New to PC gaming - Advice on specs please

[David78]

Hi there

My PS3 has finally given up on me after 12 years of extensive loyal service. With the new PS5 imminent at the end of the year, I don't see the point of running out and purchasing a PS4. A younger colleague at work has been selling me to the idea of a gaming PC instead as I won't need to keep buying a new console every 5-10 yrs as I can just upgrade parts as and when it's needed.

He has put together this PC on PC Specialist and emailed me the quote. It's a good £350 more than what I'd be looking at for a PS5 but he has assured me that it will do everything I want and be good for the next 10 years.

£800 is a lot of money to pay out if I need to pay more out within the next 5-10 years. May as well just get a console and plug it into my 59" TV

What do you all think of these specs? Is it good enough to run games such as GTA5 and Tomb Raider as well handle the data amount of games such as FM20?

Case
THERMALTAKE V200 TEMPERED GLASS RGB EDITION GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Quad Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.3GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 590 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
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 (AMD)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Can you post the configuration link at the bottom of the quote?

Also, what monitor are you pairing this with, what resolution and refresh rate or make and model if you're unsure?

I have to be honest, at this budget you're going to get an entry level PC for 1080p gaming.

With the PS5, which will likely be around £500, you'll get high performance at 4k which would cost around £2500 in PC terms.

Normally I would be right behind you getting into PC gaming, but not at this budget, not with the performance increases we're going to see on the upcoming consoles, if you were able to invest more, then I'd say it was worth it, but not for a basic machine.

 

[David78]

Here's the quote link https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/JaxEz2jupC/

I would only use it to play FM20 as only game I play really but my laptop struggles to play it. It gets very juddery in the in-match game view. My son has an old Xbox that he plays on and is happy with that at the moment. So was looking at getting a desktop PC for the spare room anyway.

I have a spare HP w2007v left over from an old PC that I was going to use until I can fork out for a better one.

If I'm going to need to pay £500 for a decent desktop just to play FM20 a bit more smoother then I would rather pay a few hundred more for something that could handle other games as well. I'm in my 40's and my eyes aren't amazing anymore haha so I wouldn't need anything that has amazing graphics. Just something that runs a game smoothly without juddering. Wouldn't this be any good just for that?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Here's the quote link https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/JaxEz2jupC/

I would only use it to play FM20 as only game I play really but my laptop struggles to play it. It gets very juddery in the in-match game view. My son has an old Xbox that he plays on and is happy with that at the moment. So was looking at getting a desktop PC for the spare room anyway.

I have a spare HP w2007v left over from an old PC that I was going to use until I can fork out for a better one.

If I'm going to need to pay £500 for a decent desktop just to play FM20 a bit more smoother then I would rather pay a few hundred more for something that could handle other games as well. I'm in my 40's and my eyes aren't amazing anymore haha so I wouldn't need anything that has amazing graphics. Just something that runs a game smoothly without juddering. Wouldn't this be any good just for that?

Like I say, the budget you're at will get you a very entry level 1080p 60Hz system which is considered very poor by today's standards.

The norm is to game at 1440p 144Hz, with top tier being 4k 144Hz. 1080p is really a dead resolution on console or PC and should never IMHO ever be an option.

 

[SpyderTracks]

This would be a bit better balanced:

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window) Much better case for airflow
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 3300X Quad Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.3GHz/18MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB) Much faster RAM which is important for Ryzen
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 SUPER - HDMI Better GPU, AMD have had problems with drivers for a long time now
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W) Fast OS drive
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W CV SERIES™ CV-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER Standard cooler is ample on this chip
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 Decent wifi 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® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
TIMED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND - MON-FRI (BEFORE 2PM)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £804.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/xAeKazn7aU/

 

[David78]

Just curious then as to why PC specialist are recommending the GTA5 Pro PC at £1000 as a mid range option with an entry level at £680 and the extreme package at just under £1300 if they aren't any good?

I'm not looking to spend thousands on something that's not really going to benefit me any more that something that costs £800

Aren't these recommended builds any good at all then?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just curious then as to why PC specialist are recommending the GTA5 Pro PC at £1000 as a mid range option with an entry level at £680 and the extreme package at just under £1300 if they aren't any good?

I'm not looking to spend thousands on something that's not really going to benefit me any more that something that costs £800

Aren't these recommended builds any good at all then?

GTA 5 is very old. It's not hard to max out old games.

 

[David78]

The recommended build you have posted would be more suited then? Really do appreciate the advice as it's not my area of expertise at all haha

Definitely gives me something to talk about over dinner tonight.

Much appreciated for your advice

 

[David78]

Just out of curiosity....Why has an SSD drive been added when it has a hard drive? 256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W) Fast OS drive What benefit does this add to the PC please?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Just out of curiosity....Why has an SSD drive been added when it has a hard drive? 256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W) Fast OS drive What benefit does this add to the PC please?

You wouldn't use just an HDD, they're incredibly slow by today's standards and are only used for storage.

That SSD is about 20 times faster than the HDD, they're the norm these days for OS, programs and games.