First time baby build 🥴 HP ProDesk 400 G5

[wertigon]

@regulareel

I’m just gonna @wertigon here to suggest a better build on the same price point

You rang?

Ok, U.K, this will be mostly new parts. I picked together this for my nephew about a year ago. The RX580 is fine, not the best but definitely “game-able”.

Note that this is my recommended pick with a little extra quality. It costs a bit more than you wished for, but should give you a decent experience despite the parts now starting to reach the 5 year mark. As always, the idea is to make you consider what just going that small, extra mile can do for you. Completely fine if you disagree or feel you cannot afford it. AM4 is probably the best way here, but a case could be made for a 12400 system, too.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	AMD Ryzen 7 5700X	£149.99
CPU Cooler	ARCTIC Freezer 7 X CPU Cooler	£21.34
Motherboard	MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI	£99.00
Memory	Kingston FURY Beast 2x16 GB DDR4-3200 CL16	£42.99
Storage	Kingston Fury Renegade 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0	£70.98
Case	Antec AX61 ELITE	£38.90
Power Supply	Thermaltake Toughpower GX2 600W 80+ Gold	£63.70
Total		£486.90

Better motherboard with wifi + bluetooth for £30 extra, twice the amount of RAM for like £10 more, much better boot drive for £20 more, and the PSU might be a tad overkill but is 600W Gold+ for another £10 over budget.

All in all, spending ~25%-30% more for twice the performance isn’t bad. But your money, budget and experience.

[E-Wasted]

I would recommend any of the thermal right Assassins for under $20, might even be able to get the RGB one on sale for that price point.

[Wolvin_87]

Thank you for taking the time to put this together!

I was looking at the MSI B550M mobo you recommended last night and thinking it looked like good value for money!

I couldn’t afford to do the better CPU right now though!

[TryTwiceMedia]

@wertigon
i gotta ask now: do you just have these builds loaded up in PC Parts Picker perpetually?

Or do you go and make builds each time you post??

[wertigon]

Pretty much make them from scratch every time - how else can I recommend stuff with a low-but-still-quality price?

I do have some fav. goto products I recommend though, like the 7900 for AM5 right now, the Pro-VDH for AM4, and some fav. brands. I have done some research on like, 5 different brands of SSDs that have DRAM drives and choose whatever is cheaper for that month. Also got a bash script to make some easy formats on the PCPP auto-generated table.

In short, I can basically just pick out components in 10-15 minutes that are ballpark where I need it to be, since I know what I am looking for and have a general overview of budget / value / premium components. Process is kinda like, “Ok, so a $450 build… This is going to be tough, maybe APU? 5600G could work here, then I pair with a B550 and 32 GB of RAM, oooh look at that, WD SN850X 1TB on sale for $60! Damn, the build was $470 but I really don’t want to drop to an A520, even if that board is a Steel Legend… Well, let’s recommend it anyways, OP might be able to find cheaper replacements or could cut the PSU.”

I do a sanity check for Intel parts (still more expensive, plus some borked models at the moment) instead of AMD parts every once in a while, and then you are pretty much set.

Of course, this is not always failsafe, which is why I do not think you should use my advice straight on, but rather, as a build anchor on what to expect - I strive for “Ok, so this seems like a neat value build in the price segment I’m shopping for. But what else is out there?”

If my advice was spot on, awesome, if it wasn’t, well, just switch to something else that is more in line to what you need, can afford and/or trust. If I recommend AsRock and the OP is burned on AsRock though… I try my best to give quality-but-value components in the requested segment. Not always successful, but I do try.

And yes, I have promoted the snot out of several products I believe to be insane value right now (like the Flashstor 6 bay for home use). I do have biases, there are some companies I prefer to recommend over others. That said, I try to give everyone a fair shake-up every once in a while. Helps to stay sharp and on the toes!

[Wolvin_87]

I have to say that I admire your passion. And when clueless noobs like me come on you’re an absolute lifeline!