Gaming PC

[mdavids]

I haven't upgraded in years so I'm in need of an almost complete system overhaul: CPU, mboard, memory, hard drive and gfx card.
The original plan was to wait until 3060ti became available then buy everything but the way things are going that could take a while. In fact it's looking like there are no gfx cards of any flavour around unless you buy a complete system.
I've found the following for £1000 which when you add up all the components actually seems like a decent deal. I could then sell the gfx card once the 3060 becomes available.

Ryzen 5 5600x
16gb ram
500gb SSD
Asus prime B550 mboard
Asus 1660 super gfx card

Using pc part picker those bits alone come to nearly £1k however I'm aware that's partly because the gfx card by itself is so overpriced at the moment.
I've just bought a 4k monitor but I'd be happy playing latest games and stuff from the last couple of years at 1080p for now

Is there a flaw in my plan?
Is this horribly overpriced?
Does anyone know of a better deal available?
Anyone like to guess when gfx cards will become easy to find again?

Edited by mdavids on Saturday 6th March 21:16

[mdavids]

To answer a couple of questions about the original system, the SSD is actually an M2 and yes it's a little small but it'll do for now and storage is easy enough to add to.
The mboard is coming in at around £110 which is more than I'd probably spend if I was self-building so I assume it's a decent one.
The case is not something I care about - it'll be under my desk and not on display.
Power supply just say's 500watt.

However, I've been looking around and a few other options have cropped up.

Cheapest - £760
1660 Super
Ryzen 5 3600X
240gb SSD + 1TB HDD
16 gb Ram
unsure on mboard
No OS (not a problem)


middle - £970
RTX 3060 (but not TI)
Ryzen 5 3600
240gb SSD + 1TB HDD
16 gb Ram
unsure on mboard
windows 10 pre-installed


Top - £1450
RTX 3070
Ryzen 5 5600x
240gb SSD + 1TB HDD
16 gb Ram
ASUS PRIME A520M-K Motherboard
windows 10 pre-installed


The middle option is a dilemma, CPU is a lage step down from the 5600x in the original £1k system but I'd always planned on speccing a Ryzen 3600 anyway. The RTX 3060 is a good chunk faster than the 1660 but about 20% slower than a 3060TI, so would I end up just wanting to upgrade to a 3060TI anyway, in which case I might as well go for the £750 cheapest option - going for the middle option would mean I'd be paying £250 extra for a better card but which I'd just be changing in the future.
To be honest I know the answer is go for the top option and then there's no need to think about upgrading in the future but thats a 50% budget creep over the original and is probably over-kill.

Edited by mdavids on Sunday 7th March 18:20

[mdavids]

towser said:

What PSU are you getting with these builds...?

Nvidia bumph I've read on the 3060Ti suggests a system with a 600 / 650 watt PSU - not sure if it's a necessity but just a thought....

The top option just says 750 watt, the others are 500, no mention of brand so I'd guess this is an area where they'll be saving. Obviously they're all warrantied so if it goes pop I have come back, and could always upgrade it myself once warranty period is over

[mdavids]

mikef said:

OP, you may find it cheaper to order CPU/Mobo/RAM as a bundle from CCL or AWD-IT instead of ordering separately, that's what I've been looking at

Problem is I can't get the gfx card I want, or even any card that isn't at a vastly inflated RRP, and the situation doesn't appear to be resolving itself any time soon. This is why I've been looking at ready built towers as this seems to be the only way currently to get a half decent gfx card without paying way over the odds.
Ordinarily I'd just build it myself but I haven't actully upgraded anything in years as I haven't been gaming on PC much so buying a full tower does actually make financial sense this time round. Just need to find something that isn't too much of a compromise, is usable at 1080p and will leave me with a simple gfx card upgrade once they're available at sensible prices.

[mdavids]

paulrockliffe said:

mdavids said:

Problem is I can't get the gfx card I want, or even any card that isn't at a vastly inflated RRP, and the situation doesn't appear to be resolving itself any time soon. This is why I've been looking at ready built towers as this seems to be the only way currently to get a half decent gfx card without paying way over the odds.
Ordinarily I'd just build it myself but I haven't actully upgraded anything in years as I haven't been gaming on PC much so buying a full tower does actually make financial sense this time round. Just need to find something that isn't too much of a compromise, is usable at 1080p and will leave me with a simple gfx card upgrade once they're available at sensible prices.

Why not spend your money on the stuff that's not ridiculously over-priced and then buy a proper graphics card when prices sort themselves out? It's not ideal, but you could end up with a much better result if you can hold out on the graphics card for a while.

Thats definitely the best option, but no one seems to know how long this shortage will go on for, it's been months now with no sign of abating. I can wait, but it would be nice to know approximately how long for. I work in an industry thats heavily affected by the semiconductor shortage and the situation is grim, maybe prices will stay daft for the next year and beyond!

Pricing up individual components for the £1k system in my op but without gfx card and OS comes to about £600 leaving £400 to spend on gfx.The cheapest 1660 super is currently over £500 - its maybe a £200 card at best!!

[mdavids]

Update for anyone interested, after doing the maths I went for the following ready built system:

Ryzen 3600x
Asus Prime B450M-A mboard
16gb 3000 mhz RAM
1TB HDD
1660 Super gfx
No OS
Case
500watt bronze power supply

All the components, but not including the gfx card, come to £510 on PC part picker.
1660 Supers are going for at least £300 second hand on ebay, £400 for new
Total cost of the system was £700 so I've got the spec I wanted and picked up the gfx card for £190.
I'll need to add a M2 SSD and then I'll swap out the gfx for a 3060TI once they're available and sensibly priced.

[mdavids]

TonyTony said:

You can get prebuilds with 3060ti onwards still, you just need to look in the right places. Argos seem to have 3060ti/3070/3080/3090 prebuilds in all the time still, just keep checking every day because they do sell out quickly.

I wouldn't bother with a 1660 or even a 3060.

The 5600 is good for what it is but for longevity you are better off with more than 6 physical cores now.

I've been looking for a few weeks now and if there's a 3060ti system actually in stock its usually hugely overpriced.

A 1660 will do me for now, I've got plenty of previous generation games to catch up on - my current PC is running a 560TI! And if I time it right I should get most of the £190 back its cost me when I'm finally able to snag a 3060TI.

Ultimately I'm looking for bang-for-buck, no matter what kit you get there's always something better just around the corner. I could spend a fortune and get the best of everything but it'd be overkill.

[mdavids]

TonyTony said:

Just seen what you paid for it, thats not bad to be fair. Howcome it doesn't come with an OS though?

OS is an £80 optional extra, but I already have Win10 so I'll just transfer my key across.

jingars said:

Any plans re cooling?

I have recently assembled a Ryzen 7 3800-based machine (typing on it now), the spec of which was created by my son - although I did put my foot down and deleted all of the Halfords after market style RGB lighting and glass case side...

I wanted a quiet machine and so he specced a Corsair AIO cooler. Initially I was grumpy at the additional cost, but will confess to being a convert as the machine is whisper quiet. The Corsair iCue management software is also quite sexy, showing temps of all aspects of the mainboard, processor, and drives.

No plans yet but thanks for the recommendation, I'll see what's like for noise and upgrade if it's annoying me