New PC Build £2k

lynchy6789

lynchy6789

lynchy6789

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Joined
6 Feb 2008
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1,246
Hello,

I am very much out of the hardware game and it is has been over 10 years since I last built a PC, so very out of touch with everything.

Looking to get back into gaming, specifically BF 2042. I have a build budget of £1.7k - £2.2k, which will need to also include a screen, mouse and keyboard (no windows required). I think I want to go for a prebuilt system by Overclockers rather than build my own.

Some criteria:

- I want to achieve the best balance of price Vs performance. For example, I am happy to stretch to £2.2k but if the performance gain isn't really there I would rather save the £££s.

- I am not all that concerned about achieving the max settings, but would equally like to future proof the build

- monitor will be used heavily for work so I am looking at the LG 32GP850, but if it is worth upgrading to 4k or another screen then I am happy to consider.

- smaller the case the better as I a little short on space in the room.

I have just started reading up on the latest hardware but wanted to get a post out there as I know the OcUK are a lot more knowledgeable than me and have always helped.

Thanks
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Gaming Empath - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Gaming PC = £1,934.05
    • Case Colour:*Build Stock* Lian Li O11 DYNAMIC MINI MIDI-TOWER CASE - BLACK
    • Memory:Kingston HyperX Fury RGB 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit
    • Graphics Card:*Build Stock* Gigabyte GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8GB GDDR6 Graphics Card
    • Primary M.2 Solid State Drive:Seagate Firecuda 520 500GB SSD PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive (ZP500GM3A002)
    • Secondary Solid State Drive:Unwanted
    • Operating System:Unwanted
    • Security Software:Unwanted
    • Processor:*Build Stock* AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core 4.7GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Tray
Total: £1,948.15 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​

I put the above prebuilt to use as an example and to help show you how tight your budget is for what you need and help you decide where to compromise. The above build only leaves you with £250 for monitor + keyboard mouse which is not really enough.

Core components of above build.

CPU - 5800x, you can compromise and go for 5600x. That will save £140 but with modern consoles being 8 core the system may be more long lived with 8 core cpu.
Mobo - B550 so will have all the features you need.
Ram - 16gb and speedy so will do the job.
GPU - 3070 will be good for the res of the monitor you were looking at. If you want 4k then you would be better with a 3080 but then your budget is out the window.
SSD - 500gb and pcie 4. Is the newest and fastest so you may as well use it. You can add extra storage to meet your needs.
PSU - Says 600w 80plus gold so will be ok for this system but not much room for future more powerful builds and does not say what brand it is.
Case - Lian Li O11 are lovely cases, I do not think you will be disappointed with it.
CPU cooler - Overkill and could get away with cheaper air cooler but this is what comes with this build

If you were to build yourself you could put it together cheaper and choose the exact components you wanted. I am sure someone will put together a really good build to show what that would look like.

Alternatively

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Gaming Magnetite Mini ITX Gaming PC - AMD Ryzen 5 5600x Gaming PC = £1,783.97
    • Memory:Kingston Fury Beast 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit
    • Graphics Card:*Build Stock* ASUS GEFORCE RTX 3070 TUF GAMING OC 8GB GDDR6 GRAPHICS CARD
    • Primary M.2 Solid State Drive:Corsair Force MP600 series 500GB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F500GBMP600)
    • Secondary Solid State Drive:TeamGroup 1TB Vulcan G SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 3D NAND Solid State Drive
    • Operating System:Unwanted
    • Security Software:Unwanted
Total: £1,798.07 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​

CPU is 5600x with no option for 5800x. Different case, 80+ Bronze power supply so most likely not as good. Looks like stock AMD cooler so will not be as quiet. Has 1TB sata ssd already , I should have removed it to show an apples to apples comparison tbh. Same GPU so gaming performance will be very similar. This build leaves a lot more for Monitor mouse etc.

You have to compromise somewhere. There are lots of systems with 3600x/3800x that could get within your budget but I am trying to think long term and 5600x/5800x is better long term choice imo.
 
Example of 3600x system from OCUK. This is an example of the lowest level you want to go.


My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Gaming Radiance Bullet - AMD Ryzen 3600 - Powered By Asus Gaming PC = £1,254.95
    • Memory:Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey
    • Primary Solid State Drive:WD Blue 500GB SSD 3D NAND M.2 2280 Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0B)
    • Case:CoolerMaster MasterBox Q300L Micro-ATX Case - Black Window
    • Secondary Solid State Drive:WD Blue 1TB 3D NAND SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive *SI STOCK* (WDS100T2B0A)
    • Storage Drive:Unwanted
    • Graphics Card:*Build Stock* Asus GeForce RTX 3060 Ti Dual OC Mini 8GB Graphics Card
    • Operating System:Unwanted
    • Peripheral Bundle:Unwanted
Total: £1,269.05 (includes shipping: £14.10)​
​

I chose the cheapest options available in most cases other than 3060ti. 3060ti is significantly faster than 3060 and only around 10% slower than 3070 so it is a good card for price to performance purposes.

That build leaves you plently of money for monitor etc. It is not as good as the ones above but you do get what you pay for. I personally would build it myself, not much has changed in past 10 years when it comes to building a standard pc. Still ATX and only M.2 slots for SSDs are newish and not diffcult to fit.
 
lynchy6789 said:
- I am not all that concerned about achieving the max settings, but would equally like to future proof the build

- monitor will be used heavily for work so I am looking at the LG 32GP850, but if it is worth upgrading to 4k or another screen then I am happy to consider.
Click to expand...
Do you want platform for more updates like changing also CPU later, or more longevity from that with GPU being only part to be upgraded?

If not wanting to upgrade CPU in long time, 8 core/16 thread should be default level then:
That's what also consoles have making sure game developers have incentive to find ways/new things to use many cores for.
For enthusiast use with other programs on background and multithreaded workloads 12 core would be the longest lasting.

Again GPU anyway gets outdated lot faster and you have to plan upgrading that at some point.


For this level budget 2560x1440 is really the only realistic one with excellent monitors available already at below £300 in 27" size.
(32" rarer and more expensive)
Again while 60Hz 4K monitors are at similar price level, gaming capable 100+Hz models cost more than double that and in small 27-28" size with 32" models still on their way and around £1000 price level.
 
Haz123 said:
OcUK Gaming Empath - AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Gaming PC = £1,934.05

I put the above prebuilt to use as an example and to help show you how tight your budget is for what you need and help you decide where to compromise...


SSD - 500gb and pcie 4. Is the newest and fastest so you may as well use it. You can add extra storage to meet your needs.
PSU - Says 600w 80plus gold so will be ok for this system but not much room for future more powerful builds and does not say what brand it is.
Case - Lian Li O11 are lovely cases, I do not think you will be disappointed with it.
CPU cooler - Overkill and could get away with cheaper air cooler but this is what comes with this build
Click to expand...
Yeah.. budget gets tight if you waste it into useless things...

For start that case is problem:
It's really not that small and for its hefty wide desk space foot print it accepts only SFX PSUs, which are lot rarer and more expensive.
In fact not sure if there even are any PSUs big enough for power draw of the most power sucking graphics cards.
So that's possible problem/further money drain in the future during update.

Small half TB drive filled by couple big games is inexcusable for this budget.
And space you don't have doesn't have any speed, except at most negative because of need to uninstall/reinstall stuff.
Good 1TB drive can be had for £15 less.
Crucial P5 1TB M.2 2280 PCI-e 3.0 x4 NVMe Solid State Drive= £74.99
PCIe v4 should come only after everything else and when there's money left to throw around.

And if drive is already inexcusably small, brand and fashion overpriced waterpipe cooler is the last thing to waste money.
(besides heatpipe coolers being without anything to wear and fail catastrophically)


Haz123 said:
OcUK Gaming Magnetite Mini ITX Gaming PC - AMD Ryzen 5 5600x Gaming PC = £1,783.97

CPU is 5600x with no option for 5800x. Different case, 80+ Bronze power supply so most likely not as good. Looks like stock AMD cooler so will not be as quiet. Has 1TB sata ssd already , I should have removed it to show an apples to apples comparison tbh. Same GPU so gaming performance will be very similar. This build leaves a lot more for Monitor mouse etc.
Click to expand...
And now we're going into left overs from museum and garbages:

That case is crappy for high end gaming PC with layout's best before date having expired 15+ years ago:
Use of PSU as case exhaust was designed at time when heat output of all parts was like 50W, not when GPUs alone put out 250W.

And then that PSU put into that hot place to cook up is Kolink, which is garbage brand to start with and maybe fit for £1000 lower budget PC.

Another waste of M.2 slot for small drive with no room for games to use coming DirectStorage.

And unless it's Wraith Prism, stock cooler would be bad even for that £1000 cheaper PC.
Though that's the smaller future limitation when CPU has less cores than consoles.



Haz123 said:
OcUK Gaming Radiance Bullet - AMD Ryzen 3600 - Powered By Asus Gaming PC = £1,254.95
Click to expand...
While PSU is now in proper place rest of the case is total garbage:
Rear fan is half blocked by that super bad stamped mesh and front intakes are almost completely constricted.
That design is fit only for playing MS Word.

And PSU is once again Kolink's garbage.

Also motherboard is super market PC level garbage with wimpy VRM which is now even without heatsink to cool it.
(even with heatsink it would be good only for 65W TDP CPUs)
So really zero upgrade path for updating CPU.

And now we're wasting very limited M.2 slots for drive, which isn't any faster than in end of SATA cable, because it's SATA drive in different form factor!
 
He asked for prebuilds from OCUK. Of course there are limitations when you do not build it yourself.

Go ahead, make the perfect PC from the OCUK prebuilds within his budget.
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen 3rd Gen Pro Gaming Configurator = £1,880.84
    • CPU:AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core 4.7GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail
    • Motherboard:MSI MAG X570 Tomahawk WiFi (AMD AM4) DDR4 X570 ATX Motherboard
    • CPU Cooler:EK Water Blocks EK-AIO 240 D-RGB All In One CPU Water Cooler - 240mm
    • Memory:Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey
    • M.2 Solid State Drive 1 (Primary Drive If Selected):Corsair Force MP600 series 1TB NVMe PCIe Gen4 M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F1000GBMP600)
    • M.2 Solid State Drive 2:Unwanted
    • 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive 1:Unwanted
    • 2.5" SATA Solid State Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 1:Unwanted
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Power Supply:Seasonic Focus GX-850 850W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply
    • Soundcard:Unwanted
    • Network Adapter:Unwanted
    • Case Lighting:Unwanted
    • Operating System:Unwanted
    • Security Software:Unwanted
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched in approx 10-15 working days
    • Gaming Chair:Unwanted
    • Gaming Desk:Unwanted
    • Cases:be quiet! Silent Base 601 Midi-Tower Case - Black Tempered Glass
    • Graphics Card:*Build Stock* Asrock Radeon RX 6700 XT MBA 12GB GDDR6 Graphics Card
    • Headset:Unwanted
    • Mouse:Unwanted
    • Keyboard:Unwanted
    • Speakers:Unwanted
    • Monitors:Unwanted
Total: £1,894.94 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​

Had a bit more time so had a play with the configurator.

I personally think that is the best you can do with your budget without building it yourself. Only a 6700 gpu but the rest of the system if very solid so you could upgrade the gpu a couple of years down the line if you are not getting the performance you need. Core points , great cpu , decent mobo with all the features you need, Reputable psu brand, enough ram for your needs, 1 TB PCIe 4 ssd, just about the smallest case in the config. I cannot do better than that with the configurator.

Unfortunately it leaves you very little money left for a monitor etc. If you want to get those into your budget then you have to compromise something in the build.
 
lynchy6789 said:
Hello,

I am very much out of the hardware game and it is has been over 10 years since I last built a PC, so very out of touch with everything.

Looking to get back into gaming, specifically BF 2042. I have a build budget of £1.7k - £2.2k, which will need to also include a screen, mouse and keyboard (no windows required). I think I want to go for a prebuilt system by Overclockers rather than build my own.

Some criteria:

- I want to achieve the best balance of price Vs performance. For example, I am happy to stretch to £2.2k but if the performance gain isn't really there I would rather save the £££s.

- I am not all that concerned about achieving the max settings, but would equally like to future proof the build

- monitor will be used heavily for work so I am looking at the LG 32GP850, but if it is worth upgrading to 4k or another screen then I am happy to consider.

- smaller the case the better as I a little short on space in the room.

I have just started reading up on the latest hardware but wanted to get a post out there as I know the OcUK are a lot more knowledgeable than me and have always helped.

Thanks
Click to expand...
This mini ITX with a 3070 :)
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/checkout/addArticle
 
Thank you for taking the time to reply. It has certainly given me something to consider and start with.

It is a little scary how much graphics cards now are (clearly been living under a rock), so trying to get a 4k setup was a little naive of me, nor is it something I am overly fussed about. I am looking to get back into gaming for the social side of things with friends so I probably need to let me budget reflect this and not get carried away.
 
lynchy6789 said:
Thank you for taking the time to reply. It has certainly given me something to consider and start with.

It is a little scary how much graphics cards now are (clearly been living under a rock), so trying to get a 4k setup was a little naive of me, nor is it something I am overly fussed about. I am looking to get back into gaming for the social side of things with friends so I probably need to let me budget reflect this and not get carried away.
Click to expand...
You really want something with a 3080 or 6800XT if going for 4K, at that resolution the CPU matters less.
 
lynchy6789 said:
It is a little scary how much graphics cards now are (clearly been living under a rock)
Click to expand...
On the positive side you haven't had to be shredding your hairs for months unlike those who have followed prices...
And waiting for availability of 32" 144Hz 4K monitors is almost another hair loss/grow old project.
 
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