Upgrade help

Cookies4EVER121 · 5 Jul 2022 at 22:53

I looking for some advice on what I want to be looking for in a decent gaming PC and what kind of budget I need to be considering. I’ve always managed to scrape by with the laptops I’ve had, but I definitely notice issues when trying to play games like Skyrim and house flipper.

I understand a bit about components, but whenever I go to build or customise a PC there’s so many options I have no idea what’s best for my needs. I don’t want to overpower it unnecessarily, which would probably end up being more expensive especially as I doubt I’ll be using it for any online gaming.

I’m not expecting this to be cheap, as my sister-in-law’s gaming laptop was over £1,000, so I’m expecting a PC might be more I’m not sure.

I’m currently working with my laptop that is over 5 years old. It has 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD storage, and an Intel Core i5.

Basically I’d be grateful for any advice on specs and budget.

Tetras · 5 Jul 2022 at 23:26

Do you play modded Skyrim, or regular Skyrim?

tamzzy · 5 Jul 2022 at 23:49

what is your budget and do you also need a monitor and peripherals?

goldy6660 · 6 Jul 2022 at 00:54

Any idea on resolution you want to play at?

Cookies4EVER121 · 6 Jul 2022 at 06:49

Tetras said:
Do you play modded Skyrim, or regular Skyrim?

At the moment just regular as I didn’t want to break my current laptop with any mods.

Cookies4EVER121 · 6 Jul 2022 at 06:58

tamzzy said:
what is your budget and do you also need a monitor and peripherals?

I do currently have some basic keyboards and mouses I would make work at first. I would probably need to get a monitor cause I think my tv screen wouldn’t cut it, definitely not long term.

In terms of budget I would prefer something under £1,500 but I’d go up to £2,000 at a push if it would help.

Cookies4EVER121 · 6 Jul 2022 at 07:03

goldy6660 said:
Any idea on resolution you want to play at?

Would 1440p be overkill? I’m guessing 4K resolution would and would probably up monitor and graphics card costs

tamzzy · 6 Jul 2022 at 07:13

My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3CC-AM) = £209.99
1 x MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-358-MS) = £109.99
1 x **B Grade** Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: BG-04E-CR) = £38.99
1 x MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Mech 2X 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-37S-MS) = £469.99
1 x AMD RAISE THE GAME - Up To 3 Games with RX 6000 Series Graphics Cards (SKU: XX-038-AM) = £0.00
1 x WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) (SKU: HD-589-WD) = £86.99
1 x Seagate 1TB BarraCuda HDD 7200rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST1000DM010) (SKU: HD-376-SE) = £34.99
1 x Kolink Enclave 600W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-04A-KK) = £49.99
1 x Kolink AT/ATX "Kettle Plug" 1.2 5A Fuse Meter Mains Cable (SKU: CB-002-KK) = £0.00
1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh RGB Micro-ATX Case - Black (SKU: CA-052-KK) = £64.99
1 x be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: HS-01K-BQ) = £27.95
1 x LG 27" 27GN800-B 2560x1440 IPS 144Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync LED Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MO-15Y-LG) = £249.95
1 x Logitech G213 Prodigy RGB Gaming Keyboard (920-008091) (SKU: KB-25B-LG) = £54.95
1 x Logitech G305 Lightspeed Next-Generation Wireless USB Optical Gaming Mouse (910-005283) (SKU: KB-000-CB) = £44.99

Total: £1,443.76 (includes delivery: £0.00)

just to start a spec

Cookies4EVER121 · 6 Jul 2022 at 08:00

tamzzy said:
My basket at OcUK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Six Core 4.6GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail (SKU: CP-3CC-AM) = £209.99

1 x MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard (SKU: MB-358-MS) = £109.99

1 x **B Grade** Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (SKU: BG-04E-CR) = £38.99

1 x MSI Radeon RX 6700 XT Mech 2X 12GB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card (SKU: GX-37S-MS) = £469.99

1 x AMD RAISE THE GAME - Up To 3 Games with RX 6000 Series Graphics Cards (SKU: XX-038-AM) = £0.00

1 x WD Blue SN570 1TB SSD NVME M.2 2280 PCIe Gen3 Solid State Drive (WDS100T3B0C) (SKU: HD-589-WD) = £86.99

1 x Seagate 1TB BarraCuda HDD 7200rpm 64MB Cache Internal Hard Drive (ST1000DM010) (SKU: HD-376-SE) = £34.99

1 x Kolink Enclave 600W 80 Plus Gold Modular Power Supply (SKU: CA-04A-KK) = £49.99

1 x Kolink AT/ATX "Kettle Plug" 1.2 5A Fuse Meter Mains Cable (SKU: CB-002-KK) = £0.00

1 x Kolink Citadel Mesh RGB Micro-ATX Case - Black (SKU: CA-052-KK) = £64.99

1 x be quiet! Pure Rock 2 Black CPU Cooler - 120mm (SKU: HS-01K-BQ) = £27.95

1 x LG 27" 27GN800-B 2560x1440 IPS 144Hz 1ms FreeSync/G-Sync LED Widescreen Gaming Monitor (SKU: MO-15Y-LG) = £249.95

1 x Logitech G213 Prodigy RGB Gaming Keyboard (920-008091) (SKU: KB-25B-LG) = £54.95

1 x Logitech G305 Lightspeed Next-Generation Wireless USB Optical Gaming Mouse (910-005283) (SKU: KB-000-CB) = £44.99

Total: £1,443.76 (includes delivery: £0.00)

just to start a spec

Just to check my understanding a little does the intel dual band wireless bit on the mother board mean it can connect wirelessly or through cable? I know on my Dads old (around 2010) pc needed a wireless adapter, so I thought I’d check.

goldy6660 · 6 Jul 2022 at 08:16

Cookies4EVER121 said:
Would 1440p be overkill? I’m guessing 4K resolution would and would probably up monitor and graphics card costs

Na 1440 is great at 165hz. Could always go for in-between and get an ultra wide.

tamzzy · 6 Jul 2022 at 10:17

Cookies4EVER121 said:
Just to check my understanding a little does the intel dual band wireless bit on the mother board mean it can connect wirelessly or through cable? I know on my Dads old (around 2010) pc needed a wireless adapter, so I thought I’d check.

The motherboard has inbuilt wireless so you don't need an extra adapter.
Dual band refers to 2.4ghz and 5ghz bands for the wireless. Nothing to concern yourself with

The board also has wired ethernet connection so you can use a cabled connection too

tamzzy · 6 Jul 2022 at 10:18

Also, 1440p with high-refresh (>100fps) is the sweet spot for gaming IMO

JollyJamma · 6 Jul 2022 at 14:36

Cookies4EVER121 said:
Would 1440p be overkill? I’m guessing 4K resolution would and would probably up monitor and graphics card costs

1440P is perfect.

Tetras · 6 Jul 2022 at 17:43

Cookies4EVER121 said:
At the moment just regular as I didn’t want to break my current laptop with any mods.

For regular Skyrim, the requirements are actually pretty low, even to play at 1440p. Since it isn't multi-threaded very well, just an i3-12100 is sufficient and an RX 6600 would play it at 1440p, even with some graphics mods (either legendary edition, or special edition). Admittedly, it might not be sensible to configure a new PC for only game

Cookies4EVER121 · 6 Jul 2022 at 19:07

Tetras said:
For regular Skyrim, the requirements are actually pretty low, even to play at 1440p. Since it isn't multi-threaded very well, just an i3-12100 is sufficient and an RX 6600 would play it at 1440p, even with some graphics mods (either legendary edition, or special edition). Admittedly, it might not be sensible to configure a new PC for only game

Ah okay that makes sense. I mostly used Skyrim as an example as I’ve had it crash on me a few times, it’s the only game I’ve had that has done that. With my laptop in general getting slower, I just want to understand what I want to be looking at when upgrading to a PC that’ll handle games better.