New desktop PC for immersive Football Manager - thoughts on my spec?

[chile_paul]

Hi all,

Decided to bite the bullet and upgrade my very old desktop PC which now must be 10-15 years old I reckon (Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500 CPU @ 3.30GHz with 8MB RAM)?

Budget is circa £500-£600, although I could stretch a bit and I'll only really use it to run Football Manager, Civ games and standard office stuff. I like to play long and immersive FM games with multiple leagues running worldwide. I do have kids though, soon to be teenagers and I can imagine they might fight me for it for some other gaming needs in the future.

Currently looking at this specification and would appreciate thoughts and any input on whether you would improve it?

Case
PCS PULSE MID TOWER CASE (PWM)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5500 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB PCS PRO DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
2GB MSI GEFORCE 710 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2200 MB/R, 1500 MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CX SERIES™ CX-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD WRAITH STEALTH 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
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 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 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
Norton 360 inc. Game Optimizer - Free 90 Day License
Browser
Google Chrome™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (6 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 6 to 8 working days
Price: £551.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/ysVuSrxJbR/

 

[Ekans2011]

To be honest, your budget is far too low for a decent, modern PC.

Realistically, you'd need at least £1200-1300 to get something worthwhile; anything less would be better suited to a second hand PC or console.

 

[blaster9999]

You seem to have the core of a decent budget system, for the games you want to run, however you 2 main issues are 1) your cpu 2) your graphics card. The cashe on 5500 is only 19mb, upgrading to a 5600T and doubling the cashe. Both chips are very similar, however the cashe, will give a significant improvement to performance. The Igpu is also deactivated on a 5500 and also though you have a motherboard with pcie 4 the 5500 doesn't support that. The gfx card, chosen to put it politely, is for gaming really e waste . If you don't want to get a new budget card such as radion 6600, as mentioned above second hand may be a path forward. Or consider new older cards available from say Ali express. just have a look on ebay or Ali Express to get an idea of what is around. For what you want to do you will need to be willing to spend a bit more.

Installing a new gfx card is doable diy project.

I've recently been informed about importance of good power supply, so if need consider upgrading this if you get another gfx card. Or maybe not, my current set up has a 550 watt supply, with a 3060 and 5600x. I started with a 1600x and 1070 with that same power supply.

I also consider going to another form, other than desktop. I recall an offer last year at costco for a laptop with 12th gen cpu ( a generation before before intell chips decided to self delete, problems which intel promise is not on their 13th and 14 gen mobile hx chips ) and a mobile 3060 for under £600, you do lose the ability to upgrade, but thats considering the type of cpu/ motherboard you are looking a really a moot point.

Hopefully this helps.