Budget PC for friend - am I on the right track?

Narj · 10 May 2020 at 15:22

Hi all,

A mate of mine wants a PC for gaming, not the latest and greatest but for indie games and also stuff like Quantum Break, GTAV, Arkham Games, Doom 2017 and so on.

Max budget of £500 (he does not need monitor, keyboard, mouse) so I was minded to get him to go for one of these:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-kinetic-r1-gaming-pc-amd-ryzen-3-3200g-fs-1ca-og.html

- Change CPU to 3400G (+£55.00)
- Remove Windows and install for him with a cheapo key (-£109.99)
- Change disk to Barracuda 120 500GB SSD (+£34.04)
- Upgrade RAM to 16GB (+24.00)
= £453.04 (or £504.04 with the 1TB SSD)

It would be easy to get a second hand 1060, 970 or similar from the MM going marginally over budget but in the meantime the Vega 11 looks capable at medium settings.

Any thoughts or am I barking up the wrong tree? While it'd be far better bang for buck getting a complete system from the MM he's a bit nervous about issues and wants a warranty. I'm also not keen to get into the whole hassle of supporting a PC I built for someone for eternity.

Not sure if OcUK will install windows with a supplied key?

Opinions much appreciated!

Narj · 16 May 2020 at 15:19

No comments at all? I'll take that as an endorsement then

Minibiker · 16 May 2020 at 15:25

How about considering the new Ryzen 3300x and possibly getting a GPU from MM, I'm guessing your friend will want OCUK to build the system... Just a shame as you could save a few £££ building with him or for him

aaronjunited · 16 May 2020 at 15:26

Can you give me more information on where to get the windows key please? I lost my back-up disks and have a corrupted version on my drive which can't be used for back-up again.

Narj · 16 May 2020 at 17:37

Minibiker said:
How about considering the new Ryzen 3300x and possibly getting a GPU from MM, I'm guessing your friend will want OCUK to build the system... Just a shame as you could save a few £££ building with him or for him

Good point actually, I'll look into it. The question was whether he'd mind forking out for a GPU now or would he want to wait a few months to get the cash for a proper GPU

I could always lend him the GTX1060 from my SFF PC if it takes time to source one I suppose.

I get where you're coming from, it's just I've been there before with constant phone calls/messages when I've built a machine for someone. I just don't have the time and don't want the additional headache these days. OCUK build will give him peace of mind.

@aaronjunited - do you really need it? If you were to reinstall on the same system, even with a few modifications then it'll probably reactivate fine? Remember licencing works differently these days and is based on a system ID.

I got mine for a tenner from a seller on the Rainforest. Just check reviews to make sure it's genuine.