Spec me : functional gaming ~700

Antham

Antham

Antham

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Joined
30 Nov 2017
Posts
11
Hiya, first post and I'm new to this so let me know if I'm not giving enough info.

I want a PC that is able to run new and current games, but I don't care about being at maximum visual settings, it's just being able to play it that I care about. I have a group of friends who play a lot and I don't really care how it looks as long as I get to play with them at a playable fps. Most common games would be: Dota 2, Guild Wars 2, heroes of the storm, ESO, minecraft; and those can be played by very low-end pcs. However, my friends are always picking up new games so I'd want to play those too. If there's a tried-and-tested set-up that's maybe a little bit outdated by the newest hardware, but could still play new games on low-mid graphics, that fits my bill just right.

I would also like to prioritise a stable set-up with low maintenance, that might sound silly but I hear about my friends' pc components giving out now and then, which I guess is unavoidable to a degree.

My job sends me on flights a lot so a low weight would be great too but that's really being quite nit-picky so don't mind it too much.

The budget is around 700 but I could push up to just over 1000 if really necessary, if you can go below that's great too obviously. The budget will include only the PC itself and it's case; excluding the monitor, OS, mouse, and other accessories.

Thanks a bunch!
 
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £1,003.49 (includes shipping: £12.60)


The PC should be fairly small and light, but you can get much smaller with a mini-ITX system.

The current issue with mini-ITX motherboards for Ryzen is scarcity and price - most are £110+

Storage is a bit low, a 1TB HDD could be added but that would be further above budget.



Here is a much smaller GPU (with UK RMA) if you did want a much smaller system:
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £388.69 (includes shipping: £8.70)
​
 
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Alternative on more of a budget, if you care a lot about sticking to budget and portability perhaps best to pick parts from each build to suit needs, with the build above it will fit in a smaller case due to it using a micro ATX motherboard, your call. If you can stretch to an SSD instead of a hard drive it will improve boot times significantly, but I've spent your budget more with playing at the best settings in mind and with less need to upgrade the major parts in the future.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £753.45 (includes shipping: £12.60)
​
 
If you'd like to go smaller:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £952.42 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​

Nice warranty on the PSU, it's also short in depth and modular which is ideal for that tiny case. Has fanless mode but I'd leave that turned off in this case. That way it can help exhaust a bit when needed.

Went for the 3GB version of the GTX 1060 as there are considerable savings to be had compared to the 6GB version, since you're not fussed about maxing graphics settings. An even cheaper GTX 1050Ti would be fine for medium settings on most new games @ 1080p. A four-core i3-8100 would be fine for most games too but the six-core i5-8400 will cope better for a longer time.

Maybe you'd like a larger SSD if you're planning on putting your fave games on it instead of the mech drive. Otherwise a 120GB SSD would be fine for OS/programs.

Grizzly Kryonaut paste, I'd use that instead of the paste that comes with this heatsink.
 
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Have you also just considered a laptop? Many modern ones have almost fully fledged desktops GPUs and decent thermal solutions. Would certainly be lighter and smaller than anything we can suggest.
 
just having some fun , 500gb and case eats up a lot but worth it for Small form and less cables!

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £997.62 (includes shipping: £11.70)​
​

but yeah, laptop!
 
Yep, Laptop, especially given the traveling.
I went for a Laptop for the same reason, for me it was regular consulting work away from home.

given that you wouldn't need o/s or monitor with them , these are in the ballpark.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £4,251.56 (includes shipping: £12.60)​
​

I would go for the 1070 if possible, always get the best you can afford.
I really could only afford a 1050, but stretched to a 1050Ti
 
Thanks for all the help guys!
A lot of these builds seem great.

Certainly I had considered laptops but I was worried I would lose quite a significant amount of performance for the price. On top of that, don't laptops often suffer with cooling issues? I've got a couple of fan bases kicking around so I could give it a boost, but I still thought that playing on them for hours on end would put some enough heat in the system to affect component life and performance.

The issue of size and weight was really just being nit-picky, I shouldn't really fly more often than a once a few months. If being a bit bulkier saves me some money on the build, I'd prefer that.

I would prefer cheaper options as I am trying to save up to get on the property market at the moment, but would just like to be able to enjoy playing games with my friends.

I understand that the less money I put into it now, the sooner I'd have to look at upgrades to keep being able to play the new games, so really I'm trying to find that balance between cheapness and performance (aren't we all?). Again, this PC will be much lower end than the sort of builds are probably used to speccing, as I will play on minimal graphics as long as I can get on a playable level of fps.

I'm completely new to this and even looking at your builds you're putting together for me I can't really compare it to anything in my head. If you guys would be kind enough to even leave a comment like "I think so-and-so's build is good for what you're looking for" or even a negative equivalent if you doubt someone's suggestion, then I can get a better idea from your collective recommendations.

Oh! Also if you think I'm repeating the requirements from another thread you've seen here, feel free to link me to it. I wouldn't want to waste everyone's time asking for repeat specs.

Thanks!
 
Antham said:
Thanks for all the help guys!
A lot of these builds seem great.

Certainly I had considered laptops but I was worried I would lose quite a significant amount of performance for the price. On top of that, don't laptops often suffer with cooling issues? I've got a couple of fan bases kicking around so I could give it a boost, but I still thought that playing on them for hours on end would put some enough heat in the system to affect component life and performance.

The issue of size and weight was really just being nit-picky, I shouldn't really fly more often than a once a few months. If being a bit bulkier saves me some money on the build, I'd prefer that.

I would prefer cheaper options as I am trying to save up to get on the property market at the moment, but would just like to be able to enjoy playing games with my friends.

I understand that the less money I put into it now, the sooner I'd have to look at upgrades to keep being able to play the new games, so really I'm trying to find that balance between cheapness and performance (aren't we all?). Again, this PC will be much lower end than the sort of builds are probably used to speccing, as I will play on minimal graphics as long as I can get on a playable level of fps.

I'm completely new to this and even looking at your builds you're putting together for me I can't really compare it to anything in my head. If you guys would be kind enough to even leave a comment like "I think so-and-so's build is good for what you're looking for" or even a negative equivalent if you doubt someone's suggestion, then I can get a better idea from your collective recommendations.

Oh! Also if you think I'm repeating the requirements from another thread you've seen here, feel free to link me to it. I wouldn't want to waste everyone's time asking for repeat specs.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
For best price/performance you would want:
Ryzen 1600 (excellent pricing at OCuk)
DDR4 3000mhz+
GTX 1060 or equivalent
450w+ PSU - the one linked in my original post is good for price/performance.
The case is quite subjective.
There are also some really solid ASUS + Ryzen motherboard bundles that give you free games.


The main takeaway is aim for Ryzen 1600 and build the system around that.

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £709.63 (includes shipping: £11.70)
​

(have left out case as that's a bit subjective)


You could also look at pre-builts:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
  • 1 x OcUK Gaming Vision VR Gaming PC - Intel 8th Generation 3.6GHz Quad Core = £887.99
    • Processor:Intel Core i5-8400 2.8GHz (Coffee Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
    • Memory:*Build Promo* Team Group Vulcan T-Force 8GB (2x4GB) DDR4 2400MHz Dual Channel Kit
    • Graphics Card:Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 Mini 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
    • Solid State Drive:Kingston 120GB SSDNow UV400 Drive SATA 6Gb/s 2.5" (7mm height) Solid State Hard Drive - (SUV400S37/1
    • CPU Cooler:Unwanted
    • Case:phanteks Eclipse P400 Midi Tower Case - Black Window
    • WIFI:Unwanted
Total: £902.09 (includes shipping: £14.10)
​

The i5-8400 should be in stock soon, and also ask if you can buy it without a copy of windows to save some money. If not, swap the CPU for a i3-8100 (costs ~£752 then).

This pre-built gives you a better GPU than the other suggestions, but a slightly weaker CPU, worse PSU and worse RAM.
 
With Maxwell then Pascal chips, laptops gave gained on their desktop counterparts. It's now just turned down clock speed and lower TDP . Plus.... Laptops now have eGPU .
You cans lap something like Gigabyte gaming box which isn't brand bound into a laptop that has thunderbolt 3 .

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £611.09 (includes shipping: £11.10)​
​

They are sure to grow in popularity, specially if you get an i7 laptop which has plenty of grunt

Or


My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £719.23 (includes shipping: £12.30)​
​
 
Aim for £700 if you want it to keep it cheaper, but then add another 8GB RAM because you can afford it and you then won't run into any limitations on a few games, and going into the future. RAM prices look like going back up after this sale period is over in a couple of days.

Probably best value for money at the moment is 2 kits of that 3200MHz Dark Pro 8GB at £160 total, if you get a motherboard with four DIMM slots. Only £1 more expensive than the 16GB 3000MHz kits.
 
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