Pre-made Gaming PC recommendations

Tom-Tom

Tom-Tom

Tom-Tom

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Joined
1 Oct 2017
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Location
Derbyshire, England
I'm looking to buy my son a gaming PC for Christmas.

I've been out of the loop for over a decade when it comes to PC hardware and although I could put parts together okay myself, I'd prefer to buy a pre-made gaming PC from this site.

His current PC Specifications are:

Make / Model: Dell Vostro 260s
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10GHz
Ram: 3GB Generic RAM (2GB / 1GB)
Primary HDD: SanDisk SSD Plus 240GB HDD (SDSSDA240G)
Secondary HDD: Western Digital 320GB HDD
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 610 1GB

The following is staying in the configuration with the new computer for now and will be upgraded at a later date.

Samsung S249390 Monitor
Dell Wireless Keyboard and mouse

The ideal PC should be able to run recently released games at 1080P with high / ultra graphics settings.

Any recommended bundles/specifications would be appreciated, In regards to budget, I'm looking to spend as little as possible to meet the requirements.
 
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Have you got a budget in mind?

You can always spec individual parts and have OCuk assemble it for you for a fee as opposed to choosing a system from their list.
 
Thanks for the reply, I didn't know that service was available but sounds like a great option.

I ideally don't want to spend more than £800 but guess I could if needed.

Ultimately, If I could meet the requirements for a lot less, I would go for that option instead.
 
I've no idea how much they charge but can imagine it would be very reasonable for the service. Your best bet is to phone them up and ask but I have seen other people on the forums who've arranged for OCuk to do this for them...
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £732.96
(includes shipping: £14.10)



​

I'm not up to date on Ryzen builds, so someone may be able to suggest a reasonably priced Ryzen build, however the above will get you 1080P and high settings. Ultra on your budget might be a bit of an ask (depending on the game of course).

You'll save money by re-using the HDD's. Presumably Windows is installed on the primary, another saving.

Edit: 16Gb RAM is probably overkill, around £80 can get you 8Gb's of decent DDR4 RAM. PSU might be overkill as well, however it will provide upgrade-ability if your son wants to upgrade his GPU & CPU at any point.
 
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Thanks for the reply!

I was hesitant to consider the i3 processor in the builds I've looked at but that saving makes it tempting.

Any potential issues with going for i3 over i5?

I can use the 240GB SSD in the build, but will probably need to add 1TB HDD to the shopping list.
 
@Tom-Tom

ryzen spec- again OCUK should be able to build if you call or post up on CS section

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £833.20
(includes shipping: £12.30)




no getting away with the costs of Windows from Pre-Builds
​
 
Tom-Tom said:
Any potential issues with going for i3 over i5?

I can use the 240GB SSD in the build, but will probably need to add 1TB HDD to the shopping list.
Click to expand...

No issues as such, the i3 won't bottleneck most games. If you can get an i5, do go for it, as it will make the PC run faster as a whole.

Basket re-jigged with HDD and an i5 for comparison.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £846.95
(includes shipping: £14.10)



​
 
@orbitalwalsh

That's an impressive price, thanks for taking the time to do that for me.

How does the CPU compare to the suggested i3 and i5 processors from Intel?

In regards to opting for a 3GB 1060 instead of the 6GB is there much of a comprise?
 
Case looks fine, one thing to note is that it's smaller than a full tower, it should fit an ATX mobo however. If you're getting OcUK to build for you they'll check all this anyway. They may even be able to recommend better parts/ find more savings for you.
 
Tom-Tom said:
@orbitalwalsh

That's an impressive price, thanks for taking the time to do that for me.

How does the CPU compare to the suggested i3 and i5 processors from Intel?

In regards to opting for a 3GB 1060 instead of the 6GB is there much of a comprise?
Click to expand...
The Ryzen CPUs offer better value for your money. The i3 is a dual core, and I'm not really sure what the logic behind recommending it would be.

The 6600K is pretty expensive for what it is. You can get an 8 core Ryzen CPU for that money. You'd be much better off buying a Ryzen quad core and putting the extra money into a faster graphics card rather than getting a 6600K.
 
spoffle said:
The Ryzen CPUs offer better value for your money. The i3 is a dual core, and I'm not really sure what the logic behind recommending it would be.
Click to expand...

Dual-core, but quad thread. I recommended it as it's a cheaper Intel option and allows more spend on a better GPU. That being said, the Ryzen recommended offers the best value for money, bear in mind it's B-Grade however.
 
Tom-Tom said:
@TacticalFish

Thanks!

I was looking at the cases and thought about using this one.

Corsair Carbide 270R Mid Tower Case - Black Window (CC-9011105-WW) - £64.99

Will need to check some reviews on this case but seems more cosmetically pleasing to me.
Click to expand...

ryzen all the way- bar.... coffee lake Intel CPU's . I3 gets a boost to 4 cores/4 threads instead of 2 cores and 4 threads of old.
ryzen boards also have a longer life date as should support 2 ryzen cpu refreshes or zen+ and zen2
 
orbitalwalsh said:
ryzen all the way- bar.... coffee lake Intel CPU's . I3 gets a boost to 4 cores/4 threads instead of 2 cores and 4 threads of old.
ryzen boards also have a longer life date as should support 2 ryzen cpu refreshes or zen+ and zen2
Click to expand...

ask CS about b-grade- sometimes its just Open Box for have to knock some cash off- sometimes its a bit more so more cash is knocked off like refurb etc etc
 
Okay, thanks for the information.

I'm on the fence about which way to go, Intel or AMD!

Will have a think about it and hopefully place an order shortly :)
 
Tom-Tom said:
Will wait a few days then and see how the pricing is for those coffee lake boards :)
Click to expand...

thats the hard bit- qouted budget boards for Ryzen B350 chipset are GAMING 3 AT £101 on deal or £115 or Strix at £119. Z270 will have to come in at that level and have good pricing on i3/i5 K versions to be as attractive as Ryzen - as well as perform- lower end ryzen boards can- no idea how intel boards will fair
 
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