£1500 Budget

[levison]

Could I get some help pulling together a Gaming system for £1500

Monitor - has to be 27in. 1440p if possible.
Uses - Just Gaming. Largely I only play League of Legends on it, with occasional game on Steam.
Budget - £1500 including Monitor, Keyboard and Mouse (wired).

I do like this case but with my budget i doubt it.

FRACTAL DESIGN TORRENT RGB MID TOWER CASE​

. Appreciate any help.

 

[sck451]

This is a tough budget to hit, but it can be done. It involves sacrifices I'd not particularly want, but they're not the end of the world.

The easy way to do it is with AM4/Ryzen 5000. The good way to do it is with AM5/Ryzen 7000.

Let's start with the monitor. You can get a 1440p 144Hz display for £165. This is the ViewSonic VX2718-2KPC-MHD. I would not buy it, even at that price, but it does exist, and it would work. The AOC Q27G2U is £215 and I can speak to it being pretty decent as it's the monitor I myself have. The X= XRGB27WQ is £210: I can't speak to its quality, but it is a very good price for an IPS display. But for the monitors you really want to be looking at, it's probably £280 for something like the Gigabyte G27Q.

So that leaves us somewhere between £1200 and £1350 for the PC. With AM4 this isn't too hard, but it leaves you on an old platform without upgrades. With AM5, you can manage it just about:

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE (PWM) OK case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7500F Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-5.0GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5) Low-end AM5 CPU
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) Good motherboard (and not enough can be saved by going cheaper)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB) This saves about £40 over the much superior 6000MHz RAM, which I would very much prefer, but in gaming at 1440p you are unlikely to find this a very significant difference
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12 A generation old, but still very decent for 1440p
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW) I'd really want more than a 1TB SSD, but not in your budget
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET More than this system "needs", but gives you upgrade options for the future
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler Enough for the 7500F
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00027] If you could transfer Windows from an old PC, it would save you quite a bit...
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
ASUS TUF K1 Gaming Keyboard & M3 Mouse Bundle
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,272.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/HAt9WxxDuH/

 

[levison]

This is a tough budget to hit, but it can be done. It involves sacrifices I'd not particularly want, but they're not the end of the world.

The easy way to do it is with AM4/Ryzen 5000. The good way to do it is with AM5/Ryzen 7000.

Let's start with the monitor. You can get a 1440p 144Hz display for £165. This is the ViewSonic VX2718-2KPC-MHD. I would not buy it, even at that price, but it does exist, and it would work. The AOC Q27G2U is £215 and I can speak to it being pretty decent as it's the monitor I myself have. The X= XRGB27WQ is £210: I can't speak to its quality, but it is a very good price for an IPS display. But for the monitors you really want to be looking at, it's probably £280 for something like the Gigabyte G27Q.

So that leaves us somewhere between £1200 and £1350 for the PC. With AM4 this isn't too hard, but it leaves you on an old platform without upgrades. With AM5, you can manage it just about:

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE (PWM) OK case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7500F Six Core CPU (3.7GHz-5.0GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5) Low-end AM5 CPU
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) Good motherboard (and not enough can be saved by going cheaper)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (2 x 16GB) This saves about £40 over the much superior 6000MHz RAM, which I would very much prefer, but in gaming at 1440p you are unlikely to find this a very significant difference
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6700 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12 A generation old, but still very decent for 1440p
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW) I'd really want more than a 1TB SSD, but not in your budget
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET More than this system "needs", but gives you upgrade options for the future
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler Enough for the 7500F
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00027] If you could transfer Windows from an old PC, it would save you quite a bit...
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
ASUS TUF K1 Gaming Keyboard & M3 Mouse Bundle
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,272.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/HAt9WxxDuH/

Thanks for you reply. What upgrades to CPU and Graphics Card would be needed for good 1440p please? Or would an Extra £200 make a difference to any? or would spending the £1500 on a PC+Keyboard+mouse get me a good 1440p PC. 1400p monitor I can sort for Xmas.

Thank you

Kind regards

 

[Nesilberk]

What about this one? @levison @sck451

Case
PCS SPECTRUM G ARGB MID TOWER CASE (PWM)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME A620M-K: Micro-ATX (DDR5, USB 3.2, ARGB)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB AMD RADEON™ RX 7700 XT GAMING - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00027]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,241.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/n8XUJpGS5z/

 

[sck451]

I definitely would not buy the build suggested by @Nesilberk. The motherboard, RAM and power supply are all poor choices. The 7700 XT is also a poor value graphics card.

£1500 is still hard to hit. I wonder about a system like this one. It's still not quite what I'd want personally: a single 1TB SSD isn't the best choice in the world (see this thread) but I'm not sure you can afford better. You can save around £60 by going for the DDR5-5600 RAM, the 7500F CPU and the 6800 XT graphics card, but I don't think these are compromises worth making if you can afford not to.

The combination of a 7600 and a 7800 XT would be an awesome 1440p experience when you're able to upgrade the monitor. And at some point adding more storage is really simple now we are in the M.2 era!

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB AMD RADEON™ RX 7800 XT GAMING - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00027]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
ASUS TUF K1 Gaming Keyboard & M3 Mouse Bundle
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,542.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/kKmybNjcUT/

 

[Nesilberk]

1. I definitely wouldn't recommend the 6700xt that you recommend to people first of all @sck451
2. Why do you always recommend b650 plus wifi?
i think the a620m k will suit people with a tight budget very well as a mobo. in this way, we are not throttling from the video card or processor either. my goal here is price/performance.
3. Before me, you offered the guy a 6700xt, and then you said you didn't like the 7700xt I offered and called it a poor-value card, how is that true lol?
4. You really like 6000mhz ram, don't you? I recommend that you also check the benefits of the game in terms of performance and how much it costs us in our pocket.
5. And finally, we know that the 7700xt and 7500f/7600 systems consume an average power of 330w, right? 650w is definitely enough and more. i would recommend that you help this friend of ours in terms of price performance, not by putting the best of everything, but by reducing something, increasing the cpu gpu in terms of price at the very beginning @sck451 @levison

 

[Steveyg]

Don't take it personal mate you're offering bad suggestions regardless of budget and here's why

1. I definitely wouldn't recommend the 6700xt that you recommend to people first of all @sck451 ** The 6700XT is much cheaper than the 7700XT giving it a better price to performance metric. The 7700XT is too expensive to recommend over the 6750XT or the 6800XT which is why it's rarely recommended. On the higher end it's better to just push for the 7800XT which is good value

2. Why do you always recommend b650 plus wifi?
i think the a620m k will suit people with a tight budget very well as a mobo. in this way, we are not throttling from the video card or processor either. my goal here is price/performance. ** the B650 is considered baseline here because it's a very very good motherboard, really well made and it's not much more expensive than the other options offered. The A620m K is extremely restrictive only having dual RAM slots and offering very very basic VRM's and build quality. Coupled with being feature bare there isn't much upgradeability, you want the motherboard to last 10 years and the B650 can do that

3. Before me, you offered the guy a 6700xt, and then you said you didn't like the 7700xt I offered and called it a poor-value card, how is that true lol? ** addressed above it's about price to performance balance

4. You really like 6000mhz ram, don't you? I recommend that you also check the benefits of the game in terms of performance and how much it costs us in our pocket. ** This shows you just don't understand RAM and especially how it works with Ryzen processors especially, Ryzen requires the fastest RAM you can throw at it to operate optimally. It's not like the Intel CPU where RAM has less of an affect Ryzen require the fastest to work properly. Hence why even AMD themselves recommend 6000Mhz RAM it's the sweet spot

5. And finally, we know that the 7700xt and 7500f/7600 systems consume an average power of 330w, right? 650w is definitely enough and more. ** We recommend PSU's with the future in mind having just enough power now means that when it comes to upgrade you need to buy a whole new PSU to upgrade the system and if you wanted to move into a higher tier this can be costly. Not to mention the time consuming task of changed out a PSU, for the sake of £20-£30 now you can completely remove that future issue

 

[sck451]

@Steveyg sums up pretty much exactly how I feel!

 

[Nesilberk]

Thank you for your comment these are just options a person can buy the way he wants by his own decision with the examples given, but let's stay away from memorized builds in the sense of case, mobo, please it's good to cut down on something a little to make a difference

 

[sck451]

Thank you for your comment these are just options a person can buy the way he wants by his own decision with the examples given, but let's stay away from memorized builds in the sense of case, mobo, please it's good to cut down on something a little to make a difference

I don't memorize builds. I frequently recommend different cases. I generally recommend the Tuf B650 motherboard because for most situations it's the best choice. The build I've posted above is actually substantially cut down from what I'd like to recommend, e.g. with the memory and the PSU and the storage, because I'm working to the budget mentioned. I don't quite get why it's provoked such fury!

And I'm not forcing anyone to do anything (in fact, I'm pretty sure I can't). I'm just giving my opinion, which I think is pretty well informed.

 

[Nesilberk]

I don't memorize builds. I frequently recommend different cases. I generally recommend the Tuf B650 motherboard because for most situations it's the best choice. The build I've posted above is actually substantially cut down from what I'd like to recommend, e.g. with the memory and the PSU and the storage, because I'm working to the budget mentioned. I don't quite get why it's provoked such fury!

And I'm not forcing anyone to do anything (in fact, I'm pretty sure I can't). I'm just giving my opinion, which I think is pretty well informed.

Easy buddy there is no fury or nonsense. There may be things that I don't know either, of course, I would like to learn from people here/from you. for example, if you're going to ask me, my sweet spot is 5600 mhz, of course, everyone wants 6000 mhz, that's a separate issue.

 

[Steveyg]

Easy buddy there is no fury or nonsense. There may be things that I don't know either, of course, I would like to learn from people here/from you. for example, if you're going to ask me, my sweet spot is 5600 mhz, of course, everyone wants 6000 mhz, that's a separate issue.

See things like that are where I take issue because it's straight up measurable and factual bad advice

6000Mhz is where AMD themselves who make the chips have recommended you aim your RAM speeds to allow the CPU's to work optimally. So we recommend exactly that

If your own made up sweet spot is 5600Mhz then it's wrong, it's not an opinion it's wrong

Sorry for being harsh mate and we're happy to help anyone understand why we recommend the things we do. There's a lot of knowledge and tools available for people here that we are happy to share. Can't have people giving advice that is simply not correct though

 

[sck451]

In my original "lowest possible price" build I suggested DDR5-5600, because at that price saving £20 is worth it. Add £200 to the budget, and I don't think the saving is worth it. However, I mentioned the option (along with the CPU and graphics card options) as potential savings if that little bit of saving helped make it possible.

 

[levison]

I definitely would not buy the build suggested by @Nesilberk. The motherboard, RAM and power supply are all poor choices. The 7700 XT is also a poor value graphics card.

£1500 is still hard to hit. I wonder about a system like this one. It's still not quite what I'd want personally: a single 1TB SSD isn't the best choice in the world (see this thread) but I'm not sure you can afford better. You can save around £60 by going for the DDR5-5600 RAM, the 7500F CPU and the 6800 XT graphics card, but I don't think these are compromises worth making if you can afford not to.

The combination of a 7600 and a 7800 XT would be an awesome 1440p experience when you're able to upgrade the monitor. And at some point adding more storage is really simple now we are in the M.2 era!

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (DDR5, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
16GB AMD RADEON™ RX 7800 XT GAMING - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
DeepCool AG400 Performance ARGB CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00027]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Google Chrome™
Keyboard & Mouse
ASUS TUF K1 Gaming Keyboard & M3 Mouse Bundle
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £1,542.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/kKmybNjcUT/

Thank you. I'll go for this one and get a monitor for Xmas. (Doubt I can wait that long - more like Halloween gift 🤣). Last PC I got from PCSpecialist was 2017 only thing I upgraded was the SSD from HDD. Thanks for the link on storage/performance as I've noticed the performance decrease but I'm passing it to my son and he only does Minecraft so it'll save him ok for now.