Creating a €150 budget for your sister's needs
Creating a €150 budget for your sister's needs
Hello, my elder sister has an old laptop that she mainly uses for work, but also for watching movies, browsing, etc... She enjoys playing games such as Genshin Impact, MotoGP 2021, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider on my PC... I told her that around €150 I can assemble a budget build that will run those titles. So, in 2019, I purchased a budget Lenovo office PC with an i3-3240 processor, a 2-core/4-thread chipset, a Lenovo IH61-M Micro-ATX motherboard, and one 8GB DDR3 RAM stick. A few months later, I bought a GIGABYTE R9 380 G1 GPU with 4GB memory and a 700W power supply unit, which I still use today, and she runs the aforementioned games smoothly without any issues from my GPU.
My plan is:
Sell the i3-3240 for €10, purchase an i5-3570K for €20, I have an Antec A30 CPU cooler, so cooling won’t be a problem, keep the Lenovo IH61-M motherboard, as I already have three 8GB DDR3 sticks in my PC. I’ll give up my one 8GB stick to her, like a good brother I am, so she can have 16GB, and I’ll end up with 16GB.
I found this case (here is an English link) for €20, which seems like a great deal. She doesn’t mind the look much, but what stood out was the side fan slots for the GPU, one rear fan, two on the top, and two front fans. The front panel is mesh, ensuring excellent airflow. The case also comes with an orange rear exhaust fan.
For storage, I’m considering a Patriot P210 512GB SATA SSD (the same model, just the 256GB version), which works very well. If she needs more games later, I’ll buy her a larger HDD for €25.
For the GPU, I’d use the exact same GIGABYTE R9 380 G1 that’s in my system. I know it performs well, and at around €50 you can’t get a significantly better card locally. Plus, I can test it before installing it.
For the power supply, I’m thinking of a Cooler Master MWE 500W white unit, which I can find for €40-€50, keeping everything within the €150 budget.
My main concern is whether the Lenovo IH61M can run the i5-3570K without a BIOS update. Updating the BIOS on these older office PC motherboards can be quite challenging. I haven’t found the exact CPU compatibility list for this model, so I’m a bit uncertain.
Any advice?
Perhaps opt for an RX570 or RX470 instead of the R9 380—modern design and lower power usage. It might also offer better long-term GPU driver support. I’m not sure about the price difference between these models in your region. If it’s a MWE V2, that’s a plus. You can check the PSU tier list to make a decision.
https://cultists.network/140/psu-tier-list/
From the Amazon listing, it appears this motherboard is compatible with a Lenovo Edge 72. Based on the Lenovo website, examples include the i5 3550, i7 3750 or i7 3770. It seems reasonable to assume it would work with an i5 3570 as well. The K designation doesn't seem crucial here.