parts I need to buy.
1. PC case - built in fans - blue if I had to pick a colour
2. Motherboard - something like - MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX Motherboard ATX, AM4
3. CPU - I am thinking of - AMD Ryzen 3 3200G Processor (4C/4T, 6MB cache, 4.0GHz Max Boost) with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics - currently £77 an Amazon
4. Memory - future purchase
5. Storage - future purchase
6. GPU - feature purchase
7. Power - feature purchase unless comes with case.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Fed up of having to buy a Xbox/PS every generation, plus a pc for RuneScape


Any suggestions would be great.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

You could look at a 2200G / 2400G instead. From what I understood the 3xxx aren't that much faster since it's based on Zen+.

I used a 2200G for a while and it's decent for gaming right now, but all I played was Dota2 and a bit of Yakuza 0 with a dedicated videocard so I can't see much about the integraded graphics there. It's interesting though, I was thinking of selling that PC (and a bit more) for about the price you have now . I don't want to sell it here tho since there's no warranty on anything except the CPU.

I think almost every case has built in fans but if you're looking for a specific color you're more looking at RGB cases which gets more expensive. There are some Sharkoon cases I know of that have single color fans.

Blue Sharkoon VG5-W which I think is fairly affordable but I don't know how good the reviews for it are.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I know its frustrating to wait, but it really is much better to save up until you have the total amount you want to spend. If you buy a CPU or GPU now, its very likely that in a few months something faster will have come out for the same price or prices can drop. In that case you will kick yourself you could have had something better.

Really though If I were looking to buy this year at that price point I'd definitely be looking at a console. The specs on the PS5 and XboX series X are incredible, and way better then the below. You can play Runescape on your Mac if you need to?

Its hard to put together something for £450 that will play a newer Battlefield game. @Inspireless Llama has a good idea about the CPU. Here's an example of a build that would be an O.K starting point. This is near as cheap as it gets, and you'd need to buy more storage sooner rather than later. Obviously you'd need a mouse and keyboard too. Please dont be tempted to buy an el cheapo PSU if you want your system to run for more then a couple of years.

With a little knowledge you could possibly save a bit going 2nd hand, but you'd need to do a lot of research for that yourself.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£79.98 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M-HDV R4.0 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£57.96 @ More Computers)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£41.98 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Crucial BX500 240 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£37.30 @ Currys PC World Business)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 570 8 GB ARMOR OC Video Card (£129.99 @ Box Limited)
Case: BitFenix Nova ATX Mid Tower Case (£31.00 @ AWD-IT)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£50.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (£93.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Total: £522.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-07 20:37 BST+0100

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Oussebon]

Budget Range: about £150 this week, about £450 total (saving for each part over the coming year.) something than I can keep upgrading over the years

1. PC case - built in fans - blue if I had to pick a colour
2. Motherboard - something like - MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX Motherboard ATX, AM4
3. CPU - I am thinking of - AMD Ryzen 3 3200G Processor (4C/4T, 6MB cache, 4.0GHz Max Boost) with Radeon Vega 8 Graphics - currently £77 an Amazon
4. Memory - future purchase
5. Storage - future purchase
7. Power - feature purchase unless comes with case.

Do not do this. I can't advise strongly enough against that plan.

Don't buy the parts until you are ready to build the system.

PC parts can and do die, like any electronics. If you buy the part now and keep it sat on a shelf for 6 months, you've wasted 6 months of the warranty. And you won't have been able to test the part to see if it even works, or if it's a DOA (dead on arrival) component.

And to rub the salt in, new components are released all the time, so by the time you actually get around to building the thing, what you bought will have been replaced by newer, faster stuff that cost the same as what you paid for the bits you kept on a shelf.

You should save up until you can buy the core system all together.

As for buying an APU (the R3 3200 and that kind of thing) that's a false economy if you're planning to replace it. Because you're already paying ~£100 for the CPU. Which is a weak CPU and has weak graphics. Which you'll then replace with (say) a ~£130 GPU and a £150-180 CPU. Whereas you could have just bought the CPU and GPU outright if you'd saved up a little more.

Save up, and buy the components all together. By which time there will be even better stuff to buy too

 

[Inspireless Llama]

I have to second @Oussebon here. When I broke my CPU I got a 2200G for temporary because I really needed my PC and I had no funds for something better. Now I upgraded my CPU again but it feels like I've wasted a 100 euro haha.

So yeah I'd advice to save for a bit more too, I know it's frustrating as well but if you go full budget, in the end you might have a PC that you'll be disappointed about.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Fair point. There's the 1600af for a little more. I was trying to save money wherever possible and 10 to 20 less helps at this price point, and quad cores aren't quite dead yet.

 

[Zoid]

I agree with the others here. You can build a £500 PC, but if you want to play modern, AAA games, spending that money on a console will give you a much better experience. I love PC gaming, and I love cheap and cheerful PCs, but building a computer with your budget bit by bit over a year is not something I recommend.

I know it sucks to wait, but you'll end up both saving money and buying more powerful hardware in the end if you save up to be able to buy all your components at once.

 

[Gaogier]

Hello. Thank you for the advise.
i have looked and worked out some things, based on what you guys have said, thank you.

it won’t be months now, if I can do it this way: I can get the cpu. Case and power supply now. In 2-4 weeks I can get the motherboard, ram and ssd. Would this make my pc useable? In 6-8 weeks I can get a gpu. I would then buy 2 8gb ram, around September.

here is what I have so far.

System Builder

uk.pcpartpicker.com

 

[Oussebon]

it won’t be months now, if I can do it this way: I can get the cpu. Case and power supply now. In 2-4 weeks I can get the motherboard, ram and ssd. Would this make my pc useable? In 6-8 weeks I can get a gpu. I would then buy 2 8gb ram, around September.

That's not a good plan.

To work at the most basic level - to POST i.e. to pass the Power On Self Test - your PC needs:
CPU (including cooler)
RAM
Motherboard
PSU

You can't game or check your emails or anything on it in this state.

To game on it you will also need graphics (whether integrated or dedicated) and storage to install an operating system (Windows or Linux usually).

And unless you want the thing breadboarded on your table, you also need a case.

So there is 0 point to buying any of the stuff now, if you're not going to be able to use it for several weeks (or months). All your components will do is sit on a shelf and get old to the point you can't return them to the store any more if they are defective.

Also, these 2 things are a waste of money:
- R3 2200G if you are buying dedicated graphics anyway
- RAM that you will then replace within a very short space of time.

You have very limited funds, which I'd argue means you need to avoid 'duplicate' purchases. If you buy something that you already know you are going to replace, you are buying the wrong thing.

The Ryzen R5 1600 is only £14 more than the R3 2200G (£91). But it is a vastly better and more futureproof CPU. It has 50% more cores, and 200% more 'threads' than the 4 core, 4 thread 2200G. £14 difference only, for something you'll be able to keep way longer.

The 1600 doesn't have onboard graphics. But you're not going to do very much gaming on onboard graphics anyway if you like demanding titles, and in any case you were going to buy a GPU in a couple of months.

Likewise the RAM. 8gb RAM is ~£30, 16gb RAM is ~£60. Your whole PC is only going to cost £500-£600. Don't waste 5% of the budget buying RAM you're going to get rid of within a few weeks, when it's only £30 more to buy stuff you will keep for 5 years or longer.

Just delay the purchases until you can buy it all, and buy what gives you the best bang for your buck

I totally understand the impulse to get started asap. Bird in the hand, plus it's a great project. But ultimately I'm concerned you're accidentally robbing yourself

 

[Zoid]

That's not a good plan.

To work at the most basic level - to POST i.e. to pass the Power On Self Test - your PC needs:
CPU (including cooler)
RAM
Motherboard
PSU

You can't game or check your emails or anything on it in this state.

To game on it you will also need graphics (whether integrated or dedicated) and storage to install an operating system (Windows or Linux usually).

And unless you want the thing breadboarded on your table, you also need a case.

So there is 0 point to buying any of the stuff now, if you're not going to be able to use it for several weeks (or months). All your components will do is sit on a shelf and get old to the point you can't return them to the store any more if they are defective.

Also, these 2 things are a waste of money:
- R3 2200G if you are buying dedicated graphics anyway
- RAM that you will then replace within a very short space of time.

You have very limited funds, which I'd argue means you need to avoid 'duplicate' purchases. If you buy something that you already know you are going to replace, you are buying the wrong thing.

The Ryzen R5 1600 is only £14 more than the R3 2200G (£91). But it is a vastly better and more futureproof CPU. It has 50% more cores, and 200% more 'threads' than the 4 core, 4 thread 2200G. £14 difference only, for something you'll be able to keep way longer.

The 1600 doesn't have onboard graphics. But you're not going to do very much gaming on onboard graphics anyway if you like demanding titles, and in any case you were going to buy a GPU in a couple of months.

Likewise the RAM. 8gb RAM is ~£30, 16gb RAM is ~£60. Your whole PC is only going to cost £500-£600. Don't waste 5% of the budget buying RAM you're going to get rid of within a few weeks, when it's only £30 more to buy stuff you will keep for 5 years or longer.

Just delay the purchases until you can buy it all, and buy what gives you the best bang for your buck

I totally understand the impulse to get started asap. Bird in the hand, plus it's a great project. But ultimately I'm concerned you're accidentally robbing yourself

All of this. You're eager to get started, which I totally get, but if you scrape by with the bare minimum components now, you'll end up spending more money on upgrades (replacement parts) in the future.

If you want to get started on a gaming PC right now that you can sensibly upgrade over the next 5-6 years, here is the absolute minimum I would recommend:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£163.98 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 AORUS M Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£79.99 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Team T-Force Vulcan 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£44.64 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Green 480 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£58.27 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Box Limited)
Total: £411.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-08 04:14 BST+0100

This would get you a very good processor, a decent motherboard, a decent PSU, 8GB of memory (which you could later expand to 16GB), and a cheap 500GB SSD. According to PCPartPicker, that total comes to £412. On top of that, you would need to add a case (if you're going for the bare minimum, anything would do), and a GPU.

For the GPU you could look at the used market. Depending on your local used market, you might be able to get yourself something like a GTX 970 or an RX 480 for pretty cheap. All told, you're probably looking at about £550 or so for the whole rig.

That would get you a reasonable gaming PC, which you could enjoy for a year or two until you have the money for a nicer GPU and 8GB of additional RAM.

I'd say as a general rule, if you're buying a component thinking that you'll replace it in under 2 years, it's likely a waste of money. On the used GPU market you might be able to fudge that rule a little, but the shorter you keep a component before replacing it, the more expensive it effectively becomes.

 

[is_died]

I started PC gaming kinda like this. Bought some low-end parts and assembled a very weak PC that was barely fit for gaming, but kept upgrading parts over months and years until it was something awesome.


You asked about wi-fi and Bluetooth. It's not a problem to add those features to your PC separately; some motherboards have these features built in, but if the mobo you buy doesn't have that, it's real easy to get around it.

Bluetooth is super easy; all your PC needs for that is a little USB adapter. It'll be a tiny thing that's usually smaller than the USB plug it's attached to. Fancy-schmancy ones might have external antennas to extend their range, but I've opted to use a 6-foot (~1.83 meters - thanks Google!) USB extension cable to place my Bluetooth dongle in a place of prominence with few obstructions.

That said, you'll probably be able to get away with just plugging it into one your PC's front panel USB ports.


Wi-fi's a similar situation. USB-based wi-fi adapters are fairly cheap & easy to find, and they work well. It's important that you get one which supports "ac" wi-fi, or more formally "802.11ac". That's a modern standard that can perform reasonably close to direct network cable speeds in good conditions.

It's also crucial that the USB wi-fi adapter supports USB 3.0. That's a high-speed form of USB that can be used for all sorts of things normal USB can't handle, and it's necessary for the wi-fi adapter to take advantage of the "ac" standard's speed.

Remember that wi-fi speed depends on many factors, including whether the wi-fi equipment in your home even supports the "ac" standard, and that physical obstructions -- like your walls -- can have a massive impact on your speeds.


A final point: using a TV is perfectly doable. As long as it supports HDMI video cables -- which every TV from the past decade supports -- you'll be able to plug your computer into it same as you would a Roku or a Blu-ray player.

You won't get the same response times as a dedicated gaming monitor, but considering you plan to upgrade your PC over time, starting low-end & cheap, using a TV isn't a bad idea.

 

[Gaogier]

Hello

i am going to save and get all the parts at a working level.

do I need a graphics card if I get this cpu yet?
AMD Ryzen 3 2200G 3.5 GHz Quad-Core Processor
should I spend more on the cpu or motherboard. I am thinking of this one.
MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC AMD Motherboard
Also, is this ram going to work well? Can I get more at a later date or buy 2 or 4?
Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory

If I need a graphic card, which would you recommen?

 

[Oussebon]

What games are you intending to play and at what sort of graphics settings? (low, medium, high, as close to max as possible)?

 

[Gaogier]

Battlefield series, Halo series and RuneScape.
the real question is what would my budget get me in terms of graphics I would guess medium to high.

 

[Zoid]

Battlefield series, Halo series and RuneScape.
the real question is what would my budget get me in terms of graphics I would guess medium to high.

The Ryzen 3 2200G will be able to play games like Battlefield 1 in the 30- 45fps range at low settings and 1080p. Dropping to 720p will give you a better experience.

If you bought a 2200G then you would definitely want to get dual channel RAM (2x4GB instead of 1x8GB) and higher RAM speeds wouldn't hurt, but we're on a budget.

If you want to play at medium to high settings at 1080p then you will need to look at a more powerful CPU and GPU. Pairing a GPU with a Ryzen 3 2200G wouldn't make sense.

 

[Inspireless Llama]

I found a budget build on a Dutch site, I threw it into pcpartpicker to get UK prices. It has a Ryzen 3400 instead of a Ryzen 2200G so it's slightly better. It does not include a videocard, but still goes for 16gb of RAM. I'm not sure how well it does in games, but it's something.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3400G 3.7 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£169.98 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock B450M PRO4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£75.60 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£84.33 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Kingston A2000 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£78.99 @ Box Limited)
Case: Antec Dark Phantom DP301M MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£43.31 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 9 400 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£38.90 @ Aria PC)
Total: £491.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-09 21:48 BST+0100

EDIT: Interesting to see that the 3400G is more expensive than the 3600, but you do get a CPU and GPU in one.

 

[Oussebon]

I think the only real conclusion based on the games you want to play is that you need to save up until you can buy a system with a dedicated GPU.

This means avoiding the APU CPUs like Ryzen 5 3400G and Ryzen 3 2200G because if you're spending £100-£170 on a CPU it might as well be the R5 1600 or R5 3600 which are far, far better CPUs and will last you a lot longer.

The APU plan is a bad plan at this stage. Don't buy one.

 

[is_died]

It's definitely a bad idea to buy an APU when your plan is to upgrade over time.

You're likely to upgrade your video card much more often than your CPU. The great majority of games are performance bottlenecked by the video card, not the CPU, so a good CPU can last you a long time. An APU would tie the CPU and GPU into one unit, and the GPU side of it would be very limited in performance.

The APU would work well enough for low-end gaming, but the added cost you paid for an APU would essentially be wasted money the moment you finally buy a dedicated video card -- which you'd definitely want to do, at least eventually.

Your money's best spent on a good CPU and a starter GPU. Even a low-end dedicated GPU would be okay to start with, as they're easy to upgrade and would probably outperform an APU (obviously depends on the model you buy, but generally true I think).

 

[Zoid]

I tweaked my recommended parts list from before to make it as cheap as I possibly can while still having it be a good foundation for you to work with. For under £450 you could get this:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 (14nm) 3.2 GHz 6-Core Processor (£94.97 @ Laptops Direct)
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£65.47 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£41.91 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£58.98 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£64.99 @ Box Limited)
Custom: Second-hand GPU (£75.00)
Custom: Case (£35.00)
Total: £436.32
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-10 14:03 BST+0100

A Ryzen 5 1600 is a stronger processor than any of the APUs you're looking at, and it will have no trouble with modern games. You've got 8GB of RAM which you can later upgrade to 16GB, you've got a cheap but suitable B450 motherboard which would give you access to more powerful Ryzen CPUs if you ever felt like you needed one, you've got 500GB of SSD storage, and you've got a suitable power supply that will be able to power a good dedicated GPU.

For a GPU, looking on Ebay UK I was seeing second-hand GTX 960s and R9 380s going for about £75, or cheaper if you get lucky with a bid. Those would give you pretty good 1080p performance until you can save up for something newer. If you only wanted to buy new, you could get a GT 1030 for that price as well. It won't be as powerful as those second-hand GPUs, but it will still give you the same performance you'd expect to get out of an APU.

Lasty, for the case you can get whatever you want. Even a cheap £35 case will work.

This system will cost about he same as an APU system but will give you much better current performance and future potential. This is exactly your stated budget in your original post. I would recommend saving up all of the £450 at once and then buying something like this.

 

[Gaogier]

So, how do you tell a good cpu, motherboards and gpu from bad ones?

i have gone via ratings, but if it’s not a good one why get it?

 

[is_died]

I don't know what resources others will recommend, but what I've used for years now is Passmark's benchmark database. Here's a link to a very helpful page, graphing CPU's by their price-to-performance ratios: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_value_available.html#xy_scatter_graph

In addition to a score system that lets you quantify, at a glance, the power of every CPU compared to every other one, clicking on any CPU on that graph will give you a pretty detailed readout of their pricing history, current prices and how they stack up to other models.

EDIT: Here's the same thing, but for video cards: https://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_value.html#xy_scatter_graph

EDIT II: As for motherboards, ratings are probably fairly reliable. Most important about motherboards is whether they're compatible with all the parts you want to use, and whether they have all the features you need (right type & number of plugs & ports, max supported amount & speed of RAM -- that kind of thing).

 

[Oussebon]

So, how do you tell a good cpu, motherboards and gpu from bad ones?

It's not about good and bad, but good and bad specifically for what you're doing with it.

As for how to know what a good CPU is for you, you can either

a) look at reviews by reputable hardware websites. Such as PC Gamer, but also Gamersnexus, Techspot, Techpowerup, Tom's Hardware, PCPer, and many others. e.g.

AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Review: Best All-Round Value CPU

The successor to our favorite best value CPU, the Ryzen 5 3600 is AMD's new $200 6-core, 12-thread processor. The chip clocks between 3.6 GHz and 4.2...

www.techspot.com

or b) ask on a forum and take advice from people who have read that material - and ofc ask them to explain why A is a better choice than B. So you know they're not just talking rubbish.

 

[Oussebon]

I'd avoid using Passmark as the scores aren't very helpful, and the weightings have been heavily criticised:
https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/news/userbenchmark-benchmark-change-criticism-amd-intel,40032.html

Moreover, Passmark is just not as relevant as other benchmarks - benchmarks that are designed to reflect real world performance, instead of some abstract measure. Things like 3DMark Firestrike and Timespy for gaming, Cinebench for renderings, and of course benchmarks of actual games and software themselves!

Like the techspot article I linked above, that shows actual performance in certain games and software.

Also any website that offers some kind of automated comparison between A and B components like GPUboss, CPUboss, and also Userbenchmark, should be avoided like the plague. At best, they're not as good as other resources. At worst, they mislead you.

 

[Zoid]

So, how do you tell a good cpu, motherboards and gpu from bad ones?

i have gone via ratings, but if it’s not a good one why get it?

@Oussebon covered it, but I'll add anyway. Good or bad is relative to what your needs will be.

You should look at professional reviews and benchmarks from reputable tech sites when researching components. Consumer ratings on Amazon or Newegg or other online retailers are going to be all over the place. As mentioned before, forums (like this one, tom's hardware, linus tech tips, pcpartpicker, r/buildapc, and lots of others) are also a good place to get personal recommendations from people who either have hands-on experience with the hardware or are knowledgeable about the current state of the industry.

If you have questions about specific components, ask. If you want to get a more meaningful dialogue going, let us know what you think of what we're recommending here. For instance, the parts list I recommended above fits your budget. I would be happy to explain in more detail why and how I chose those particular components if you're uncertain about it. That way we can work together to find you the best build possible for your needs and budget.

 

[Oussebon]

The short version is that the quad-core APUs are worse than the 6-core CPUs like R5 1600, 2600, and 3600, but cost about the same.

The reason they cost the same is because they have onboard graphics.

But because you are going to use a dedicated GPU anyway, those onboard graphics are useless to you.

Therefore, instead of buying an APU, buy a decent CPU, even if it means you need to wait a few more weeks to buy the system.

Because you get a better gaming experience - and it saves you money in the long run, because you don't need to upgrade your CPU nearly as soon.