GETTING READY TO BUILD

WE’RE NOT GOING TO LIE: Getting the gear in for this build was something of a mission. You might imagine that cheaper components are easier to get hold of, but manufacturers are always more eager to push their newest, most expensive hardware. Counting the coins with a build like this produces far more of a challenge for us, and in spite of our best efforts, this isn’t a truly budget build. A cheaper processor was certainly an option; an Athlon 200GE would likely be the most affordable option, or a Pentium Gold from Intel.

Looking at our budget breakdown, we arguably overspent on our motherboard. The B450M Steel Legend is a great board, but it’s the most expensive component in this build; only the 2200G CPU even comes close. In a build like this, there’s little need to spend more than 15–20 percent of your budget on your mobo, but we’ve gone ahead and used more than a quarter of it. Good budget boards can be tough to come by, but if you’re patient, and keep and eye on the sales, you should be able to snap up a similar B450M board for around $70.

The most important part of this build—and, indeed, any project with a tight budget—is getting the most out of the money you’re spending. The RAM, case, and SSD we’re using are all particularly good value; we challenge you to find a nicer case for under $50, and Crucial’s BX series is just ridiculously good value. When it comes to elements such as the HDD and PSU, don’t be afraid to cannibalize a part from an older build. This rig really isn’t remotely demanding, and if you’ve got an old hard drive lying around, the SPEC-05 can easily accommodate it.

1 PREP PHASE

GET YOUR WORKSPACE CLEARED

and all the tools you need ready. You’ll want some sturdy pliers and a Phillips head screwdriver, preferably one with a magnetic tip, to avoid losing the smaller screws inside the case. For the Corsair SPEC-05, you’re also going to need a specific Allen wrench, but don’t worry—this comes included in the box. Get your components unboxed and ready to go in, checking that everything is in good condition. There are few things worse than unboxing a damaged part midway through a build. Be careful to avoid placing anything atop an antistatic bag, as they are only non-conductive on the inside. When you’re ready to go, get the case upright, and pat something metal outside your case to ground yourself and avoid static shocks.

2 TAKE IT APART

AS WITH ANY BUILD,

the right way to start is with a full case stripdown. The metal side panel of the SPEC-05 comes off easily with two thumbscrews, but the plastic window panel is secured with four Allen screws. Use the Allen wrench that comes with the case to remove these, then extract the accessory box from within the HDD cage—this holds a few pouches of extra screws that we won’t need for this build, but you will want to extract the set that matches the Crucial SSD, and the stand-offs for mounting the motherboard. It also has some handy cable ties. This case comes with one fan at the front, but none at the rear. If you’ve got a spare 120mm fan, or a few dollars to snag one online, it might be worth fitting one to the rear to pump up the airflow. For this build, though, we’re keeping it as basic as possible. The plastic mounts for 3.5-inch drives inside the drive cage can all be removed, too.

3 SHIELDS UP

THE REAR I/O SLOT on the SPEC-05 has an odd metal shaping on one of the long sides, which can make fitting the motherboard’s I/O shield a pain. Persevere—carefully!—and you should be able to slot it in place. Once secured, you need to relocate two of the stand-offs, moving them from the holes marked “A” (for ATX) to the holes marked “M” (for micro-ATX). These can be tough to extract, and case purists might turn up their noses, as there’s only two holes for the lower side of the mobo if you’re using a micro-ATX or Mini-ITX board. This is a bit frustrating, meaning that one corner of the board will be unsecured, but there’s nothing to be done about it. Our cooler uses screws rather than a clip, so remove the two brackets either side of the CPU slot, then install the B450M Steel Legend motherboard by fitting it to the central mounting peg, and screwing it down using seven of the screws you put aside.

4 CPU AND RAM INSTALLATION

THE RYZEN 3 2200G uses integrated graphics—Radeon Vega 8, to be precise—so ensuring that the motherboard and CPU function properly together is vital, but we’ll get to that later. For now, lift up the retention arm on the CPU socket, fit the processor (being sure to line up the gold triangle on the CPU with the triangle on the corner of the socket), then lower the arm back into place. Next up is the RAM, which is no trouble to install. The Steel Legend only has clips on one side of the DIMM slots, so open them up, and fit your two sticks of Corsair Vengeance LPX memory into the A2 and B2 slots; that’s the second and fourth from the processor socket side. You might assume that the correct slots are A1 and B1 (or perhaps A1 and A2), but this board is a tad unusual, and won’t give you full performance from your RAM if you don’t use the A2 and B2 slots. If you’re not sure, check the motherboard manual.

5 COOL-DOWN TIME

NOW IT’S TIME TO INSTALL the cooler. You need some thermal paste (we favor Noctua’s NT-H1 compound), and the cooler backplate from the motherboard. The AMD Wraith Stealth that comes with the 2200G is a straightforward affair; apply a pea-shaped drop of thermal paste to the center of the processor, then push the cooler down on top, and screw it in. Make sure that the side of the cooler fan that has the extended plastic segment bearing the AMD logo is on the opposite side to the RAM; otherwise, you may have difficulty fitting it over the sticks. The four screws on the Wraith Stealth are fitted with springs, so you may need to apply some pressure to get them to catch. Screw in two opposite corners first to make the process easier—ensure that all four screws have caught to the backplate, then tighten them fully. Once the cooler is secured, plug it into the CPU fan slot.

6 DRIVE INSTALLATION

THE CRUCIAL BX500 DRIVE can be attached to the rear of the case’s central plate, along with one other 2.5-inch SSD, but for simplicity’s sake, we’re going to put both drives in the drive cage. Fit the SSD to the center of one of the trays, and screw it into place, then fit the Toshiba HDD; just line up the plastic prongs, and slot them into the holes on either side of the drive. You can screw the drive down for extra security, but it is effectively locked in place, so it’s not necessary. Make sure the drives are installed the right way around; their power and SATA connectors should be facing the rear of the drive cage. Once both drives are in their trays, return the trays to the cage. We recommend placing the SSD in the top slot, and the HDD in the third slot down, because this makes plugging them in easier later on. Keeping the drives spaced out helps keep their temperatures down, too.

7 POWERING UP

THE LAST THING TO GO IN is the power supply. The EVGA 450 BT is a pretty standard PSU, without modular cabling, so we’re going to have some loose cables left over—we’ll deal with that in the next step. For now, situate the PSU inside the case, where it sits beneath a metal spur protruding from the mobo plate. Feed the power cables to the motherboard first— the 24-pin main supply and the eight-pin CPU supply, not to be confused with the eight-pin connector for GPUs and other cards. If you’re unsure, double-check the side of the connector; the one you’re looking for is labeled “CPU.” Now take one of the double-connector drive power cables and feed it through to the back of the case, fitting the two L-shaped connectors to the drives. Next, plug the cables from the front I/O and the case fan into the motherboard. These are labeled, but if you’re uncertain, consult the manuals.

8 CABLE MANAGEMENT

IT’S TIME TO TIDY the build up. The lack of a PSU shroud for storing loose cables is a shame, but we can make do. We started by separating the power cables we’re not using, bundling them at the bottom of the drive cage, then securing them neatly with cable ties. There are clips for securing cable ties on the rear of the motherboard plate, so we’ll use these for securing excess cable lengths from the front I/O panel and case fan. The drive connectors and power cables might give you trouble; try to keep as much of the cable length out of sight behind the plate, but there’s very little space once the case is reassembled, so don’t bunch the cables up. There’s not much to be done when it comes to the motherboard power supply cables; feed them through the hole at the bottom of the case and back through closer to their connectors, with the CPU power cable tucked along the top edge of the motherboard.

9 INSTALLING LINUX

GETTING LINUX UP AND RUNNING on a fresh build isn’t nearly as intimidating as it used to be. Get a blank USB drive and make it bootable; we use Rufus 3.5, although any similar software does the trick. Download the most recent version of Ubuntu Desktop (from http://ubuntu.com), then point Rufus at your USB stick, and select the Ubuntu ISO. Once Rufus is done, plug the drive into the new build, and select the UEFI partition on the USB drive in the boot menu, accessed on this mobo by hitting F11 on boot. You should see several options for launching Ubuntu. You can test it without installing it; it boots from the USB. Ultimately, though, you’ll want to install Ubuntu to the SSD; this is fairly straightforward, simply requiring you to follow the steps—just be sure to select the Crucial SSD when it comes to choosing the install drive.

10 BIOS WORK

THERE’S A FAIR BIT TO BE DONE in the BIOS with this build. Mercifully, the Steel Legend’s BIOS is pretty easy to navigate. First, ensure the memory is running at full speed, as it may default to 2,400MHz, which impacts the performance of the AMD CPU. Turn on the XMP profile, and change the set frequency from “Auto” to DDR4-3000. You can check that this is working properly by downloading CPU-Z, and checking that each slot is pumping out 1,500MHz; the actual figure is slightly below this, but that’s normal. The RAM timings should be correct already, but it doesn’t hurt to check. Ensure both drives are being picked up properly, and the SSD is set as the first priority drive when booting, now that you’ve finished installing Linux from the USB drive. Lastly, you can use the BIOS to adjust the Steel Legend’s RGB effects.