Workstation with basic gaming?

Hudson1984 · 19 Jul 2020 at 14:57

Hi all, I’ve been using my msi gaming laptop for a few months as a workstation.

it’s ok but lacks connectivity and being only 14” is a pain, then trying to dock - add two monitors etc just takes up too much desk space.

so I’m wanting to replace it with a desktop that’ll do the normal office duties and also play the odd game, nothing too snazzy just basic stuff, my laptop has a 970m gpu so something akin to that would do well.

Any suggestions or should I just build something?

Tetras · 19 Jul 2020 at 15:21

Are you saying you want an AIO? If that's what you mean you'd probably struggle to get a graphics card that beats the 970m for a reasonable price.

For a desktop you just need something faster than a 1650, but for an upgrade I'd go 5600 XT / 2060 Super. If you're only playing basic games it'd be overkill, but low-end graphics cards are poor value. The RX 570/580 are still hard to beat, but they're not a huge upgrade.

An alternative would be waiting for the Renoir APUs (already out in laptops), the fastest models should have an APU in the ballpark of the 970m and you could build something more compact.

Hudson1984 · 19 Jul 2020 at 17:18

No idea what an aio is so nope just a desktop able to run office applications and basic stuff like that but with better graphics ability that the laptop, then the laptop will just do normal jobs then

ExoMale · 20 Jul 2020 at 14:25

Hudson1984 said:
No idea what an aio is so nope just a desktop able to run office applications and basic stuff like that but with better graphics ability that the laptop, then the laptop will just do normal jobs then

AIO = all in one. basically a computer built in the screen, the only downside is there's not much choice for gaming types.

despite your laptop having a 970m and you want equivalent, what do you actually consider as basic gaming?

Sparx · 20 Jul 2020 at 15:09

What's the budget and what sorta games do you play?

Hudson1984 · 21 Jul 2020 at 11:35

ideally circa £500

games are only really:
Dota Underlords
Total War: Warhammer
Civ
Dota 2

other than that i'd like to be able to play similar games as new titles come out, I like strategy games but this isn't the gaming rig, it's a work station that I can waste 30 mins playing a game on, I think if it could run COD at max I wouldn't get much work done.