Question Building A New Test Machine

[Kailasa]

Hi,

I am currently studying for my A+ certification and I am planning to build a budget computer to play around with. I am waiting for the new GPU's coming in Fall to get my new gaming machine. In the meantime, I plan to use this budget computer for some light gaming, perhaps as a server and also for learning Linux or for other testing as needed.

My budget is approximately $500 to $600. I currently live in Southern California.

I do not need a mouse, keyboard or monitor. I also have a copy of Windows 10 Pro.

So far, I'm debating whether to install Windows 10 and then run Linux in a VM or to set it up as a dual boot. Or perhaps just run Linux exclusively(either Ubuntu or Linux Mint.) Any suggestions regarding this would be highly appreciated.

I am also wondering if I should use the integrated graphics with the CPU or perhaps get a budget card?


AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 4-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor with Radeon Graphics
MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATXXX AM4 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 X 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
Crucial MX500 1 TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive
Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair CXXM 650 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply

How is the build? Should I consider a pre-built at all?

Thank you,

Allan

 

[Ken g6]

I'd suggest a few changes to your build.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 3 3200G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor ($87.99 @ B&H) - Good value. But this chip needs fast RAM.
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon) - Optional, but a discrete cooler could help with performance.
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Best Buy) - Not a bad choice. Seems this is one board that you can flash the BIOS on easily. B550 would be nice if you could find one.
Memory: *G.Skill Ripjaws V 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 CL18 Memory ($66.98 @ Amazon) - Here's some fast RAM. If you're using integrated graphics, and it's in your budget, faster RAM wouldn't be bad.
Storage: Crucial P1 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ B&H) - Funny you picked the other cheap Crucial drive. This one is faster at everything but some write operations. The size is good if you want to dual-boot. If you're constantly reinstalling OSes, though, your choice might be better.
Case: Fractal Design Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case ($88.98 @ Newegg) - Fine. You could probably find something cheaper, but I don't judge case aesthetics.
Power Supply: be quiet! Pure Power 11 CM 400 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply ($68.48 @ Amazon) - You don't need a big PSU for this build. There used to be a nice 380W Seasonic Gold, but it's out of stock. Er, so is this, actually.
Total: $567.40
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-26 22:04 EDT-0400

Lots of parts are hard to find right now. The main page of AnandTech said the 3200G was out of stock everywhere. You may want to be patient, or less picky, or both.

So far, I'm debating whether to install Windows 10 and then run Linux in a VM or to set it up as a dual boot. Or perhaps just run Linux exclusively(either Ubuntu or Linux Mint.) Any suggestions regarding this would be highly appreciated.

Well, these days, Windows comes with a good Linux. But it looks like dual-boot might be useful for A+ certification. (I really don't know for sure; I just browsed descriptions of the certification.)

For A+ I'm going to say don't get pre-built. Aside from the obvious practice you'll get building a computer, pre-builts can come with non-standard parts, and may not come with parts that practically are standard. But I could be wrong about what A+ covers.

I am also wondering if I should use the integrated graphics with the CPU or perhaps get a budget card?

In practice, with your budget, you should use the integrated graphics. For practice, you might get a really cheap Nvidia card and try to figure out installing and uninstalling its drivers. Especially in Linux.

 

[mxnerd]

Forget about dual boot. It's error prone (partition table corruption for example) and you have to stop what you are doing and restart your PC.

Buy an unRAID perpetual license, turn your machine into an NAS server, running several VMs and desktop all at the same time in one machine.

You should consider upgrade to 32GB if you are going to play VMs. Add standalone graphics card so you pass it through the Windows 10 VM.

 

[Kailasa]

@Ken g6 Thanks for the suggestions. Based on your feedback, I am going to use fast RAM. I initially chose mine, because I wasn't sure that the motherboard would support faster.

I am looking at different cases as well.

I was leaning towards building it myself, since it's been awhile and I really enjoyed it. So, I'm glad you agreed that that was the best way to go.

 

[Kailasa]

@mxnerd I am liking the idea of using unRAID. That sounds perfect for what I need to do. I believe I will increase the RAM to 32 GB.

Any recommendations for a good card, that isn't too expensive?

 

[mxnerd]

I don't play games. But most gamers / gaming websites seem to recommend nVIDIA 1650 Super. Can be had under $160 on Amazon.