$500 Build It Challenge

Can we build the best upgradable system for under half a grand?

We’re back with another featured build, and this time our focus is customizability. We wanted to make a straightforward, versatile system to act as a launchpad for future expansions. As such, we had a budget to work with: $500. And we stuck to it (sort of). We decided early on that integrated graphics would be the way to go; we’ve got the space to add a dedicated GPU (or any other expansion cards that strike our fancy) later, if we want.

Flexibility is king here, but our system needed to be a capable PC in its own right, too. A mix of old and new components proved to be the cocktail we needed to create the perfect system for this task, although we’ll look back at the end and see whether there’s anything we could have done better. We’ll also be taking some time to break down the directions in which this system could be upgraded, whether it’s to become a highpowered gaming rig or a music-editing system.

That placed a few caveats upon us. First off, we needed a motherboard that was ready for upgrading; that meant plenty of DIMMs and PCIe slots, along with M.2 support, and the ability to take new Ryzen CPUs. We’re going with AMD rather than Intel for our processor, due to the availability of newer AMD chips with integrated graphics. We also needed a PSU capable of handling those extras, and a case with room for more drives.

We’re using a current-gen Ryzen processor with a last-gen motherboard, which might have you worrying about compatibility issues. Have no fear—we can rectify this with a few simple BIOS updates. This is where it gets complicated, though. X470-series motherboards can support either first-gen and second-gen Ryzen chips, or second-gen and third-gen, but never all three at once. Assuming your X470 board didn’t come with the latest BIOS updates installed, you need a 2000-series Ryzen CPU and a USB flash drive. Consider these add-ons to the build that we won’t be mentioning in the ingredients list—they won’t be used in the finished build, but you need them to get the system up and running.