Gaming pc: what should i be looking for in the used market with £500/£600?

hikikomori

hikikomori

hikikomori

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Or thereabouts. I realise this isn't a great amount of money but I just got married so what are you gonna do!

So here's the skinny: I'm looking in the second-hand market at gaming PCs that'll get me close to playing modern games at 1440p. It's been ages since I owned a PC so what motherboards, CPU's and GPU's should I be looking for in people's builds? Or rather, what should i be avoiding at this point? Ideally, I don't want any single component to be a total piece of crap!

I don't need any peripheries, just advice for what minimums you would look for in the second hand market? This PC will be used for light gaming of AAA and indie games and occasional music editing.

Thanks so much!
 
hikikomori said:
Or thereabouts. I realise this isn't a great amount of money but I just got married so what are you gonna do!

So here's the skinny: I'm looking in the second-hand market at gaming PCs that'll get me close to playing modern games at 1440p. It's been ages since I owned a PC so what motherboards, CPU's and GPU's should I be looking for in people's builds? Or rather, what should i be avoiding at this point? Ideally, I don't want any single component to be a total piece of crap!

I don't need any peripheries, just advice for what minimums you would look for in the second hand market? This PC will be used for light gaming of AAA and indie games and occasional music editing.

Thanks so much!
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I'd be looking at something like a Ryzen 5600, B550 motherboard and 6700 XT if you're aiming for 1440p gaming.

5600s can be had for about £100 on the used market, 6700 XTs around the £250 mark, motherboards can be had even new for about £120, 16GB of RAM for around £25-30 or 32 if you can stretch to £50 used or £60 new, then buying new I'd add a 1TB M.2 drive for £40-50, a good brand 650w PSU for £70-80, then add the cheapest case that you don't hate looking at. Takes you a little bit over £600 but I think dropping to anything less given you want to play AAA titles at 1440p wouldn't be worth the savings.

Buying a complete system around that sort of spec should be cheaper as cases generally don't command a lot of money second hand, you should get a bit of a discount for buying a whole system, etc. but there are plenty of chancers on places like eBay asking stupid money for modest systems.
 
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Tediore said:
I'd be looking at something like a Ryzen 5600, B550 motherboard and 6700 XT if you're aiming for 1440p gaming.

5600s can be had for about £100 on the used market, 6700 XTs around the £250 mark, motherboards can be had even new for about £120, 16GB of RAM for around £25-30 or 32 if you can stretch to £50 used or £60 new, then buying new I'd add a 1TB M.2 drive for £40-50, a good brand 650w PSU for £70-80, then add the cheapest case that you don't hate looking at. Takes you a little bit over £600 but I think dropping to anything less given you want to play AAA titles at 1440p wouldn't be worth the savings.

Buying a complete system around that sort of spec should be cheaper as cases generally don't command a lot of money second hand, you should get a bit of a discount for buying a whole system, etc. but there are plenty of chancers on places like eBay asking stupid money for modest systems.
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Really appreciate this, mate! You've nearly answered all my questions in one go! AMD seems to be cheaper than Intel these days but what's the minimum Intel CPU you'd look at, outta interest?
 
hikikomori said:
Really appreciate this, mate! You've nearly answered all my questions in one go! AMD seems to be cheaper than Intel these days but what's the minimum Intel CPU you'd look at, outta interest?
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On the Intel side I'd be looking at a 12400F as a minimum on a B660 or B760 motherboard.

Intel and AMD are both decent options that will let you drop in something like a 14600/14700 Intel chip or 5800 X3D on the AMD side. The Intel chips are generally a better balance of productivity and gaming whereas the X3D is better if gaming is all you do.

Doughnut007 said:
The used market seams overpriced at the moment. You can pick up a 5600 new for £120 and a b550 for £89.
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I wasn't aware they'd dropped that low new. Definitely the way to go for the warranty in that case!
 
Doughnut007 said:
The used market seams overpriced at the moment. You can pick up a 5600 new for £120 and a b550 for £89.
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If you are going new an A620 and 7500F would be the sensible choice at the moment, even if that means spending £55 on 16GB DDR5 6000MT/s RAM
 
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