£750-1000 budget - any suggestions?

Hey, so I made a thread a while ago asking for tips on a PC build, and was advised to wait until the Polaris 480 launch.

So, up to £1000 (preferably around £750, if possible), gaming desktop (not competitive level, but the latest games), the budget includes the monitor, keyboard, mouse etc. I could try building it myself, but I'm not sure if I'd accidentally break something important.

Any suggestions on where to start?

Here is a pre built system with plenty of options if you wish to change anyhing.

Do you need windows ? i have added it.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x OcUK Kinetic H1 - Intel H110 Configurable Skylake Micro ATX DDR4 Gaming PC = £682.99
  • Processor:Intel Core i3-6300 3.80GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
  • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)
  • Graphics Card:Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
  • Storage Mechanical Hard Drive:Seagate 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST1000DM003)
  • Primary Solid State Drive / Hard Drive:Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)
  • Security Software:ESET Smart Security - Trial Key
  • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
  • Warranty:OcUK Standard System Warranty - 3 Year (24 Month C&R + 12 Month Labour)
  • Optical Drive **Not Compatible with Kolink Victory Case**:Unwanted
  • WIFI:Unwanted
  • Case:Kolink KLM-001 Micro-ATX Case - Black
  • Memory:Team Group Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C16 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (TPKD416GM2400HC16D
• 1 x Cougar 200K Keyboard & 250M Optical Gaming Mouse Value Bundle= £27.95
• 1 x AOC E2470SWHE 23.6" 1920x1080 TN Widescreen LED Multimedia Monitor - Black= £94.99

I was looking in your budget range too, and I have just bought and built this exact shopping list (minus the GPU which I'm waiting to order because I'm waiting for the partner cards to come out first).

It was my first time building a PC too, and it was fine. If you're um'ing and ah'ing about it, I'd say have a go!

The monitor is at the cheap end but absolutely fine. The keyboard and mouse are basic, but again fine. Everything else is decent enough spec for a mid range build. Chip overclocks to 4.4GHz no problem.

I waited for some weekly offers to appear on things like RAM and monitor, so saved a few quid off the cost shown below. I also got my OS cheap which was a fair saving against retail windows10 cost (I haven't included this below).


My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - Black Window= £52.99
• 1 x Gigabyte Z170-Gaming K3 - Intel Core i5 6600K Bundle **£10 Saving**= £291.98
• 1 x Super Flower Golden Green HX 550W "80 Plus Gold" Power Supply - Black= £59.99
• 1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B32= £89.99
• 1 x Kingston HyperX Fury 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (SHFS37A/240G)= £64.99
• 1 x Alpenföhn Matterhorn Pure Edition CPU Cooler= £29.99
• 1 x AOC G2460VQ6 24" 1920x1080 TN FREESYNC 1ms Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red= £116.99
• 1 x LMS Data USB Keyboard and Mouse Bundle (KM9014)= £7.99
• 1 x Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £188.99

mickyflinn said:

Here is a pre built system with plenty of options if you wish to change anyhing.

Click to expand...

£834 for everything, including Windows... damn. My only concern is whether an i3 would be enough? And does it come with cooling and power already?

danlightbulb said:

I was looking in your budget range too, and I have just bought and built this exact shopping list (minus the GPU which I'm waiting to order because I'm waiting for the partner cards to come out first)

Click to expand...

Oooh. That looks pretty good too; it'd be more with Windows, though, how does it compare to the £834 one?

I'd go for an i5 at the very least.

CrestOfFire said:

£834 for everything, including Windows... damn. My only concern is whether an i3 would be enough? And does it come with cooling and power already?



Oooh. That looks pretty good too; it'd be more with Windows, though, how does it compare to the £834 one?

Click to expand...

The I-3 is a very capable cpu for 1080p and yes comes with a cooler, power not sure what you mean.

R u going to be overclocking ? as the second system is aimes at that with an i-5.

mickyflinn said:

R u going to be overclocking ? as the second system is aimes at that with an i-5.

Click to expand...

I was considering it, but I'm not sure how much better it'd be; is there a noticeable difference between an i3-6300 3.80GHz, an i5-6600 3.3GHz and an i5-6600K 4.4GHz? And is it worth the extra cost for a 6600K?

Here's my suggestion:

CPU: Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor (£99.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£65.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Kingston HyperX Fury 240GB (£64.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.90)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon RX 480 4GB Video Card (£188.99)
Case: BitFenix Neos White/Silver ATX Mid Tower Case (£29.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: Super Flower Golden Green HX 450W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£51.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Monitor: AOC I2369VM 23.0" 60Hz Monitor (£129.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £764.70


I would say forget about overclocking for now, the benefits are minuscule, it costs extra and you're not at the stage to worry about it yet. I would also say i5's are overrated. Truth is adding more money to your GPU at this budget will do vastly more for you than upgrading to an i5 from an i3 (as will be evidenced by any sort of gaming benchmarks comparing them). Lastly, there are key re-sellers for Windows so I would never pay full price for it, or if you're a student you can get it for free in some cases.

PS: If you want to shave even more off for the build, PM me.