Building first pc - looking for advice/suggestions

Author Topic: Building first pc - looking for advice/suggestions  (Read 1280 times)

The time has come for me to cave in to peer pressure and build my first pc. I'm finishing up my undergrad and off to grad school and I was looking to replace my laptop but thought, forget it, I'll just build a pc and run my laptop for as long as I can.

Anyways, looking to spend around $650/700. I've picked up a MSI RX580 Gaming X 8gb for $168 and ADATA XPG D10 16gb DDR4 3000 for $74. I just missed the deal on Bestbuy for the Ryzen 5 2600x for $165. I'm not sure if I should just go with 2600 or try and wait for another sale on the 2600x, any thoughts?

Suggestions for any other parts such as cases, motherboards, etc are welcome too

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113497
https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Ryzen-Processor-Wraith-Cooler/dp/B07B428V2L
ryzen 5 2600x for 20 extra dollars and that's still really cheap. if you get the non-x version then it's cheaper but won't have overclocking.

don't skimp on the motherboard, it's one of the most pivotal parts of your system.

for the tower, go with a mid sized tower. any smaller and you may get forgeted up by size constraints, any larger and it may be overkill. it also means you'll be able to get a decently large motherboard with plenty of pcie slots for everything you would possibly need.

i would suggest getting a modular power supply, it makes cable management easier. it may not be within your budget though. i got my 700w gold rated power supply for $99, but it was on sale.

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/ is great for sales. this isn't a hardware swap subreddit, it's just listings of online retail deals. it's an absolute must if you're on a budget.

if you're comfortable with buying secondhand, https://www.reddit.com/r/hardwareswap/ is great, but it may take a while to find a reputable trader who is trying to sell what you're looking for. took me about two weeks to find someone selling the i7 i bought last year.

modular or semi-modular cases are very handy as they usually provide great hand-tightenable screws and clips for the front panel, hard drive bays, etc.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2019, 10:23:49 PM by auzman466 »

Keep your hands clean and rub them on the psu or another metal before touching the motherboard so you don’t transfer static electricity to it


Also get zip ties or cable organizers or it will drive you nucking futs when all the cables are everywhere, you’ll want them

Keep your hands clean and rub them on the psu or another metal before touching the motherboard so you don’t transfer static electricity to it


Also get zip ties or cable organizers or it will drive you nucking futs when all the cables are everywhere, you’ll want them
You don't have to rub the PSU / case to discharge potential static electricity, just touching it once with one hand is enough.

ryzen 5 2600x for 20 extra dollars and that's still really cheap. if you get the non-x version then it's cheaper but won't have overclocking.
You can overclock every processor in the Ryzen lineup, just the X variants are better binned and have higher base / boost clock speeds.

You can overclock every processor in the Ryzen lineup, just the X variants are better binned and have higher base / boost clock speeds.
ah damn, i guess i misheard. good to know tho.

use https://pcpartpicker.com/ when picking out your components btw, it makes life a bit easier

Thanks for all the advice so far.

I am subbed to buildapcsales reddit and I refresh it like crazy haha. I bought an MSI B450M Gaming Plus motherboard today for $72. Trying to stick with a red + black theme now. I was thinking about just grabbing a Q300L case because they're cheap but curious how that would do especially with the hefty boi MSI RX580

ah damn, i guess i misheard. good to know tho.
You were probably thinking of intrel's k-series chips. AMD has had a policy of only unlocked chips fer some time now.

Thanks for all the advice so far.

I am subbed to buildapcsales reddit and I refresh it like crazy haha. I bought an MSI B450M Gaming Plus motherboard today for $72. Trying to stick with a red + black theme now. I was thinking about just grabbing a Q300L case because they're cheap but curious how that would do especially with the hefty boi MSI RX580
All of these are great choices, especially the Q300L

Well my RX580 came into which made me impulsively buy everything else I need. I bought the R5 2600x for $180 on ebay (if I waited for the $165 sale, the taxes would have brought it up to $176 anyways), a Kingston 120gb A400 SSD and a Seagate 2TB hard drive for $85, and then an overkill SeaSonic 620w Bronze + Full Modular PSU for $46 after rebate

Unfortunately gonna still with my TV right now but I still need a case, keyboard, and mouse. The Q300L is being kind of elusive and by that I mean I dont wanna pay $65 for it at this moment lol


I'm in the US

Finished buying everything, here is the final list. Everything should be here within 2 weeks.

Ryzen 5 2600x                                 $180.00
MSI B450M Gaming Plus                   $73.00
ADATA GPX 16gb                           $74.00
Seagate 2TB HD                                   $63.00
Kingston 120gb A400 SSD                   $22.00
MSI RX 580                                 $168.00
Q300L                                           $50.00
SeaSonic 620w Bronze + Full Mod   $46.00

Total                                               $676.00