Looking for advice for gaming PC.

L

Lewis321

Member
Hey, I’m looking for advice on a gaming PC I have planned, I wouldn’t be tied down to one genre and would be using it to play various types of games. I’m not expecting it too run every game with max settings at a high FPS but I’m looking to make it as best as I can for good value. Price range is upto £1000 but would prefer to stay below that figure and keep it as cheap as possible. To be honest Im not very clued up on what I’m doing or selecting and would appreciate anyone to point me in the right direction, cheers.



Case
PCS SPECTRUM RGB MID TOWER CASE

Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-9600K (3.7 GHz) 9 MB Cache

Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME Z390-P: ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready!

Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)

Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 SUPER - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!

1st Storage Drive
512GB PCS 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)

Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-550 POWER SUPPLY

Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)

Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V2 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)

Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD

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

Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language

Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account

Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)

Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ Internet Security - 3 User, 1 Year
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
Hi there. Do you have a monitor yet? If so what’s the resolution and refresh rate, or make and model if you’re not sure. Any other uses or is it purely a gaming system?
 
L

Lewis321

Member
AgentCooper said:
Hi there. Do you have a monitor yet? If so what’s the resolution and refresh rate, or make and model if you’re not sure. Any other uses or is it purely a gaming system?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply. No I don’t have a monitor yet and I understand that I’m looking at another £100ish too get that but I’m more concerned for the PC as I don’t know all the ins and outs. Its purely for gaming purposes, no video editing, office work or anything like that.
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
It's always tricky with a tight budget, it's much easier to spec a build for someone with deep pockets. There's a few ways we could approach this and I'm going to go for the upgradable option.

Firstly, changed from Intel to AMD as they're king of the hill now when it comes to CPUs and tend to be better value for money. This build includes a 1080p 75Hz monitor so you can game away at decent settings for a while. And when you're ready to make the move up to 1440p the base build is strong enough that you'll just need to get a new GPU and monitor combo...

Case
CORSAIR 275R AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT Six Core CPU (4.5GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 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™
Monitor
IIYAMA G2530HSU-B1 24.5" Gaming Monitor
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation
NONE
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Price: £1,114.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/khMF3M3nKv/
 
L

Lewis321

Member
AgentCooper said:
It's always tricky with a tight budget, it's much easier to spec a build for someone with deep pockets. There's a few ways we could approach this and I'm going to go for the upgradable option.

Firstly, changed from Intel to AMD as they're king of the hill now when it comes to CPUs and tend to be better value for money. This build includes a 1080p 75Hz monitor so you can game away at decent settings for a while. And when you're ready to make the move up to 1440p the base build is strong enough that you'll just need to get a new GPU and monitor combo...

Case
CORSAIR 275R AIRFLOW TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600XT Six Core CPU (4.5GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B550-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 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™
Monitor
IIYAMA G2530HSU-B1 24.5" Gaming Monitor
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Home Installation
NONE
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days
Price: £1,114.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/khMF3M3nKv/
Click to expand...

Thank you I really appreciate that mate! Me and pals have been talking and I’m thinking of going for the finance option rather than outright so I’m prepared to go over the £1000 price range as i will barely notice it monthly. So being prepared to go over that price I might change the GPU you recommended, 4GB 1650 to an 8GB 1660 super. So I guess that will mean I will need another monitor to make the GPU upgrade worth it? And also might get a better CPU fan as well, perhaps PCS frostflow 100 RGB, are these good ideas?
 
Last edited:
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
You're welcome!

The AMD stock cooler is pretty good, I personally wouldn't bother spending the extra on the PCS one (and I think it comes with a sexy bit of RGB on it anyway). I'd put that money towards the 1660 Super and a 1080p 144Hz monitor so you can have higher settings and much improved frames per second (y)
 
L

Lewis321

Member
AgentCooper said:
@lauwai makes a good point, how high is your max budget now that you're thinking finance?
Click to expand...

Nothing too wild £1200-1300. Isn’t the set up you recommended along with the other GPU I was planning for pretty powerful already? Like I said I’m not looking for an absolute beast, just something considerable for its price. FYI I haven’t played on PC since I was like 14 in 2014 so I’m extremely outdated with my knowledge, thanks for the help everyone I appreciate it!
 
L

lauwai

Bronze Level Poster
Lewis321 said:
Nothing too wild £1200-1300. Isn’t the set up you recommended along with the other GPU I was planning for pretty powerful already? Like I said I’m not looking for an absolute beast, just something considerable for its price. FYI I haven’t played on PC since I was like 14 in 2014 so I’m extremely outdated with my knowledge, thanks for the help everyone I appreciate it!
Click to expand...

the 1600 series are pretty much base level now for Nvidia GPUS and will manage for any current games but going forward they'll struggle. If you aren't in desperate need for a PC, wait a few weeks and see how all the new GPU announcements and reviews unfold.
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
Above post is sound, new cards mean that prices will drop significantly on current stuff and we could potentially be speccing you a 1440p system for similar money in the very near future.

1440p is where it's at until 4K gets cheaper (y)
 
L

lauwai

Bronze Level Poster
You could also finance a PC without a GPU and then buy a GPU seperately if there's a deal going, so the initial outlay isn't too bad. All depends on your cash fluidity I suppose and your PC building expertise.

Also, this years Black Friday and Xmas holiday/Jan sales will probably be quite intense with the current economic climate being as it is. There maybe some great deals about.
 
L

Lewis321

Member
Ok thanks for the help everyone, I think I’ll wait for the news GPU’s to come out and wait too see the prices around that time.
 
F

fullofpenguions

Bronze Level Poster
Just though I'd chime in with a counter thought. I've recently got a AMD 3600X/1660 Super set up with a 1080p/144hz monitor after not having a decent computer for a long time.

It's is astonishingly good compared to the off the shelf machines I've had in the past. It smashes all the work/productivity stuff and 1080/144 gaming is amazing after years of using a PS4. I got help here that meant I could maximise my budget and get exactly what I needed.

I know 1440 would probably blow my socks off and in many ways if you can realistically stretch your money, waiting to see what the higher cards can offer is best.

Just worth saying that as a newbie to this malarkey - the budget end is still pretty damn good too if you follow the sage advice of the folks here.
 
AgentCooper

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
And that’s exactly why I pushed a lower but upgradable spec initially. PC gaming has its ups and downs and it’s often nowhere as simple as the plug and play nature of a console. But the versatility it provides is off the charts. A lower end spec won’t provide you with ray tracing and full anti aliasing but it might just give you the taste for a brilliant experience 😁

You can play games from twenty odd years ago on GOG, you can outpace consoles for frames per second easily, you can tweak options for an optimal experience. And most enjoyably... mods.

 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AgentCooper said:
And that’s exactly why I pushed a lower but upgradable spec initially. PC gaming has its ups and downs and it’s often nowhere as simple as the plug and play nature of a console. But the versatility it provides is off the charts. A lower end spec won’t provide you with ray tracing and full anti aliasing but it might just give you the taste for a brilliant experience 😁

You can play games from twenty odd years ago on GOG, you can outpace consoles for frames per second easily, you can tweak options for an optimal experience. And most enjoyably... mods.

Click to expand...
Mods are where it's at, but be warned, once you try it there's no return.... the modding community can be a dark, dangerous place :ROFLMAO:
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
AgentCooper said:
And that’s exactly why I pushed a lower but upgradable spec initially. PC gaming has its ups and downs and it’s often nowhere as simple as the plug and play nature of a console. But the versatility it provides is off the charts. A lower end spec won’t provide you with ray tracing and full anti aliasing but it might just give you the taste for a brilliant experience 😁

You can play games from twenty odd years ago on GOG, you can outpace consoles for frames per second easily, you can tweak options for an optimal experience. And most enjoyably... mods.

Click to expand...
I love the fact they even added the music to that mod! Amazing!
 
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