How to build the best affordable RYZEN gaming PC Powered by B350 TOMAHAWK PLUS
Motherboards
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Gaming on a budget is something we all have to go through every once and a while. With RYZEN being available, we're offered more cores than ever before for our money, which is great! In this article I will show you how to build a great gaming rig for very little money. And we’re not going to skimp on quality either, we’re using great quality components with true gaming features! Which ones? Read on to find out.
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☛ Tip #1: Manage your budget, find deals and select your components carefully
It's not always about getting the best components, sometimes it's about getting the best deals to match the price/performance you are looking for. When building a PC, you have to select memory, a power supply and system FANs for example. If you look closely at deals being offered by your local etailers, you could save up to a few hundred dollars! Of course it’s still up to your personal preference about which components to buy, and we are certainly not dialing down on quality. First, check the newest version of your favorite motherboard, VGA and memory brands. Most of the time when new products are launched, there are good deals to be found for their previous versions.
☛ Tip #2: Get the best matching components for maximum performance
One of the most important components in the system that can make or break and gaming rig, is the motherboard. Besides the tips given in the previous chapter, if you find a deal on a motherboard but are not sure if it can run high-speed memory or is capable of handling performance well, then better not take it. Fortunately, nowadays there are also plenty of true gaming motherboards available at a friendly price and still able to deliver top performance, take the B350 TOMAHAWK PLUS for example: https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/B350-TOMAHAWK-PLUS
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Offering plenty of connectivity options as well as Mystic Light RGB to personalize the colors of your gaming rig, the B350 TOMAHAWK PLUS is the perfect motherboard for any affordable gaming system. Besides cool looks and strong heatsinks, it even offers an external clockgen, which makes overclocking much easier on any RYZEN CPU. That way we are able to squeeze more performance out of our system.
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↑ The B350 TOMAHAWK PLUS features Audio Boost 4; more immersive gaming audio
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↑ DDR4 Boost is also featured; ensures maximum memory performance & stability
↑ GAMING LAN offers lowest latency online gaming and allows for bandwidth management
If you want to learn more about the B350 TOMAHAWK PLUS, check out the video below:
☛ Tip #3: Find an affordable gaming CPU & DDR4 memory
With RYZEN offering more cores at and attractive price, you can now even get a quad core (4) CPU for as little as $100,-. With the RYEN 3 1200 AMD is bringing Quad Core gaming to the masses. A year ago, this was only available when you spent about $200,- on a CPU, so a big win here for our affordable gaming rig!
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For memory, prices are currently quite high in the market, finding a decent kit at an affordable price is a challenge on its own, without even being picky about speed. Fortunately, for our affordable gaming rig, 8GB is plenty. With Corsair offering multiple affordable kits, my personal favorite is the Corsair VENGEANCE® RGB 8GB DDR4 2400MHz C14 (2x4GB) kit, which can be had for just over $100,-.
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Pushing FPS for our affordable gaming build is the MSI Radeon RX 560 AERO ITX 4G OC because it's such a small, but affordable gaming card. Plenty of performance for 1080p gaming with a good cooler and easy to fit due to its 'ITX' form factor, without being too power hungry.
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Now, normally I would suggest an SSD, but a regular HDD will give you more storage space. It all depends on what you want to use the system for. Should you choose to only play a handful of 'main' games on it and frequently clean the system when you finish a game to make room for new ones, I would suggest to go for the cheapest SSD you can find which has 256 GB. This will set you back about $80,-. However, like most people, you would also install apps on your system and use if for browsing, multimedia and entertainment too. In this case I would suggest to use an HDD, the WD BLUE WD10EZEX 1TB is an interesting choice for just $45,-.
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One of the last items before we are putting the system together is selecting the right power supply. Able to deliver plenty of power but still being affordable, a good quality power supply is hard to find. However, the Corsair VS450 offers just that at the super affordable price of just $39,-.
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So now we found all components we need for our new gaming rig, excited to start building! But wait….we need a case! Oh oh…no more budget left? Don't be afraid! Corsair has a magnificent case available for all gamers on a budget. It comes in full black (even on the inside!) and on top of that even has window in the side! What magic is this? None other than the Corsair Carbide Series® SPEC-04 Mid-Tower Gaming Case. Available in all sorts of colors (red & black, grey & black) you even get to be picky for just a meager $49,-!
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Complete list of components used. Click the links below for more info.
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So now you're ready to start building your affordable Quad Core RYZEN gaming rig! Don't forget to install the latest motherboard BIOS, drivers and Windows Updates for the best gaming experience. Game on!
Need help building? Here's a video where I built the system we discussed in today's article: