In America, when you live in-between the American Poverty Guideline and the Deep Poverty Guideline then you must follow a strict budget, especially if you wish to maintain an expensive hobby. That is one reason I have old parts scattered from my hut, to a nearby shed, and out in a remote shed. Recently mentioned, in the ‘Lusting for‘ – *The* – HAF XB Evo LAN Box and Test Bench Computer Case post, that over the years I have checked out various computer test benches, but never seemed to find the right one. That HAF XB Evo LAN Box and Test Bench Computer Case could also be used as a test bench, but was currently beyond my budget at about 110 Gringo Dollars. Then I remembered the old Dell case that was recently stripped and moved out to the remote shed.

Removed all the covers – some needed the rivets taken out, and the front panel cover was easy to take off and/or put on.

Old Dell Inspiron 560/570 that was incredibly cheap at Walmart in 2009/10, that I got mainly because it had Windows 7…was still heavy unto Vista at that time, but had been wanting to try WIN7, and this new computer w/ a monitor wasn’t a whole lot more than a full license of Windows 7. OK…now I’ve removed the motherboard, which was still in good shape, and 300 watt power supply (may use it as I tweak the frame). Looks like it can handle micro ATX and mini ITX.

May remove some more of the frame before it’s over, but need to see how it’ll work out. Have two old power supplies, this 300 watt that came with Dell, and the 430 watt taken from ‘Antec Sr.’ during that rebuild. Both have 24-pin power supply and a 4-pin CPU supply connector, so will look for a MoBo with those options. Also, need to find a Mobo that is compatible with 16GB of PNY DDR4 2400MHz memory in the InWin Small Form build – I rarely use that small thing, so can grab a stick or 2 from it. OK…have the test bench, a power supply and 8-16GB of memory…not all are scraps, but that memory might as well be whilst sitting idle in InWin. Also, will try to stay within a $150 budget, since I have enough scrap parts. Oh, here are the power supplies:

MoBo needs to have plenty of Ryzen choices, 4-pin CPU power connector and a 24-pin power supply connector. Looking for the cheapest, but with an eye out for the micro ATX form. It needs to be compatible with the memory in InWin, or if all else fails, at least compatible with the memory in Rose. Took almost a week to settle on the right board, and it fit all the requirements.

ASUS Prime A320M-K micro ATX (uATX actually) was $60, and as cheap as I could find. One of the reason it was taking so long was because I was searching for a Ryzen processor at the same time, and after settling for the Ryzen 5 3600 at $194 decided to do a double-check on its specs. *WHAT*?!?! It needed a “Discrete Graphics Card” and it seems that almost all of their processors require a “Discrete Graphics Card” – well, those GPU/Graphic cards are expensive unless you get one of the toy ones (which are almost useless!). We’re talking over $400 for the Ryzen 5 3600 plus a decent GPU – no way that fits into my $150 budget! Have always suspected that the Ryzen was mainly for gaming (or high-end workstation that requires a big-time expensive GPU).

OK … that certainly limits my options. Looks like all the Ryzen Desktop Processors above 64 watts require “Discrete Graphic Cards” – except for the Ryzen 5 3400G, Ryzen 5 2400g, Ryzen 3 3200g and Ryzen 3 2200g. I can always upgrade the processor on this MoBo if plans change in the future. Time to bring in the UserBenchmark site to speed up this search. They have the 2200g ranked at #138 ($78), the 3200g ranked at #97 ($86) … Ryzen 5’s 2400g ranked at #169 ($119), and the 3400g ranked at #89 ($131). Here are the comparison pics:

That’s the two Ryzen 3’s with Radeon™ Vega 8 Graphics, and I’ve heard some good things about the graphics. Amazon has a $10 difference … but they are close enough for me to try and stay within budget. Next is Ryzen 5 2400g:

UserBenchmark has a higher speed ranking for the 2200g…enough said. Next is the Ryzen 5 3400g:

At $131 the Ryzen 5 3400g is almost my entire budget. BTW, the Ryzen 5’s use Radeon™ RX Vega 11 Graphics. Here is the Ryzen 3 2200g against Rose’s Intel i3 8100:

The lowest priced Intel processor in my computers is the Celeron G4900 ranked at #439 in speed for $45 – that processor is now in InWin. This group of Ryzen CPU’s are close enough for me to stick with my budget, and after all this is just a test of Ryzens.

Besides, already have the i9 9900 and i5 6600K Intels, so I doubt I move to Ryzen anytime soon – did learn that a move up in Ryzen will also require an expensive GPU. Oh, UserBenchmark site also does ranking and prices for GPUs, and other components. Here are my costs for MoBo and Ryzen 2200g:

$147.64 … now that’s how to stay within budget!

Adding this to the Ryzen™ ‘Stuff‘ page.

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