Budget PC Build and Running Affinity

[Tylor]

I'm building my first PC. It's a budget build, so I'm trying to keep things light and affordable. I only do casual design/photo editing work as a hobby, but I want to make sure my build will run all Affinity products without any problems. Any advice would be super appreciated!

Here are my specs:

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 2400G 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor 
Motherboard: ASRock - B450 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 Memory
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Case: Corsair - 100R Silent ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair - CXM (2015) 450 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus - DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
Total: $514.14

[John Rostron]

My PC specs are not all that different from yours and I have no difficulty in running any of the Affinity apps (including the betas).

John

[SrPx]

That cpu is a bit below a 1600, (almost equal IN SOME scenarios, in theory the numbers come from 1400 of the first gen, but the second gen improved a lot). And you save the graphic card expense. For your planned use, way more than enough.

My machine is working here for ADVANCED work (not RAWs and the like, tho) and look how crappy it is (signature). Not recommending anyone low machines with Affinity, that's very wrong.  But I believe you'll be quite fine.

Also, you can upgrade later to 3000 series, surely that 450 might be able to have the BIOS update. And that generation, 7nm based, is going to be much faster, so you should have a very good path for upgrading. Very good purchase, IMO.

Only thing is... unless you need it for specific reasons, when cutting expenses, I'd avoid the DVD recorder.... Might be 20 bucks, but hey.  It's a low budget, better put it somewhere else...

The memory would be fine for an intel, but in AMD, slow memory is kind of removing a very important increase in performance, as overclocking it gives quite a boost. (like 3200 or so). But for design and etc, I'd prefer opting by 16 GB 2666 memory rather than 8gb 3200. One exception :If you plan adding like 8 more (or more) just some months later, all in 3200. I wouldn't go farther 3200, though. Price grows exponentially but not so performance. I'm seeing good offers in 3000 /3200. Of course, 2666 is what mother boards support without overclocking the memory, if not willing to do so, 2666 is fine.

I personally am going to (this time, I hope...!) to get me an AMD with the plan of the BIOS upgrade in July, and then a 3000 series. But as I have already an ok card for this (1050 2gb) I rather much prefer a 1700. More cores, and are at a nice price now.  Some people (specially gamers) would prefer a 2600, and price is also at a good moment, but for 3D rendering / video editing, more cores are a total win. If you want more performance, and have sth similar to a 1050. I'd totally advice to go for a 1700, and move the card out of your old system. These things are where I'd put the bucks you save from the DVD player/recorder: In better CPU (mostly) or way farther in priorities, faster ram.