£2,000 Gaming PC

[Azure101]

Hi all,

Pretty much set on pulling the trigger on a new PC build, I've probably needed to upgrade for around 6-7 years now but only just getting around to it.

Current specs are severely outdated and aren't worth listing (CPU is an i7 920 for example..)

I like the idea of Ryzen, despite the fact that Coffee Lake is right around the corner - AMD supporting the socket for another few years being the main reason meaning should I choose to upgrade the CPU as a treat for myself I can.

Primary use for the PC will be gaming, I don't stream, video encode or anything like that (aware the i7 7700k is undoubtedly the better gaming CPU but would prefer Ryzen for the reasons above.) I don't need an OS and would like to just get the maximum out the budget so if that means I can game at 1440p I'll buy the monitor to support it later down the line.

Appreciate all the help!

 

[Journey]

With that budget, and no monitor or OS needed, there are so many options. Maybe you should start with how you want it to look (if you care?), specific colour theme, and what size case you want.

After that it's easy if you are fixed on AMD, if you want to go AM4 that is, grab a 1700/1700X, some nice 3200MHz RAM (8Pack kits), a Samsung 960 Pro NVMe M.2 drive, or two if you are really pushing the boat out, and a GTX 1080 Ti. Chose the cooling option you prefer, AIO or air, and slect some fans for you case if you want any.

If you want the option to go up to a 32 core / 64 thread CPU, then go socket TR4, and buy the 1900X for now, which is 8c/16t. Socket longevity will be as long, or longer than AM4, and it has quad channel RAM and 64 PCI-E lanes, with support for more RAM than you'll ever need.

 

[Azure101]

I'll be totally honest, looks aren't really an issue with this build - the PC isn't particularly on show so I wouldn't really get to appreciate how pretty it may look.

Any chance you could help me out with an example build with links like I see in other threads? Really appreciate the help!

 

[Journey]

I'll be totally honest, looks aren't really an issue with this build - the PC isn't particularly on show so I wouldn't really get to appreciate how pretty it may look.

Any chance you could help me out with an example build with links like I see in other threads? Really appreciate the help!

I've gone a bit simple on this, but very functional, and with your comments about the ability to upgrade in future being something you are interested in.

I've selected an 8Pack bundle with only the R5 1600, but with one of the best AM4 boards you can buy, good compatible DDR4 3000MHz RAM, and a nice AIO cooler. For the case and PSU, I've just made sure it will be silent (not the cheapest though), or as close as possible, and the graphics card is the cheapest decent GTX 1080 Ti, feel free to spend £100-150 more if you want faster out of the box clocks, and a couple of years warranty, or alternatively wait until an EVGA model is on offer and it's a win-win.

You could ask OCUK if they will swap out the R5 1600 for an R7 1700, but if you are gaming (tell us otherwise), once overclocked there is not a great deal of difference, and you can use the money saved to put towards a Zen2, or Zen3 CPU, later down the line when they are faster, and you will benefit more. I have also taken this view of the RAM, it's pretty hard to get above 3200/3333MHz on the RAM, and fast RAM, well in fact any RAM is expensive currently, so you may find it cheaper to go for more/faster RAM in 12 months or so, and you are losing only circa 2% of performance from 3000MHz to 3200MHz

I've put a Samsung 500Gb 960 EVO NVMe m.2 SSD in there, as I assumed you'd move the mechanical drives from your old machine across if there is nothing wrong with them.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x 8Pack Approved - Elite Tier Ryzen 5 Asrock Bundle: AMD 1600 @ 3.90GHz = £533.78
  • Memory:Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TDGED416G300
  • CPU Cooler:8Pack Asetek 570LX 240mm High Performance CPU Cooler - AM4
• 1 x Palit Geforce GTX 1080Ti Jetstream 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £689.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £229.99
• 1 x be quiet! Silent Base 800 - Black= £127.99
• 1 x be quiet! Straight Power 10 600W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply= £112.99

Total: £1,707.94
(includes shipping: £13.20)



​

Just a couple of idea's, I'm not big on wasting money, I always go for VFM unless you have specific requirements, and the graphics card is a bit over the top, but if you want to go 1440p+ you are covered.

 

[lee32uk]

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Fractal Design Define C Midi Tower Case - Black Window= £84.95
• 1 x Asus ROG Strix B350-F AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £117.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600 3.60GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £188.99
• 1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1080Ti ROG Strix 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £749.99
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM650X '80+ Gold' 650W Modular Power Supply (CP-9020091-UK)= £101.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £229.99
• 1 x Team Group Dark T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TDGED416G300= £119.99
• 1 x Alpenfohn Brocken 3 CPU Cooler - 140mm= £42.95

Total: £1,649.40
(includes shipping: £12.60)



​

 

[Azure101]

Cheers Lee, presume the Ryzen 5 is listed for the same reason Journey mentioned? Oc'd it'll be near enough on par with a Ryzen 7?

 

[TallPaul1878]

You absolutely should invest in a good monitor. If you are going nVidia then consider a 1440p 144hz G-sync monitor.

Consider what kind of sound system you want and a high quality mechanical keyboard and mouse. You can easily spend £200-300 on those parts alone and you will soon find that £2000 budget gone.

The monitor and the peripherals are just as important a part as the PC itself. They are a big part of your enjoyment. The tactile feel of a mechanical keyboard screams quality, the responsiveness of a top class mouse, the speakers that emerse you into the game worlds and obviously a screen that displays it all.

I previously had a 1080p 144hz G-Sync monitor and after it died I replaced it with a 1440p 60hz monitor. As much as I can see and enjoy the higher resolution I do miss the high refresh rate and the butter smooth G-sync capabilities

 

[TallPaul1878]

The cheapest 1440p G-sync monitor on OCUK is £428.99 for the Acer Predator

A reasonable mechanical keyboard starts at about £80 without any fancy RGB lights

A good mouse such as the Logitech G502 starts at £60.

Hyper X Cloud II headsets, which are very well thought of, start at £90

You can see how that £2k can be whittled away on peripherals. You don't "need" these things, half decent entry level kit will suffice, but they do play a part in the experience of PC gaming.

 

[Azure101]

Agreed Paul, my plan is to get all my peripherals and monitor a little bit later down the line after the build is complete. Already got a HyperX Cloud II but definitely need a keyboard and mouse.

Just want to make sure I'm 100% happy with the build before anything else. CPU seems to be the sticking point for me at the moment.

 

[TallPaul1878]

Agreed Paul, my plan is to get all my peripherals and monitor a little bit later down the line after the build is complete. Already got a HyperX Cloud II but definitely need a keyboard and mouse.

Just want to make sure I'm 100% happy with the build before anything else. CPU seems to be the sticking point for me at the moment.

Then the R5 1600 is a good choice. Performance in most games is negligible between it and the R7 1700. If the next round of Zen CPUs sees big improvements to clock speeds then you have a platform to upgrade to.

I'd consider some faster RAM. 3000MHz is minimum for Ryzen due to the way it works. If you can get 3200 or 3400 then even better.

 

[lee32uk]

Cheers Lee, presume the Ryzen 5 is listed for the same reason Journey mentioned? Oc'd it'll be near enough on par with a Ryzen 7?

Yeah no need for the R7 cpu's if it is just for gaming.

 

[Azure101]

Thanks for all the help so far guys, having taken parts from each build list so far, I've come up with the below:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x NZXT Source 340 Midi-Tower Case - White Window= £66.95
• 1 x 8Pack Approved - Elite Tier Ryzen 5 Asrock Bundle: AMD 1600 @ 3.90GHz = £602.78
  • Memory:Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/
  • CPU Cooler:8Pack Asetek 570LX 240mm High Performance CPU Cooler - AM4
• 1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1080Ti ROG Strix 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £749.99
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 500GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £229.99
• 1 x Corsair RM Series RM650X '80+ Gold' 650W Modular Power Supply (CP-9020091-UK)= £101.99
• 1 x Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM006)= £64.99

Total: £1,828.99
(includes shipping: £12.30)



​

Thoughts? I've gone with the 8pack bundle as we've mentioned OC'ing the R5 would be the best thing to do.

 

[Journey]

Thoughts? I've gone with the 8pack bundle as we've mentioned OC'ing the R5 would be the best thing to do.

Look's promising, the RAM isn't worth £70 extra though (in the bundle) having actually built well over half a dozen Ryzen rigs, presently the sweet spot is 3200MHz, but not when there is a 50% or more premium on the cost of the RAM for 2% performance. There's also always a slim chance the RAM will OC to 3200 anyhow, and personally I'd save the cash until RAM Prices (may) have settled down, and Ryzen can handle better RAM, whether that be with a new CPU, or additional microcode updates from AMD etc.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Just over but

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x 8Pack Xtreme X370 Asrock Taichi - AMD Ryzen 7 1700 @ 3.90GHz - Overclocked Ryzen Bundle = £947.94
  • Memory:Team Group Dark Pro "8Pack Edition" 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C14 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black/
  • CPU Cooler:8Pack Asetek 591LX 360mm High Performance CPU Cooler - AM4
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080Ti Gaming OC BLACK 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £709.99
• 1 x Super Flower Platinum King 650W 80 Plus Platinum Power Supply - Black= £87.95
• 1 x Samsung 960 EVO Polaris 250GB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £149.99
• 1 x Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6GB/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (DT01ACA200)= £59.99
• 1 x Antec P8 Midi-Tower Gaming Case - Black Glass Window= £69.95

Total: £2,038.41
(includes shipping: £12.60)



​

Went for Ryzen 7 over the 5 unlike the olders only due to the fact like me, you rocked an i7 first gen (i had the i7 860@4Ghz ) for all these years .
seems like you like to get the longest life out of your parts and with more games in the future moving to multicore - ryzen 7 should shine- but currently , ryzen 5 would be fine.
and must admit it wa shard going from i7 860 to a i5 7600k to then went to i7 7700k haha
also slapped in a 360 AIO just incase your 1700 isnt the most luckiest chip and requires some extra volts - or has more headroom

 

[Journey]

@orbitalwalsh that kit is really poor value for money as the individual components actually cost less, also you can save a ton on the RAM

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £119.50
• 1 x Asrock X370 Taichi AMD X370 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £229.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 Eight Core 1700 3.70GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £278.99
• 1 x OcUK Tech Labs 360mm Extreme CPU Liquid Cooling Upgrade Bundle = £112.91
  • CPU Socket:Asetek Premium Retention Kit AMD AM4
  • Fan Controller Option:No Fan Controller Required

Total: £752.49
(includes shipping: £11.10)



​

Nearly £200 less by doing it separately with all of the components including the 360mm AIO.

 

[orbitalwalsh]

@orbitalwalsh that kit is really poor value for money as the individual components actually cost less, also you can save a ton on the RAM

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30= £119.50
• 1 x Asrock X370 Taichi AMD X370 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £229.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 7 Eight Core 1700 3.70GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £278.99
• 1 x OcUK Tech Labs 360mm Extreme CPU Liquid Cooling Upgrade Bundle = £112.91
  • CPU Socket:Asetek Premium Retention Kit AMD AM4
  • Fan Controller Option:No Fan Controller Required

Total: £752.49
(includes shipping: £11.10)



​

Nearly £200 less by doing it separately with all of the components including the 360mm AIO.

jesus- so his 1600 is a steal yet the 1700 is more expensive - you can still even add the 8-pack ram and its cheaper...

why i normally just quote the b350 boards haha - all can run at 3200 with his ram at least - OP my bad

as a long shot- intel system - older i7 6700k with z170 board but bundle is £114 odd saving
and in goes a 1tb Intel M.2 NVMe which is just as good as samsungs if your not benchmarking but miles better then a HDD

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1080Ti Gaming OC BLACK 11264MB GDDR5X PCI-Express Graphics Card= £709.99
• 1 x Super Flower Platinum King 650W 80 Plus Platinum Power Supply - Black= £87.95
• 1 x Antec P8 Midi-Tower Gaming Case - Black Glass Window= £69.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GA-Z170X Ultra Gaming & Pre-Binned i7 6700K Bundle **£50 Discount**= £374.00
• 1 x Kingston HyperX Predator 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (HX436C17PB3K2/16)= £179.99
• 1 x Intel 600P 1TB M.2-2280 PCI-e 3.0 x 4 NVMe 3D NAND Solid State Drive (SSDPEKKW010T7X1)= £359.99
• 1 x Fractal Design Celsius S36 360mm All in One Water Cooler= £119.99

Total: £1,914.46
(includes shipping: £12.60)




​

I have a feeling Skylake and Kaby lake will have bundle deals to clear stocks and rebates - interesting to see what AMD will do

come end of October, should be a good position for consumers

 

[Azure101]

Cheers guys, @orbitalwalsh I would like to steer clear of Intel if possible - really like the option of upgrading the CPU should I want to in the future.

@Journey do you just suggest the R5 1600 8pack bundle with the 3000Mhz RAM and I should be good to go then? Is the bundle a good choice?

 

[orbitalwalsh]

Cheers guys, @orbitalwalsh I would like to steer clear of Intel if possible - really like the option of upgrading the CPU should I want to in the future.

@Journey do you just suggest the R5 1600 8pack bundle with the 3000Mhz RAM and I should be good to go then? Is the bundle a good choice?

no worries, dont blame you on that one. specially with z390 coming in the mix lol

 

[Azure101]

Long live the 1st gen i7 CPUs though - this one had a brief period of being overclocked to 4GHz as well! Great chips, shame they became outdated so quickly

 

[Journey]

@Journey do you just suggest the R5 1600 8pack bundle with the 3000Mhz RAM and I should be good to go then? Is the bundle a good choice?

The bundle is excellent value for money, and losing the the small speed amount on the RAM isn't a deal breaker IMO, especially not with the cost saving made. I am sure whatever you chose you'll be over the moon with.