General use/light gaming - low budget, no graphics card

[budgie]

The i5-2500 PC I got from PCS 10 years ago is still trundling on but I felt it was time for an upgrade!!

Use is general office/home use and some light gaming on older titles (nothing recent) with a 1080p 60Hz monitor. I've got a 1050 ti card in my current PC which I'll put into the new one, and will be able to upgrade to a 580 in a year or two when son upgrades his PC (currently 3 years old), which will be more than enough graphics for me.

So would welcome thoughts on below spec, trying to keep the budget under £750


Case
COOLERMASTER SILENCIO S600 QUIET MID TOWER CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12500 (3.0GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B660M DS3H DDR4 (rev. 1.0) : LGA1700, DDR4, USB 3.2
Memory (RAM)
16GB PCSpecialist PRO DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
INTEGRATED GRAPHICS ACCELERATOR (GPU)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR, 1600MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
AKASA AK-CC6606BP01 CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT 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 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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
Microsoft® Edge
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £733.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/eh5rushjnt/

 

[sck451]

This is obviously a very low-budget build, but I think it's possible to get a little better for your money.

First, I wouldn't go for that case. You admittedly don't have hot components, but it's still restrictive on cooling and I'd suggest the Corsair 4000D Airflow instead. I would also suggest going cheaper on the CPU as the 12500 is not significantly different to the 12400: to save even more I'd lose the integrated graphics and get the 12400F. This means it won't have any display, however, until you put the 1050 Ti in it. I'd also get at least a full-sized motherboard. The 12400 is very undemanding, so the full-size Gigabyte board is probably OK, though I'm a little wary of it. But the mini-ATX one is not good.

The RAM is also not ideal: modern systems really want 3200MHz memory. In an ideal world I'd also like a better power supply for you, but 650W will probably be enough for anything you'll be doing, and the RM series is good, if a little old now.

You could, of course, save quite a bit if you were happy to transfer your Windows licence over...?

Case
CORSAIR 4000D AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
GIGABYTE B660 DS3H DDR4 (rev. 1.0) : LGA1700, DDR4, USB 3.2
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR, 1600MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
AKASA AK-CC6606BP01 CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT 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
Microsoft® Edge
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £736.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/bM50Yb!jJK/

 

[Scott]

I would genuinely rethink your position. I don't think you're going to get anything in a meaningful upgrade with this budget. You can buy a PC of course, and the above would be around what I would opt for, but without taking out the Windows License I don't think you're going to get anything really worthwhile. If your current system ain't broke and does what you need, there's no real need to fix it.

If you categorically want a new system and you want a tangible upgrade then I would consider the following as a real world upgrade, it's mostly centred around storage and quality of life in that regard:

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 215 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-12400F (2.5GHz) 18MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B660-PLUS WIFI D4: ATX, LGA1700, USB 3.2, SATA 6GBs - ARGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
NONE, I ALREADY HAVE A GRAPHICS CARD
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3000MB/sR, 1600MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W RM SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 Series 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
10/100/1000 GIGABIT 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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
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
Microsoft® Edge
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 4 to 7 working days
Price: £806.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/YzhNeAJZkF/

 

[budgie]

Thanks for the comments so far

I should have added that I have 3 HDDs to transfer over into the new PC, so hadn't specified additional storage over the 1st M.2 drive yet, although over time I'll move these over onto another M.2 and SSDs as budget allows

Would 3200MHz RAM make much of a difference over 2666MHz? From what I've read it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference for Intel systems, but is more important for Ryzen systems?

 

[Scott]

Thanks for the comments so far

I should have added that I have 3 HDDs to transfer over into the new PC, so hadn't specified additional storage over the 1st M.2 drive yet, although over time I'll move these over onto another M.2 and SSDs as budget allows

Would 3200MHz RAM make much of a difference over 2666MHz? From what I've read it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference for Intel systems, but is more important for Ryzen systems?

I would still opt for the storage right now. The storage is the only real upgrade that you'll notice in the above system. You're not massively out-gunned in the processing department and the GPU is going to be the same regardless. Storage is literally the only tangible upgrade so if you are considering the system, I would follow the trend of getting the storage in line with current standards. The 3 drives will transfer over just fine, but keeping the primary drive slick while having a secondary fast option for game loading and any fast storage you want to hold will make all the difference.

3200Mhz will have an impact on most operations. Intel makes great use of the faster speeds now, actually more than AMD, with the latest 12 series introduction. Definitely a no-brainer when purchasing RAM anyway. I would actually opt for the 3600 typically but that's less noticeable and the budget doesn't allow.

 

[budgie]

Thanks for the advice everyone, I went with the full size motherboard, and the 3600MHz RAM and second M.2 1TB drive (sourced elsewhere) and kept it at £850 all in - being delivered today.

I stuck with the Silencio case, as it has the most 3.5 inch bays and also a 5.25 bay (still burning CDs and DVDs), but took on board the comments about it running hot so have bought another case fan for intake, and will monitor temps and if necessary beef up the exhaust fan (can always take the top off as well for gaming/rendering sessions).

I also stuck with the i5-12500 CPU, as it has a nice symmetry upgrading from an i5-2500, and if there was a 12400 inside the case I would feel a little bit sad every time I turned it on

 

[budgie]

Also, when I pulled the trigger the Intel 670p was out of stock so have got the Samsung 970 EVO as the OS drive, even faster!