Budget Gaming PC set up for Sims etc

[BerryHolly]

Hiya,

I'm looking at getting a gaming PC for games like Sims 4, planet coaster, planet zoo, etc. I only play games like this. Everything else I play on console, I just like these games on the PC instead.
I have a budget of around £1000, I can stretch to maybe £1300 if need be. I don't currently have a monitor so any help on that would be great too. I've seen on other threads that the monitor is quite important too but if I'm honest I'm pretty clueless with it all. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jess

 

[TonyCarter]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but any worthwhile 1080p build will start at about £1600 (1440p £2100+, 4K £2500+) with current gen CPU, GPU, PSU, and decent case, etc.

Any pre-builts you see below this price will have to have had corners cut to squeeze into that price, for example the PCSpecialist BF24 model at £1299:

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the Fusion BF 24 to your ideal requirements.

PCSpecialist is an award-winning manufacturer of high quality custom PCs & Laptops. Configure the Fusion BF 24 to your ideal requirements.

www.pcspecialist.co.uk

• non-gaming or older generation CPU (at lower resolutions the CPU is as/more important than the GPU as it has to be fast enough to feed the GPU)
• low-level motherboard with slower specs, cheaper components
• low-level, non-upgradable PSU
• relatively slow & small single SSD for everything - when our recommendation is at least 2 (for redundancy & speed); and 1TB is now too small for the OS, apps and more than a few large games (some are more than 100GB now)
• unbranded case & fans, so you won't be able to find spares easily
• sub-optimal / unreliable cooling solution

It effectively becomes a 'throwaway' PC, which means you've spent £1300 and in 2 years time will have to spend the same again as the requirements of newer games / DLC makes yours obsolete. Whereas a £1600 PC will only need the GPU changing every 3 years.

 

[BerryHolly]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but any worthwhile 1080p build will start at about £1600 (1440p £2100+, 4K £2500+) with current gen CPU, GPU, PSU, and decent case, etc.

Any pre-builts you see below this level will have corners cut to squeeze into that price, for example:

• non-gaming or older generation CPU
• low-level motherboard with slower specs, cheaper components
• low-level, non-upgradable PSU
• relatively slow & small single SSD for everything - when our recommendation is at least 2 (for redundancy & speed); and 1TB is now too small for the OS, apps and more than a few large games (some are more than 100GB now)
• unbranded case & fans, so you won't be able to find spares easily

It effectively becomes a 'throwaway' PC, which means you've spent £1300 and in 2 years time will have to spend the same again as the requirements of newer games / DLC makes yours obsolete. Whereas a £1600 PC will only need the GPU changing every 3 years.

That's ok, I can save a bit longer and get what I need. Like you said, I'd rather get a good one from the beginning instead of having to buy twice! For a budget of £1600 or a bit more what would be a good recommendation?

 

[Ekans2011]

That's ok, I can save a bit longer and get what I need. Like you said, I'd rather get a good one from the beginning instead of having to buy twice! For a budget of £1600 or a bit more what would be a good recommendation?

Here's an example of a 1080p gaming PC with some (little) room for future upgrades.

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core CPU (Up to 5.2GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870 EAGLE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 7700 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
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
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance 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
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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
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
Firefox™
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 5 to 7 working days

Price: £1,883.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/U2vUJQ3PcJ/

 

[TonyCarter]

I don't know if it's just me, but have PCS GPU prices increased? As I'm seeing a RX7600 at c.£350 which is where the RX7700XT was (and is on other sites)?

For example I'm seeing:

• 7600 at £300 on PCS, or £220-£250 elsewhere
• 7600XT at £350 on PCS, or £300-£350 elsewhere
• 7700XT at £450 on PCS, or £350-£400 elsewhere
• 7800XT at £550 on PCS, or £450-£500 elsewhere

Almost makes more sense (for budget builds) to get the PC minus a GPU and fit one yourself to save upto £100.

 

[Ekans2011]

I don't know if it's just me, but have PCS GPU prices increased? As I'm seeing a RX7600 at c.£350 which is where the RX7700XT was (and is on other sites)?

For example I'm seeing:

• 7600 at £300 on PCS, or £220-£250 elsewhere
• 7600XT at £350 on PCS, or £300-£350 elsewhere
• 7700XT at £450 on PCS, or £350-£400 elsewhere
• 7800XT at £550 on PCS, or £450-£500 elsewhere

Almost makes more sense (for budget builds) to get the PC minus a GPU and fit one yourself to save upto £100.

I see the same thing, yes.

 

[TonyCarter]

I see the same thing, yes.

Might have to adjust our guide prices further, so extra £150 for the 9800X3D and £100 extra for the GPU means:

• 1080p = £1750
• 1440p = £2250
• 2160p = £2750

 

[Martinr36]

Might have to adjust our guide prices further, so extra £150 for the 9800X3D and £100 extra for the GPU means:

• 1080p = £1750
• 1440p = £2250
• 2160p = £2750

Just in time for the you know what sales 😂🙄

 

[SpyderTracks]

Might have to adjust our guide prices further, so extra £150 for the 9800X3D and £100 extra for the GPU means:

• 1080p = £1750
• 1440p = £2250
• 2160p = £2750

This surely has to do with next gen GPUs being so close do you think?

I haven’t seen any general market increases as yet except of course for the 4080 and 4090 that are no longer being manufactured.

 

[BerryHolly]

Ok lovely, thank you
Let's say my budget could be £2000 what would be the best I could get? I didn't realise there was too much to it but I appreciate your help as I'm clueless clearly haha I can get a monitor separately but I appreciate that's also quite important too. I'm happy to upgrade that at a later date as that would be the cheaper upgrade rather than having to replace the whole PC haha
Thanks again!