New Ryzen 3 1200 budget build for my son. Waiting on parts to ship.

[DeeBye]

I know we have a lot of computer building nerds here, so I thought I'd share a new build I'll be doing within the next week or so for my son. I've purchased all the parts. I'm just waiting on a couple of pieces to ship.

I'm going AMD Ryzen this time. I would have gone Intel, but prices of motherboards for 8th-gen Intel CPUs are just stupid for budget builds. You guys can critique my parts choices if you wish, and I know you will.

He has a 24" 1080p monitor @60Hz. No plans on going higher with that. He mostly plays e-sport titles like LoL, Smite, Overwatch, and CS:GO.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 3 1200 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $114.00)
Motherboard: Gigabyte - GA-AB350-Gaming ATX AM4 Motherboard (Purchased For $90.00)
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (Purchased For $105.00)
Storage: ADATA - Ultimate SU650 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $40.00)
Storage: Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $49.00)
Video Card: EVGA - GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked Video Card (Purchased For $0.00)
Case: Deepcool - TESSERACT SW ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $48.00)
Power Supply: EVGA - B3 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $80.00)
Total: $526.00
Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-24 22:47 EDT-0400

As you can see, I'll be re-using his old EVGA GTX 950 videocard. I really want to plop a 1050ti in there, but videocard prices are just ridiculous right now. The cheapest available 1050ti online in Canada is over $350. I'll have to wait on that.

I bought a Ryzen 3 1200. 4 cores, 4 threads, unlocked. The Gigabyte B350 motherboard allows me to overclock it, and makes for future upgradability. I probably went overboard with the motherboard on a "budget" build, but it's full ATX and has 4 RAM slots and lots of fan headers. I like that.

RAM was a pain in the butt. Like GPUs, the price of RAM in Canada is just dumb. I really wanted to get 1x8GB @ 3200, but it's all way too expensive. I settled on a 1x8GB @ 2400 stick, and I think I overpaid. Nothing else is available.

I got a couple of great deals for storage, I think. The 120GB SSD will be for Windows and a few games, and the WD Blue 1TB is for bulk storage. I'll be on the lookout for a deal on a 240GB+ SSD in the future so he can store his games on that.

I heard good things about the Deepcool Tesseract, and it was cheap. It also looks good. I bought it.

I also probably went overboard with the EVGA 550W fully modular PSU. I could have bought a cheaper PSU, but I feel that this PSU is the kind of thing that will last a long time and thrive throughout many upgrades and re-builds.

Comments are critiques are welcome (but I already bought all these parts).

[Lissa]

You can get rid of the need for the video card if you go with a Ryzen 2400G instead. Just make sure that the motherboard has had its BIOS updated to the newest one that supports the 2200G and 2400G.

[DeeBye]

You can get rid of the need for the video card if you go with a Ryzen 2400G instead. Just make sure that the motherboard has had its BIOS updated to the newest one that supports the 2200G and 2400G.

I decided against the R2000 models because of the required BIOS update. I have no way of doing this myself and I don't want to go through AMD's "borrow a CPU" thing. It sounds like a lot of hassle.

I've always intended on using a dedicated GPU anyways. The GTX 950 is just a stopgap until prices normalize a bit more, and I already have it. It also performs as well, if not a bit better, than the onboard Ryzen 2000 series (which is about a GTX 1030).

Performance for the R3 1200 vs R3 2200G seems like a wash. They are pretty much the same.

[Hammerskjold]

As you can see, I'll be re-using his old EVGA GTX 950 videocard. I really want to plop a 1050ti in there, but videocard prices are just ridiculous right now. The cheapest available 1050ti online in Canada is over $350. I'll have to wait on that.

GPU prices are definitely ridiculous for a while. That and RAM, for whatever reason it spiked up.

I also probably went overboard with the EVGA 550W fully modular PSU. I could have bought a cheaper PSU, but I feel that this PSU is the kind of thing that will last a long time and thrive throughout many upgrades and re-builds.

I'm gonna say going with a quality PSU is never a bad way to spend the dollar, and 550W sounds very reasonable and future resistant for a while.

It also performs as well, if not a bit better, than the onboard Ryzen 2000 series (which is about a GTX 1030).

On one hand that's actually impressive. On the other it just reminded me the most recent GPU I bought was a GT 1030 half height card for a refurbished Thinkcentre I got for a song, not even a GTX series. Because that was the only one at the shelf with the price I'm willing to pay. The GPU prices looks to stay crappy for a while longer.

Then again there aren't that many recent releases that caught my eye, and the ones that do thankfully does not require a high end machine to run it decently. Speaking of.

He mostly plays e-sport titles like LoL, Smite, Overwatch, and CS:GO.

You guys still play Minecraft together?

[DeeBye]

It also performs as well, if not a bit better, than the onboard Ryzen 2000 series (which is about a GTX 1030).

On one hand that's actually impressive. On the other it just reminded me the most recent GPU I bought was a GT 1030 half height card for a refurbished Thinkcentre I got for a song, not even a GTX series. Because that was the only one at the shelf with the price I'm willing to pay. The GPU prices looks to stay crappy for a while longer.

Yeah it's insane. I paid about $400 for my current GTX 970 over 3 years ago, and today I wouldn't be able to get a less-powerful 1060 for that price.

He mostly plays e-sport titles like LoL, Smite, Overwatch, and CS:GO.

You guys still play Minecraft together?

I still mess around with modded Minecraft, but he's too cool to play videogames with his dad.

[Hammerskjold]

Yeah it's insane. I paid about $400 for my current GTX 970 over 3 years ago, and today I wouldn't be able to get a less-powerful 1060 for that price.

GPUs seems to have been picked up by large data centres and big business. I've heard chatters about crypto currency miners driving up the prices but I think even those have to be large scale to make a dent, we're not talking about individual miners. Plus Nvidia is behaving like an even bigger dunghole of late.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/...a-centers/

I still mess around with modded Minecraft, but he's too cool to play videogames with his dad.

It happens. The age of deadbeeshand is at it's twilight, the reign of the Son of DeadBee'sHand is about to begin!

I keeed I keeed. He's probably at that phase where he does not want to be seen with you and the missus at the mall either.

[Lissa]

Yeah it's insane. I paid about $400 for my current GTX 970 over 3 years ago, and today I wouldn't be able to get a less-powerful 1060 for that price.

GPUs seems to have been picked up by large data centres and big business. I've heard chatters about crypto currency miners driving up the prices but I think even those have to be large scale to make a dent...

They have been picking them up in large scale. There have been comments seen floating around the internet of miners buying GPUs by the Truck load. So, yes, they are making the prices go higher by volume being purchased.

[Hammerskjold]

buying GPUs by the Truck load.

I've seen some pics showing miners clearing out the stores shelves, but buying it by the truckload is warehouse level clearing. I should have invested in kanye koins or doge coins when I had the chance.

Or buy stocks in Nvidia.
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/nvda

[Lissa]

buying GPUs by the Truck load.

I've seen some pics showing miners clearing out the stores shelves, but buying it by the truckload is warehouse level clearing. I should have invested in kanye koins or doge coins when I had the chance.

Or buy stocks in Nvidia.
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/nvda

No, stock in AMD for mining. NVidia is AI/3D imaging.

[DeeBye]

https://imgur.com/a/VP7Ki

It begins!

[DeeBye]

They have been picking them up in large scale. There have been comments seen floating around the internet of miners buying GPUs by the Truck load. So, yes, they are making the prices go higher by volume being purchased.

I can't wait for the mining economy to collapse so all those gaming cards can once again be purchased by actual gamers for reasonable prices. The cheapest 1050ti I can get right now is over $250.

[Hammerskjold]

I can't wait for the mining economy to collapse so all those gaming cards can once again be purchased by actual gamers for reasonable prices. The cheapest 1050ti I can get right now is over $250.

Even if the entire cryptocurrency collapses, GPU prices might not fall that low considering how much they're bought by other interests not just miners. And unless there is actual viable competition that comes out swinging against both Nvidia and AMD, the price situation looks fairly bleak at least IMO.

No, stock in AMD for mining. NVidia is AI/3D imaging.

Hmm, I thought AMD only did lukewarm with their Vega line, then again I might still be looking at it mostly from a gaming perspective. If Vega is aimed not at gaming at all but mining and big business\data center. Then the situation seems the same as a year ago. Anyone that wants a higher end GPU for gaming is left with factory crumbs at stupid prices.

[DeeBye]

The build is done. Everything worked when we powered it up for the first time. I have some thoughts about it (both good and bad).

The stock cooler on Ryzen CPUs is really good. The Ryzen 3 1200 uses a Wraith Stealth cooler which is the smallest of the Ryzen coolers, but it's really bulky and well-built compared to every other stock CPU cooler I've ever used. The fan cable is sleeved with braided fabric (nice touch). It's really quiet too, even under load. I can't even hear it over the case fans. It was absolutely simple to install too. It has pre-applied thermal paste and uses just 4 screws to install it to the backplate on the motherboard.

Deciphering and plugging in the cables for the case to the motherboard (like the front USB, power, HDD LED, etc.) continues to be a pain in the ass. I've never built a computer wherein this wasn't the worst part of the build.

Why is the CPU 8-pin power plug on motherboards in such an inconvenient location? I was able to run mine around the motherboard, but lots of times (with bottom-mounted PSUs and tight cases) you have to run the cable over the motherboard, GPU, and sometimes even the CPU to connect it.

There is almost no need for an optical drive anymore. I installed Win10 from a USB flash drive and it was super simple. I had never done that before, but 10/10 would do again.

Gigabyte's BIOS menu is not nearly as good or intuitive as ASUS.

I'm on the fence about modular PSU's vs non-modular PSU's. I've built with both (and even semi-modular ones). It makes some things easier, but there is always a bunch of extra cabling that needs to be tucked away so it can't be seen. It might not be worth the price premium for modular if you still have to deal with cable management.

The Deepcool Tesseract is an excellent budget case. I'd use it again for another build in a heartbeat.

My son's EVGA GTX 950 SC is a lot better than I thought it was. Now that it's not bottle-necked by the CPU, it's actually a pretty decent low/mid-range GPU. He's been playing BF1 at medium settings at a solid 50-60 FPS (with v-sync on). I still want to upgrade it to something like a GTX 1050ti or even a GTX 1060, but not with today's GPU prices.