Self build or Bundle?

Associate
Joined
27 Dec 2008
Posts
752
Hey all,

A friend of mine would like a PC for gaming purposes and has a budget of £1450 (£50*36 OcUK finance so maybe an extra few quid a month wouldn't hurt).

Needs everything (inc OS) except the peripherals, which I will gift him.

I was thinking of just doing one of the bundles OcUK do and grabbing a monitor, just to save me the headache/time of building it and to make use of the 3 year warranty etc

This bundle

or maybe even a cheaper bundle, do you need to splash out on a Geforce 1070 when you are coming from a life of consoles?

and a 1080p monitor.

But maybe its better to spend a bit more of a good monitor with 1440p/4k?

What do you think? is it better to build it from scratch to get better components?

Thanks in advance
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
19 Apr 2003
Posts
13,513
I would personally build - you get a lot more oomph for your money and better better quality components all round (some are the same).

I've done a quick Ryzen mock up - the stock cooler with the 1600 will hold a moderate clock (~3.7GHz across all cores) and the 3200MHz memory is a luxury but can be dropped to 3000MHz minimum to save money.

You could save money buying a standard GTX 1070, especially as only 1080p gaming - but the price difference between the standard 1070 and TI isn't that big and if he can stretch to a 1440p monitor it would benefit greatly from the Ti. (Note, he could drop to a GTX 1060 for 1080p but the 1070 would ideally be the minimum for smoother gameplay at high/ultra an if considering 144Hz)

You would still need to factor in the price of an OS and the monitor i added for price example, suggest you research what panel he would prefer - e.g. 24"/27", 60/144Hz, TN/VA/IPS:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,406.57 (includes shipping: £14.70)
 
Soldato
Joined
8 Jul 2009
Posts
3,102
Location
Folkestone
You build it, you are tech support forever, ;) EDIT,, Ryzen 2 comes in 3 month.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator = £1,247.84
    • Processor:AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600X 4.00GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail
    • Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • CPU Cooler:Alpenfohn Brocken ECO CPU Cooler for Ryzen
    • Optical Drive **Please Check Chassis Support**:Unwanted
    • Case Lighting:Unwanted
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
    • Memory:*Build Stock* Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (1x16GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - G
    • Case:phanteks Enthoo Pro M Midi Tower Case with Window - Black
    • Power Supply:Super Flower Platinum King 550W 80 Plus Platinum Power Supply - Black
    • Speakers:Unwanted
    • Monitor:Unwanted
    • Gaming Chair:Unwanted
    • Soundcard:Unwanted
    • Network Adapter:Unwanted
    • Security Software:Unwanted
    • M.2 Solid State Drive **For Operating System If Selected**:Unwanted
    • Solid State Drive 1:Kingston A400 240GB SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" Solid State Hard Drive - (SA400S37/240G)
    • Solid State Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 1:Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Headset:Unwanted
    • Keyboard:Unwanted
    • Mouse:Unwanted
    • Graphics Card:Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
  • 1 x BenQ GL2760H 27" 1920x1080 TN Widescreen LED Slim Bezel Monitor - Black= £146.99
Total: £1,417.93 (includes shipping: £23.10)
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
19 Apr 2003
Posts
13,513
Soldato
Joined
9 Jan 2016
Posts
3,727
Location
Derbyshire
depends whos building and how they feel about building, but for a prebuilt and a monitor then something like this be good?

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Gaming Cobalt Overclocked Gaming PC - Intel Core i3 8350K @ 4.7GHz = £1,193.93
    • Case:phanteks Eclipse P300 Glass Midi Tower Case - Black
    • Memory:Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G30
    • Graphics Card:Asus GeForce GTX 1060 Dual OC 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Solid State Drive (Primary):Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)
    • Solid State Drive (Secondary):Unwanted
    • Operating System:Microsoft Windows 10 64-Bit DVD - OEM (MS-KW9-00139)
    • Security Software:Bullguard Anti-Virus 2017 - 1 PC 1 Year **Offer Price**
    • Lighting:Bitfenix Alchemy 2.0 Magnetic RGB LED Strip - 30cm
    • Wireless Networking:Unwanted
    • Storage Drive:Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD
  • 1 x Acer Predator XB240Hbmjdpr 24" 1920x1080 TN 144Hz Gaming Widescreen LED Monitor - Black/Red (UM.FB0E= £209.99
Total: £1,427.02 (includes shipping: £23.10)​
 
Associate
OP
Joined
27 Dec 2008
Posts
752
Amazingly, after a bit of a chat, he (and more importantly his wife) has agreed!

I've narrowed it down to two of the suggestions. I've decided to tweak the suggested bundles as I really don't want to be responsible for the build.

Few things, another friend of his is going to give him their old 1080p TN monitor and we are going to buy the OS else where.
The purchase will be made on Tuesday so things maybe slightly tweaked come the day and he may prefer one case over another etc

First Bundle

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Gaming Cobalt Overclocked Gaming PC - Intel Core i3 8350K @ 4.7GHz = £1,224.95
    • Case:Bitfenix Nova Midi Tower Case - Black Window
    • Memory:Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G24
    • Graphics Card:Zotac GeForce GTX 1070Ti AMP 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (ZT-P10710C-10P)
    • Solid State Drive (Primary):Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)
    • Solid State Drive (Secondary):Unwanted
    • Operating System:Unwanted
    • Security Software:Bullguard Anti-Virus 2017 - 1 PC 1 Year **Offer Price**
    • Lighting:Unwanted
    • Wireless Networking:Asus PCE-N15 300Mbps 802.11B/G/N Wireless PCI-E Network Adapter
    • Storage Drive:Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD
Total: £1,239.05 (includes shipping: £14.10)

my concern is the PSU being only bronze rated and is 550W enough? I will phone up OcUK and see if that can be changed as there is no option in the configuration menu.

Second Bundle

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Tech Labs AMD Ryzen Midi Tower Gaming PC Configurator = £1,139.76
    • Processor:AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 1600X 4.00GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail
    • Motherboard:Gigabyte GA-AB350-Gaming 3 AMD B350 (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
    • CPU Cooler:Alpenfohn Brocken ECO CPU Cooler for Ryzen
    • Optical Drive **Please Check Chassis Support**:Unwanted
    • Case Lighting:Unwanted
    • Operating System:Unwanted
    • Build Time:Standard Build Systems - Dispatched within 7 working days
    • Memory:*Build Stock* Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (1x16GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C16 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - G
    • Case:Kolink Luminosity Midi Tower Gaming Case - Black
    • Power Supply:Super Flower Platinum King 550W 80 Plus Platinum Power Supply - Black
    • Speakers:Unwanted
    • Monitor:Unwanted
    • Gaming Chair:Unwanted
    • Soundcard:Unwanted
    • Network Adapter:Asus PCE-N15 300Mbps 802.11B/G/N Wireless PCI-E Network Adapter
    • Security Software:Unwanted
    • M.2 Solid State Drive **For Operating System If Selected**:Unwanted
    • Solid State Drive 1:Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)
    • Solid State Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 1:Seagate BarraCuda 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD
    • Mechanical Hard Drive 2:Unwanted
    • Headset:Unwanted
    • Keyboard:Unwanted
    • Mouse:Unwanted
    • Graphics Card:Zotac GeForce GTX 1070 AMP Edition 8192MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Total: £1,153.86 (includes shipping: £14.10)


My concern with this one is, again, is 550W enough (1070Ti this time) and this configuration comes with 1x16GB ram stick. Is the extra £60 for 2x8gb sticks worth it? I've been looking at videos online but there seems to bee next to nothing in FPS.

Thanks to everyone for their help
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
8 Jul 2009
Posts
3,102
Location
Folkestone
Zotac GeForce GTX 1070Ti in your list out of stock, Only £25 more for EVGA SuperNova G2 750W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply. The 650w verision out of stock.
 
Soldato
Joined
26 Aug 2013
Posts
8,393
Any parts concerns/preferences you can just put your own spec together and get a quote from OcUK through phone or Customer Service forum. As not every case is available through configurator/pre-built options, memory choice pretty limited too, etc. Can choose the power supply you fancy as well. It still comes with the warranty pre-builts have.
 
Associate
Joined
12 Sep 2016
Posts
15
Yea while 550w should be enough you'll rather have a safety overhead, also makes future upgrades less of a pain.

And lol about the console life comment, could probably slap a 950 in his rig and he would think it's far superior to his 1080p30fps console
 
Soldato
Joined
1 Dec 2015
Posts
18,514
pre-built ?

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Gaming Vision VR Gaming PC - Intel 8th Generation 3.6GHz Quad Core = £968.03
    • Processor:*Build Promo* Intel Core i3-8100 3.6GHz (Coffee Lake) Quad Core Processor
    • Memory:Team Group Vulcan T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-19200C14 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey (TLGD416G24
    • Graphics Card:Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 Mini 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Solid State Drive:Samsung 500GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E500B/EU)
    • CPU Cooler:Unwanted
    • Case:phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - Black Window
    • WIFI:Unwanted
Total: £982.13 (includes shipping: £14.10)​
 
Associate
OP
Joined
27 Dec 2008
Posts
752
The purchase has been made. Decided to go for the intel i3 rig with a 1070 and 650W gold PSU.

The main reason for this is because of the price change, some things were not on offer when it came to buy, pushing up the price of the Ryzen build

Now I need to upgrade my rig I guess :D

Thank you all for your help.
 
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