Spec a mate a PC!

Diddums

Diddums

Diddums

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Evening all, a friend of mine wants to get in to PC gaming and I've already convinced him to buy from here but he doesn't know what to buy so I thought I'd ask in here. Here's his post:

- is it significantly (ie more than £100) cheaper to buy all the components and assemble myself (lol). Shouldnt be too difficult to put all the components into a frame and turn it on and install Windows?



- if yes, what specs should I go for ? I have no idea what ram and graphics cards motherboards to get etc



- if no, should I buy a decent PC and upgrade bits on it ? My thoughts are that you shouldn't really buy it if it needs new bits straight away anyway



- budget. Probably 1k max inc software and a decent monitor etc.



- happy to upgrade as and when it requires it but id rather it be able to run almost all games on atleast mid level settings for a few years.



- Probably need atleast 2 TB data storage as i have well over 1TB of downloaded files, music and photos that I have spread over a laptop and 2 external hard drives that I would like to back up properly.



-games i want to play. Basically all the games i haven't played on PC because i haven't had one for about a decade. If love to play the latest Total War and other RTS games on mid or high level graphics for once.
Click to expand...



Anyone wanna throw a dart at this board? Cheers :)
 

lltfdaniel

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Yes it is cheaper to assemble/build it your self and would likely be £100 cheaper.

What specs should he go for, i will do that later, when i edit this post.

i wouldn't buy a ready made pc,

1k will allow for a half decent pc machine for sure even with software and monitor.

Upgrade path eh? then am4 socket motherboard is a no brainer here because amd will support am4 until 2020 when ddr5 ram comes out.

We can get a bog standard 7200rpm hdd instead of a ssd.

Yes this half decent machine will allow you to play at medium high settings.

edit

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £947.56 (includes shipping: £14.70)​
​

My 2 pence, something like this above.
 
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orbitalwalsh

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@Diddums

OCUK should be able to build for £50-80 fee on top ...

Freesync 144hz 1080p screen, card comes with 3 free games from AMD and mobo comes with free 256GB .

8 core ryzen cheap as older gen but will last him a good while for the price

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,004.98 (includes shipping: £14.10)​
​
 
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tamzzy

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board and case out of stock currently, but my 2p...
hdd space can be easily added after, or external storage used. so used the budget to get a bigger ssd instead

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,009.92 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​
 

tamzzy

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intel version surprisingly works out slightly cheaper (albeit with a cheaper psu). but can add a 1tb hdd in for a complete build.
(unfortunately, again the board and case are out of stock, and so is the psu)

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £992.94 (includes shipping: £14.10)​
​
 

tamzzy

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TBH, as you've got members market access, the most cost effective way to build a solid rig would be to go preowned.
eg 4790k/6700k/7700k and a 1060 6gb would be in the region of £800-900 (or a 1070 depending if you want to spend the whole £1000) would be a solid enough build to last a few years yet.
 

Diddums

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tamzzy said:
TBH, as you've got members market access, the most cost effective way to build a solid rig would be to go preowned.
eg 4790k/6700k/7700k and a 1060 6gb would be in the region of £800-900 (or a 1070 depending if you want to spend the whole £1000) would be a solid enough build to last a few years yet.
Click to expand...


Mm isn't an option as he wants it on finance.


Thanks all, he's got a link to this, any advice is appreciated :)
 

NovaKill4

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Providing the motherboard/cpu/ram bundle comes back into stock...
Very strong preforming processor with 16Gb ram, and a free SSD, 2Tb HDD as requested.
I think the PSU is tier 2 so not the best but certainly good enough for this build, modular design will make the build process easier too.
Good looking case with 2 included fans for better airflow.
RX580 GPU will drive the 1080p 144hz freesync monitor with no issues for the next few years.

It is slightly over budget but i would say its worth it, but if he wanted to keep a strict budget then he could drop down to 8Gb ram in the bundle.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,080.81 (includes shipping: £15.90)​
​
 

Dr_D1amond

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Hi everyone

Thanks Diddums and everyone whos made me some recommendations so far.im waiting a reply to see if that Ryzen 5 bundle is back in stock soon.

Quick question about the monitors do i need to be getting a monitor without the freesync or something that is 144hz, or is it worth cutting the cost a wee bit here ?

Cheers.
 

NovaKill4

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So,
Freesync for AMD GPU's
G-Sync for Nvidia GPU's

They are not cross compatible so Freesync will not work on Nvidia cards and G-sync will not work on AMD cards.
If you are not sure what they are then do a bit of reading on them first.

Almost all gaming oriented monitors will have one or the other but G-sync will command a price premium as it is Nvidia and hardware based.

For your budget (£1000) you are almost certainly best off going with AMD and Freesync as G-sync monitors start at £450.

144hz monitors help to smooth fast paced gameplay, personally i have not used one, mine is 60hz but from what i have read about them they are very good to game on!

I wouldn't cheap out on the monitor personally as its what you see your games on, no point in getting a really nice PC and then having a crap monitor.
 

Dr_D1amond

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NovaKill4 said:
I wouldn't cheap out on the monitor personally as its what you see your games on, no point in getting a really nice PC and then having a crap monitor.
Click to expand...

yeah this was what i suspected. I didnt know the Gsync started at such a high price. I was considering getting something with a 1070 as my mate has been whispering that in my ear, but i will go with whats being recommended i think.
 

Diddums

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Dr_D1amond said:
yeah this was what i suspected. I didnt know the Gsync started at such a high price. I was considering getting something with a 1070 as my mate has been whispering that in my ear, but i will go with whats being recommended i think.
Click to expand...


Yes! What he said! That's been my mantra ever since my PC gaming days, you can spend $$$$$ on a stonking PC that dances circles around everything else but if you're pushing those pixels to a crap monitor or are controlling them with a crap keyboard and mouse, it ruins the whole experience.

I had a Samsung 32" 1440p monitor (£330 iirc) and it was amazing, until it went pop two months out of warranty.
 

orbitalwalsh

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E
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,004.98 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​
 

NovaKill4

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Depending on the game, a 1070 would be between 20 and 40% faster than a RX580 but about £100 more expensive.

If you can push the budget a bit then i personally would go for the 1070 now and perhaps a cheap 1080p monitor with the aim of saving for a g-sync 1440p monitor in a few months. You would then have a good monitor to game on and a second monitor to display web pages or system info while in game.

Just bear in mind Nvidia are supposedly announcing their new GPU's on Monday so it would be worth waiting until then if you are edging towards the 1070.
 

Dr_D1amond

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orbitalwalsh said:
E
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,004.98 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​
Click to expand...




im looking at this build at the moment as the other builds with the promo bundle isnt in stock still - is it better to have 16 GB of RAM here rather than 8 ?
 

orbitalwalsh

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Dr_D1amond said:
im looking at this build at the moment as the other builds with the promo bundle isnt in stock still - is it better to have 16 GB of RAM here rather than 8 ?
Click to expand...

If you can afford it yes, 16GB starting to be the mainstream to top end . Also the cost of ram easier to take the hit in one go .
Ram prices should come down, but always ways to make it go up, like a flood etc haha
 

Dr_D1amond

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ok great. what would be the recommended OS and anti virus that i should also purchase ? im assuming windows 10 (i might be able to get a copy through work)
 

orbitalwalsh

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Dr_D1amond said:
ok great. what would be the recommended OS and anti virus that i should also purchase ? im assuming windows 10 (i might be able to get a copy through work)
Click to expand...

download windows 10 via their site (media creation) onto USB stick and buy a key- not the correct method but the cheapest . you dont have to activate the licencee straight away
 
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