Getting started into PC Gaming

MHC

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Please help me, I've never touched PC Gaming at all, I've always played on console. I am looking for some help/advice on picking a prebuilt pc as I have literally no understanding on how to build one, and as of yet dont really want to go down that path.

What I want is to be able to play on 1080p high settings, maybe even 1440p on high if it fits my budget.

My budget is around £1,000-£1,500...
 

Sparx

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What do you need exactly? Just the case/system itself?

Or do you need peripherals monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers/headset as well within that budget?

Do you need a copy of Windows? (that eats £100 out budget unless you buy a key for cheap searching Google)
 

MHC

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Sparx said:
What do you need exactly? Just the case/system itself?

Or do you need peripherals monitor, keyboard, mouse and speakers/headset as well within that budget?

Do you need a copy of Windows? (that eats £100 out budget unless you buy a key for cheap searching Google)
Click to expand...

Everything other than peripherals.
 

Plec

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MHC said:
What I want is to be able to play on 1080p high settings, maybe even 1440p on high if it fits my budget.
Click to expand...
What make/model is your monitor - and do you plan on upgrading within a year?

If you haven't got one then a 1440p build is easily attainable with your budget (and is 1440p UltraWide a consideration?).
 
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MHC

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I currently have the Asus VG258QR, I plan on upgrading to the Asus ROG Swift PG27VQ. Ultrawide isn't a option.
 

Plec

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I forgot to ask will you be building yourself or OcUK? If OcUK building you will need to factor in an additional ~£150 to the build total.

Example build - case is a place holder - and you still have money in reserve to play with - i.e. aesthetics (if important), third party cooler, better looking case, RGB tat or 2070S if you felt the want (no need).

Chose the B450 MAX (Zen-2 compatible out of the box) to keep well within your budget and no need for PCIe 4.

Ideally you would have a NVMe drive at this money and the MP510 is a great choice - as OcUK haven't got stock i would source elsewhere. As has been mentioned on previous threads you may be better off getting a standard SATA drive and adding a NVMe when you need to add another drive as the B450 only has 1 x m.2 slot (if OcUK are building - otherwise get the mp510).

My basket at Overclockers UK:
​


5700XT will power it's way through 1440p - Gigabyte 3 year warranty, UK RMA.

3700X could be subbed out for the 3600 if you want to save more money - great value CPU.

And if you are building yourself i recommend getting Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3200MHz memory (AES in product code) - clocks to 3600MHz with ease - all i'm permitted to say on forum.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,239.13 (includes shipping: £13.20)


*Added 750W by mistake but it's only ~£7 more than 650W...


Sample of 3rd party coolers for price:

The Ben Nevis would perform better and quieter than stock. The Mugen 5 would add bling and has superior cooling performance.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
​

​
 
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MHC

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Thankyou for the reply! I would prefer not to build as I don't have the knowledge and am really busy so I would prefer someone else to build.
 

Plec

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MHC said:
Thankyou for the reply! I would prefer not to build as I don't have the knowledge and am really busy so I would prefer someone else to build.
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When comparing builds/editing - keep in mind you'll need to add ~£150 on top of spec cost. Also, limited to what OcUK have in stock.

Did you have any feedback on build - preferences?
 

Plec

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MHC said:
That build doesn't have a HDD? OR an I just not seeing it? Please help.
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The Crucial MX 500 sata m.2 is the drive. About the size a large stick of chewing gum and slots directly into the motherboard. It's essentially a small form factor SSD - originally deigned for laptops/notebooks and made their way to desktops.

 

MHC

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I'm going to bite the bullet and try and build mysel . What would your recommendations be then?

What am I saving to these SSDs? OS and games?
 

Plec

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MHC said:
What am I saving to these SSDs? OS and games?
Click to expand...
A 1TB drive - everything. That should be enough space for everything for the average 'gaming machine'.

MHC said:
I'm going to bite the bullet and try and build mysel . What would your recommendations be then?
Click to expand...
If building yourself i would buy/source the mp510 NVMe 1Tb over the Crucia MX500l drive. I would also sub out the memory for Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 3200MHz memory (AES in code) - this is Micron E-Die and clocks easily to ~3600MHz, unfortunately OcUK don't stock it (all i can say due to forum rules). I will add that the gains are minimal but if building yourself that's the advantage of getting the best quality components - and memory has a lifetime warranty.

You will be saving ~£150 - the build is solid for 1440p gaming. You could add a quieter cooler, couple of examples listed above, or swap the case, always personal preference. Depends if you're after a certain aesthetic?

But if the case is tucked out of view (under desk) i would focus on silence - but you could just pocket the £150 or put the extra towards games. AAA titles will soon swallow it up if you don't wait for sales...

If you were planning on storing a large amount of games/music/films - you could get a second conventional 2Tb+ drive - depending on future use?
 
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Troezar

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Lots of good advice here but I imagine confusing for a first time builder. He seems to have zero knowledge, I think you're underestimating how much you all know ;)
 

EsaT

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MHC said:
I plan on upgrading to the Asus ROG Swift PG27VQ.
Click to expand...
There's no sense to plan buying G-Sync only monitor.
Unless liking the idea of chaining yourself to be Nvidia's slave for getting synced to butt in future graphics card choise.
While with also Intel joining discrete GPU game in next year competition situation can be entirely different in couple years.
Besides Nvidia removed that artificial from the start disable FreeSync bit from drivers in January.


MHC said:
That build doesn't have a HDD? OR an I just not seeing it? Please help.
Click to expand...
Old "spinning rust" aka HDDs are seriously performance limited by being mechanical devices with moving parts.

Solid State Drives (that SSD) are completely electric devices without moving parts and capable to accessing and reading required data faster.
And especially jumping from location of one data to location of another data without mechanical component movement time penalties.

Despite of big differences in synthetic benchmarketing numbers in real world game loading times differences between different SSD types are from small to hair splitting.
Real difference is between HDD and SSD:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=nvme+ssd+hdd
So having enough SSD space to actually fit games curb stomps having theoretically "fast" smaller drive, which can't fit as many games.


Plec said:
If building yourself i would buy/source the mp510 NVMe 1Tb over the Crucia MX500l drive.
Click to expand...
Recently released Kingston A2000 wouldn't actually cost any more than SATA SSDs like MX500.
 

Plec

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Troezar said:
Lots of good advice here but I imagine confusing for a first time builder. He seems to have zero knowledge, I think you're underestimating how much you all know ;)
Click to expand...
Very true.

Didn't have time to go into the nitty-gritty - so will answer any questions he may have. It's hard to judge how much detail to go into sometimes and what to recommend - especially with such an open question.

Troezar said:
Recently released Kingston A2000 wouldn't actually cost any more than SATA SSDs like MX500.
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Cheers, @EsaT - will take a look.

@Journey's tested the Sabrient Rocket and his results were very competitive for the price. Would be great if OcUK listed a larger selection of drives, especially cheaper alternatives - Crucial P1 would be a start.
 
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EsaT

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Plec said:
Cheers, @EsaT - will take a look.

@Journey's tested the Sabrient Rocket and his results were very competitive for the price. Would be great if OcUK listed a larger selection of drives, especially cheaper alternatives - Crucial P1 would be a start.
Click to expand...
Like Intel 660p Crucial P1 is QLC drive.
(and slower in sequential write than old HDDs when running out of SLC cache)
So don't see any reason to encourage proliferation of it.

Kingston A2000 is TLC drive and seems perfect bang per buck drive for home/gaming use.
http://www.thessdreview.com/our-rev...review-1tb-high-speed-capacity-at-under-99/5/

Not sure if Windows enables it in desk PCs, but might need to make sure deepest power saving mode isn't used.
In Anandtech's measurements all Silicon Motion controller based drives have wake up latency of ~55-70ms, with KC2000 making record at ridiculous 135ms.
 

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