Well, I explained at length the $700 and $1400 value builds late last year, I think the reasoning for those still hold quite a bit of water:
For the UK, a 5700X or 12400K build is the way I think. Here is one example courtesy of PCPP, unfortunately AM4 are all out of cheap white motherboards at this point, but even with a regular motherboard it is £50 above budget due to the white build requirement. I hope that is o.k.
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 5700X | £131.99 |
| CPU Cooler | Thermalright Assassin King 120 Mini WHITE ARGB V3 | £23.98 |
| Motherboard | MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI | £109.00 |
| Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws V 2x16 GB DDR4-3600 CL18 | £61.30 |
| Storage | Kingston Fury Renegade 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 | £69.95 |
| Case | Montech X3 Mesh | £49.00 |
| Power Supply | Thermalright TG White 850W 80+ Gold Fully Modular | £95.00 |
| Total | £540.22 |
If you want AM5, a 7600X build will cost you another £200 roughly, here are the replacement parts:
| Type | Item | Price |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 7600X | £188.50 |
| Motherboard | ASRock X870 Pro RS WiFi | £219.99 |
| Memory | Kingston FURY Beast 2x16 GB DDR5-6000 CL30 | £97.55 |
| Total | £506.04 |
I do not consider those worth it just to make it look super pretty, but hey, if your girl is allergic to parts of the wrong color in a build, what can you do right? Feel free to take as much inspiration from the above builds as you want. 