A budget friendly PC build that should last - Dec 2020
This article is intended to help you select components for a PC build that should be of sufficient performance to last for at least several years while being mindful of the budget. This is intended for general use, not a high-end gaming system, or a video editing system, etc, although it should be more than adequate for the vast majority of us who dabble in those types of endeavors.
As a point of comparison, the system I use daily and am typing on at this very minute was built several years ago using a CPU released in 2012; a properly built and well maintained system can provide many years of reliable and satisfactory service. I use this system for everything from casual web browsing and email, to graphics, to compiling programs, to CAD, 3D modeling and rendering. The PC build I will describe in this article should vastly outperform my current system and will likely last for many years to come.
If you build this for a high school freshman, there is a very good chance that it will last them until they graduate college.
Step 1: Determine your form factor and choose a case
I highly recommend using a "Mid Tower" ATX case as this will give you a wide range of motherboard options, plenty of room for expansion bays, adequate airflow for cooling, and is much more pleasant to work with than smaller cases. I have built one PC with a smaller "MicroATX" tower, however it was a bit unpleasant for my big hands to deal with and it seemed like every time I tried to insert a new component cables were somehow in the way or impeding airflow. That said if space is at a premium it is an option worth considering.
Aside from these form factors your main options are either a Full Tower ATX case, which simply takes up more space without offering any significant advantages for most users - if you need one, chances are you aren't reading this article - and on the other end of the spectrum, a Mini-ITX case which is even smaller than the MicroATX mentioned above and presumably more difficult to work with.
In general, I like to look for a case with at least one or two external 5.25" drive bays at the front of the case for installing a DVD drive and/or perhaps a memory card reader, two front facing USB 3.0 ports, some fans to help with cooling, and if it has a removable dust screen over the air inlets that can be a great help with preventing most dust & pet hairs from entering your system. Many newer cases feature tempered glass side panels which are typically marketed as something to show off your PC's internal components and light effects; in reality, they are mainly useful for monitoring the level of dust and dirt build-up that your pc will inevitably accumulate, and encourage you to keep it clean. Also, it seems as though many of the newest generation of cases do not have any external drive bays at all; if you don't want a DVD drive or similar, I suppose that is an option, however it limits your ability to expand the PC as your needs grow.
My pick at the moment would probably be the
Rosewill Challenger for $47.99. That's toward the lower end of what you can expect to pay for a case of reasonable quality, and it has all the options I'd recommend for most users. It comes with 3 big fans, usually the bigger they are the quieter they are, but if for some reason they're still a bit too noisy for your preference you could always replace them with near silent
Noctua fans.
Step 2: Select a Motherboard, CPU, and RAM combo
Having chosen a Mid Tower ATX case above, this particular case allows us to use either an ATX or Micro ATX motherboard; some mid tower cases may permit the use of other sizes as well. I often seem to find the best deals on Micro ATX motherboards and have used that form factor for my latest few builds, but either will do.
This is really the most critical step in designing a system of good value with (hopefully) some longevity; it would be a simple matter to choose the fastest CPU available, but that would represent a very poor value for most of us. On the other end of the spectrum, the cheapest one available would probably become obsolete quickly and we'd likely be better off buying a used system from ebay or a thrift store instead.
CPU Benchmark has a handy list of current processors listing their "CPU Mark" (a measure of CPU performance) divided by retail price, which shows you which processor gives you the most bang for your buck. This is useful for pointing you in a general direction, although there are a few other things to consider. First, the prices listed are not always current, and some may be off considerably, thus skewing the value. Secondly, the "CPU Mark" in that chart is a sum of all cores, not the single thread performance. Not all software utilizes multiple threads, and if you're primarily concerned with the performance of just one specific application which does not use multi-threading, then you may be better off with a processor which has a higher single thread CPU Mark; most of us won't need to be concerned with this. Lastly, the value listed only takes into consideration the cost of the CPU, not a matching motherboard and RAM. Despite these complications, it is at least a starting point.
As of the time of writing this article, the best value listed is the AMD Ryzen 5 2600 CPU, at (allegedly) $139.99. With a CPU Mark of 13215, that represents the best processing power per dollar of any CPU on the list, and is over twice the processing power of my current system. While that is indeed a good deal, if I want the system to have some longevity I would be more tempted to find something near the top of the list but with a bit higher CPU Mark; the AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 3700 stands out with a much higher CPU Mark of 21904 at $279.99. There are CPUs with significantly higher scores that that one, however they are also much more expensive and thus of lower value.
Unfortunately it looks like the prices listed are not current, and one currently retails for a bit more than that chart would have us believe; the
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 is available at $218.99, however the preferred
AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 3700 is still available at $279.99. In light of the actual retail price, the Ryzen 7 is actually a significantly higher value than the Ryzen 5.
Now that a CPU has been chosen, we need to find a compatible motherboard. This CPU requires a type AM4 socket. The mere fact that the socket will accept the CPU doesn't mean that the motherboard will support it, however we can at least narrow our search to ATX & MicroATX motherboards with AM4 sockets. Searching for this criteria alone on newegg is providing me with more than 1000 results, so I can afford to be picky and narrow it down a bit more; first, I will choose only those with the top 5 'egg' customer ratings, which still leaves me with 120 to choose from. To narrow it further I will limit the manufacturers to those I am most familiar with, ASUS, MSI, ASRock, and GIGABYTE. This leaves me with a choice of motherboards ranging from $65.99 - $399.98
My preference would be the
ASRock B550M board for $89.99 primarily because I have used ASRock boards for my last few builds and have been very happy with them. Notably, the rating is based on only 4 reviews, so if I was less familiar with the brand I'd probably be more tempted by something with more reviews such as the
MSI MPG B550 for $239.00
It is always a good idea to double check on the manufacturer's website that the motherboard you want to use is indeed compatible with the desired CPU, and we can see that the Ryzen 7 PRO 3700 is listed on the
ASRock website.
Now that we have a motherboard and CPU selected, we need to find some RAM. It is important to make sure that the RAM is compatible with the other components, and this particular combination supports up to 4 slots of DDR4 4533+ RAM totaling no more than 128GB. As a point of comparison, my current system uses only 16GB RAM and doesn't have memory limitation problems, so 128GB should be more than adequate for the foreseeable future.
This brings us to two other significant points; first, is the RAM speed. The faster the RAM, the better the performance, and the more expensive it is. Given a choice of the same budget for more RAM at a slower speed, or less RAM at a higher speed, I would generally opt for more RAM at a slower speed. Secondly is the matter of compatibility; so long as you purchase RAM with all the correct specs, any brand should be OK, however I prefer to use something that is known and verified to be compatible with my motherboard, and fortunately ASRock provides us with that
info.
To that end, I would suggest at minimum 2 sticks of
Kingston 16GB DDR4-2933 at $75 each, for a total of $150 which would give you 32GB RAM in total. My preference would be to load up two of the four available RAM slots with 32GB modules, giving you a total of 64GB RAM, which ought to be enough to last for many years. This model of
Kingston at $125.49 each or
Crucial for $104.99 each (at a bit slower speed) would be good choices. If for some reason you ever need more than 64GB RAM you can always load up the remaining slots with more of the same, although I have a feeling that will never be necessary.
Step 3: Select a Hard Drive (or two)
This is the component which you are most likely to upgrade at some point during the useful life of your PC. Every version of your operating system (probably Windows) will likely be larger than the last, and most programs just grow and grow with every update, all of which takes up ever more space on your hard drive. I would recommend a minimum of around 500GB hard drive space if you want to make sure that you'll have adequate room for a while. As for the format, there seems little reason to use anything other than an SSD for the primary drive now; their prices have dropped significantly and the performance advantage which they offer over traditional mechanical hard drives are significant.
The motherboard I selected above supports a number of storage devices, listed below:
4 x SATA3 6.0Gb/s Connectors, support RAID, NCQ, AHCI and Hot Plug
1 x Hyper M.2 Socket (M2_1), supports M Key type 2280 M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen4x4 (64Gb/s)
1 x M.2 Socket (M2_2), supports M Key type 2280 M.2 SATA3 6.0Gb/s module and M.2 PCI Express module up to Gen3 x2 (16Gb/s)
I would make use of an M.2 socket for the C: drive and place my operating system and most program files there, then use a SATA3 connector for a cheaper mechanical hard drive to store large data files, photos, music, videos, etc.
Let's choose a nice
Corsair 1TB SSD at $184.99 for the C: drive, and a
Seagate 3TB 7200RPM drive at $65.00 for the D: drive.
You could, of course, choose a smaller C: drive, or a larger D: drive, or perhaps multiple D: drives if you anticipate storing lots of data such as videos, etc.
Step 4: Choose a video card
The CPU chosen for this build does not utilize integrated graphics, so you will need to purchase a separate graphics card. Many CPU's do offer integrated graphics so if you're looking for a more budget build that might be something worth considering, however bear in mind that even a low end graphics card will generally outperform a system with integrated graphics and it also has the benefit of using its own dedicated RAM rather than sharing your system RAM. That said your selection of graphics card will have much to do with your intended use; if you plan on playing lots of games in HD or better resolution, expect to pay a fair bit more than something which only needs to be adequate for web browsing and word processing. I don't often play games on my main PC so that isn't a concern for me, however I do use it for some 3D rendering with programs like Autodesk's Fusion 360 which recommends a dedicated graphics card with at least 4GB of VRAM and DirectX 12 support.
There are tons and tons of options available which fit this criteria, however the
ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 570 stands out to me because it is relatively low cost at $224.44, has 8GB of RAM despite being in the price range of most 4GB models, has great reviews, and supports dual monitors.
If you don't intend to play intense games or do complex 3D modeling, you could probably get away with using a much less costly graphics card such as this
MSI GeForce GT 710. Whatever type of video card you select, just keep in mind that the interface needs to be compatible with your motherboard, and be aware that not every card will physically fit into every case - some are very long or bulky.
Step 5: Optional accessories like DVD drives
DVD/RW drives are often overlooked on modern builds, however I still have plenty of software on CD's & DVD's, occasionally like to burn a CD for playing in my car, and enjoy ripping purchased music CD's to my computer. They're fairly cheap and when you need one there is no substitute, so why not add one to your build?
This
ASUS 24x DVD +/- RW burner should fit the bill nicely at $34.25.
Step 6: Select your power supply
Selecting a power supply isn't too difficult; you just need to add up the wattage consumed by your various devices and add a healthy margin to determine your minimum power supply required. I would suggest looking for one as efficient as your budget permits, as there will be significant cost savings over time on your electric bill.
The main things to consider are the power draw of your CPU and graphics card;
AMD lists the TDP of their CPU at 65 watts; keep in mind this isn't the same as the actual power draw, however it can give you a rough idea of that - I typically double the figure to estimate actual power draw, so let's call it 130 watts. The specs on the graphics card recommend a 450 watt power supply, so 450 + 130 = 580 watts minimum. Bear in mind that most of the time your system will only consume a tiny fraction of that power, the max power draw will only occur if/when both your CPU & GPU are being pushed to their limit. So to play it safe I'll look for a power supply with a minimum 650 watts rating, which should be more than adequate.
This
Rosewill power supply for $84.99 meets all the specs, is over 90% efficient, and has a modular cable assembly which means you aren't stuck with a bunch of unnecessary cable ends cluttering up the interior of the PC.
Step 7: Protect your investment! (Don't skip this one)
One bit of hardware which I will highly recommend to anyone is an Uninterruptible Power Supply, or UPS. These devices are the best insurance you can buy to both protect your device from power spikes and protect your data from unexpected power loss. They tend to last for quite a long time, so do yourself a favor and invest in one. Something like this
CyberPower UPS should help give you peace of mind for many years.
This concludes our hardware selections for the main portion of your PC build. Of course, you're still going to need a keyboard, a mouse, a monitor (or two), and maybe a printer, but those topics lie outside the scope of this article.
As for software, you do of course need an operating system of some kind, presumably Windows. If you do opt for Windows, there are a couple programs which I consider essential:
ESET Internet Security is my preferred antivirus protection, Windows 10 has something built in but I've been using this for years and at $49.99 per year, it seems well worth it.
CCleaner is a wonderful program which helps find and delete files that tend to accumulate on your hard drive over time, which if not removed will continue to eat up more and more space and gradually slow your computer to a crawl. The free version will do the job adequately enough, but the paid version does a bit more and makes updating the software much easier.
Conclusion: Itemized list and total cost
Well this has turned into a much lengthier post than I'd first imagined, but hopefully it will give you some insight into what needs to be taken into consideration when building a new PC. If you have some kind of special use in mind you might want to look into some aspects of the build in greater detail, for instance gamers would probably have much more interest in the graphics card than I do, but this should give you a good foundation to build upon.
Here's a list of all the components mentioned and a total:
Rosewill Challenger case $47.99
AMD Ryzen 7 PRO 3700 CPU $279.99
ASRock B550M Phantom Gaming motherboard $89.99
Kingston 32GB RAM (2) at $125.49 each for $250.98 total
Corsair 1TB SSD $184.99
Seagate 3TB 7200RPM HDD $65.00
ASUS ROG Strix Radeon RX 570 video card $224.44
ASUS 24x DVD +/- RW burner $34.25
Rosewill power supply $84.99
Adding it all up, that comes to $1262.62 - not exactly a cheap build, but this should last for many years. There are plenty of ways to reduce the costs without taking away too much from the performance either; for one thing, you could probably get away with just 16GB RAM for quite a while, which would knock about $200 off the total. Instead of a top of the line 1TB Hyper M.2 SSD, you could opt for a still very quick 512GB SATA 3 SSD and save around $135 or more; you might be able to forego the $65 D: drive entirely. Selecting the other video card I mentioned would save another $160 or so, and would still be plenty good enough for some casual gaming. If you're not planning on using the DVD burner, that could save another $34.25. In total those changes would save nearly $600, bringing the total to just under $700 for what would still be a very high performance machine with plenty of upgrade potential.
If you're still reading at this point, thanks for sticking with me so long. There is plenty more to building a PC than what I've touched upon here, however this should point you in the right direction. Enjoy your build!
Category: Pc Build