Advice for home build

[ecco]

Hi all,

I'm planning on soon building a simple home desktop for my family. Its uses will include basic web browsing and document editing for the adults, to light gaming (minecraft, roblox, etc) for my little sister. The budget is tight, and I'm torn between getting a new Ryzen 5600g or a secondhand combo of an i3 10100 + rx 580. Factoring in immediate performance and future upgradeability (I'm aware this will probably be very limited with either route given AM4 being phased out), which is the better buy at the same price point? I'm very new to the pc building space and would appreciate any feedback to weigh my options. Thanks for any help

 

[travm]

I'd go the 580 route. Both would allow you to upgrade in the future.

The am4 platform would likely be slightly more upgradable, but I think it's a wash, and you'll get much better performance in games with a dGPU.

 

[ecco]

I'd go the 580 route. Both would allow you to upgrade in the future.

The am4 platform would likely be slightly more upgradable, but I think it's a wash, and you'll get much better performance in games with a dGPU.

Thanks for the response. In your opinion, what is the price difference cutoff to go for the 5600g over the i3+580? i.e. how much cheaper would the 5600g have to be than the alternative to make it a more attractive option, just in case I have trouble getting my hands on hardware

 

[drutman]

I would fret too much over CPU choice I went from a 7yr old platform to a 12700k and the only noticeable thing was an increase in min frame rates. I am out of the analytical chemistry/ research profession so I do not care about number crunching. Microcenter had a deal for a Intel I7 12700K and Asus MB for 335 USD.

 

[travm]

Thanks for the response. In your opinion, what is the price difference cutoff to go for the 5600g over the i3+580? i.e. how much cheaper would the 5600g have to be than the alternative to make it a more attractive option, just in case I have trouble getting my hands on hardware

So the 5600g will run those games, likely medium low at 1080p.

If cost is your primary concern get the 5600g.

If gaming performance means anything, the 580 will slaughter the 5600g iGPU.

Only you can decide what's important for you.

You can always add a GPU later, or not. *Don't skimp on the PSU. Get a quality 650w minimum.

 

[drutman]

Might want to consider a Intel GPU.

 

[ecco]

as in one of the newer Arc GPUs? That just doesnt sound worth the money at this price point. Even the a380 hovers around $200; I can get a secondhand rx 580 for less than half that. Plus, seeing as it's a machine for my not-tech-friendly parents and young sibling, any potential driver issues would be a headache. I'm pretty open to Intel's GPUs if i change my personal hardware in the future, but maybe not so much for this particular machine

edit: the a380 is definitely lower than the $200 I wrongly stated above. still, I dont think it would fit into this build well

 

[matt167]

If light gaming and office work is all you need than getting anything more than a used optiplex and a dedicated graphics card is all you will need. Even as great as AM4 is, it’s just as dead end as that older optiplex. I’d wait until AM5 comes down and buy something decent. Reason is AMD generally supports a socket longer and you will get more miles out of it. You’ll likely get 4 years of upgrade path vs 2 generations of Intel

 

[ecco]

If light gaming and office work is all you need than getting anything more than a used optiplex and a dedicated graphics card is all you will need. Even as great as AM4 is, it’s just as dead end as that older optiplex. I’d wait until AM5 comes down and buy something decent. Reason is AMD generally supports a socket longer and you will get more miles out of it. You’ll likely get 4 years of upgrade path vs 2 generations of Intel

That comes with the cost of getting an AM5 motherboard and DDR5 ram then. Throwing money like that for something like this doesn't really seem feasible either. I was considering a used optiplex or something like you mentioned, but found that a lot of the pricing for not-ancient models wasn't much cheaper than going this route and building it myself, so I might as well build it from scratch

 

[travm]

That comes with the cost of getting an AM5 motherboard and DDR5 ram then. Throwing money like that for something like this doesn't really seem feasible either. I was considering a used optiplex or something like you mentioned, but found that a lot of the pricing for not-ancient models wasn't much cheaper than going this route and building it myself, so I might as well build it from scratch

This is true.
I find when I build systems I don't often actually upgrade. Use and abuse until about 2 years after its eol. By then upgrades are completely useless anyway