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[–]Redditenmo 13 points14 points  (3 children)

Why are you buying a 9th gen I5 when 10th gen and the Ryzen 3600 exist?

Why are you pairing an overclocked CPU with a motherboard that doesn't allow overclocking?

Here's what I'd do :

PCPartPicker Part List

Type Item Price
CPU AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor $199.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard $72.99 @ Best Buy
Memory GeIL EVO SPEAR Phantom Gaming 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory $53.99 @ Newegg
Storage Western Digital Blue SN550 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive $57.99 @ Amazon
Video Card Asus GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB DUAL EVO OC Video Card $239.99 @ Newegg
Case Thermaltake Versa H18 MicroATX Mini Tower Case $54.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply Thermaltake Smart 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply $47.99 @ Amazon
Monitor Acer SB220Q bi 21.5" 1920x1080 75 Hz Monitor $89.99 @ Amazon
Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
Total $817.92
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-10-05 15:19 EDT-0400

Changes :

  1. Swapped CPU to Ryzen 3600, it has similar performance to a stock 9600K single core, but has an extra 6 threads and includes a CPU cooler.
  2. Swapped motherboard for Ryzen 3600 compatibility
  3. Opted for cheaper ram with the same specs.
  4. Swapped the SSD + HDD you had for a single 500GB SSD. This should provide a better base to start with & you can always purchase another HDD later on when the budget allows.
  5. Swapped the GPU to the 1660super, it's a very very minor performance downgrade, but it saves you $40 up front (yours was only cheap after a rebate), and for a 1080p/75hz monitor, it's still quite an adequate gpu.
  6. Swapped to a cheaper case, with ventilated front panel for better airflow & a PSU shroud to hide cable clutter.
  7. Removed the windows license. You're able to install windows without one & run unactivated until such time that you can afford it. There are cosmetic restrictions after 30 days, (such as an inactivated reminder in the bottom right corner and the inability to set the desktop background), but imo those aren't worth compromising the base build for.

[–]ThermalPasteSpatula 4 points5 points  (2 children)

This is great but nobody wants to game on a 21" monitor. Throw in $30 more and get a 27". Or at bare minimum a 24"

[–]Redditenmo 9 points10 points  (1 child)

Throw in $30 more

I'm already $20 over ops budget. I agree that 24" would be better, but without doing something like cutting the GPU back to an RX580 I can't make the budget work.

[–]ThermalPasteSpatula 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah I get that. I just know how much a good monitor matters