PC Builds Archived

Here is a budget build targeting 500€. Thanks to the Ryzen 5 5500 and the RX 6600, it is good for 1080p and esports scenarios where high refresh rates are needed. All prices are based on Portugal stores, which may differ slightly from and other shops outside the country. Parts MOTHERBOARD – Gigabyte A520M-K V2 54.90€ Simple board but enough for the components of this build, since it is an A520 you will not be able to overclock the CPU and it’s limited at PCIe 3.0 which will nerf the GPU by around 10% at most in some titles, but a B550 starts at around 90€, it does not fit in this budget. Link CPU – AMD Ryzen 5 5500 84.90€ Budget CPU with 6 cores and 12 threads but more than capable of supporting the raw power of both GPUs even in high refresh rate scenarios for esports Link CPU COOLER – Stock CPU Cooler Included The cooler included with the CPU is good for this build, there is no need to buy a different one unless we are overclocking, but the motherboard does not support it. GPU – Intel ARC B570 (if available and with good price) < 230€ At the time of writing this in Portugal, this card is not available but when this card launches here, it could be a good alternative to the RX 6600 if the pricing is right, for now, I would still recommend going to the alternative card because the card also performs a bit worse with PCIe 3.0 and CPUs with 3+ years, the Motherboard and CPU combo that was chosen here have Resizable BAR compatibility so that won’t be a problem. GPU – AMD RX 6600 (if available and with good price) < 230€ Great card for the buck, great for 1080p, and enough for light 1440p games with textures on low because of the 8GB of VRAM but for me where it excels the most is on esports titles where it can be ideal for high refresh rate experiences, at the time of writing I was able to find on Portugal some models of this card below 230€, I would not pay much more than this. Link Link MEMORY – G.SKILL Ripjaws V 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4-3600MHz CL18 37.90€ This is a good kit for the price, but don’t limit yourself to just this option. It’s important to explore whether you can find a better kit, especially one with higher speeds (4000MHz or more), as AMD CPUs benefit from faster memory. This can help you avoid potential bottlenecks in certain scenarios. However, be careful not to overspend on RAM if you’re working within a budget. Link STORAGE – PNY CS2230 500GB Gen4 M.2 NVMe 34.90€ Fast NVME storage but limited in size due to budget, I recommend you get an extra SATA SSD with at least 1TB of capacity for your games and cold storage. It can be a DRAM-less model to keep costs down since your operating system will be installed on a much faster drive. As always, be sure to look for sales to get the best deal. Link CASE – Aerocool CS-104 Micro-ATX (the cheapest possible) 22.90€ Cheap case due to budget, but it will do the job. Link PSU – Mars Gaming MPB550 550W 80PLUS Bronze 35.90€ Cheap power supply with some reputation and with 80 PLUS Bronze certification, also since it’s a 550w unit, it has a lot of headroom for this build. Link Simple board but enough for the components of this build, since it is an A520 you will not be able to overclock the CPU and it’s limited at PCIe 3.0 which will nerf the GPU by around 10% at most in some titles, but a B550 starts at around 90€, it does not fit in this budget. Link Budget CPU with 6 cores and 12 threads but more than capable of supporting the raw power of both GPUs even in high refresh rate scenarios for esports Link The cooler included with the CPU is good for this build, there is no need to buy a different one unless we are overclocking, but the motherboard does not support it. At the time of writing this in Portugal, this card is not available but when this card launches here, it could be a good alternative to the RX 6600 if the pricing is right, for now, I would still recommend going to the alternative card because the card also performs a bit worse with PCIe 3.0 and CPUs with 3+ years, the Motherboard and CPU combo that was chosen here have Resizable BAR compatibility so that won’t be a problem. Great card for the buck, great for 1080p, and enough for light 1440p games with textures on low because of the 8GB of VRAM but for me where it excels the most is on esports titles where it can be ideal for high refresh rate experiences, at the time of writing I was able to find on Portugal some models of this card below 230€, I would not pay much more than this. Link Link This is a good kit for the price, but don’t limit yourself to just this option. It’s important to explore whether you can find a better kit, especially one with higher speeds (4000MHz or more), as AMD CPUs benefit from faster memory. This can help you avoid potential bottlenecks in certain scenarios. However, be careful not to overspend on RAM if you’re working within a budget. Link Fast NVME storage but limited in size due to budget, I recommend you get an extra SATA SSD with at least 1TB of capacity for your games and cold storage. It can be a DRAM-less model to keep costs down since your operating system will be installed on a much faster drive. As always, be sure to look for sales to get the best deal. Link Cheap case due to budget, but it will do the job. Link Cheap power