Pairing AMD Ryzen 5 1400 with what GPU? Budget...

So I'm looking to build my first gaming PC. I don't really want anything particularly hardcore BUT the main game I want to play is PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds, which after researching I have discovered is pretty intense on the system. I've been looking into processors and it seems the new AMD Ryzen 5 1400 could be a good option for around £160. What graphics card would I need to pair this with to run this game, and of course other games, well? Is it even worth spending less on the CPU in order to spend more on the GPU? Realistically I don't want to spend more than 600 on the whole build. All advice much appreciated.
 
It is really dependent of the resolution of your monitor. 1080p need 4 times less GPU power to run at the same FPS than 4k. (look at the attached file, the GPU has 4times the pixels to calculate.) So at the price range you have available, I hope that playing in 720p doesn't bother you.


And for this game, it is currently the most badly optimised gpu-hungry-ugliest-game ever. Some guys with a 400$ GTX 1070 don't even get a steady 60fps at the medium settings in 1080p. It's really sad from a game this ugly.

For this wrong reason you should be spending the most money you can on the GPU. Then find a good reason to have spent this much money: buy a more beautiful/optimised game. The RX480 or GTX 1060 are really good at cost/performance ratio. I would not go with a slower card, and don't expect playing this game at 1080p 60fps with these cards.
 

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So I'm looking to build my first gaming PC. I don't really want anything particularly hardcore BUT the main game I want to play is PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds, which after researching I have discovered is pretty intense on the system. I've been looking into processors and it seems the new AMD Ryzen 5 1400 could be a good option for around £160. What graphics card would I need to pair this with to run this game, and of course other games, well? Is it even worth spending less on the CPU in order to spend more on the GPU? Realistically I don't want to spend more than 600 on the whole build. All advice much appreciated.

I just put together a Ryzen 1700X build for myself (~$1,000) and an Athlon X4 860K build for a friend's kid (~$300).

If you plan on getting a Ryzen 1400 and a decent setup, you really have no money for a decent GPU. Anything beyond a Radeon 460 is going to be pushing it (a Geforce 1050, or 1050Ti is probably beyond your reach -- but a worthy upgrade.)

Basically, the 1400 is going to price you out of a decent gaming rig at $600. There is almost no way around it. Not unless you are comfortable with an anemic power supply, a 1tb mechanical hard drive, 8gb of ram, etc.

In your situation you've got to decide if you want to go heavy on the graphics (and get a ~$70 dual core Pentium or quad-core Athlon) or if you want to game at the lowest possible settings with an anemic GPU (a Radeon 460 being barely sufficient for 'medium' quality gaming on a 1080p monitor). I'd recommend buying a a solid Pentium (like the G4560 when it's on sale) and spending the extra money on a Radeon 480 or Geforce 1060. You'll get a lot more gaming performance and notice almost no regular use performance drops.
 
Best setup for $600 (keep an eye on slickdeals.net for these prices.)
R5 1400 $150
B350 mobo $80
RX 570 4GB $170
8gb ddr4 $65
Case $20-$30
PSU 500-600w $25+/- (just got an evga 600w 80+ Bronze for $22.50.)
This leaves you $80 to choose HDD/SSD setup.
 

This is a solid build. OP could ditch the windows license and the DVD drive and either be under his $600 price point or else afford a plain-jane 128-256gb SATA III SSD.

That 4620/1050ti combo will go a long way.

Edit: The go-to SATA III drive being a Samsung Evo 850 (for performance) or an ADATA SU800 type drive (for value). Anything that's around the SATA III limit will work considering that motherboard doesn't have an M.2 NVMe slot on it.
 
I recently put together my new system. At the heart it had a Ryzen 5 1600 paired with a 8gb RX 580. Just vouching that the Ryzen 5 series + RX 580 (for me) was a perfect pair. So much so that I didn't need to overclock anything (mainly because my display sucks and is capped at 60hz anyway). But from what I can conclude, ide bet that a modestly overclocked Ryzen 1400 with the RX 580 would be very comparable and probably a better frame per dollar value and a better matched "perfect pair" as the 1600 has no problem keeping up with the RX 580 and sometimes I feel it's a little overkill... But whatever.
Wether you can get that all for $600 or not I don't know. But you'll be close anyway. Just vouching on the fact that they would go nicely together. And as a side perk it relaxes my irrational OCD having a full AMD computer by having all my brands match and be organized, subconsciously I feel they communicate better if they are both from AMD (lol) rather than mix some Nvidia parts in there. If that sort of thing matters to you. Unfortunately for me it would be an impossibility to mix match my ****... GL, keep us posted on what you get.
 
Thanks very much for all your help and input guys. So it's a little confusing because I'm in England, but from what I can tell it seems to be roughly $1=£1 in terms of parts, because you guys in the states seem to get them cheaper. I've actually gone for a better Ryzen processor, here is my current amazon basket, let me know what you think:

AMD Ryzen 5 1500X: £169.99
GTX 1050 TI 4GB: £144.90
Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3000MHz 16gb (8GBx2): £120.85
MSI B350 Tomahawk ATX mobo: £97.99
120GB Sandisk SATA III SSD: £48.99
Corsair 650W PSU: £47.50
Case, Cooler master elite 430: £34.80

Edit: That's a total of £665 right now.
Re-edit: After looking at some reviews and comparisons of the 1400 and 1500X it really seems worth the extra £20 for the 1500X, pretty much every website says it's well worth that little extra bit of cash.

So this is what I currently have. I think obviously a 120GB drive is small but it'll be temporary, I can start with that and then add a bigger 500GB or 1TB HDD later on.
 
Good start, but you can easily get that cheaper, especially if you're on a budget. I recently build a PC for someone who had a budget of £600, and though that included a retail copy of windows 10, I still managed a completely new system with an i3-6100 and RX470. You just have to be slightly stricter with your choices.

You'll generally find that MicroATX boards are cheaper, and just a quick browse pings up B350 motherboards for £75 (or even as low as £68). That'd straight away give a saving, which you could either save or use towards a better GPU such as an RX570. The difference between the 1050ti and RX470/570 is fairly substantial and if you can grab one within the budget, do it.

650W is probably a bit too overkill even with a RX470/570 so you could drop to a 500/550W and save some there potentially. And if going down the mATX route, I'd completely recommend the Thermaltake Versa H15. Brilliant thing for the price.

I think overall, you'll get the best performance from an r5 1400 and RX470/570 combo than an r5 1500x and 1050ti as you're still able to overclock that 1400 with a B350 board.
I'd recommend going onto PC Part Picker and starting a build on there as its far easier to get your component selection and find the best prices for things. Any more questions or if you want me to spec up a quick build on there, ping me a PM
 
If you had not purchased already, better check this link: http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/powercolor-radeon-rx-580-red-devil-review,1.html
You'll se that AMD RX 570 offers better bang for the buck and if you don't have a special interest in some memory hogs of a program, you don't need 16 GB of RAM. So check this price:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-G...24?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1495214752&sr=1-24
and power source :https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cooler-Mas...1_5?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1495214471&sr=1-5
 
Have you considered looking for a second hand PC and/or components? For 600 you could buy/build a pretty beefy PC as long as you test what you buy properly. Going all new and shiny when you have a low budget is not always the best solution.
For example, RAM is one of the safest second hand purchases as it rarely breaks. You could easily get 16GB for the same price as 8GB new (and some SH components are sometimes still under warranty).
I've bought PCs around your budget with an i7 4790 (with a new RX 470 - I generally buy new GPUs and HDD/SSDs as these are more prone to breaking with age) last year.
 
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Balanced your build to fit your budget (based on components showing on PCPartPicker):

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/gf9nhq - total £598.44

The motherboard I've picked is virtually identical to the Tomahawk / Arctic boards, just with a different UEFI and apparently different capacitors. I have an Arctic board and I can't yet run my 3200MHz RAM beyond 2133MHz stabily with AGESA 1.0.0.4, so I've reduced your RAM to 2666MHz, which has a great price/performance ratio for a mainstream build.

Going from R5 1400 to 1500X isn't really worth it if you're okay with playing the silicon lottery and overclocking. (My R7 1700 isn't a golden sample, but has gone up from 3GHz to 3.6GHz with a bump to 1.2125V.)

If you're okay to drop down your RAM to 2x4GiB (which leaves you the option to upgrade later), you have more money to spend on graphics card (ideally RX 570 if it comes down to RX 470 pricing). Unless you're planning to get a 225-300W graphics card, you simply don't need a beefier PSU.

Alternatively, from a future-proofing point-of-view, you'd be better-placed spending money on an R5 1600. Those extra two cores and four threads may not be useful to you now, but this is where the current mainstream gamer market will likely start to move to over the next few years.

At the end of the day, you must do you. I offer my advice without expectation of you taking it or thinking ill of you if you don't. I wish you good fortune whatever you decide :)
 
Balanced your build to fit your budget (based on components showing on PCPartPicker):

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/gf9nhq - total £598.44

The motherboard I've picked is virtually identical to the Tomahawk / Arctic boards, just with a different UEFI and apparently different capacitors. I have an Arctic board and I can't yet run my 3200MHz RAM beyond 2133MHz stabily with AGESA 1.0.0.4, so I've reduced your RAM to 2666MHz, which has a great price/performance ratio for a mainstream build.

Going from R5 1400 to 1500X isn't really worth it if you're okay with playing the silicon lottery and overclocking. (My R7 1700 isn't a golden sample, but has gone up from 3GHz to 3.6GHz with a bump to 1.2125V.)

If you're okay to drop down your RAM to 2x4GiB (which leaves you the option to upgrade later), you have more money to spend on graphics card (ideally RX 570 if it comes down to RX 470 pricing). Unless you're planning to get a 225-300W graphics card, you simply don't need a beefier PSU.

Alternatively, from a future-proofing point-of-view, you'd be better-placed spending money on an R5 1600. Those extra two cores and four threads may not be useful to you now, but this is where the current mainstream gamer market will likely start to move to over the next few years.

At the end of the day, you must do you. I offer my advice without expectation of you taking it or thinking ill of you if you don't. I wish you good fortune whatever you decide :)
to get 3.8-4.0 GHz on the 1700 you need to raise the voltage higher. people who got 3.9-4.0GHz 100% stable have over 1.4V - 8 cores demand a lot of power when you push them to high clocks.
PS: the MB you mentioned there isn't that great for OCing either (it's normal for cheaper boards to skimp on OCing). I've yet to find a post anywhere where a Ryzen CPU could not OC to 3.8GHz
 
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to get 3.8-4.0 GHz on the 1700 you need to raise the voltage higher. people who got 3.9-4.0GHz 100% stable have over 1.4V - 8 cores demand a lot of power when you push them to high clocks.
PS: the MB you mentioned there isn't that great for OCing either (it's normal for cheaper boards to skimp on OCing). I've yet to find a post anywhere where a Ryzen CPU could not OC to 3.8GHz

Ta, but I have no desire to push it higher. At 3.6GHz, my 1700 is equalling the base clock of an 1800X and reaches into the low 70s (°C) under full load (Prime95 --> Small FFTs), so that's hot enough for long-term stability for me.
 
Ta, but I have no desire to push it higher. At 3.6GHz, my 1700 is equalling the base clock of an 1800X and reaches into the low 70s (°C) under full load (Prime95 --> Small FFTs), so that's hot enough for long-term stability for me.
in general people reached stable 3.8GHz with 1.3-1.35V with temps of under 80 using the stock cooler, but this depends on room temps and case ventilation. (you might have lost the lottery and need a better cooler to get 3.8 or more)
if under full load using prime95 you get low 70s then you can definitely push it higher. there is no normal workload that will keep your CPU at constant 100%. as long as you stay under 85 in prime95 you are going to be just fine. it's only after going past 85 during normal workloads that you have to worry about degradation. (Ryzen's official normal operating max temp is ~95 --> staying at least 10 under that is really good)

as a side-note: you could try buying a better thermal paste but I heard you only gain 3-4 extra degrees. the stock one is really good.
 
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in general people reached stable 3.8GHz with 1.3-1.35V with temps of under 80 using the stock cooler, but this depends on room temps and case ventilation. (you might have lost the lottery and need a better cooler to get 3.8 or more)
if under full load using prime95 you get low 70s then you can definitely push it higher. there is no normal workload that will keep your CPU at constant 100%. as long as you stay under 85 in prime95 you are going to be just fine. it's only after going past 85 during normal workloads that you have to worry about degradation. (Ryzen's official normal operating max temp is ~95 --> staying at least 10 under that is really good)

as a side-note: you could try buying a better thermal paste but I heard you only gain 3-4 extra degrees. the stock one is really good.

I'm using a 3rd party cooler (Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev. A) but decent thermal paste (Arctic MX-4) but I use ultra-quiet Nanoxia fans, so my fans are about 14dB at loudest, as noise is more important to me than hitting higher speeds.

Simply put, I'd rather keep my temperatures and voltages lower to keep my system more stable in the long-run. Beyond 75°C, the processor will experience a significantly reduced lifespan. It's better though than my previous FX-8320, which has a max recommended temperature of 62°C for longterm usage.

Better stop derailing this thread now though :)
 
I'm using a 3rd party cooler (Thermalright HR-02 Macho Rev. A) but decent thermal paste (Arctic MX-4) but I use ultra-quiet Nanoxia fans, so my fans are about 14dB at loudest, as noise is more important to me than hitting higher speeds.

Simply put, I'd rather keep my temperatures and voltages lower to keep my system more stable in the long-run. Beyond 75°C, the processor will experience a significantly reduced lifespan. It's better though than my previous FX-8320, which has a max recommended temperature of 62°C for longterm usage.

Better stop derailing this thread now though :)
Since he might buy a Ryzen CPU, knowing a few basic stuff about OCing is never a bad thing. :D
But I agree, we talked too much about it,
 
So, what I've done is, er, the exact opposite of what you guys suggested. I bought a 1050 ti, specifically this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/bce/EVGA...e=UTF8&qid=1495314109&sr=8-2&keywords=1050+ti

But I did get it for £110, which appears to be a saving of about £30. I know it's not the one you guys suggested, but if it turns out that it's not doing what I want it to do, I'll replace it in a few months when I can afford it. What I'm currently doing is bargain hunting on ebay, craigslist, etc etc to try and scope out the cheap parts as and when they're available. It doesn't matter a huge amount if I go over 600, I'm kinda accepting that I'm going to go over 600 at this point, so I'll just take the hit and hopefully end up with a better machine!

I've also found a brand new Kingston SSDnow SSD 480GB for £100, so I think I'm going to snap that up tomorrow, unless anyone thinks that wouldn't be a good idea.

The overclocking conversation was an interesting read but I'm not sure I really understood very much of it haha. I'll learn about it in the coming weeks though, as I'm definitely going to want to have a tinker and get the system overclocked.
 
So, what I've done is, er, the exact opposite of what you guys suggested. I bought a 1050 ti, specifically this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/bce/EVGA...e=UTF8&qid=1495314109&sr=8-2&keywords=1050+ti

But I did get it for £110, which appears to be a saving of about £30. I know it's not the one you guys suggested, but if it turns out that it's not doing what I want it to do, I'll replace it in a few months when I can afford it. What I'm currently doing is bargain hunting on ebay, craigslist, etc etc to try and scope out the cheap parts as and when they're available. It doesn't matter a huge amount if I go over 600, I'm kinda accepting that I'm going to go over 600 at this point, so I'll just take the hit and hopefully end up with a better machine!

I've also found a brand new Kingston SSDnow SSD 480GB for £100, so I think I'm going to snap that up tomorrow, unless anyone thinks that wouldn't be a good idea.

The overclocking conversation was an interesting read but I'm not sure I really understood very much of it haha. I'll learn about it in the coming weeks though, as I'm definitely going to want to have a tinker and get the system overclocked.
The video card will be fine for that price, although you won't get amazing performance out of it. (a mix of medium and high settings should get you 60 FPS at 1080p in almost all modern games). The Kingston SSD is also well priced (hopefully it's the newer UV400 version, the V300 has a bit of a nasty reputation when it comes to performance)

If you plan on upgrading your GPU then when looking for a power supply don't skimp on it. Make sure it's 80+ rated, with active PFC and all of the other protections inside and has at least 1 PCI-E 8/6 pin cable (I don't think the GPU you currently selected needs one though according to EVGA's website, unless the link you gave is not the exact model with those clock speeds). As long as the GPU has at least 1 external power cable for GPUs, even if future GPUs need more than 1 you can just use some cheap 2x4pin (molex) to PCI-E 6Pin adapter cables.
Depending on what you plan on upgrading to, we are looking at different power requirements: for up to RX 580 or GTX 1060 6GB an 500W PSU should be enough (450W will be cutting it close for an RX 580 - it depends on the other components). Beyond that you might be looking at 600 to 800W (for an GTX 1080 TI you want a minimum of 600W with 750W being optimal)
If you plan on using SLI/Crossfire (which I don't recommend) make sure the PSU has enough amps on its +12V rails to power everything (the GTX 1050 and 1060 don't support SLI).
 
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