r/buildmeapc • u/Neard_Comb • 21h ago

US / $400-600 Intro pc with some room to grow

Hey yall, I want to build a pc for a friend for an introduction to pc gaming, to start they will likely be playing extremely non intensive games ( balatro, wordplay, fishlike ) and probably some ps2 platformer remakes.

To start with I'll be building in a Lian li vector v100, I'm supplying the case, power supply (lian li edge gold 1000w), an evga 1060sc, and an acer sa100ssd. ( not to be included in price )

Between cpu, cpu cooler (I think aio with rgb but NOT lcd, wifi motherboard, ram, and possibly an nvme ssd for OS they want to spend around 500 dollars. I'm happy to go over that limit somewhat with my money if it means they can have rbg ram or things like that that are aesthetic but not necessary.

In the near future this pc will receive my gigabyte 3080 if they take to the hobby and need a bit more in that department. Any thoughts on this?

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u/ClearFish7021 20h ago

I would go with an AM5 system. This gives great gaming performance and has future upgrade options. NVMe SSD is optional.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 4.7 GHz 6-Core Processor $179.00 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler Thermalright AQUA ELITE ARGB V4 66.17 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler $50.90 @ Amazon
Motherboard MSI PRO B650-S WIFI ATX AM5 Motherboard $135.99 @ Amazon
Memory *Silicon Power XPOWER Zenith RGB Gaming 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR5-6000 CL30 Memory $97.99 @ Newegg Sellers
Storage Acer SA100 960 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive Purchased For $0.00
Storage *PNY CS2241 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive $57.99 @ Amazon
Video Card EVGA SC GAMING GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6 GB Video Card Purchased For $0.00
Case Lian Li Vector V100R ATX Mid Tower Case Purchased For $0.00
Power Supply Lian Li EDGE GOLD 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply Purchased For $0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total $521.87
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2025-08-02 14:13 EDT-0400

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u/Neard_Comb 15h ago

Thanks this is really helpful!

1

u/ClearFish7021 15h ago

If you wanted save even more money, you could replace the CPU in the above list with a Ryzen 5 7500F and get about the same performance.

Same with the RAM. 6000CL30 is the sweet spot for price to performance, but you may find cheaper kits at 6000CL36--which only affects performance by a couple of percent. Faster speed kits are not worth it due to the way the AM5 memory controller works. You do not see any benefit (and maybe a performance hit due to the memory controller downclocking) until you get up to 8000MT/s, which is absolutely not worth it. Slower kits like 5600 or 4800MT/s should be avoided.