what can i get for £650?

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

Soldato
Joined
12 Feb 2006
Posts
17,645
Location
Surrey
my pc is beyond old. i'm realising it's embarrassing how long i've kept this one going for given how frequently i update my phone and all other tech, the pc hasn't seen an update in at least 4 years.

i was holding out to get something good enough for VR once it took off, however having played with one recently i can't handle the current gen without feeling sick quickly so will skip this gen and not worry about that.

the pc will mainly be used for work, however i do still like to play games (more like dream about playing games). i'm not worried about having games at max setting, but what i do want is a desktop that's going to last me at least 3 more years before i consider a full upgrade, with perhaps a small upgrade in between.

when i'm working on the pc i can typically have 10 browser tabs open, a couple playing youtube/twitch, emails and photoshop open. i can't imagine that would be too resource hungry as my current setup handles that fine.

i'm interested to see what you guys think i can achieve for this sort of money? it's not a set budget so can extend if for good reason.

what i have that's staying.

3 monitors
wired mouse and keyboard
speakers

so would essentially need a full box. can be any size as the space i have for it is huge, and can be as noisey as needs be as i have the desktop stored in another room with long cables connecting screens and mouse/keyboard/speakers. bluetooth would be nice but assume this can be added in the future easily for low money?
 
Photoshop is part of the workload then Intel has the advantage, if your not heavily into gaming then you can avoid the K versions .
New i5 or even i3 due to it giving you 4 cores instead of 2 of old.
Ryzen is very well prices for specs though
 
thanks for the reply. it's not heavy photoshop by any means. just minimal image editing.

i am into gaming, however i just am not into the games being released :D zelda breath of wild for instance was best game i've played in years and that had such basic graphics so i'd like to think i'm not a graphics nut. i like to play games but i'm not worried if they are on max settings or not
 
i had most of this in my basket from a reply in another thread, apart from removing certain parts to bring price down, but added a 1030 so you got dedicated.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £651.63
(includes shipping: £11.70)



​


as i already had this in my basket it has the K i3, but you could save £40 dropping to non K and fund a stronger graphics card should it be required.
 
thanks for that. i was always of the thought i3 was for mobile, i7 for desktop as it's more power hungry but more powerful for same sort of price? guessing i was wrong?

what's better about the K over a non K version?

just checked the GPU and can only see 2 slots so assume this wouldn't work my current 3 monitor setup?
 
Fairly sure the answer is no said:
thanks for that. i was always of the thought i3 was for mobile, i7 for desktop as it's more power hungry but more powerful for same sort of price? guessing i was wrong?

what's better about the K over a non K version?

just checked the GPU and can only see 2 slots so assume this wouldn't work my current 3 monitor setup?
Click to expand...

I at the end are for mobile or laptops , i3 use to be 2 cores which processed 4 threads. I5 was 4 cores that processed 4 threads, i7 was 4 cores that processed 8 threads, in a basic way. Intel has now been out under pressure , so everything has stepped up a gear .
I3 has 4 cores/4 threads, i5 is 6 cores/6 threads and i7 is 6 cores/12 threads.

Simple games or indie games on steam is great, also there is a free Wii U emulator for PC as well as Wii, but they do use a lot of processing power !!! Not so much so GPU as it's software rendering rather then hardware .
But PC games are hardware rendered - least fully completed games :)
Some indie or alpha games on steam don't use a lot of GPU power as either they haven't added it or it isn't completed .
Might be a bit off topic but least your covered

Ryzen has come into the market again, very cheap with a lot of cores/threads. The core stretch isn't has strong or as fast, but when you have a lot of them, then can match Intel

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £652.15
(includes shipping: £12.30)




That Ryzen chip us 4 cores and 8 threads, it's speed and stretch is slightly lower then Intel but I think it lines up roughly between the i3 and i5

Case and board is the next size up from system listed above, after that it's full sized boards
​
 
Fairly sure the answer is no said:
thanks for that. i was always of the thought i3 was for mobile, i7 for desktop as it's more power hungry but more powerful for same sort of price? guessing i was wrong?

what's better about the K over a non K version?

just checked the GPU and can only see 2 slots so assume this wouldn't work my current 3 monitor setup?
Click to expand...

you might be right, nvidia doesnt say, google search suggests it does, but a slight more costly asus version suggest single link dvi, so maybe they will, maybe they wont, but the motherboard will have hdmi support of same resolution capabilities to not worry about it, ive never run more than 2 screens, but have ran off motherboard and graphics card and no issues with res so long the monitors are identical, i was gaming off the gpu and using the onboard for everything else, mean the old GT 710 meant to support 3 screens.

but if you would prefer to run all 3 off the gpu, then the rx 550 supports 3 monitors if not 4 as it has hdmi and dual link dvi support and is only £15 more than the 1030 i suggested.



K version just means you can overclock it should you need/want the extra bit of boost, the non K are locked meaning you use what it offers, i had an haswell i3 which was a locked 2 core/4 thread chip and its 3.6ghz and overall performance was enough for demanding games i played, but for my build option maybe get the cheaper locked version and buy a better gpu.
 
thanks all for the replies. just found out i can claim VAT back on items i've purchased even before becoming VAT for up to 4 years, so although we're not VAT registered yet, we certainly will be in the next year so I might as well take advantage of that now.

so if i increased to say £800~ what could i get? would it be worth the extra money?
 
In short, yes you would get a lot more if you increased the budget to ~£800.


A potential ~£800 build:

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £833.87
(includes shipping: £12.60)




You can reduce the price ~£30 by selling the copy of Assassins creed game you get with the SSHD. Otherwise, I would just get a 240GB SSD.

Money could also be saved on a cheaper case, but that case is good for the price.

Again, you could save £30 by getting a Micro ATX motherboard, but that limits you on DIMM slots, PCI slots, USB ports etc. Also, if you intended to keep on the AM4 platform, and potentially upgrade the CPU within the next few years to Ryzen+ or Ryzen2, a better motherboard now could save you money later.



Better alternatives (but would go £50 over budget) to the current 3GB 1060 GPU would be:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £500.48
(includes shipping: £10.50)



​
 
Last edited:
Thanks for that. Seems much more appealing. I will keep this list, see if anything changes in the next month if OCUK do black Friday sales, and purchase around then.

My main thought is do I buy a better gpu now, or save the £50 and upgrade in a bit couple years
 
Fairly sure the answer is no said:
now that there's some black friday deals going, wondered if there's anything that can be suggested now that'll beat the above with a similar price of £800-£850
Click to expand...
My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £864.03 (includes shipping: £14.10)​
​
 
thanks for that. would you say that'a a big improvement thanks to the black friday deals?

what's the deal with ryzen? everyone talks about it but i'm out of the loop with why it's so good?
 
Fairly sure the answer is no said:
thanks for that. would you say that'a a big improvement thanks to the black friday deals?

what's the deal with ryzen? everyone talks about it but i'm out of the loop with why it's so good?
Click to expand...
  • It offer unbeatable performance for the price at the moment, slightly loses out to the higher end Intel processors in gaming, but makes up for it in multitasking performance
  • Has many cores and threads for the money
  • Uses the AM4 platorm which will allow for AMD CPU upgrades until 2020, so great for upgradability to Ryzen+ Ryzen 2 etc
 
The prices go up this Saturday, the prices will raise a lot on AMD processors and memory as those are very heavily discounted right now for the Black Friday / Cyber week promotions.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom