I'm getting back into PC building after several years and would appreciate advice on this cost-focused build. My main target is 1080p at around 60 FPS, mostly in older or modded games such as Skyrim and The Witcher 3, with Red Dead Redemption 2 possibly being the most demanding title.
The current parts list is:
- AMD Ryzen 7 3700X — £195
- Corsair Nautilus 240 RS LCD liquid cooler — £49
- Gigabyte A520M K V2 motherboard — £42
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Founders Edition 8GB — £299
- Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 — £209
- MSI MAG A850GLS PCIe 5 850W Gold power supply — £79
- Lian Li A3 mATX case — £71
The total is roughly £944, although some of the listed prices may be estimates. Keeping the cost down is the priority, and I'd like to leave room for upgrades later. I'm considering buying the CPU and GPU used if I can find reliable deals, and I'm also open to different models if they offer better value.
DDR5 is currently too expensive for my budget, so I'm planning to use DDR4, potentially buying the memory second-hand as well. Are there any parts here that are poor value or incompatible, and what would you change to make this a better budget-friendly build?
1 Answer
I’d avoid paying that much for a Ryzen 7 3700X. It’s an older AM4 processor, and £195 is far too high for it. Even if you can find one used for around £80, it may still not be the best choice unless the rest of the platform is priced accordingly.
I’d also step up from the A520 motherboard to at least a B550 model. It should give you a stronger feature set and a better upgrade path without adding a huge amount to the cost. The 3060 Ti should be more than adequate for 1080p gaming, so the biggest issue is making sure the CPU and motherboard are sensibly priced.
That makes sense. The £195 CPU price was the listing I found, but I’ve seen used 3700X chips closer to £80, so I was wondering whether one at that price would be reasonable.