Making the switch

iSamKing

iSamKing

iSamKing

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10 Jun 2018
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19
hi guys, I’m currently looking at switching to pc gaming and looking to buy/build a pc. There are a few options that are available to me and I’m just after a bit of advice regarding what’s best really.

Option 1: use my laptop - I have an Asus X5550D, 8GB RAM, AMD A8 2.1GHz HD8670M 2GB, 1TB HDD.

Option 2: buy my friends old PC it’s around 3 years old, Coolermaster Case, gigabite GA-B75M-HD3 motherboard, Intel i5 3300 processor, 16GB DDR3 RAM, unsure on graphics card but it says HD 7750 on it and a 2TB HDD. We haven’t agreed on a price for this because we’re both unsure what it would be worth. I think he paid ~£600 for it new.

Option 3: Build my own, I have basic knowledge but believe I could build my own.

My main game I’ll be playing will be Fortnite and occasionally WoW and some OSRS so not mega specs needed but would like the opertunity to upgrade in the future.

Thanks in advance

Sam
 
@iSamKing

Welcome, firstly what's your max budget overall ?

Guessing youll also be gaming on 1080p 60hz screen ?

As for value of your friends system, can pick up dell refurb units with slightly better CPU but no GPU for £100-200 odd

Also, what consoles do you currently game on ?
 
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@orbitalwalsh

I think overall budget would be around £3-400 in total excluding peripherals. I think that should be ok? But ideally if I can get something decent for less then to get my started I’m a happy man.

Yes, 1080p 60hz screen

Also where can I find these refurb dell units?
 
iSamKing said:
@orbitalwalsh

I think overall budget would be around £3-400 in total excluding peripherals. I think that should be ok? But ideally if I can get something decent for less then to get my started I’m a happy man.

Yes, 1080p 60hz screen

Also where can I find these refurb dell units?
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https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/gaming-computer-pc-specs.18822389/page-2

Thread should help , Google and will pop up.

If you can find a NON-SLIM dell unit, will allow you to drop in a 450w PSU unit and GPU
 
iSamKing said:
Nice one thank you, I’m regards to my friends pc what do you think it’s worth? Would it be worth buying and be ok to upgrade in the future?
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In theory it's a little better the. The dell units, so use that as a pricing guide ;) hammer them hard haha as you won't be getting any warranty etc .
Slap in a £112 gtx 1050 in there and you'll be golden
 
orbitalwalsh said:
In theory it's a little better the. The dell units, so use that as a pricing guide ;) hammer them hard haha as you won't be getting any warranty etc .
Slap in a £112 gtx 1050 in there and you'll be golden
Click to expand...

Haha, ok I’ll speak to him see what he says, might offer him £300 for it? It’s a bit awkward, we’re good friends, I don’t want to insult him and at the same time he doesn’t want to rip me off :p
 
iSamKing said:
Haha, ok I’ll speak to him see what he says, might offer him £300 for it? It’s a bit awkward, we’re good friends, I don’t want to insult him and at the same time he doesn’t want to rip me off :p
Click to expand...

I'd leave his rig and not go for it.

On the second hand market, you'll be able to pick up something way better. I've been looking on a few forums and seen some decent deals for mobo/cpu combos.
GTX 670-680s go for a pittance these days which will be a decent graphics card pickup if you want to go second hand.
I've seen some decent rigs going for around the £400 which include intel CPUs.
I'd personally be aiming for something around an i5 intel with either a 3xxx or 4xxx because it gives you access to dolphin/emulators which are a big advantage of PC gaming.



Also you'll likely and an SSD etc. I feel like buying his specific rig just leaves you wanting to upgrade everything at some point and it won't last very long from a longevity standpoint, i.e. its specs will be outdated for newer games later on, which IMO defeats the whole purpose of PC gaming.

I'd rather skimp on the case, pick up a good PSU/CPU/Mobo, 1 stick of RAM and [for now] a cheaper 6 series NVIDIA GPU and upgrade that later on.





The truth is PC gaming tech depreciates quickly. Unless you buy the higher end stuff at the right time, they're going to depreciate very quickly. In his case, he bought a budget system and I'd easily argue over the past 3 years, now without warranty, its definitely depreciated more than 50%.

If he'd bought say a 4670k intel CPU... you could justify the price given that processors have not moved forwards that much in 3-4 years. Likewise if he'd maybe bought a nicer case, you could say fair enough or a better motherboard.. or an SSD... but he hasn't. I feel like getting that rig from your mate leaves you very short changed to enjoying the perks of PC gaming. Its basically a budget system and we've moved on 3 years.

I've realised with PC gaming, its small things like keyboard/mouse/monitor which far outlast other components of a build, which are often neglected.
 
aoaaron said:
I'd leave his rig and not go for it.

On the second hand market, you'll be able to pick up something way better. I've been looking on a few forums and seen some decent deals for mobo/cpu combos.
GTX 670-680s go for a pittance these days which will be a decent graphics card pickup if you want to go second hand.
I've seen some decent rigs going for around the £400 which include intel CPUs.
I'd personally be aiming for something around an i5 intel with either a 3xxx or 4xxx because it gives you access to dolphin/emulators which are a big advantage of PC gaming.



Also you'll likely and an SSD etc. I feel like buying his specific rig just leaves you wanting to upgrade everything at some point and it won't last very long from a longevity standpoint, i.e. its specs will be outdated for newer games later on, which IMO defeats the whole purpose of PC gaming.

I'd rather skimp on the case, pick up a good PSU/CPU/Mobo, 1 stick of RAM and [for now] a cheaper 6 series NVIDIA GPU and upgrade that later on.





The truth is PC gaming tech depreciates quickly. Unless you buy the higher end stuff at the right time, they're going to depreciate very quickly. In his case, he bought a budget system and I'd easily argue over the past 3 years, now without warranty, its definitely depreciated more than 50%.

If he'd bought say a 4670k intel CPU... you could justify the price given that processors have not moved forwards that much in 3-4 years. Likewise if he'd maybe bought a nicer case, you could say fair enough or a better motherboard.. or an SSD... but he hasn't. I feel like getting that rig from your mate leaves you very short changed to enjoying the perks of PC gaming. Its basically a budget system and we've moved on 3 years.

I've realised with PC gaming, its small things like keyboard/mouse/monitor which far outlast other components of a build, which are often neglected.
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The £300 wasn’t what he asked for it it’s just what I thought up, he’s also got a monitor inlcuded I should have said that I guess too.

Out of curiosity what’s the AMD equivalent to the i5? I’m still learning myself he didn’t build his own rig he just went to a local pc builder and asked them to build him a gaming rig and that’s what they sold him. I appreciate your advice and I’ll take that on board. Maybe I’m leaning more towards building my own. I’ve priced up can build something from what I think is fairly decent for around £350-400 I could source secondhand parts I suppose but probably go for a new Mobo/CPU.
 
iSamKing said:
Haha, ok I’ll speak to him see what he says, might offer him £300 for it? It’s a bit awkward, we’re good friends, I don’t want to insult him and at the same time he doesn’t want to rip me off :p
Click to expand...

I get that. £300 is out of whack, though. It's not just what something originally cost, but what you could get today, whether new or second-hand, for the same money, that dictates whether a price is fair.

I would broach the subject of splitting it up and just getting parts which are actually useful to game with today, for a fair price.

Try offering him £25 for the B75 mobo
Pop in a second-hand i7-3770 for £80
Offer £55 for the 16GB DDR3 RAM (8GB new can be found for that price).
Offer him £25 for the PSU if it's any good.
Case if it's any good (if better than a new cheap case) for £25.
The 2TB HDD if you actually needed/wanted it, for £25. Although I'd go with a new 240GB SSD for £50.
Add second-hand GTX 680 for £75.

That's £310 and you'd end up with a nice albeit old socket i7/16GB/680 system, plus help him get rid of some parts. The i5-3330 and Radeon 7750 just aren't worth paying money for unfortunately. They are selling second-hand for £30 and £25 respectively, by the way.

I'd explain this, and see if you both come up with a solution. If he wants to try to sell the whole thing to someone else then no problem, you can do better for the money. Or he might agree and then try sell the remaining parts elsewhere.

Get the monitor too if it's decent.
 
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Danny75 said:
I get that. £300 is out of whack, though. It's not just what something originally cost, but what you could get today, whether new or second-hand, for the same money, that dictates whether a price is fair.

I would broach the subject of splitting it up and just getting parts which are actually useful to game with today, for a fair price.

Try offering him £25 for the B75 mobo
Pop in a second-hand i7-3770 for £80
Offer £55 for the 16GB DDR3 RAM (8GB new can be found for that price).
Offer him £25 for the PSU if it's any good.
Case if it's any good (if better than a new cheap case) for £25.
The 2TB HDD if you actually needed/wanted it, for £25. Although I'd go with a new 240GB SSD for £50.
Add second-hand GTX 680 for £75.

That's £310 and you'd end up with a nice albeit old socket i7/16GB/680 system, plus help him get rid of some parts. The i5-3330 and Radeon 7750 just aren't worth paying money for unfortunately. They are selling second-hand for £30 and £25 respectively, by the way.

I'd explain this, and see if you both come up with a solution. If he wants to try to sell the whole thing to someone else then no problem, you can do better for the money. Or he might agree and then try sell the remaining parts elsewhere.

Get the monitor too if it's decent.
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Amazing plan.
If you ever you feel the need to do any video/photo work, the i7 will work wonders.

I'd really browse the second hand market forums though because mobo/cpu seem to be going for a song.

Theres nothing in his rig where I think you can't get a better component elsewhere for the price. If he has a good monitor included in the price, maybe thats different but given the build he was sold, I'm guessing he doesn't.
 
I appreciate all your replies and advice, I’m looking into building my own rig now but I’m struggling with what motherboard will be enough for my needs. I’m thinking something like asus prime z270-p with socket 1151 for an Intel i5? Would this accompanied by a good graphics card etc be able to run Fortnite?

Thanks in advance
 
iSamKing said:
I appreciate all your replies and advice, I’m looking into building my own rig now but I’m struggling with what motherboard will be enough for my needs. I’m thinking something like asus prime z270-p with socket 1151 for an Intel i5? Would this accompanied by a good graphics card etc be able to run Fortnite?

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

You are best off putting your max budget down mate and the guys will give you a list of the best bang for buck options.
 
I’m not sure really, there’s no budget as such I just want a half decent rig that’ll play most games on high settings, I don’t play graphic intense games so I don’t need top spec gear. I would say like ~£400 for a rig, would push up slightly if the extra would be worth it if that makes sense. Also this is going to be my first proper gaming pc.
 
iSamKing said:
I’m not sure really, there’s no budget as such I just want a half decent rig that’ll play most games on high settings, I don’t play graphic intense games so I don’t need top spec gear. I would say like ~£400 for a rig, would push up slightly if the extra would be worth it if that makes sense. Also this is going to be my first proper gaming pc.
Click to expand...

as mentioned in previous post, getting refurb dell unit and adding gtx 1050ti would be best

if you want new..

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £442.64 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
 
orbitalwalsh said:
as mentioned in previous post, getting refurb dell unit and adding gtx 1050ti would be best

if you want new..

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £442.64 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
Click to expand...

If you can, I would lean towards this kind of route - if you get hooked you will likely want to upgrade sometime down the line, and this is a great starting point.

If you don't get on with it - you can sell it and not really lose much on it.

You could do with spending 6-700 ideally to enjoy your entrance to PC gaming @ 1080. :)
 
orbitalwalsh said:
as mentioned in previous post, getting refurb dell unit and adding gtx 1050ti would be best

if you want new..

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £442.64 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​
Click to expand...

With the Refurb dell unit, do they leave much room for upgrades in the future?

With that new build would I also need to purchase a separate graphics card? Or would that be something I could just add in the future?

And is there advantages/disadvantages in using m-ATX motherboards over ATX?
 
iSamKing said:
With the Refurb dell unit, do they leave much room for upgrades in the future?

With that new build would I also need to purchase a separate graphics card? Or would that be something I could just add in the future?

And is there advantages/disadvantages in using m-ATX motherboards over ATX?
Click to expand...

Not as easy to upgrade/customise, usually the boards and sometimes PSU's are custom sizes etc.

The CPU comes with Integrated graphics, it's the equivalent to a GTX 1030 I believe from memory. You can then upgrade at a later date if you're enjoying it all.

No just size differences mainly.
 
Few videos on upgrading them depending on the unit you get , slim or normal desktop .

It's a means to an end, cheap gaming system . Want something to build up on then brand new built with that in mind
 
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