BUDGET BRILLIANCE
this was reassuringly smooth. There were no horrible surprises, and aside from one small mishap with the internal USB 3.1 cable (we’ll come to this shortly), it probably goes down as one of the easiest builds we’ve ever undertaken. Checking that all the components were working outside of the case before we started the main build meant that we had the peace of mind of knowing that we didn’t have to strip it all back again in case something went wrong.
One thing to watch out for when you’re building a Ryzen 3 2200G or Ryzen 5 2400G machine is that you need to use a motherboard that has an up-to-date BIOS, so the graphics output will work straight from the box. If you are using an older motherboard, you need to flash the BIOS first using another chip. We had a Ryzen 7 1800X and a GeForce 1080 Ti on hand just in case, but in the end, didn’t need them. We did need to flash the BIOS to get the most from the RAM, though, because prior to updating it, we couldn’t get it to boot with either XMP profile.
We have to applaud Cooler Master for the case—it boasts a number of features that made this build smoother than it otherwise would have been. The separate section for the power supply, the hard drive caddies and SSD mounting plate, and great open-plan design meant that we weren’t trying to work in tiny, cramped sections, as we sometimes do. One thing of note is that we couldn’t get the fans to light up with this motherboard, despite the fact that it had an LED header. They do their main job fine, just without a light show.
As for the USB 3.1 cable problem, this was actually down to how we photograph the machine and write these articles. Basically, it means that the machine is built and stripped down several times in the process. And in one strip-down, we were a bit too giddy with the internal USB cable, and managed to break the house of the socket as we unplugged it. A touch of glue fixed this quickly enough, but it’s still worth being careful around those rightangle mounted brackets.
In performance terms, there’s a lot of bang for your buck with AMD’s new chips, and while the frame rates are low in our games, it’s worth noting that these tests are carried out at the highest “Ultra” settings, and playable frame rates are possible at lower settings. Overall, we’ve been impressed by how easy it is to put this system together, and how well it performs. Despite everything, it’s still a great time to put a budget AMD rig together.