Esamenoi
Description
I always intended for my original build to last me a few years, knowing that I would definitely upgrade the GPU and probably the CPU at some point as the platform was solid but budget restricted me at the time to the G4560 and a free GTX 560 Ti from a friend.
Fast forward 8 months and I'd upgraded to a very cheap GTX 970 and was pretty impressed with how the G4560 was performing in my favourite games - even if it was maxed out most of the time. So I struggled to justify a CPU upgrade until the Ryzen 1600 popped up for just £136 on Amazon!
I chose to pair it with the MSI Bazooka B350m and keep everything else in my build the same including my BeQuiet Pure Rock slim that was thankfully compatible with no mounts. (Seriously couldn't be easier!)
I've overclocked my 1600 to 3.9GHz and that seems to be all I'll get from it, which is still fantastic to be honest. I also sadly didn't get one of the rebadged 1700s!
The RAM is from my original Pentium build and was the fastest I needed at the time, I've only been able to get it stable at 2667MHz but I'm happy with that.. [insert complaint about RAM prices here].
Everything else is solid, could not be happier with the build!
Part Reviews
CPU
The value for money on this CPU is just unbeatable. Particularly with the price I paid. I was able to OC mine to 3.9GHz with 1.36v but that's as far as it would go, no matter the voltage it just would not boot with 4GHz.
It works fantastically for both playing and streaming my main games (Overwatch and WoW) so there's that too.
I get well Over 100 FPS in Overwatch with everything maxed out at 1080p by the way.
CPU Cooler
Another incredible value for money product! This cooler was severely under-utilised in my previous build where I'd used it to replace the insanely loud Intel cooler on my G4560. So I was curious as to how it would perform with an overclocked 6 core CPU.
The answer? Amazing. Max temps with 100% simulated load (Prime95) were 61 Degrees. It's also rarely above 50 in gaming too. As the name suggests it's also very quiet.
I dare you to try and find a better cooler for the same price.
Memory
I actually cannot fault this RAM, sadly though I am only able to OC it to 2667MHz. Nothing else will boot.
I do wish I had faster RAM but, well, you know what RAM prices are like right now.
Storage
Fantastic SSD and yes it's tiny storage capacity is a problem, however this was all I could afford at the time of my first build. It's on par with the 850 Evo for less money!
Storage
Solid and reliable if a tad slow. Probably not far off replacing them they've been in service since 2012.
Video Card
I paid a great price on this one through Facebook Marketplace and I could not be happier.
Shame about the loud and hot cooler though.
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