Pre-built Gaming Rig

BIG MACHO

BIG MACHO

BIG MACHO

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Joined
4 Dec 2017
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9
Evening all

Looking for some advice. I've been completely out of the PC gaming scene for at least a decade (my last set-up was a 1.8GHz P4, a 9800 Pro, and 384MB of RDRAM!).

Anyway - I would like to buy something "off the shelf" but I don't know where to start. Not too keen on building it myself - more because I'd rather have a single warranty than for any other reason. I'd like to get the rig and the monitor for less than £1k.

Any help appreciated.

Thanks
 
Hi,

I'm sure others will come along and help you out, but it might be useful if you let people know what you plan to use the computer for, e.g gaming, office use ect.

One other think, you can also spec your ideal computer and for a small charge over clockers will build it for you. I'm not sure how much it costs, (depends on the spec I suppose) but I think it does tend to be cheaper than a pre-built system.

Good luck!
Mark
 
Hi Mark

Thanks for the reply. I'd like it to be a fairly meaty gaming PC - for titles like Total War: Warhammer and I might like to try my hand at some streaming and/or video editing. In addition to that I'd like to use it as a general all-rounder for downloads, office use, etc.
 
Wow that does seem like a good price! And with a three-year warranty!

Would the i3 processor be a bottleneck?

Is there anything else that I need to consider when looking at pre-built machines? Future proofing? Connectivity?
 
The 8th generation i3 is very similar to the 7th generation i5, I don't think it will bottleneck a 6gb 1060 generally.

With that prebuild you have upgradability to the 8th gen i7 at a later point if you need it, and also a motherboard that is compatible with ddr4 RAM, something I overlooked when doing my own upgrades!
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,024.12 (includes shipping: £23.10)​
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BIG MACHO said:
for titles like Total War: Warhammer
Click to expand...

Uses a lot of CPU cores.

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Take a look at the GTX 970 results in particular (similar to GTX 1060/RX 580). DX12 helps a bit, but even with that the minimums are noticeably less with quad core i5-4690 compared to six core i7-5930K.


BIG MACHO said:
and I might like to try my hand at some streaming and/or video editing.
Click to expand...

More cores/threads better for streaming and video editing.

Would recommend a Ryzen 6 or 8 core in this case, as it's not just a pure gaming PC and Warhammer is a fave.

Any chance of sourcing Windows 10 elsewhere a bit cheaper and then quoting a revised budget for the rig and monitor, taking that into account? Also, how much storage would you need to start off with, given you can easily add a drive later without interfering with the system warranty. Would 250GB SSD (a lot faster than mechanical) be fine?
 
All

Thanks for the detailed advice.

Danny - chances are I won't do a lot (if any) streaming or video editing, I suppose it's just something that I'd like to have the option of (so many YouTube millionaires out there nowadays - but not sure who would want to listen to me talk rubbish!).

Probably can't source Windows any cheaper anywhere - unless you know something I don't? And as for storage... I have no idea how large game installs are these days? I would probably need 100GB for media at any given time. With that said - I'm getting a 1000MB FTTP internet connection so I could probably just delete and re-download anything I need!

ExoMale - I notice you have doubled the RAM in that build. Is it necessary to have 16GB these days?

Also, the monitors I have been looking at are 1ms response time - and I notice that this one is 5ms - is that an issue? I don't know what I'm doing with monitors at all!

Are recommendations from non-OCUK manufacturers allowed on these forums? I can't find the same spec for the same price elsewhere.

Thanks again for all the help.
 
16gb ram is nice to have and you can afford it, plus if you do actually do much in the way of video editing/streaming etc it would be beneficial more so, plus some games can use more than 8gb so i keep reading(never noticed from my own experience before)...

as for the monitor, i used to have a 1ms 22" led monitor before that was just a really nice multimedia monitor and was very good, but i have also had screens rated at like 5ms and even with xbox one i havent really noticed the difference, not that ive ever had a proper gaming monitor, but im using a new model LG led 24" tv, not sure on response time, but both pc and xbox, it seems the same as when i had my 1ms monitor, so i wouldnt really focus on that figure and more on whatever the screen has to offer.


you can obtain windows cheaper if you know where to look, in fact you go to cex(2nd hand store)they are selling a used but fully boxed windows 7(should be 64bit) for £25 and you can still upgrade to windows 10 for free, you just have to find it on microsoft website or just simply google windows 10 disc for prices.
 
BIG MACHO said:
Danny - chances are I won't do a lot (if any) streaming or video editing
Click to expand...

Alright, well that's good because at the moment there are no discounts on AMD Ryzen systems of the sort on that Intel system you were specced. You'd have to spend maybe £100 over budget. Prices change tomorrow - there could be discounts on AMD systems then, or none, and the Intel system (which is a good deal for what it is) could go back up in price.


BIG MACHO said:
And as for storage... I have no idea how large game installs are these days? I would probably need 100GB for media at any given time. With that said - I'm getting a 1000MB FTTP internet connection so I could probably just delete and re-download anything I need!
Click to expand...

They can be pretty big these days. GTA and Doom to name a couple are about 75GB each. So it'd depend on whether you'll just be playing Warhammer for a while lol. Otherwise go for a 250GB + 1TB HDD or 120GB + 1TB HDD combo.


BIG MACHO said:
Also, the monitors I have been looking at are 1ms response time - and I notice that this one is 5ms - is that an issue? I don't know what I'm doing with monitors at all!
Click to expand...

The 1ms response times will be TN panels, with not as good colours as IPS or VA. Pro fps gamers love TN panels and don't care that they don't look so good. Others might want nicer image quality/viewing angles. Other than that Ultrawide ExoMale specced you, I'd also consider this 24" IPS 75Hz Freesync (if used in combination with an AMD Radeon video card):

My basket at Overclockers UK:
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And this 32" 1440p 75Hz Freesync (also if used with AMD Radeon) which would probably go a bit past your budget but would likely be worth it given the price it's at right now:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
​
 
Quartz said:
From what I've read the GTX 1060 in that build is unsuitable for VR due to too much reprojection. You'll want a GTX 1070 as a minimum, which is available as an option for that build at an extra £161.
Click to expand...

yeah i know, just the OP budget doesnt allow that extra £161 and still get a decent screen, G-Sync out the question.

if OP was happy with a 22" then they could settle for one of these or the other models i havent included thats under £100 and then swap out the 1060 for the 1070

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £465.77 (includes shipping: £20.82)​
​
 
Afternoon all

Thanks for all of the advice. I think I'm about ready to pull the trigger on this, but I could use some advice on monitors.

I'm not really interested in VR, so I've specced the system with the i3 processor, 8GB of RAM, and the 1060 GPU. I've added a 250GB Samsung SSD, a wifi card, and picked up a Corsair mechanical keyboard. Comes to £875. I'm willing to go slightly over budget for the right monitor - but I'm a bit lost now.

I think I want IPS - I'm more interested in a lush picture than blistering reaction speeds (I doubt I'll do that much FPS and/or multiplayer). I really liked the idea of the super widescreen monitor that ExoMale posted, but it's now out of stock. The 32" AOC that Danny75 posted is 1440p but I just feel that that might be too big for a computer monitor. I think 27" would be about right. Now I'm wondering whether I should try to get 1440p (will this spec reliably output at 1440p?) and whether or not ultra-wide is a good idea? And in any case, are either of them in my budget? Decisions, decisions!
 
If you can , push the i5 8400 ;) more soon for the boost speeds. 3.8ghz on all cores is lovely for TW : warhammer 1&2... Have to seen the giant new campaigns ? Combining both games and then game no3 will use all 3 maps into a huge one ... Cores... Think of the cores... Or Ryzen 1600 :)
1440p is really nice specially if your into RTS games as you see more units. And with a bigger screens it's easier to those units haha

If you weren't heavy into RTS, i3 8100 would be great , and higher the Res, less stress on the CPU
 
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