£1000 Gaming PC (Strategy Games)

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Got asked to build a gaming PC for £1000. Main games he plays are strategy but for that cost I told him it will handle AAA too.

Should I be focusing more on CPU rather than CPU and can anyone give me some good builds and guidelines to start with.

Was thinking 5600X and 5700XT?

Cheers
 
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Assume it’s just the PC; if so, can he carry parts over from his existing one?

For the CPU, go with the 5600X; it’s more than enough and will last a good few years. Get a B550 motherboard for it.

For the GPU, an RTX 3060TI; similar price to the 5700XT but its newer tech and faster.

Unfortunately prices are inflated at the moment.
 
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Assume it’s just the PC; if so, can he carry parts over from his existing one?

For the CPU, go with the 5600X; it’s more than enough and will last a good few years. Get a B550 motherboard for it.

For the GPU, an RTX 3060TI; similar price to the 5700XT but its newer tech and faster.

Unfortunately prices are inflated at the moment.
There is no existing one this is a fresh.
Ill look into the 3060ti then.
 
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Sorry for late reply.. so im officially looking for parts now.

For this should I be going £280 for a 5600X or sticking with a 3600 for £190?

The only two parts im wary of just now is CPU and GPU.
 
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Sorry for late reply.. so im officially looking for parts now.

For this should I be going £280 for a 5600X or sticking with a 3600 for £190?

The only two parts im wary of just now is CPU and GPU.
The 3600 is by far better value the extra £90 could go towards other options but check out some benchmarks between them.
 
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Intel i5 10400f and AMD 3600 have fairly similar performance, so it really is down to supply, cost of cpu and motherboard when you order. It depends on the definition of strategy games, turn based games don't need much power. Whilst other strategy games like the Total War series require much more. If they can wait until late February the 3060 will be out and then they have the choice of the 3060 or 3060ti as being the best bang for buck card depending on how the 3060 reviews. Don't cheap out on the power supply so that they can get several years of trouble free use out of it
 
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What kind of strategy games though?

If he's playing Paradox titles like CKII, then you don't need a lot of GPU, if he plays Total War Warhammer II that's a different kettle of fish.
 
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After speaking with him he mentioned games such as
Hearts of Iron 4
Total War Series
Panzer Corps

So should I focusing the budget more on CPU over GPU?
 
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No you just need to build a balanced system for the budget. Total War series benefits from a good CPU and GPU, the others you mention don't need a (by todays standards) powerful CPU or GPU, ie I play them fine on my i5 2500k. An intel i5 10400f or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 cpu, with a Nvidia 3060ti or 3060 is more than enough. You could get the 5600xt you mentioned as well but the 3060 due towards end of February would be more future proof and hopefully available if you are quick enough on launch. 3060Ti should obviously give the best experience but may be hardest to get.

https://youtu.be/t9H2PfYDFok?t=857
 
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So for the £1000 price point for these games a Ryzen 5 3600 is fine but the extra for the 5600X could be worth if the budget stretches for it.

As for GPU 3060 and 3060ti is the best options but downside is waiting for it to release which they might not. Alternatives to this is 5700XT?

I shouldn't be going below a 5700XT for this budget of gaming PC? (Even if it is strictly for strategy games as FPS etc is not possible due to disabilities)

Base build without a GPU is about £650.. so looking at cards around £350 but best im seeing is 1660Super.
 
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IMO having a 5600x on a £1000 budget means that I would have to cut back in areas that I don't want to like a quality PSU or more storage. If supply allowed the 3060ti is better than the 5700xt in Total War for average fps, with .1% low similar I believe. The 3060 is due towards end of next month, it will be interesting to see how supply pans out.

https://youtu.be/4psc16-FPDQ
 
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Ok how does this sound then:

Ryzen 5 3600
MSI Tomahawk Max B450
Kingston HyperX Fury RGB 3200Mhz DDR4 32GB (4 x 8GB)
WD 1TB SN550 NVME M.2
Corsair TX650M Gold 80+ Semi Modular

That will take him to around £590 then a case roughly at £70 means he has £350-400 for a GPU.

He doesn't mind spending a little more so I may even show him some nice AIO RGB CPU Coolers and RGB fans to make it look nicer.

So for a £350-400 GPU unfortunately I can't see anything under £460 and creeping into that price point is bording on the new 6800 or like you say a 3060ti.

Is there anything around the £350-400 (5600xt?) worth even considering for this strategy only gaming pc?
 
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Yes that looks like a capable PC, he can always save up for another storage drive if he wants to in the future, the PSU is a good balance of price to reliability for the budget and will power a 3060ti or 3060. As you know graphics cards are hard to get let alone at MSRP. Your best bet is probably to try the Nvidia store on the day of the 3060 release and join the f5 refresh lottery with countless others. I see a competitor to this site has listed some 3060 but not the prices. If he can get an 5700xt at a reasonable price it is ok but the 3060ti is better if it could be had for MRSP. I would go for a Cooler Master 212 BLACK RGB air cooler if he wants a RGB cpu cooler, cheaper and less hassle in the long run than water, the 3600 is easy to cool in a standard ATX case and doesn't need water to perform well, my 3600 hits 4200 on a wraith prism
 
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