PC mainly for gaming use, budget approx £600

GlennQuagmire

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Can anyone recommend websites with a good choice?

eBuyer looks okay with some good spec machines - any others I should try?

Cheers!

Posted : 26/01/2017 11:55 pm

john_drummer

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CCL Online have some good deals
Mesh?

Having said that, aren't dedicated games consoles better value? Not my area of expertise, I have a second hand PS3 that I hardly ever use, five or six games

Posted : 27/01/2017 12:05 am

allan23

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Does it have to be a separate PC with monitor?

If I had to buy something now and could use the living room TV I'd get an Alienware Alpha and set it up to run in Steam Big Picture mode on the TV. I'm past the days of having a desktop and monitor setup in a corner so probably biased. You could probably stick a big monitor on the Alpha though and set it up like that - might bust a £600 budget somewhere.

There is the Steam Machine too but I've not played with Steam OS that much so don't know if you lose a bit of flexibility.

http://www.dell.com/uk/p/alienware-alpha/pd

Dedicated PC, I'd echo the CCL advice above, local shop for me and had a pretty good service from them for quite a few years. Most of the shops do that headline price for a basic unit and when you add a good keyboard, monitor and mouse it all starts to ramp up the cost. Just double check what you're getting.

No idea about the likes of PC Specialist, looked recently and the prices were a bit steep.

Posted : 27/01/2017 7:04 am

midlifecrashes

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We built a PC for my son for Christmas, came in at about £330 without the graphics card, as he transferred his old one across, his old box had reached it's limits. Current generation i5,2TB 7200 HD, Windows 10 pro, 8GB ram, new case with 500w PSU. He has reused his keyboard mouse and monitor though. It seems to run fast and quiet, and will really fly when he upgrades his graphics card when his birthday comes round.

Posted : 27/01/2017 7:20 am

gofasterstripes

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Are you totally unwilling to build it yourself? There's always loads of guides and videos online that can advise you on the state of the market.

NB - I know this is always true, but right now, with that budget, I'd wait another month or two and wait until AMD had launched it's new "Ryzen" CPUs. I think it's going to affect the market quite a lot.

Posted : 27/01/2017 7:34 am

GlennQuagmire

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Topic starter

Ah yes, CCL, have used them before - will have a look.

It needs to be a PC as it will be used for work stuff as well - and just the base unit as I already have monitor, keyboard, etc.

I'm ok with self-build but the choice of components is just overwhelming! And I'm happy to wait if you think prices might fall due to the new AMD CPUs arriving on the market.

Thanks all.

Posted : 27/01/2017 7:45 am

JackHammer

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Trusted reviews do a budget gaming pc in that region. I ended up spending about £800 all (monitor, keyboard etc) for mine.

i3 cpu
1tb hdd
1060 6gb gpu
8gb ram
cheap case

all bought from ebuyer, but if you shop around you can get cheaper. Also use quidco or similar for cash back.

Posted : 27/01/2017 8:21 am

Cougar

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Time was, a self-build saved loads of money. These days the only point in DIY is if you're particular about exactly what components you want in it, it's almost certainly more expensive than an off-the-shelf box.

Posted : 27/01/2017 8:44 am

chvck

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If you already have a base unit then you can save a bit of money/do some bits over a longer period. Like, if you keep the current case and any hard drives (with a view to upgrade those later) then you could easily save 50-100 quid. If your PSU is powerful enough to keep up then you can avoid buying a new one of those etc... Granted if you don't then I doubt there's much money to save on a self build.

Posted : 27/01/2017 8:56 am

martinhutch

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Freshtech seemed to be the most keenly priced when I sorted out my lad's PC before Christmas. Couldn't have beaten the overall price even sourcing all the components separately.

In the end it was just under 700 for an i5 6600 and 970 GTX build with some extra cooling etc.

Personally I would look for maybe a cheap second hand/refurbished or lower spec monitor for now, and move over hard drives etc if possible, making sure the core components can actually cope with what's out there at maximum or near maximum settings.

Posted : 27/01/2017 9:06 am

gofasterstripes

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it's almost certainly more expensive than an off-the-shelf box

...but not as much fun 😛

Posted : 27/01/2017 9:53 am

tinribz

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Just put on together my self, like Cougar says its more for vanity and exact spec than money these days. The weak pound has seen prices across the board go up the last 6 months.

The skylake generation of Intel processors are a big jump as a minimum for value I would be looking for: I3 6100, GTX 750Ti, 8Gb DDR4, 250Gb SSD. And hoping for an I5 GF 1050Ti. Also watch for windows not included which is another £100.

This one seems a good buy:

http://www.ebuyer.com/760823-cyberpower-gaming-warfare-1050ti-ecc01749

Good site to customise on:

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/the-block-minecraft-gaming-pc-p-160.html

Posted : 27/01/2017 9:56 am

martinhutch

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Also watch for windows not included which is another £100.

You can buy a windows 10 licence for 20 quid or so and it's a doddle to download and install.

Posted : 27/01/2017 9:58 am

chojin

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gofasterstripes - Member

NB - I know this is always true, but right now, with that budget, I'd wait another month or two and wait until AMD had launched it's new "Ryzen" CPUs. I think it's going to affect the market quite a lot.

I was just about to reply with EXACTLY the same thing. Really really this.

Ryzen is the first significant event to happen in the CPU market for years - Whilst I don't think it will be a game changer in out and out performance, I believe it'll force the quite frankly ridiculous pricing of Intel/Nvidia down a lot.

AMD are starting to find their feet again in both the CPU and GPU markets, even if you're not an AMD fan - the competition is much needed in such a stale marketplace.

Posted : 27/01/2017 9:59 am

BigEaredBiker

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£600 won't go far for a gaming system if you need keyboard/monitor/mouse etc. unless you are prepared to compromise on something. The GPU is more important than the CPU however e.g. a £50-£60 CPU can work quite well with a £150-200 GPU.

My bet is that the Ryzen CPU will probably be over £500 alone given that it directly competes with Intel CPU's that cost £1000, so don't expect a massive reduction of CPU's at the cheaper end of the market.

Personally I like Scan.co.uk and have only ever had good service from them; but I have never purchased a complete system as I prefer to build my own.

What type of games are you looking to play? Some CPU/GPU combinations are more important for some games/genres than others.

Posted : 27/01/2017 10:17 am

eskay

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Have a look at MSI PCs. I bought my son an MSI gaming laptop for Christmas and it is a nice piece of kit.

Posted : 27/01/2017 10:18 am

BigEaredBiker

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You can buy a windows 10 licence for 20 quid or so

Watch out for these, they are often grey market or product keys sourced from a companies MSDN subscriptions. Microsoft have a history of locking some product keys which may prevent re-install or upgrades at a later date.

Depending on the desired games Linux can work out as a good option to keep costs down.

Posted : 27/01/2017 10:20 am

tinribz

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You can buy a windows 10 licence for 20 quid or so

Yeah I'll believe that when I see it.

Posted : 27/01/2017 10:25 am

hexhamstu

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https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/hexhamstu/saved/k69cf7

take the monitor off and its £610

Posted : 27/01/2017 10:25 am

martinhutch

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Yeah I'll believe that when I see it.

OEM product key rather than retail licence, but works fine on every computer I've set up.

Posted : 27/01/2017 10:36 am

tinribz

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Here's a good offering with not much compromising on actual performance if you need to include a monitor in the budget.

http://www.laptopsdirect.co.uk/pc-specialist-core-i3-6100-3.70ghz-8gb-1tb-geforce-gtx-750ti-2gb-dvd-rw-win-pcs-d1131609/version.asp

Posted : 27/01/2017 11:03 am

GlennQuagmire

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Topic starter

I don't need monitor/mouse/etc as it's just to replace an ageing PC. Most recent game purchase was Doom and my current PC struggles (I don't want to upgrade as I have other plans for the old unit).

Cheers all.

Posted : 27/01/2017 11:12 am

chojin

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My bet is that the Ryzen CPU will probably be over £500 alone given that it directly competes with Intel CPU's that cost £1000, so don't expect a massive reduction of CPU's at the cheaper end of the market.

This isn't entirely accurate.

Ryzen is an architecture, not a chip. AMD are simultaneously releasing i3/i5/i7 equivalents across the board and at all price points.

The market will be shaken up.

Posted : 27/01/2017 11:22 am

Toasty

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The likes of G2A have £20 Windows 10 keys in most the time, generally sellers with thousands of feedback. I've bought a few from there, my current PC and parents PC are both using a £20 key, zero issues, authenticates fine. I bought Windows 7 keys from similar back in the day. Feel free to spend 5x that amount if it makes you feel better.

I've very skeptical regarding AMD, they make great integrated systems like you see in the PS4/Xbone. They promised lots with the RX 4xx cards too, yet they can barely match the mid range Nvidia cards and they're far less efficient, they just seems a generation behind. They've been pushing more hz/amps/cores on their processors for years, it's never helped.

Posted : 27/01/2017 11:24 am

chojin

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I've very skeptical regarding AMD, they make great integrated systems like you see in the PS4/Xbone. They promised lots with the RX 4xx cards too, yet they can barely match the mid range Nvidia cards and they're far less efficient, they just seems a generation behind. They've been pushing more hz/amps/cores on their processors for years, it's never helped.

I agree with the fact that AMD have been way off the pace for years, however their very latest stuff is both competitive AND cheaper.

The RX 4xx was always aimed at mid market and below (their high end offering Vega is due for release soon), it's generally accepted that with this generation of cards, they've acquired the best "bang for buck". Precisely the market the OP is looking at with his budget.

By even offering a competitive product which previously they've been unable to do, if nothing else should bring down pricing for all. Win/win.

Also

GlennQuagmire - Member
I don't need monitor/mouse/etc as it's just to replace an ageing PC. Most recent game purchase was Doom and my current PC struggles (I don't want to upgrade as I have other plans for the old unit).

AMD definitely has the advantage in this particular game due to its efficiency with the Vulkan API. The RX470/480 makes mincemeat of the latest Doom.

Posted : 27/01/2017 11:35 am

Toasty

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Indeed, it's a tenuous lead though. The one price point they could be argued to win at is the RX 480 vs GTX 1060. Even then, the prices on Amazon are about the same for both, benchmark wise the RX 480 only really wins on DX12 titles, it draws more power and the bulk of games will be written primarily with Nvidia drivers in mind.

The new early benchmarks for the Ryzen do look good and I hope they succeed to bring prices down. Every AMD system I've had has been arse though. The last being a Phenom X3, which is really a factory reject quad core CPU, with a broken core.

AMD definitely has the advantage in this particular game due to its efficiency with the Vulkan API. The RX470/480 makes mincemeat of the latest Doom.

This is true, isn't Vulkan is a rebranded Mantle, which is an AMD technology. Also id software have been fighting for years to keep making games in OpenGL which everyone else has hopped to DirectX, I can't see many other studios building games in Vulkan.

Sorry, miles off topic 🙂

Posted : 27/01/2017 11:45 am

gofasterstripes

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lol stw just nerded prematurely

Posted : 27/01/2017 12:03 pm

mattyfez

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You can build quite a solid gaming system for £700 (windows not included)

Posted : 27/01/2017 12:31 pm

Toasty

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lol stw just nerded prematurely

I dunno, the chat forum is half full of Linux posts at the moment! This stuff's lightweight! 🙂

Posted : 27/01/2017 12:32 pm

mattyfez

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Or a slightly cheaper build, but i'd stretch a bit more if at all possible

Posted : 27/01/2017 12:40 pm

GlennQuagmire

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Topic starter

Thanks all, some great advice here as always.

Found this place, seems to be well priced.

[url= http://www.awd-it.co.uk/ ]http://www.awd-it.co.uk/[/url]

Posted : 27/01/2017 12:43 pm

FuzzyWuzzy

Posts: 8672

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I bought my last gaming PC from Overclockers, that was a few years ago though so not sure what they're like these days. Chillblast always seem to be recommended but not used them myself.

What games are you intending playing? The graphics card will likely be the major expense but if you can compromise a bit on that (e.g. if not needing to play the latest FPSs at silly high resolutions) then worth spending more on the core stuff like a i5 & SSD as primary drive etc.

Posted : 27/01/2017 1:52 pm

chewkw

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I am also hoping to build one this year so let's see what suggestion everyone has ... 😛

Posted : 27/01/2017 1:59 pm

midlifecrashes

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This place is well priced for motherboard bundles, and they come assembled and tested, which is handy:

[url= https://www.palicomp.co.uk/Intel-Skylake-Bundles ]https://www.palicomp.co.uk/Intel-Skylake-Bundles[/url]

Price has crept up slightly since before Christmas, I guess that's the exchange rate.

Posted : 27/01/2017 2:05 pm

mattyfez

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May as well get the newer Kabylake over a skylake if buying new.

They are for arguments sake the same as skylake, but have slightly higher clock speeds and in this example, cheaper.

For example

[b]My basket at [url= https://www.overclockers.co.uk ]Overclockers UK[/url]:[/b]
[LIST]
[*] 1 x [url= https://www.overclockers.co.uk/intel-core-i5-7500-3.40ghz-kaby-lake-socket-lga1151-processor-retail-cp-62t-in.html ]Intel Core i5-7500 3.40GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail[/url]= [b]£188.99[/b]
[*] 1 x [url= https://www.overclockers.co.uk/intel-core-i5-6500-3.20ghz-skylake-socket-lga1151-processor-retail-cp-586-in.html ]Intel Core i5-6500 3.20GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail[/url]= [b]£209.99[/b]
[/LIST]
[INDENT]
[b]Total: £407.68
[/b](includes shipping: £8.70)
[/INDENT]

Posted : 27/01/2017 3:00 pm

GlennQuagmire

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Topic starter

Thanks all and great info mattyfez - my budget can stretch and those specs look great.

Am I right in thinking the Radeon RX 480 is the best graphics card in the price range at the moment?

Posted : 27/01/2017 5:52 pm

gofasterstripes

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EDIT - reading the comments on that edition of the chart it seems that Tom's has not done a good job this time.

[s]
Here's the Heirachy

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html

I think the 480 is probably the best option for the cash right now, but you have to see how UK prices compare.[/s]

Try again:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/01/best-budget-graphics-card/

Mainly a test for the 470 and 1050Ti, this also mentions some up-to-date figures for RX480 performance:

"As an aside, retesting the RX 480 shows just how much AMD's drivers have improved since launch. There's a huge 25 percent boost across most games, which makes the RX 480 far more competitive with the GTX 1060. It's still not quite as fast, and the current pricing on the 8GB version makes it a tricky to recommend outright, but if you can find a good deal the RX 480 is well worth a look."

Posted : 27/01/2017 5:55 pm

mattyfez

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Thanks all and great info mattyfez - my budget can stretch and those specs look great.

Am I right in thinking the Radeon RX 480 is the best graphics card in the price range at the moment?

Basically yes, the Nvidia 6gb gtx1060 has almost identical performance, but the 8gb rx480 has more ram and performs marginaly better in DX12 games on average, so is a slightly better buy.

Posted : 27/01/2017 6:01 pm

mattyfez

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I just finished building a pc a few days ago and was struggling to choose between the two cards, basically they can both play all current games on maximum settings on a 1080p screen, comfortably at 60 frames a second or higher, which is all you need to worry about really.

I went for the radeon 480 8gb red devil as it was on offer for£230, software updates for them seem better, nvidia seem not to bother optimizing thier software once a card is over a year old. And also more ram 8gb Vs 6gb should be more future proof.

[img] [/img]

Posted : 27/01/2017 6:29 pm

BigEaredBiker

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Nice build.

Generally speaking AMD are the better brand, they support their cards with updates for longer than Nvidia and make an effort to support Open Source drivers for the Linux OS. Nvidia Linux drivers are just the windows driver with a wrapper and force you to taint the kernel - in effect you might compromise system security by using them.

AMD's support for tech such as OpenCL has also been way better. On top of that it's less likely that AMD CPU's could provide backdoors for government agencies or weak crypto unlike the Intel management engine and less than random number generator.

You can also take the view that AMD's older stuff isn't as poorly performing or inefficient as is often reported, it's just that some features the hardware supports isn't widely used or AMD fell foul of tricks to hinder performance on systems using their components - there has been plenty of examples in the past.

These are not things a typical user or gamer would other babout but if you are into proper geeky home computing or political activism of any description they might be...

Edit, just to say I use Intel and Nvidia at the moment ?

Posted : 27/01/2017 7:38 pm

mattyfez

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Yeah I've always had nvidia cards, this is my first amd card.. Seems fine so far..touch wood

Posted : 27/01/2017 8:31 pm

chewkw

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I hope to build one with Noctua aircool using Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 Mini tower.

My present Lian Li (cannot remember the model but its for mATX) with water cool (H50) is getting a bit annoying now because the temperature is slowly creeping up.
🙂

Posted : 27/01/2017 8:42 pm

prettygreenparrot

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A nicely timed thread. #1 child has determined they'd rather have a windows gaming PC than the 2012 rMBP they've been using for schoolwork and low-demand games.

From the sale of the MacBook Pro he won't have the money to cover a monitor at this stage. I'm guessing he should be able to use the same TV that he uses for PS4 games. Any STW views on that?

so far I've gathered he'll need to consider Kaby Lake i5, AMD GPU, an SSD, an HDD, 8GB fast RAM, a motherboard to take them, and a well-cooled case.

Posted : 28/01/2017 11:38 am

mattyfez

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Yeah, although the sweet spot with pricing with RAM right now is 16gb, it doesn't cost that much more than an 8gb kit. So unless you're struggling to keep within a budget, 16gb is the way to go for a gaming PC.

A DDR4 3000mhz 16gb set (2x8gb sticks)

[url= https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team-group-dark-t-force-16gb-2x8gb-ddr4-pc4-24000c16-3000mhz-dual-channel-kit-grey-tdged416g300-my-089-tg.html ]https://www.overclockers.co.uk/team-group-dark-t-force-16gb-2x8gb-ddr4-pc4-24000c16-3000mhz-dual-channel-kit-grey-tdged416g300-my-089-tg.html[/url]

Posted : 28/01/2017 12:06 pm

Cougar

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I'm guessing he should be able to use the same TV that he uses for PS4 games. Any STW views on that?

Depends on the connectivity on the set (and the PC). Get a GFX card with HDMI out, maybe. Should be fine for games, it'll probably be pish for doing homework on though.

You missed PSU on your list (and the HSF for the CPU).

Posted : 28/01/2017 12:19 pm

mattyfez

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You can use a 1080p tv, no problems, although proper monitor is preferable. A graphics card such as an nvidia gtx1060 6gb or radeon rx480 8gb will max out most or all games.

If you have a higher resolution monitor(or tv), 1440p or ultra hd, and you want to play games at max or very high settings, you can keep the core system the same, but you'd need to get a more powerful graphics card, such as a gtx1070 or gtx1080, and you might need a more powerful power supply unit, a good quality 700w or more.

Posted : 28/01/2017 12:25 pm

mattyfez

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Or if you have an ultra HD monitor, you could force the resolution 'down' to 1080p HD in the game settings for better performance.

Posted : 28/01/2017 1:34 pm

gofasterstripes

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I bet you don't need a 700W PSU these days unless you SLI.

Posted : 28/01/2017 2:13 pm

chewkw

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mattyfez - Member

I just finished building a pc a few days ago and was struggling to choose between the two cards, basically they can both play all current games on maximum settings on a 1080p screen, comfortably at 60 frames a second or higher, which is all you need to worry about really.

What's the temp like for you CPU using Cooler Master for idle and full load?

Posted : 30/01/2017 2:25 am

mattyfez

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Pretty cool, but warmer now I have fitted a graphics card.

I overclocked the i5 to 4.7ghz at 1.4volts which is high voltage, and it was hitting 80c with asus realbench. I then managed to lower the volts down a fair bit and still retain stability and it's hitting 60c.

I need to do some further stress testing with the graphics card running though as that pumps warm air into the case and will raise that figure.

[img] [/img]

Posted : 30/01/2017 8:23 am

mattyfez

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Idle temperature is about 28 to 30c, which is nice and cool considering the ambient temperature of the room the computer is in is about 20c at a guess.

It's a good cooler if you're not wanting to overclock to the absolute max with high cpu volts, more volts means more heat.

Even if not overclocking, it's worth taking the cpu off auto voltage as it tends to be a bit flamboyant, and finding the lowest fixed cpu voltage you can run stable at.

Posted : 30/01/2017 8:43 am

[Closed] PC mainly for gaming use, budget approx £600

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