Recommendations for prebuilt gaming PC

[djneils98]

I've been out of the windows hardware situation for a good decade and I need to buy a gaming pc with a budget off £2k
I don't want to build from parts at all.
I have no idea whether intel or.AMD is the way to go these days in either CPU or graphics.
Can someone recommend a PC builder that they have had positive actual experience with and what is the best spec to aim for?

thanks in advance

this is what I am seeing in this price range - any good?
https://www.cyberpowersystem.co.uk/system/intel-14...

Edited by djneils98 on Friday 19th September 15:05

[mmm-five]

Other than the rightfully ostracised 14900KF CPU, the relatively slow RAM and the Norton malware there's nothing inherently wrong with it.

I'd prefer a 9800X3D CP, 9070XT GPU, and 6000MHz RAM...but that's just me!

[Greedydog]

I wouldn’t touch Intel for gaming at the moment, as above you want an AMD AM5 based system, ideally a 9800X3D. GPU wise high end Nvidia 5080 is preferable to an AMD 9070 XT if you can get it in your budget, but if not the 9070XT would be my pick over lower Nvidia cards. Whatever GPU it must be a minimum of 16Gb VRAM.

The bonus of an AM5 based system is that it will be upgradable to at least the next one, if not two generations of AMD processors providing a future upgrade path for 5 years or so.

[LeftmostAardvark]

https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/gami...

[djneils98]

thanks for the comments so far - ideally wanna spend 1750 but appreciate the tip to go for AMD over intel stuff

[mmm-five]

djneils98 said:

thanks for the comments so far - ideally wanna spend 1750 but appreciate the tip to go for AMD over intel stuff

What resolution/refresh rate are you playing at?

If it's 1440p, then £2000 is probably the minimum you'd need to spend to get something that won't be cutting corners (i.e. with a 16GB 5070Ti or 9070XT). I think a 5080 is overkill unless you're playing at 4k.

For 1080p, then £1750 is plenty (i.e. with a 16GB 9060XT/5060TI/9070)...and the GPU is where the saving is being made.

AMD GPUs are better value for money at the moment, and are outperforming Nvidia models in the 1080/1440p tier - in fact the 9070XT isn't that far off the RTX5080...except in ray tracing...and about 30-40%% cheaper (i.e. from £600 vs from £1000).

Edited by mmm-five on Saturday 20th September 11:36

[the-photographer]

djneils98 said:

thanks for the comments so far - ideally wanna spend 1750 but appreciate the tip to go for AMD over intel stuff

This company is good, https://www.quietpc.com/quiet-gaming-pcs

[snowman99]

The GPU is the expensive bit. And you don’t need water cooling, particularly with AMD.
7800x3d will save you at least £100 over 9800 and still very good. You should be able to get one with a 5070 standard in budget if not including screen, anything will be close to £2k I’d guess.

[parabolica]

Would you consider laptops? I just re-entered the PC gaming area and bought a Asus ROG G14 with a 5060 which is within your budget and well impressed with it.

[mmm-five]

parabolica said:

Would you consider laptops? I just re-entered the PC gaming area and bought a Asus ROG G14 with a 5060 which is within your budget and well impressed with it.

Unless you need the laptop format for portability, it's a bit of a throwaway option, as you can't upgrade the CPU or GPU...and a 5060-tier laptop GPU is usually about the same as a tier lower desktop GPU (due to the lower power requirements and fewer cores).

[gangzoom]

mmm-five said:

What resolution/refresh rate are you playing at?

If it's 1440p, then £2000 is probably the minimum you'd need to spend to get something that won't be cutting corners (i.e. with a 16GB 5070Ti or 9070XT). I think a 5080 is overkill unless you're playing at 4k.

I thought your were exaggerating when suggesting £2K wasn't enough for 1440P gaming. I'm still waiting for Nvidia to roll out the promised 5080 to all GeForceNow gaming sessions, but StarWars Outlaws (1 year old game now) struggles to hit 30FPS with a 4080 card at 1440p with all the setting turned up to max!!