New work PC £500 Budget

Hudson1984

Hudson1984

Hudson1984

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4 Jul 2013
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139
Hi all,

new thread as this is probably the better place for it.

I have started a new job (for myself) in which to keep initial costs down i'd be using my gaming laptop - an MSI 14" jobby with GTX970m, now for gaming it does pretty much what I want it to do, wouldn't mind a bit of an upgrade though if that's possible within budget.

I want to run 2 screens, HD will be fine, I've no need for 4K, the laptop has 4K and I really don't see a huge difference for what I use it for - screens don't need to be within the budget.

it only needs to run office applications but I do do a odd bit of gaming if I need a break but nothing too major so it's a workstation with a half decent card rather than a gaming rig used for work.

I don't mind building it if it gets a better machine.
 
Gets difficult to fit in £500 the moment you ask for any kind of gaming, no matter how infrequent, doesn't make your GFX card cost part-time :p

I suggested this last night for someone. You could go for similar too.

Sparx said:
If you have to go new, you could squeeze something like this together if you can reach to this.

And yeah look on the popular auction site, about £5 for W10 license. :)

Ask in the CS forum about the GPU, it’s same price as new! Should knock the price down for you hopefully and get it closer to £500.

My basket at overclockers uk:
Total: £558.81 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​
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yeah I did see that.

I put together a similar list, changing out a few things and came in at £746.63, I could go down to £690 but I really struggled to get to your £559 so it does look viable.

perhaps it's worth waiting till Nvidea bring out their new stuff.
 
Hudson1984 said:
I put together a similar list, changing out a few things and came in at £746.63, I could go down to £690 but I really struggled to get to your £559 so it does look viable.
Click to expand...

Nvidia bringing out new GPUs isn't going to make those component cost <£500 :p

1650 Super is still a decent GPU for 1080p gaming, it's on par thereabout with a 970 (full desktop version) so will be a bit better than the 970M.
 
Firstly that post above links to a competitor so expect it to be removed shortly :)

Beat me to it. I have a HP Desk Pro i5 with a 1050 TI LP graphics card and it runs Forza 4 Horizon with medium settings no problem at 1080p 60fps. Usually it just runs my smart trainer and online Zwift but I tried a couple of games ans was impressed that for casual gaming it was more than adequate.
 
Hudson1984 said:
interesting option certainly.
Click to expand...

Obvious option that I've suggested many a time to many people on here, and also put into practice for many, many others. If you truly are being sensible with your money, refurbished/recycled is the only way to go, and you don't need to spend anywhere near £500.
 
I am swaying more toward the system sparks suggested, I would like the newer equipment as i'll no doubt have warranties etc.

I do use sketchup quite a lot for modelling DIY projects so having a decent RAM spec would assist there.

I think i'll await the new GPU/CPUs coming out and see what the new version my budget will afford.
 
I have seen an Asus ROG Strix B450-F Gaming Motherboard with AMD Ryzen 5 3600 processor bundle on offer for £279.99 which is probably a bit overkill but would seemingly future proof me for a while.

Other than that I'm on the same page.
 
It's an extra £80 on top of the budget, so you're now @ £630 region :p

But definitely if you can go up to the 3600 CPU then it'll definitely help you future proof for longer.
 
yeah, i'm actually closer to £700.... If i'm going ROG for Mboard i'd like to go ROG for GPU too.

their strix card (still 1650) just looks damned cool and offer better monitor support if I choose to add another screen down the road.

So yes, the £500 budget is now quickly raising to £700....and then monitors.... have to make the business work a little harder now.
 
Hudson1984 said:
If i'm going ROG for Mboard i'd like to go ROG for GPU too.
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Your money to waste but the ROG B450-F is pants, and having a ROG GPU is at that level is just paying for branding, not performance.

EDIT: Here's a '£500' build for you.


CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor
Motherboard: MSI B450M MORTAR MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 Blackout 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory
Storage: Crucial P2 500 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER 4 GB AERO ITX OC Video Card
Case: KOLINK STRONGHOLD ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: be quiet! System Power 9 500 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Total: ~£629

You can swap to a 1660 Super if you want more gaming prowess for £40 more, taking the total to £670.
 
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Journey said:
Your money to waste but the ROG B450-F is pants, and having a ROG GPU is at that level is just paying for branding, not performance.
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+1... Yeah you're literally paying the Asus tax now for aesthetics lol

If you're now happy to push budget to £700 region, then definitely at least recommend 3600 CPU, B450 Max mobo, 16GB 3600MHz RAM, 500GB-1TB NVMe and 1660 Super.
 
Maybe add a £20-25 tower cooler to for the 3600 as the supplied one is the worst of the 3 and can be a bit annoying as it speeds up and down.
 
shows what I know, I assumed Asus to be decent.

happy going MSI, my laptop is MSI and does the job well enough, just bloody noisy and can't keep itself cool.

i'd be happy at £700 if it made a difference in overall build
 
Hudson1984 said:
shows what I know, I assumed Asus to be decent.

happy going MSI, my laptop is MSI and does the job well enough, just bloody noisy and can't keep itself cool.

i'd be happy at £700 if it made a difference in overall build
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All companies release good and bad, the focus should be on individual component quality and what sort of customer support you can expect from whichever company you buy from.

As far as Asus B450's go they're mostly pretty terrible, I wouldn't want to deal with their customer support either given their track record in some areas.

For £700 I'd do this:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £701.85 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

The RX580 is still a decent GPU for budget builds, I'd take it over a 1650S if only due to the limited VRAM on the latter.

You pay more for the PSU compared to some such as the bronze Be Quiet! System Power 9's, but you get a much better quality supply coupled with a 10 year warranty compared to the 3 year of the SP9.

The Mortar Max is widely regarded as one of the best B450's.

Only a 500GB NvME but it's easy enough to pop more storage in down the line if needed.

You could opt for a cheaper PSU or motherboard to get a better GPU such as the 1660S, but personally I'd rather have a strong platform and switch out the GPU in a couple of years if needed.
 
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