Budget PC around £400

Duckieus · 1 Dec 2024 at 15:13

Hi all first time posting, been a while since ive looked at building a pc
looking for advice on a budget pc around the £400 mark for my daughters first pc
i know its a bit of a stretch but she plays on ps5 and she wants to try pc but not sure if she will actually get into it

all I am looking for is cpu, motherboard, ram, ssd, power supply, graphics card, possibly case and cooler with possible upgrade options for future
i already have spare monitor, keyboard, mouse and corsair h80 cooler but im thinking thats no use to me these days

not sure what she will be playing, she likes genshin type games and more singleplayer type games

any advice is greatly appreciated

tamzzy · 1 Dec 2024 at 15:29

with that sort of budget, a preowned gaming pc would provide the best value
if she already has a ps5, you'd need quite a beefy gpu to provide the same sort of performance/fidelity and you won't get it with a £400 computer

Duckieus · 2 Dec 2024 at 11:55

Thanks for the reply
What if I went around the £500 mark, sorry been out the game for a good while, I'm still rolling with an old i5 3750k but it does what I need the now, I'm due an upgrade too lol

If I went the preowned route for her what should I be looking for, no idea what I should get for the price

Tetras · 2 Dec 2024 at 15:00

Duckieus said:
What if I went around the £500 mark

A GPU like the modern consoles is around a RX 6700 non-XT and the closest equivalent you can buy right now is a 6750 XT for under £300, so your budget just isn't big enough I'm afraid (at least, not new).

£500 is entry-level 1080p territory.

Duckieus · 2 Dec 2024 at 16:01

thanks for the reply, it doesnt need to be console quality, she will only be 1080p gaming, this is her first time pc gaming and she would like to learn to build a pc, as i said im not sure what £500 should get me preowned

Tetras · 2 Dec 2024 at 18:19

Duckieus said:
thanks for the reply, it doesnt need to be console quality, she will only be 1080p gaming, this is her first time pc gaming and she would like to learn to build a pc, as i said im not sure what £500 should get me preowned

This is the best I can do for £500(ish).

CPU cooler is in the CPU box.

I'd recommend getting a 12400F instead, if you can afford it.

My basket at OcUK:

1 x Intel Core i3-12100F 3.30GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AS-IN) = £73.99
1 x MSI PRO H610M-E DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03383) = £59.99
1 x Kingston Fury Beast 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: MY-295-KS) = £52.99
1 x Asrock Radeon RX 6600 Dual Challenger D 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-00T-AK) = £188.99
1 x Team Group MP44L 1TB SSD M.2 2280 NVME PCI-E Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-TMG-03128) = £49.99
1 x Kolink Inspire Series K2 ARGB Micro-ATX Case - Black Window (SKU: CA-046-KK) = £37.99
1 x be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 10 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (SKU: CA-14V-BQ) = £54.95

Total: £518.89 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Duckieus · 2 Dec 2024 at 18:33

that is awesome mate, perfect for her, i really hope she is ready for her first build, she will have a better system than me lol i will get mine done after santa been
thanks for the help tbh i just didnt know where to start with buying preowned

Tetras · 2 Dec 2024 at 18:37

Duckieus said:
thanks for the help tbh i just didnt know where to start with buying preowned

You're welcome! FYI: you might want to look around for the higher value parts like the 6600, possibly some savings elsewhere, but we can't talk about that here.

mickyflinn · 2 Dec 2024 at 18:44

Duckieus said:
that is awesome mate, perfect for her, i really hope she is ready for her first build, she will have a better system than me lol i will get mine done after santa been
thanks for the help tbh i just didnt know where to start with buying preowned

If you can afford the stretch then the 6 core for an extra £25 I would say is worth it for longevity.

Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail

Order Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail now online and benefit from fast delivery.

www.overclockers.co.uk

Duckieus · 2 Dec 2024 at 19:44

Hi I have went for the 12400f, as you say not much extra, i took the ram down to 16gb the now, will see what she plays and can always upgrade that, the 6600 so far everywhere i looked seems roughly same price, even usede is only £20 cheaper
I see the power supply you recommended is on preorder, will it be fine to go 550/600w for that, tbh i would like to get everything from the one place

tamzzy · 2 Dec 2024 at 19:51

Duckieus said:
tbh i would like to get everything from the one place

My basket at OcUK:

1 x CORSAIR CX Series CX550 80 PLUS Bronze ATX Power Supply (SKU: POW-CRS-01134) = £41.99
1 x Asrock Radeon RX 6600 Dual Challenger D 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-00T-AK) = £188.99
1 x WD Blue SN580 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen4 Solid State Drive (SKU: STO-WDC-00540) = £48.94
1 x Intel Core i5-12400F 2.50GHz (Alder Lake) Socket LGA1700 Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-6AR-IN) = £98.99
1 x MSI PRO H610M-E DDR4 (LGA 1700) DDR4 mATX Motherboard (SKU: MOT-MSI-03383) = £59.99
1 x Kolink Inspire Series K2 ARGB Micro-ATX Case - Black Window (SKU: CA-046-KK) = £37.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (SKU: MY-0AK-TG) = £29.99

Total: £506.88 (includes delivery: £0.00)

Duckieus · 2 Dec 2024 at 20:11

thats basically what i had in my cart lol, thank you very much for your help, truly appreciated, ive showed my daughter and she is more than happy with getting to build her first pc, still cant believe hers is better than mine, i will be coming back to you after xmas for my build lol