New to PC Gaming ~£800 Budget

[Matty50814]

Hey Folks,

Been an xbox guy my whole gaming life and recently decided to try and make the leap to PC gaming but I don't have a clue when it comes to any of this!

I have a budget of roughly £800 - not including monitor and other peripherals.

I was hoping some kind soul would be able to offer me some advice or builds to look for!

Any and all help is welcome and appreciated

Thanks!!

 

[Gray2233]

What resolution do you plan to game at since you seemingly already have a monitor?

In the meantime here's an example of what you can get for around £800:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £89.99
• 1 x WD Blue SN550 1TB NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0C)= £109.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G360C7K)= £89.99
• 1 x Corsair TX650M 650W 80 Plus Gold Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020132-UK)= £74.99
• 1 x Powercolor Radeon RX 5700 XT Dual Fan 8GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £349.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 2600 3.90GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £119.99
• 1 x **B Grade** Kolink Inspire Series K2 ARGB Micro-ATX Case - Black Window= £19.99

Total: £854.93 (includes shipping: £0.00)
​

The CPU is a placeholder, you can get a 2600 if you shop around for around £100, which would bring you down to £835, alternatively you can find a 1600AF for roughly £85 which would bring prices down another notch. The 1600AF is basically a 2600 that's a tiny bit slower, there's honestly little to no real world difference. If you do go this route make sure you do buy the 1600AF and not the vanilla 1600, they're very different chips. There is also the option to opt for the 3600 for £150, you're looking at around 15% gains over the 2600, it's up to you as to whether or not you think the £50 difference is worth that. Obviously if you buy everything from OCUK it's a smaller gap in price.

You can find Windows 10 keys for a couple of quid if you look, which can be installed via USB.

This rig is best suited for 1440P, although a high refresh rate 1080P monitor would also be fine. That said, if you plan to play at 1080P you could save on the GPU and still get very good performance from something like a 1660S for around £200.

The case I've included is simply because it's on the cheaper side and I wanted to prioritise the internal hardware, but I would say it's probably worth spending another £20-30 on something a bit better if you're happy to increase your budget.

 

[Gray2233]

Don't immediately jump on the build I've recommended, I'm sure one of the following will be along soon to offer more advice as to your options:

@ExRayTed
@lee32uk
@tamzzy
@Danny75
@Plec

Always good to get more viewpoints before pulling the trigger, especially since it's your first foray into PC gaming.

 

[Matty50814]

Thanks for the quick reply!

Knew i forgot some information!

I have a cheap monitor at the moment and I'd rather prioritize this until I save for a better one - thought if you have recommendations I can aim towards, that would be cool!

I'll be mostly wanting to play FPS games - COD, Tarkov, Apex etc. Likely a wee bit of everything though!

Much appreciated

 

[Gray2233]

As far as monitors go, the Pixio PX7 is a great bit of kit at £400, although again you'll need to shop around for it. It'd pair excellently with the system I recommended.

Review: https://www.rtings.com/monitor/reviews/pixio/px7-prime

The panel it uses is the same as more expensive models from the likes of Gigabyte.

 

[Plec]

@Gray2233 - is a great build for 1440p - and agree with CPU/GPU combo for getting the best out of the panel. Plus, 1Tb storage is verging on necessity with the amount of storage AAA games command - so if you can afford this convenience right off the bat it's an enjoyable bonus.

I have a cheap monitor at the moment and I'd rather prioritize this until I save for a better one - thought if you have recommendations I can aim towards, that would be cool!

The Pixio mentioned really is a no frills quality panel for the money (perfect for gaming) - and if you plan to upgrade relatively soon the 5700XT fits well with your future 1440p monitor upgrade.

Ideally, you need to decide what you can afford re monitor - as this could adjust the build slightly. But, if you can afford it - a 1440p 27" is the sweetspot on your budget and could be done via a cheaper panel (if needed) or even 1080p alternative combined with a cheaper GPU/better CPU combo (e.g. 1660 Super/3600) - will save a bit more money if needed. However, 27" 1080p monitors have minor drawbacks 'if' used for other than gaming and sit close to the screen - i.e you can see the individual pixels (doesn't bother most people who opt for this option). That said if used for mostly gaming at 1080p you'll be so immersed you won't notice a thing.

TL;DR

• Solid build for 1440p
• If you need to save money - cheaper 1080p monitor and could save another £150 on the GPU if you decided to go down this route but would bump the CPU to 3600 an extra ~£35

 

[tamzzy]

I have a budget of roughly £800 - not including monitor and other peripherals.

what is the budget for the whole lot?

 

[Plec]

what is the budget for the whole lot?

£800 plus AOC 32" 1440p IPS 75Hz monitor

 

[tamzzy]

AOC 32" 1440p IPS 75Hz monitor

how'd you guess my recommendation for that monitor! :O

lol

 

[Gray2233]

lol.

The AoC 32" in question is a great bit of kit tbh, I'd lean towards it if I was on a tighter budget myself.

I've seen it for around £180 elsewhere, really can't go wrong.

 

[Plec]

how'd you guess my recommendation for that monitor! :O

lol

I have a dual image of FF XIV and City Skylines imprinted on my brain - manly the FF

And it's still a steal if you have the room.

 

[tamzzy]

really can't go wrong.

indeed

I have dual image of FF XIV and City Skylines imprinted on my brain - manly the FF

that scarred eh?

 

[Plec]

that scarred eh?

/puts on best Cartman impression:

That 'screenshot' has warped my fragile little mind.

*I can't talk - my son has me playing that bag of jumbled code, Space Engineers. I have a suspicion i'm just a progressive mining minion...

 

[Gray2233]

I have a dual image of FF XIV and City Skylines imprinted on my brain - manly the FF

I feel like a perverted voyeur just reading this conversation!

 

[tamzzy]

I feel like a perverted voyeur just reading this conversation!

be a real voyeur and look at the pic instead:

this is why 32 gb ram is good...lol
CSL with 570k pop and ffxiv run side-by-side

 

[Plec]

I feel like a perverted voyeur just reading this conversation!

LOL - an unfortunate typo - but supports my now brittle subconscious theory.

 

[Plec]

be a real voyeur and look at the pic instead:

PTSD - is a real affliction!

 

[tamzzy]

PTSD - is a real affliction!

waking up with nightmares and cold sweat?

 

[Plec]

waking up with nightmares and cold sweat?

Only if i fall asleep reading the CPU forum.

 

[Gray2233]

be a real voyeur and look at the pic instead:

I want to call it sexy but my brain is trying to stop me given the subtext in the last few posts.

The poor OP, when he comes back to read this.