New to PC gaming advice!

[LexMcKay]

Hi everyone,

Have been using a 6y.o laptop to game on (have always been a console gamer) but since the power connector went on that, I'm looking at a new setup, either laptop or PC to game on.

Should I go for a laptop over a PC? And if I go PC should I buy components separately or buy a pre build?

My budget is around £1000 so it's not amazing and that's including all the peripherals too (if I go for a C over a laptop).

I'm not expecting to be able to play new games at max settings, especially since I play mostly football manager and strategy games. I am a design student so being able to run photoshop or 2D CAD software is pretty much the baseline.

Should I go Intel or AMD, and roughly how much should I be expecting to save per component?

Thanks anyone who can help!

 

[EsaT]

That's not much of a budget.
Fortunate football manager and strategy games shouldn't demand that much.

Anyway for Photoshop/CAD use proper modern resolution monitor should be priority and improves user experience lot.
Monitor also holds its value well.
These are well gaming capable if you later want to play faster paced games:
Viewsonic 27" VX2705-2KP-MHD 2560x1440 IPS 144Hz 1ms FreeSync Premium Widescreen LED Backlit Gaming= £269.99
LG 27" 27GN800-B 2560x1440 IPS 144Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync LED Widescreen Gaming Monitor= £278.99

No laptop screen can compete against proper monitor.ö

 

[Chris Beard]

Should I go Intel or AMD, and roughly how much should I be expecting to save per component?

Thanks anyone who can help!

With your budget (which I think is pretty healthy myself! I don't have a spare grand sitting around for gaming) - edit:- with the offers on great B450 boards right now I'd go AMD.

There is also a GPU shortage, with prices on GPUs expected to drop in the nearish future I'd reserve some of your budget for a GPU upgrade in 6-18 month's time.

As long as you don't need to move the computer around often I'd strongly recommend a desktop over a laptop. It's cheaper, more upgradable, more satisfying and more performance. I'd also recommend DIY build rather than pre-built due to aforementioned GPU shortage.

You might consider something like this (the GPU is rubbish and won't be very good for gaming, but it does get you a display output now for upgrade later):-

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £54.95
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £172.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-750 750W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply= £89.45
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C18 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G360C8K)= £74.99
• 1 x Seagate BarraCuda Q5 500GB SSD PCI-e Gen3 M.2 NVME Solid State Drive (ZP500CV3A001)= £53.99
• 1 x MSI GeForce GT 710 SILENT "Low Profile" 1024MB GDDR3 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £44.99
• 1 x Zalman T7 Mid-Tower ATX Case - Black Window= £29.99
• 1 x Logitech Wireless Desktop MK270 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse (920-004523)= £29.99

Total: £551.34 (includes shipping: £0.00)
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