BUDGET

Approximate Price: $704

THE MEMORYPOCALYPSE has reared its ugly head again. Our Ryzencompatible DDR4, which gave us a saving last issue of $3, has leapt in price by a worrying $30. The world needs more RAM, dammit, and soon. We’re not just going to sit here and take this gouging—we’re going to complain about it. But, equally, we can’t let memory tell us what to do, so we’re sticking with our recent switch to an easily upgraded Ryzen 3 setup, the chip of which you may be able to pick up for 10 or so bucks less if you check on the right day. To make up a little of the cash absorbed by that RAM, we tossed out our old MSI 1050 Ti GPU, and dropped in an equivalent superclocked EVGA version that’s $5 cheaper. Then we cursed at the out-of-stock L5 LITE SSD, which forced us to switch to its 3D version, and that cost an extra $7 on top. So, our budget system is less budget than before, but that’s still a hell of a machine for the price.