Custom PC build

Hey there!

I’m looking for some advice on putting together a build based around an Intel Core i3-8100. Money is pretty tight right now, so I can only swing about $1167 max. Is it even possible to build something decent with that budget? I already have an SSD and an HDD ready to go, so I just need the motherboard, RAM, CPU, case, and power supply. It would be great if the case had a slot for an optical drive, too.

From what I've read online, the Radeon graphics on this chip are actually pretty solid. I don't need anything crazy right now—I can definitely hold out playing Skyrim or DiRT Rally for a few months.

The plan is to pop in a dedicated graphics card in maybe 3 or 4 months. With that in mind, should I be picking out a specific power supply now? I'm thinking a GTX 1060 or maybe an RX580 would be a good target later on. Would a 500W PSU work, or is 450W enough?

I have a rough idea of the parts I want, but all the fine details are tripping me up—stuff like bottlenecks, making sure the power supply can handle a future GPU upgrade, and all that.

I'll be paying cash, so I don't care which store I use. It doesn't have to be everything from one place, though that would be easier.

Thanks in advance!

Corsair mid Tower case with Intel Core i3
Intel Core i3-8100, 3.60GHz, 4MB Cache, LGA1151, YD2400C5FBBOX
ASUS Prime B450M-A, AM4, 90-MXB8F0-A0UAYZ
Fortron 550W Hexa 85+, ATX 2.4, PPA5504301

$0.85 - AMD

RAM:

https://www.newegg.com/product&prod...m_medium=click

Btw, I guess you could probably put together a 1600X plus an R9 380 from some old stock for about $1233. You’d likely see much better frame rates in games, and the processor would be a bit more powerful, too.

Yeah, definitely better to go with the 1600X and an R9 380

crimsonstag84 said:Corsair mid Tower case with Intel Core i3
Intel Core i3-8100, 3.60GHz, 4MB Cache, LGA1151, YD2400C5FBBOX
ASUS Prime B450M-A, AM4, 90-MXB8F0-A0UAYZ
Fortron 550W Hexa 85+, ATX 2.4, PPA5504301

$0.85 - AMD

RAM:

https://www.newegg.com/product&prod...m_medium=click

Btw, I guess you could probably put together a 1600X plus an R9 380 from some old stock for about $1233. You’d likely see much better frame rates in games, and the processor would be a bit more powerful, too.

That sounds like too much of a headache for me. I'd much rather just go with the AMD Ryzen 5 2400G for now and then just grab a beefier graphics card like a 1060 down the road.

Upgrading the CPU later is easy when it costs less than swapping out everything else. $3500 is my absolute hard limit, and what you listed above comes out to roughly $3100 total, which fits my budget perfectly right now.

Alright, maybe you could put a bit more toward a better case, like

https://www.newegg.com/p/example-case-link

Or perhaps grab a decent CPU cooler, since the stock one feels a little thin for the AMD Ryzen 5 2400G.

Do they generally offer discounts? I noticed they have a deal on RAM if you pay cash, so does that apply to other components too? Also, is that total figure you posted including discounts, or should I be counting on some kind of cash discount to make it even cheaper?

That figure already includes the discount 😉

Nice! I have to admit, I had no idea about this shop before. Their prices are actually really solid—thanks for the heads-up! 🙂 From what I can tell, most of their gear is about 50-$33 cheaper than the big-box retailers I was browsing online earlier today.

Honestly, you could probably put together a decent gaming rig for that kind of money

AMD Ryzen 3 1200 processor
ASRock A320M-DGS motherboard
NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti
Seasonic SS-520GB
DDR4 RAM, 2666Mhz, 8GB HS
LC-Power LC-7034B, black, no PSU included, U2, USB 3.0, ATX
2x MS PC COOL 12cm case fans

3,504.82
Best Buy

I honestly don't see the point in picking up a 1050 Ti right now. My plan is to grab an AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and just roll with it for a couple of months. I'll stick to some lighter titles for a while, then finally buy a real GPU because I refuse to settle for anything less than a 1060. Once that's done, I'll look into upgrading my CPU if I need to.

Elizabeth Mendoza said:I honestly don't see the point in picking up a 1050 Ti right now. My plan is to grab an AMD Ryzen 5 2400G and just roll with it for a couple of months. I'll stick to some lighter titles for a while, then finally buy a real GPU because I refuse to settle for anything less than a 1060. Once that's done, I'll look into upgrading my CPU if I need to.

👍

An AMD Ryzen 5 2400G can handle something like an NVIDIA GTX 1070 at 1080p resolution. If you're looking to push higher resolutions, you could definitely go with a more powerful GPU. We should have much more information regarding the upcoming product launches in about two months, so it might be worth waiting, though I doubt anything will drop before six months from now—it could even stretch out until the fall.

If you have some extra wiggle room in your budget, you could always throw in a Freezer 33 cooler as well.

I'm rocking a 1080p monitor right now and honestly, I don't see myself upgrading it anytime soon because it does the job perfectly. My plan is just to drop a GTX 1660 6GB into my rig later on. For what I need, that’s more than enough.