How much does a general set of peripherals cost?

[Quartz]

The system unit is the core of your PC and sure you've managed to build a half-way decent basic one for £600

Spoiler: build

My basket at OcUK:

• 1 x Gigabyte B550M DS3H (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-5BR-GI) = £89.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5500 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3D3-AM) = £99.95
• 1 x Lexar Hades 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual/Quad Channel Kit (SKU: MY-019-LE) = £37.99
• 1 x Seasonic G12-GC-650 650W 80+ Gold Power Supply (SKU: CA-07M-SS) = £69.95
• 1 x Crucial P3 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 NVMe Solid State Drive (SKU: HD-077-CR) = £36.94
• 1 x PowerColor Radeon RX 6600 Fighter 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-1AD-PC) = £200.00
• 1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh Micro-ATX Case - Black (SKU: CA-051-KK) = £52.99

Total: £595.80 (includes delivery: £7.99)​

​

(I'd bust the budget and buy a better motherboard.)

but there's all the other bits to consider: gaming monitor, keyboard, mouse, webcam, headset, speakers / sound bar, gaming device (pad or joystick), external HDD for backup, maybe a USB hub, cables, and I'm sure I've forgotten a thing or two. How much should you budget for all that?

No luxury stuff, just the basics - you can spend four figures on just a monitor.

 

[Quartz]

Yikes, I mostly picked the cheaper stuff and it is still a lot.

Still, it means a complete gaming setup for £1000. A console for £500 vs a complete PC setup for £1000 is still a hard choice if you have the money.

@Gibbo, with Christmas coming up perhaps this is something you might consider for bundles at various levels (say budget, standard, premium) to make things easier for prospective purchasers?

 

[Quartz]

all depends on the quality, you can spend four figure sums easily

Indeed; I have. I spent £600 on cables alone, you may recall. I was totting it up and that prompted the question.

 

[Quartz]

Speakers, webcam, controller, external HDD I would view more as optional extras that most don't need.

I disagree: a webcam is necessary for video chat. Games are often designed around controllers. And an external HDD for backup is critical to safeguard your data.

vs a console which comes with none of those.

True but you still need them to enjoy gaming on a PC and using it for non-gaming stuff.