Hey everyone! I'm a 14-year-old building my first PC and trying to keep it budget-friendly. I have about 350€ to spend, but I could stretch it to 400€ if necessary. I'm living in Italy and would love any advice or suggestions. Here's what I've got so far:
- **CPU:** Ryzen 5 3600
- **Motherboard:** I'm considering a few options like the A520M K V2, A520M SH2, or A520M-A Pro, but I'm not sure what the differences are.
- **GPU:** I'm thinking of either a used 1080 Ti or 3060 Ti.
- **RAM:** Looking at either 16 GB or 32 GB DDR4, preferably used.
- **Storage:** Planning for a 128/256 GB SSD or NVMe, plus I have a 1 TB HDD for games.
- **Power Supply:** A 600W Vultech VPS-A600ER (new).
- **Case:** A random used case I found.
I'm also curious if there are any incompatibilities in this build and especially if there are better options I should consider. My goal is to game at 1080p or 1440p with medium to high settings, aiming for a stable 60 FPS across all games.
For my monitor, I'm using a 1440p one I found in the garage, which has a small scratch but seems decent. I know it's not ideal to play 1080p on a 1440p monitor, but that's what I have right now. I'm using a random keyboard and a budget gaming mouse for now, with plans to upgrade later. As for the OS, I'm thinking about Windows 10/11 LTSC, but I'm also interested in trying Linux Mint.
Thanks for any help!
1 Answer
Hey! Your build looks pretty solid for a budget build, but I'd definitely recommend checking out the B450 or B550 motherboards instead of the A520 options you mentioned—they might give you better performance for a similar price. Also, for the GPU, if you're planning to stick with Windows, the 3060 Ti is a nice choice. Just keep in mind that AMD tends to be better optimized for Linux in terms of drivers if you go that route.
As for your RAM, 16 GB should be more than enough for gaming at the moment. Regarding storage, go for at least a 256 GB SSD for your OS, and make sure your HDD is at least 7200 RPM for better game load times. You might want to consider gaming-oriented Linux distros if you want to dive into that—I've had good luck with CachyOS. Lastly, if you're looking at cheaper builds, the options from AliExpress can be tempting but do come with their limitations like lack of BIOS updates.
Let me know how it goes!
Yeah, I've heard those Linux gaming distros are great! Just be sure to research a bit before diving in. And for that AliExpress build, make sure it fits your gaming needs before going all-in!