PC Building

[DangerZonePCs]

   So I am receiving my new 5500GT APU today for a content project for my YouTube and Twitch. I am building a WS for my little PC building and Repair business I do on the side, That way I am not using my Gaming rig more than it needs to be. So I am looking at just suggestions on how to go about doing this the right way. The plan is to make Episodes where I build and then upgrade here and there. I will eventually get my exact dream beast work station which will be on the AM5 platform. 

   Now the reason why I went with the 5500GT is because it fit my current budget and helps me relieve my gaming PC for doing tasks I dont need it too do. It also gives me the opportunity to do a review on the new 5500GT. Which will also be a first for my channels. I really want to get deeper with doing build videos and reviews if possible even when streaming on Twitch. 

Here is my specs for the entry level WS. 

• APU- 5500GT
• MOBO- Gigabyte UD B550-M K
• RAM- Corsair 16GB 3200
• Storage- 500GB 2.5" Boot Drive, 2TB 2.5" ssd data drive, 3TB WD Red NAS HDD Data drive
• GPU- N/A
• PSU- 500W EVGA 
• CASE- Antec (donated from my boss) installing a StarTech 3 bay hotswap

This WS is going to be doing Drive backups, cloning, remote tech support, and other little processes that wont be very impactive.  

[BigAl01 · Accepted solution]

Your AMD 5500 GT is a low-power APU and the 500 Watt PSU should be able to handle it.  When you do add in a GPU, your PSU will likely require an upgrade too.  With this APU, you should probably stick to 1080p display resolution when you measure frame rates and such.

[BigAl01 · Accepted solution]

Your AMD 5500 GT is a low-power APU and the 500 Watt PSU should be able to handle it.  When you do add in a GPU, your PSU will likely require an upgrade too.  With this APU, you should probably stick to 1080p display resolution when you measure frame rates and such.

[BigAl01 · Accepted solution]

Let's see some build pictures.  I always take lots of pictures when I put a machine together.

[DangerZonePCs]

Here are the most recent pictures from around the time I posted this article. When I can I'll post a new one with more recent pictures. Definitely not a looker, but it does a great job as a budget W/S.

[BigAl01]

I don't see your 3 TB HDD in there.  I do see two SATA SSD drives however.  That motherboard appears to have an M.2 slot, so I'm curious why you didn't get an M.2 drive (500 GB or 1 TB) for your OS?  Are you just using your SATA SSD drives for the OS and data?

[DangerZonePCs]

   Ah yes, So the 3tb HDD data drive is in the hot swap bays. There is an m.2 drive now thats a 2tb for data transferring like my VODs and edits. I do use a 500gb 2.5" SSD for my OS and the second SSD is another data drive for my home network sharing. Also these pictures are just after I built this system.
  Reason why I didn't go with the m.2 as my OS is just because I have never seen much more boot speed compared to M.2 drives. At least from my prospective since I've been working on and building PCs for the last 7 years. 
  Overall I love this 5500GT, It's done a lot and can handle what I throw at it. Eventually when I upgrade my Gaming machine to AM5 I'll be overhauling my Ryzen 9 5900x and my 6700xt over to the workstation. 

[BigAl01]

As a side note, I tend to build new PCs, rather than upgrading an existing PC, unless we are just talking about adding in a better video card or monitor.  Maybe that's why I have eleven gaming machines on my home network!  Anyway, I don't like to disassemble computers that are running fine just to try another motherboard or CPU.  

[DangerZonePCs]

That is fair lol. I typically would do the same but in this case I would probably end up giving my wife the 5500gt or maybe the kid's PC. For my use case my workstation being a strong system will be great in the long run. At least I think so. Having a an upgrade path essentially for the rest of the family is kinda the goal I guess lol.