Budget Gaming PC set up for Sims etc

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BerryHolly

Member
Hiya,

I'm looking at getting a gaming PC for games like Sims 4, planet coaster, planet zoo, etc. I only play games like this. Everything else I play on console, I just like these games on the PC instead.
I have a budget of around £1000, I can stretch to maybe £1300 if need be. I don't currently have a monitor so any help on that would be great too. I've seen on other threads that the monitor is quite important too but if I'm honest I'm pretty clueless with it all. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Jess
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but any worthwhile 1080p build will start at about £1600 (1440p £2100+, 4K £2500+) with current gen CPU, GPU, PSU, and decent case, etc.

Any pre-builts you see below this price will have to have had corners cut to squeeze into that price, for example the PCSpecialist BF24 model at £1299:

PCSPECIALIST - Configure the Fusion BF 24 to your ideal requirements.

PCSpecialist is an award-winning manufacturer of high quality custom PCs & Laptops. Configure the Fusion BF 24 to your ideal requirements.
www.pcspecialist.co.uk www.pcspecialist.co.uk
  • non-gaming or older generation CPU (at lower resolutions the CPU is as/more important than the GPU as it has to be fast enough to feed the GPU)
  • low-level motherboard with slower specs, cheaper components
  • low-level, non-upgradable PSU
  • relatively slow & small single SSD for everything - when our recommendation is at least 2 (for redundancy & speed); and 1TB is now too small for the OS, apps and more than a few large games (some are more than 100GB now)
  • unbranded case & fans, so you won't be able to find spares easily
  • sub-optimal / unreliable cooling solution
It effectively becomes a 'throwaway' PC, which means you've spent £1300 and in 2 years time will have to spend the same again as the requirements of newer games / DLC makes yours obsolete. Whereas a £1600 PC will only need the GPU changing every 3 years.
 
Last edited:
B

BerryHolly

Member
TonyCarter said:
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but any worthwhile 1080p build will start at about £1600 (1440p £2100+, 4K £2500+) with current gen CPU, GPU, PSU, and decent case, etc.

Any pre-builts you see below this level will have corners cut to squeeze into that price, for example:
  • non-gaming or older generation CPU
  • low-level motherboard with slower specs, cheaper components
  • low-level, non-upgradable PSU
  • relatively slow & small single SSD for everything - when our recommendation is at least 2 (for redundancy & speed); and 1TB is now too small for the OS, apps and more than a few large games (some are more than 100GB now)
  • unbranded case & fans, so you won't be able to find spares easily
It effectively becomes a 'throwaway' PC, which means you've spent £1300 and in 2 years time will have to spend the same again as the requirements of newer games / DLC makes yours obsolete. Whereas a £1600 PC will only need the GPU changing every 3 years.
Click to expand...
That's ok, I can save a bit longer and get what I need. Like you said, I'd rather get a good one from the beginning instead of having to buy twice! For a budget of £1600 or a bit more what would be a good recommendation? :)
 
Ekans2011

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
BerryHolly said:
That's ok, I can save a bit longer and get what I need. Like you said, I'd rather get a good one from the beginning instead of having to buy twice! For a budget of £1600 or a bit more what would be a good recommendation? :)
Click to expand...
Here's an example of a 1080p gaming PC with some (little) room for future upgrades. :)

Case
LIAN LI LANCOOL 205 MESH C GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Eight Core CPU (Up to 5.2GHz/104MB w/3D V-CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
GIGABYTE X870 EAGLE WIFI7 (AM5, DDR5, M.2 PCIe 5.0, Wi-Fi 7)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB DDR5 6000MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
12GB GIGABYTE RADEON™ RX 7700 XT GAMING OC - 2 x HDMI, 2 x DP
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P44 PRO GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 7000MB/sR, 4700MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W RMe SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
CORSAIR iCUE H115i ELITE CAPELLIX XT RGB High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 5 to 7 working days

Price: £1,883.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/U2vUJQ3PcJ/
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
I don't know if it's just me, but have PCS GPU prices increased? As I'm seeing a RX7600 at c.£350 which is where the RX7700XT was (and is on other sites)?

For example I'm seeing:
  • 7600 at £300 on PCS, or £220-£250 elsewhere
  • 7600XT at £350 on PCS, or £300-£350 elsewhere
  • 7700XT at £450 on PCS, or £350-£400 elsewhere
  • 7800XT at £550 on PCS, or £450-£500 elsewhere
Almost makes more sense (for budget builds) to get the PC minus a GPU and fit one yourself to save upto £100.
 
Ekans2011

Ekans2011

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
TonyCarter said:
I don't know if it's just me, but have PCS GPU prices increased? As I'm seeing a RX7600 at c.£350 which is where the RX7700XT was (and is on other sites)?

For example I'm seeing:
  • 7600 at £300 on PCS, or £220-£250 elsewhere
  • 7600XT at £350 on PCS, or £300-£350 elsewhere
  • 7700XT at £450 on PCS, or £350-£400 elsewhere
  • 7800XT at £550 on PCS, or £450-£500 elsewhere
Almost makes more sense (for budget builds) to get the PC minus a GPU and fit one yourself to save upto £100.
Click to expand...
I see the same thing, yes.
 
T

TonyCarter

VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Ekans2011 said:
I see the same thing, yes.
Click to expand...
Might have to adjust our guide prices further, so extra £150 for the 9800X3D and £100 extra for the GPU means:
  • 1080p = £1750
  • 1440p = £2250
  • 2160p = £2750
giphy.gif
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
TonyCarter said:
Might have to adjust our guide prices further, so extra £150 for the 9800X3D and £100 extra for the GPU means:
  • 1080p = £1750
  • 1440p = £2250
  • 2160p = £2750
giphy.gif
Click to expand...
This surely has to do with next gen GPUs being so close do you think?

I haven’t seen any general market increases as yet except of course for the 4080 and 4090 that are no longer being manufactured.
 
B

BerryHolly

Member
Ok lovely, thank you :)
Let's say my budget could be £2000 what would be the best I could get? I didn't realise there was too much to it but I appreciate your help as I'm clueless clearly haha I can get a monitor separately but I appreciate that's also quite important too. I'm happy to upgrade that at a later date as that would be the cheaper upgrade rather than having to replace the whole PC haha
Thanks again!
 
B

BerryHolly

Member
I posted a similar thread a while ago but my budget has changed.

I'm looking at getting a gaming PC for games like Sims 4, planet coaster2, planet zoo, etc. I only play games like this. Everything else I play on console, I just like these games on the PC instead.
I have a budget of around £2000 for the base unit. I don't currently have a monitor so any help on that would be great too. I've seen on other threads that the monitor is quite important too but if I'm honest I'm pretty clueless with it all. Any ideas or help would be greatly appreciated.

what is the best PC I could get with specs I need for these types of games?

Thanks in advance,

Jess
 
B

BerryHolly

Member
SpyderTracks said:
If you can continue on your original thread please so we can see the previous advice
Click to expand...
This is the original thread, I must have got confused. I had a lower budget originally as you can see in the original post, but I can go up to £2000 now just for the base unit. I just know what I want to play, I have no idea on the specs I require so any help would be appreciated 😊 Thank you
 
B

BerryHolly

Member
Hiya, I have a budget of £2000 just for the PC itself. If I can get something great for slightly cheaper that would be ideal.
I will only use it to play games like sims, planet coaster, etc. no streaming. I have an Xbox for other games. How good do you think this set up is and what adjustments would you make? I’m not sure which is better for these games either intelnof amd.

Thanks 😊

Case
CORSAIR 3500X ARGB TEMPERED GLASS MID-TOWER (WHITE)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 7700X Eight Core CPU (4.5GHz-5.4GHz/40MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF GAMING B650-PLUS WIFI (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, Wi-Fi 6)
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 4800MHz (2 x 16GB) KIT
Graphics Card
12GB ZOTAC GEFORCE RTX 4070 SUPER Twin Edge - HDMI, 3 x DP
Buy select GeForce RTX 40 Series*, get Indiana Jones & The Great Circle
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SAMSUNG 990 EVO M.2, PCIe 4.0 & 5.0 NVMe (up to 5000MB/R, 4200MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 750W CX SERIES™ CX-750 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe LAN PORT
Wireless Network Card
NONE OR ONBOARD Wi-Fi (MOTHERBOARD DEPENDENT)
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
Microsoft® Edge
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year 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
QTY
1
£1,310.83
ex VAT
£1,573.00
inc VAT and Delivery
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
I just wouldn't be buying a PC now, prices are insane because they've stopped production of GPU's and CPU's are currently in short supply

The next gen GPU's are announced in the first week of January for release shortly after, I would wait until then.
 
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