In-expensive gaming PC

[cheesewotsit]

I've currently got an xbox one that I largely spend time playing Farming Sim, Wreckfest, SnowRunner and Nascar Heat 4. What I find frustrating is that the 'mod' community for these games really opens them up, but to a large degree I miss out on that being on console. So, I want to make the switch to PC.

I last built a gaming PC about 20 years ago, so I've no idea whatsoever where to start today. I don't want or need (or could probably afford!) an 8K monster. If I plucked an imaginary £500-£600 out of the air, could I build something that could run the above games to a decent level at 1080P which is totally sufficient for me?

Any help appreciated!

[Condi]

You could, but you could just buy something out the box which is likely to be cheaper, spec for spec, and comes with a warranty.

Have a look on ebuyer, something like this would be fine, although you might want an SSD and another 8GB of ram at some point.

https://www.ebuyer.com/958687-cyberpower-gaming-ry...

EDIT - just priced up the components for that machine. Pricing in a Ryzen 5 CPU and not a Ryzen 3, you're paying £50 more. It really isn't cheaper to build your own these days.

Edited by Condi on Friday 12th June 10:49

[Douglas Arfempty]

Condi said:

You could, but you could just buy something out the box which is likely to be cheaper, spec for spec, and comes with a warranty.

Have a look on ebuyer, something like this would be fine, although you might want an SSD and another 8GB of ram at some point.

https://www.ebuyer.com/958687-cyberpower-gaming-ry...

EDIT - just priced up the components for that machine. Pricing in a Ryzen 5 CPU and not a Ryzen 3, you're paying £50 more. It really isn't cheaper to build your own these days.

Edited by Condi on Friday 12th June 10:49

Windows Key online for £9.99 would enable another £90 to be spent on a slightly higher spec GPU.

[tangerine_sedge]

Oddly enough, after having a long chat with my son this morning, I've come to the realisation that my next gaming pc will probably be a console hooked up to a mouse/keyboard and monitor. I could spec a decent gaming PC for £1000, or just buy a console for half that price.

My current gaming PC can soldier on for another 10 years for PC stuff!

[cheesewotsit]

Thanks - it's interesting to learn that as when I last did it the only option was to build you're own.

Just reading another thread with a £600 limit has got me this: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/HcDWvW

I only have a 1080P monitor (could hook it up to my TV) but it's more PC game content that I'm after that anything graphically immense. Heck, I prefer playing Nintendo Switch games over most stuff anyway

[Horace Van Khute]

Douglas Arfempty said:

Windows Key online for £9.99 would enable another £90 to be spent on a slightly higher spec GPU.

If you're going that route, you could pay someone 50 quid to find you a built PC that fell of the lorry somewhere. I hear that it's a very "in" thing in Q2 2020 especially if you're in the USA

[brman]

Condi said:

You could, but you could just buy something out the box which is likely to be cheaper, spec for spec, and comes with a warranty.

Have a look on ebuyer, something like this would be fine, although you might want an SSD and another 8GB of ram at some point.

https://www.ebuyer.com/958687-cyberpower-gaming-ry...

EDIT - just priced up the components for that machine. Pricing in a Ryzen 5 CPU and not a Ryzen 3, you're paying £50 more. It really isn't cheaper to build your own these days.

Edited by Condi on Friday 12th June 10:49

tbh I think this is an excellent example of not comparing apples with apples.
So the ebuyer PC has an unknown make A320M motherboard. Your build a Asus B450M.
The ebuyer PC a R3 3200, your build a R5 3600.
The ebuyer no-name 8G 2400 ram. yours HyperX fury 8G 3000 ram.

To counter that you do appear to have missed a hard disc but that is not exactly expensive so overall all you are saying is that a cheap readbuilt PC is cheaper than a decent DIY built one. Doesn't really mean much does it?

Using pcpartpicker to get something that is more equivelent of the ebuyer one gets me this:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/884jMc
So that is £400 vs ebuyers £550
(don't copy that build though, I chose parts at random and have not checked compatibility)

I do agree with the bit about warranty. If it all goes pear shaped it is nice to be able to throw it back at the supplier. On the other hand, the only PC I have had real reliability problems with was a ready built one (because it used cheap components...) and it was a right pain trying to prove the occasional but annoying lock ups were actually happening and needed sorting. In fact I had to fix it myself in the end (by changing the PSU). ymmv.

[knk]

Use any low spec PC or chromebox and google Stadia for games, or use your TV and a Chromecast with Stadia.