min spec gaming PC

RobRoy · 9 Aug 2015 at 12:28

Hi all,

im looking at buying bits for a pc in the near future and was wondering what are the minimum specs to run most games at a decent level of detail and at a decent frame rate?

I currently have Q6600 @2.4GHz, 4 gig of ram and a Radeon 6850 GFX card. Games are struggling a bit now so i think i'm going to have to bite the bullet and upgrade

Cheers

Joe! · 9 Aug 2015 at 12:31

Depends how much you are willing to spend, really.

For graphics I would recommend a GTX 970, which will set you back around £250 at the moment. For a processor, a decent level i5 (4460 or something) will be just fine for games.

RobRoy · 9 Aug 2015 at 12:47

Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure on my budget. I was hoping to get an idea from the replies so I could price something up

Joe! · 9 Aug 2015 at 12:59

Since you are not too sure on budget, how does this sound? There is no case, or operating system, as I believe the former is more something you should pick for aesthetic reasons, and I am not sure if you have the latter.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 WindForce OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (GV-N970WF3OC-4GD) £257.99
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 3.20GHz (Haswell) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £154.99
1 x SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 550W Fully Modular '80 Plus Gold' Power Supply - Black £62.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x Crucial BX100 120GB SSD SATA 6Gbps 7mm Solid State Drive (CT120BX100SSD1) £46.99
1 x Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache - OEM (ST1000DM003) HDD £41.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD38G1600HC11DC01) £38.99
Total : £675.53 (includes shipping : £8.00 Ex.VAT).

You could save £15 on the power supply if you don't mind it not being modular, not sure how much that matters to you!

Mustang · 9 Aug 2015 at 13:11

Here is a basic build to get you started, for an extra £90 you can upgrade to a GTX970, and/or for an extra £80 you can go the Skylake (6600k) route instead.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Intel Core i5-4690K 3.50GHz (Devil's Canyon) Socket LGA1150 Processor - Retail £179.99
1 x MSI GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card - Red £167.99
1 x Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU) £79.99
1 x TeamGroup Elite Black 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (TPKD316G1600HC11DC01) £68.99
1 x Gigabyte Z97P-D3 Intel Z97 (Socket 1150) DDR3 ATX Motherboard £61.99
1 x SuperFlower FX 650W '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply - Black £49.99
1 x Alpenfohn Ben Nevis CPU Cooler - 120mm £19.99
1 x Cougar MX200 Midi-Tower Gaming Case - Black £18.95
Total : £647.88 (includes shipping : Ex.VAT).

I_am_not_Carabia83 · 9 Aug 2015 at 13:23

RobRoy said:
Hi all,

im looking at buying bits for a pc in the near future and was wondering what are the minimum specs to run most games at a decent level of detail and at a decent frame rate?

I currently have Q6600 @2.4GHz, 4 gig of ram and a Radeon 6850 GFX card. Games are struggling a bit now so i think i'm going to have to bite the bullet and upgrade

Cheers

What resolution would you be playing at? What would you call a decent framerate?

Playing at 1920x1080/1920x1200 and being happy with 30fps will mean you won't have to spend much to get something that will play every game at that performance.

If you're planning on playing at 4k and 60fps then obviously that will be another league of spending.

I appreciate you said you want builds so you get an idea, but firstly without a doubt you want a build around an i5 a 4690k would do the job but go 6600k if it's in budget, they are a solid gaming cpu, anything more won't give any real world gains in games. most of the budget will be on the graphics card.

What parts do you need? You've got the case, psu and storage yeah? So just motherboard, cpu and cooler, ram and graphics card?

Joe! · 9 Aug 2015 at 13:26

Some of those questions I should have asked.. I just assume everyone is playing 1080p when they ask such a question, heh.

I_am_not_Carabia83 · 9 Aug 2015 at 13:30

Rowlii said:
Some of those questions I should have asked.. I just assume everyone is playing 1080p when they ask such a question, heh.

That's the thing though, as you know if he's playing at 1080p a 970 would be more than enough, and last a fair while, especially if he's happy with 30fps with all the eye candy.

I think he'll need to have a budget of around 600-650 quid for cpu, ram, motherboard and gpu and he'd have something decent enough.

Say 200 quid on cpu 6600k
100 quid on motherboard
50 quid on ram
that would leave around 250-300 for a decent 970

Without a budget it's pointless picking out specific parts though. The above definitely gives a guide on the reality of what he'd need to spend.

RobRoy · 9 Aug 2015 at 13:34

Ah yes i should have been more specific

Thanks all for taking the time to reply!

My current monitor only does 1680 x 1050 but i am hoping to upgrade this separately to a 1080p monitor.

FPS id like it to be a constant frame rate so 30fps should be fine as long as its stable

Id hope to keep the currently PC i have in 1 so i can give it to my son so i need everything really case / psu and storage

Joe! · 9 Aug 2015 at 13:39

If you don't mind 30 FPS, Mustang's setup will be sufficient (and cheaper by £100 ish), if you'd like to get 60 FPS, mine would be a lot better suited.

As for processor, I don't think there will be too much real world difference between the 4460 and the 4690k, however the 4690k can be overclocked for a little more longevity.

I'm still using the previous version of the 4460, and it's holding up fine being paired with a GTX 980Ti, so you won't have any issues either way you go.

I_am_not_Carabia83 · 9 Aug 2015 at 13:45

RobRoy said:
Ah yes i should have been more specific

Thanks all for taking the time to reply!

My current monitor only does 1680 x 1050 but i am hoping to upgrade this separately to a 1080p monitor.

FPS id like it to be a constant frame rate so 30fps should be fine as long as its stable

Id hope to keep the currently PC i have in 1 so i can give it to my son so i need everything really case / psu and storage

Well a case is very individual so you could pick that.

Here is a solid core build that would be good for gaming at 1080p. What is that like for budget? The other components such as case, cooler, and storage aren't as important at this stage as they are really down to individual preference.

I guess you'd be looking at 800 all in for something with the power of below. At this stage the components I've picked are only really to highlight an idea of parts, things like motherboard you could save money on, especially if you're not one that overclocks.

The same with the cooler too, if you're not overclocking then that will dictate the type of cooler you can get away with. You must have an idea of budget, also do you tend to overclock? If you don't then you could even save on the cpu and look at haswell at a non k.