I'm putting together a budget gaming PC for around £600 and currently have the following parts, costing £587 in total:
- GPU: Used MSI NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Super Ventus XS — £170
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5500 with Wraith Stealth cooler — £83
- Motherboard: Gigabyte B550M DS3H AC R2 — £88
- Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 — £60
- Storage: 1TB Fanxiang NVMe M.2 PCIe SSD — £99
- Power supply: MSI MAG A650BN 650W — £45
- Case and cooling: ATX case with six PWM ARGB fans — £42
The RAM is used, but the SSD is new and includes a five-year warranty. I've already bought the parts, so I'm mainly looking for feedback on the overall balance, potential compatibility concerns, and anything I should watch out for during the build.
4 Answers
Overall, this looks like a very good budget build. Six case fans should provide plenty of airflow, although make sure some are configured as intake and others as exhaust rather than having every fan blow in the same direction. Sixteen gigabytes of RAM is fine for gaming right now, though upgrading to 32GB later would be a convenient improvement if you start running heavier games or multitasking.
The 650W power supply should be enough for these parts, assuming it’s working properly and has the required PCIe connectors for the graphics card. A modular unit would make cable management easier, but it isn’t essential. You can just route or tie back the unused cables carefully so they don’t obstruct airflow.
That’s a solid starter gaming PC for the money, and the budget is sensibly focused on the graphics card. The main thing I’d be cautious about is the Fanxiang SSD, since it isn’t as widely established as brands like WD or Lexar. Check independent reviews and make sure you keep backups of anything important. If prices allow, a better-known drive would be worth considering.
The Ryzen 5 5500 is a good deal for a strict budget, but it only supports PCIe 3.0. A used Ryzen 5 5600 or 5600X would be a stronger option if you ever find one at a similar price, since it has better gaming performance and lets the B550 board use PCIe 4.0. That said, the 5500 with its included cooler is still perfectly usable, especially with an RTX 2080 Super.
I considered upgrading to a 5600, but I had to stay under £600. The new 5500 with the stock cooler was too good a deal for me to pass up.
I was unsure about the SSD too, but it has plenty of buyers and comes with a five-year warranty, so I’m hoping it’ll be fine.