I'm putting together a gaming PC for my brother and already have a spare micro-ATX case. The remaining budget is roughly £700, excluding the monitor and peripherals, although the current parts list comes to around £750.
He mainly plays esports games with friends at 1080p and is coming from Xbox, so extremely high refresh rates aren't essential, but I'd still like to achieve well over 60 FPS where possible. I'm considering an Intel Core i5-12400, 16GB of DDR4 memory, a 1TB SSD, a Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE, and a 650W power supply.
The main decision is the graphics card. I have around £250 to spend and am open to buying used from reputable retailers with returns, including CeX, but I'd rather avoid marketplace sellers with no buyer protection. The newer options I'm considering are the GeForce RTX 4060 and Intel Arc B580. The RTX 4060 should handle his games well, but its 8GB of VRAM concerns me. I'm also unsure how much Intel's drivers and game support have improved, although he mostly plays mainstream titles. Are either of these good choices, or would another GPU or component combination make more sense?
2 Answers
I’d reconsider the MSI MAG A650BN power supply. It’s an entry-level unit rather than one of the stronger choices, so spending a little more on a higher-quality, preferably Gold-rated model would be worthwhile. It should run cooler and use better internal components. The Arc B580 can also be a good option if you can actually find one at a sensible price; its performance and VRAM are appealing for this budget, though Nvidia remains the safer choice if you want the least driver-related uncertainty.
The overall build looks sensible for 1080p esports gaming. It may be worth checking reputable used retailers for the memory and SSD, since DDR4 can often be found cheaply and that could free up money for a better power supply or graphics card. You may also be able to use a less expensive dual-tower cooler unless you specifically want the Peerless Assassin.
That should give me enough room to upgrade the power supply. The original budget was closer to £500, so I chose some parts before the budget increased.
I’ll look for a better-rated PSU. Since I can save some money on the RAM, fitting one into the revised budget should be manageable.