Yes, if you go with the GTX 680 a 750W PSU would be a better choice. When I recommended the 650W PSU, I had in mind more recent graphics cards, which are more power efficient. For example, a Ryzen 5 2600X + 32 GB RAM and a GTX 1080 Ti will draw 497W in max load.

Worth keeping in mind that you may end up spending less on power, in the long run, if you get a more efficient PSU, with a 80 Plus Gold rating. But ofc, that depends entirely on the power prices in your region.

OK I think to my last Qs...

Will any 450 board do or is this one? As these 450 board comes with £30 - £40 Steam vouchers:

https://www.ebuyer.com/856070-gigabyte-b450-aorus-pro-am4-ddr4-atx-motherboard-b450-aorus-pro

https://www.ebuyer.com/856740-gigabyte-b450-aorus-m-am4-ddr4-matx-motherboard-b450-aorus-m

https://www.ebuyer.com/856071-gigabyte-b450m-ds3h-am4-ddr4-matx-motherboard-b450m-ds3h

https://www.ebuyer.com/835547-gigabyte-x470-aorus-ultra-gaming-am4-atx-motherboard-x470-aorus-ultra-gaming

Thank You again for everything, where in the world are you Adam if you don't mind saying. As I'd happily return a favour if you're anywhere near Notts, UK. Cheers

I'll have to read the reviews anyway though as 1 Gigabyte MB claimed to run Ryzen but needed firmware putting on with another chip in order to work.

Any B450 / X470 should do really, although some are better than others (and X470 is likely to be overkill) - definitely check reviews before committing to one.

Of the boards you listed I think the B450 Aorus Pro would be the one to get. ALC1220 audio is much better than the ALC892 / 887 that B450 boards typically have, and the Intel LAN adapter is also a lot better. Placement of the M.2 slots is a bit stupid though (the main one being underneath the top PCIe x16 slot, where airflow will be restricted by the GPU), but it shouldn't be a huge problem since you can just use the lower slot & you're not going to be using an NVMe SSD.

Also it's a full ATX size board so you'll need to get a different case for it than the one I suggested earlier. This one looks like it should be decent enough (and it should also be better quality):

Thermaltake Versa H22 £33.90: https://www.ebuyer.com/631021-thermaltake-versa-h22-midi-mesh-tower-case-toolless-usb3-black-interior12cm-fan-ca-1b3-00m1nn-00

Thanks, but it's not necessary :)

(also I live in Kent BTW)

Definitely check reviews before committing to anything. There shouldn't be any issues with the CPU & firmware/BIOS - that's only required if using one of the new Ryzen 2xxx CPUs with a board that uses one of the older chipsets and doesn't already have the BIOS version needed to support the newer CPUs.

Also consider getting an extra fan for the case to pull air in from the front & provide better cooling. One or two of these should do: https://www.ebuyer.com/743843-fractal-design-silent-series-r3-120mm-case-fan-fd-fan-ssr3-120-wt

Hi Adam, so I've finally ordered my system after researching for a long time. I decided to go with the Ryzen 2200G without a graphics card initially and I plan on overclocking it. Currently it seemingly is only about 10% slower than the £45 more expensive 2400G. Apparently you can get about 25% improvement in FPS on overclocking the 2000G series processors

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpECFc4nlmI

I went with a 370k board because it was £48 and had a £30 Steam voucher. I realised some people had problems with Series 2 Ryzen processors on these boards and would have to go with a 1200 and Graphics card if it wasn't compatible or buy a more expensive board. I couldn't find out from Ebuyer or Gigabyte if it was compatible. I also couldn't find the RAM I wanted under supported RAM on Gigabyte's website. Both Gigabyte and Ebuyer told me they didn't recommend using unsupported RAM.

So I ask CCL the same questions. 'Yes the RAM is compatible, Gigabyte don't test most RAM and don't test RAM over 2600mhz, but yes it works. Now the 370k won't be compatible with your 2200G without a BIOS update but we can update the BIOS for you for £10 or for free if you buy the chip with us.' After this I realised partly why you recomended the 450/470 boards, ie the BIOS. But what a lovely service from CCL. The components were actually cheaper or the same price from them too so I ended up buying everything from them after getting that advice.

If I see a killer deal on a 570/580/1060 I may go for it. Currently the best new deals are £180 for a 8gb 570rx and the same price on a 4gb 580rx. I'm not sure if they'll drop below that. I shouldn't really be splashing that type of money right now. I could in theory run a second hand card and if it goes wrong I'll have the 2200G to fall back on. But I tend to think that maybe a bad long term value as it's more likely to break sooner.

But anyway thanks for all your help and it's certainly been a learning experience

hjugfvg (The cat sends her best wishes)

I hope it all will work/works just fine. More important than to have the most powerful computer, is that it is working well.

Yeah, they can overclock quite nicely, although it also depends on your luck with the "silicon lottery" - some overclock really well, while others overclock poorly. The stock cooler on the lower end CPUs isn't so good though so you'll want to get something better if you plan on doing anything more than mild overclocking.

Side note: when you want to remove the CPU cooler later to upgrade it may be difficult to separate the cooler from the CPU as the stock thermal compound can be very sticky. It's recommended to run something CPU-intensive for a while to heat up & soften the thermal compound before disassembly, and then when removing the cooler gently twist it before lifting.

It pays to shop around :)

RAM compatibility was a concern when Ryzen was new but it isn't so much of an issue now that the platform is more mature. And yes, the BIOS is one of the reasons I recommended a B450/X470 board - if it doesn't already have an appropriate BIOS installed then an earlier CPU would be needed to update it first. The 3xx boards will also have a slightly lesser feature set but it shouldn't be a big deal.

Since you're planning to use Linux the builtin graphics may pose issues to begin with though; as I mentioned before the Linux drivers aren't quite ready yet.