New PC Build

Hi everyone,

Recently my friend has come to me asking me to build him a gaming PC. His budget is about 600USD.

Here are the parts that I have picked:
CPU - Pentium G4560
Mobo- MSI B250M PRO-VH
RAM - Transcend 8GB x1 DDR4-2400
SSD - Crucial MX300 275GB
HDD - Toshiba 1TB
GPU - MSI GTX 1050 2GB OC
Case- Thermaltake Versa H15
PSU - Thermaltake TR2-450 PRO
DVD - Lite-On 24x

My friend aims to play CoH2, WoW, Oxygen Not Included, Total War Warhammer. Also because he has a ton of movie DVDs I included the DVD burner.

Anything you would change/modify?

Thanks in advance!

couple of things there i would change, but note that i know a lot about the european market and not others, so that might change things

generally, the price of the g4560 atm makes it a worse choice than a ryzen 3 1300 for example, so you might take a look at that.

does he have an old computer, maybe an old hdd for example, that might be used? or an old case? A 1050 isnt exactly futureproof, so an upgrade of that would go miles!

the psu is not good, one would have to see whats available otherwise

If he aims to play coh2, he should get more than 8GB of ram. Playing on high settings with such little memory is only possible if you turn off absolutely everything in the background. Also, why do you want him to use his memory in single channel? As for cpu I would look at benchmarks with older gaming cpus before buying that one. I wouldn't go for ryzen though as what you need in coh2 is per core power, not two more low performance cores sleeping. PSU is good enough IMO.

couple of things there i would change, but note that i know a lot about the european market and not others, so that might change things

generally, the price of the g4560 atm makes it a worse choice than a ryzen 3 1300 for example, so you might take a look at that.

does he have an old computer, maybe an old hdd for example, that might be used? or an old case? A 1050 isnt exactly futureproof, so an upgrade of that would go miles!

the psu is not good, one would have to see whats available otherwise

First off, thanks for the reply!

Actually, I've been considering the i5-7400 instead, although that would make his build slightly over-budget. I'll look into an R3 1200 build (the vendor doesn't have R3 1300s for some strange reason), seems that it might be better.

He has an old laptop, doesn't have a desktop. I would say that his gaming needs probably won't exceed the performance limitations of the GTX 1050 anytime soon; he doesn't really play any recent AAA titles. I've definitely considered the 1050Ti, but just like the better CPU, getting it might be a little over-budget.

I've used the TR2 450W in a friend's build, so far it seems to be working pretty well. If not, I think I'll get a Leadex 550W.

If he aims to play coh2, he should get more than 8GB of ram. Playing on high settings with such little memory is only possible if you turn off absolutely everything in the background. Also, why do you want him to use his memory in single channel? As for cpu I would look at benchmarks with older gaming cpus before buying that one. I wouldn't go for ryzen though as what you need in coh2 is per core power, not two more low performance cores sleeping. PSU is good enough IMO.

First off, thanks for the reply!

I've love to get more than 8GB, but DDR4 (acutally, RAM in general) pricing these days is pretty awful so I've had to abstain from a 16GB of RAM because it pushes the build over-budget. However, I have hope that sometime in the future (maybe 2 years?) that RAM pricing will go back down and he can pick up a second stick of 8GB.

What CPU would you suggest instead? My friend is a casual gamer so I think it would be okay with either the G4560 or the R3 1200.

I got a lot of help from this forum when building my PC, so I don't know if I can give any suggestions but I'll share what I learned.

- Be prepared to spend more. I started with a budget of £750-850 and that's a decent amount more than what's listed here, yet I still had to expand on it. It's not to say you won't go monstrously overbudget (I did, sort of) but make sure there's some leeway. It usually saves you shelling out more money in future.

- Good PSU and motherboard are really essential, don't scrimp on them because they're first line of defence against a PC going splat. make sure they have all the necessary plugs and sockets etc.

- The 1050 is not a very good choice if he wants longevity. I personally have a 6GB 1060 and it's a brilliant little card. Whilst he might not think he's interested in future titles, tastes can change, and when you're looking at your new super-duper toaster deluxe, you suddenly want to play everything, run all of them at ultra settings and generally enjoy not being restricted by your old tech. I bought BF4 and Deus Ex Mankind Divided for my new machine, which I both got cheap, so he should be aware that newer games will likely lure him in. You don't want to have to replace the card in a couple of years or less. Plus, TW Warhammer is going to get intensive, so the smoother the better.

- It's been said before, but 8GB of RAM won't cut it for CoH 2. But remember, you could always download more RAM (that's a joke PLEASE DO NOT try to download more RAM).

- Last but not least: make sure everything is compatible. My case was too small, and the HDD had trouble fitting in place, so I had to do some DIY on a disk tray holder to get it to fit in right. Please don't repeat my mistake, because your friend will probably not be as lucky as I was in finding a solution to storing a vital component.

Hi to all...

Going for these would be a good choice (imho). You will have better gaming performance:
https://www.pccomponentes.com/msi-geforce-gtx-1060-armor-v1-3gb-gddr5 -215eur
https://www.pccomponentes.com/evga-geforce-gtx-1050ti-gaming-4gb-gddr5 -155eur

The CPU is great for the buck and would not bottleneck those graphic cards much.

About the memory... you shouldn't worry about installing only one module, as dual channel effectiveness comes when you make a lot of copy tasks, not gaming. In addition to this, you leave room for another 8GB module for the future.
https://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3

Hope these tips help you! (I'm looking for buying something very similar right now too)

I got a lot of help from this forum when building my PC, so I don't know if I can give any suggestions but I'll share what I learned.

- Be prepared to spend more. I started with a budget of £750-850 and that's a decent amount more than what's listed here, yet I still had to expand on it. It's not to say you won't go monstrously overbudget (I did, sort of) but make sure there's some leeway. It usually saves you shelling out more money in future.

- Good PSU and motherboard are really essential, don't scrimp on them because they're first line of defence against a PC going splat. make sure they have all the necessary plugs and sockets etc.

- The 1050 is not a very good choice if he wants longevity. I personally have a 6GB 1060 and it's a brilliant little card. Whilst he might not think he's interested in future titles, tastes can change, and when you're looking at your new super-duper toaster deluxe, you suddenly want to play everything, run all of them at ultra settings and generally enjoy not being restricted by your old tech. I bought BF4 and Deus Ex Mankind Divided for my new machine, which I both got cheap, so he should be aware that newer games will likely lure him in. You don't want to have to replace the card in a couple of years or less. Plus, TW Warhammer is going to get intensive, so the smoother the better.

- It's been said before, but 8GB of RAM won't cut it for CoH 2. But remember, you could always download more RAM (that's a joke PLEASE DO NOT try to download more RAM).

- Last but not least: make sure everything is compatible. My case was too small, and the HDD had trouble fitting in place, so I had to do some DIY on a disk tray holder to get it to fit in right. Please don't repeat my mistake, because your friend will probably not be as lucky as I was in finding a solution to storing a vital component.

Thanks for your response!

Okay, I'll let him know that he should be prepared to spend around 700USD!

The MSI B250M seems to be a pretty solid board. My friend know little about PCs so I'm pretty sure he's not into overclocking or anything like that (if he decides to get a CPU replacement in the future) so I'd say this board would suffice. As I stated before, the exact Thermaltake PSU has worked pretty in the past, so I'll stick with what works. Of course, I do have a "backup" if my friend decides to throw more cash at his system: I'll get a LEADEX 450W.

You have a valid point there. I'll propose a GPU upgrade to a 1050 Ti as well, since more CUDA cores and more VRAM is better in the long run.

As I stated before, RAM is crazy right now. The price for a stick of DDR4-2400 jumped up by another 3 USD just today (6USD since I started planning the build a week ago!). I'm pretty sure budget restrictions will stop me from getting him another 8GB stick.

My (supercharged toaster) computer runs on 2x 4GB, and CoH2 works fine for me. Besides, all we need to do is restart after every game!

Thanks for sharing this part about your build. The Versa H15 has a detachable array for you to mount both an HDD and an SSD, so I think I'll be okay!

Hi to all...

Going for these would be a good choice (imho). You will have better gaming performance:
(GTX 1060 3GB) -215eur
(GTX 1050 Ti) -155eur

The CPU is great for the buck and would not bottleneck those graphic cards much.

About the memory... you shouldn't worry about installing only one module, as dual channel effectiveness comes when you make a lot of copy tasks, not gaming. In addition to this, you leave room for another 8GB module for the future.
(link)

Hope these tips help you! (I'm looking for buying something very similar right now too)

Thanks for your response!

I will let him know about the 1050Ti as an option, the 1060 is simply way too far out of budget.

The CPU seems to be adequate for everyday gaming/surfing use (although, just like the GPU, I'll leave it up to my friend whether or not he wants a faster CPU). Also, I'm pretty sure he won't be doing anything productivity-related on his computer (aside from Microsoft Office) so I'd say that a single stick should suffice for at least two years.