No idea what I’m doing...

P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
So I’m no expert when it comes to this, but looking at some other builds and googling, I came up with the following.

Wanting something that’s fairly future proof and can decently play most new games.

Advice/feedback appreciated!

Case
PCS GENESIS G1B CASE + SD CARD READER
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-9400F (2.9GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® TUF B360M-PLUS GAMING: Micro-ATX, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
32GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1650 - HDMI
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA 120 2.5" SSD, (upto 560MB/sR | 540MB/sW)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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 - Supplied on USB Drive
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £776.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-II/n3TuZeVFCM/
 
Last edited:
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
What's your max budget and what's it for, just for gaming?

What monitor are you pairing it with, what resolution and refresh rate, or make and model if you're unsure?
 
P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
To be honest, I didn’t want to go over £600, but seeing it as an investment.

Gaming and day to day browsing, office use, etc.

It’s a fairly old LCD monitor Philips Brilliance 210C, so guessing I’d probably need to get a new one...
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
PeoplesWelbo said:
To be honest, I didn’t want to go over £600, but seeing it as an investment.

Gaming and day to day browsing, office use, etc.

It’s a fairly old LCD monitor Philips Brilliance 210C, so guessing I’d probably need to get a new one...
Click to expand...
£600 would limit to the point it wouldn't really be worth getting a PC because you'd get an equal experience and longer lifetime from a console.

Really £800 is about where you want to be aiming for a good platform that can be upgraded. Are you ok going up to that?

Do you know if it's a 1080p screen? I can't find any reference to that model, if you look at the rear of it it should give a distinct model number.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
£600 won't get you anything worth having unfortunately. Your current build is a bit better budget wise but you can have a far better build for that same money.

Something like this would be good. Note I've selected a fast M2 drive over the large storage drive. It will pay dividends to the daily usage of the system and should always be considered nowadays. If you really need the storage I would consider saving up a little more and adding a 1 or 2 TB conventional 7200RPM drive to the build...

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB 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)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £765.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/K9agAcqVHB/
 
P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
SpyderTracks said:
£600 would limit to the point it wouldn't really be worth getting a PC because you'd get an equal experience and longer lifetime from a console.

Really £800 is about where you want to be aiming for a good platform that can be upgraded. Are you ok going up to that?

Do you know if it's a 1080p screen? I can't find any reference to that model, if you look at the rear of it it should give a distinct model number.
Click to expand...

Well I’m only £24 away from that, so I guess so, yeah.

I’ll have to check on the screen.
Not sure it is 1080p.
 
P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
Scott said:
£600 won't get you anything worth having unfortunately. Your current build is a bit better budget wise but you can have a far better build for that same money.

Something like this would be good. Note I've selected a fast M2 drive over the large storage drive. It will pay dividends to the daily usage of the system and should always be considered nowadays. If you really need the storage I would consider saving up a little more and adding a 1 or 2 TB conventional 7200RPM drive to the build...

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB 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)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £765.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/K9agAcqVHB/
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. Would you be able to explain the M2 drive?

I also saw you went with 16GB RAM, do you think that’s fairly future proof or would that be where I’d have to do some upgrading down the line?
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
PeoplesWelbo said:
Thanks for this. Would you be able to explain the M2 drive?

I also saw you went with 16GB RAM, do you think that’s fairly future proof or would that be where I’d have to do some upgrading down the line?
Click to expand...

M2 drives are the modern version of the SSD drive (Solid state). They have recently became the default option due to prices becoming so affordable while performance is absolutely through the roof. It's a little memory stick that's a hard drive.

With regards to the RAM. 16GB is more than enough for your uses. You could happily get away with 8 to be honest. 16GB is the new recommended standard on here, this is allowing for future growth and potential prior to the next big step change (DDR5). 32GB is of use for certain applications but gaming certainly isn't one of them, and won't be for the foreseeable future. GPU RAM is much more relevant nowadays than system RAM due to the increased resolution and refresh rates in demand. Note the speed of the RAM I selected vs your choice, this is more relevant to performance with gaming.
 
P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
Scott said:
M2 drives are the modern version of the SSD drive (Solid state). They have recently became the default option due to prices becoming so affordable while performance is absolutely through the roof. It's a little memory stick that's a hard drive.

With regards to the RAM. 16GB is more than enough for your uses. You could happily get away with 8 to be honest. 16GB is the new recommended standard on here, this is allowing for future growth and potential prior to the next big step change (DDR5). 32GB is of use for certain applications but gaming certainly isn't one of them, and won't be for the foreseeable future. GPU RAM is much more relevant nowadays than system RAM due to the increased resolution and refresh rates in demand. Note the speed of the RAM I selected vs your choice, this is more relevant to performance with gaming.
Click to expand...

Thanks a lot for explaining all that. I did notice the bump on the GFX card.

In terms of extra space, games are pretty big these days, I have a 1GB HDD from my old PC, I suppose I could format that and install it in this build?
Equally, I have a blu ray/DVD drive from my old PC, so could fit that too?
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
PeoplesWelbo said:
Thanks a lot for explaining all that. I did notice the bump on the GFX card.

In terms of extra space, games are pretty big these days, I have a 1GB HDD from my old PC, I suppose I could format that and install it in this build?
Equally, I have a blu ray/DVD drive from my old PC, so could fit that too?
Click to expand...

Yes you certainly could. It would be recommended for both items.

500GB gets you windows, programs and some select games.
The 1TB drive allows for a further collection of games and all your storage needs.

There's always room for growth with these things and it's always personal. I think I have the nirvana with a silly fast primary, a silly fast 1TB game drive and the rest of my stuff on conventional drives. If I need to wipe my primary drive I don't need to re-install 1TB worth of games.... win win :D

The same will be said with the 1TB secondary that you are considering :)
 
P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
Scott said:
Yes you certainly could. It would be recommended for both items.

500GB gets you windows, programs and some select games.
The 1TB drive allows for a further collection of games and all your storage needs.

There's always room for growth with these things and it's always personal. I think I have the nirvana with a silly fast primary, a silly fast 1TB game drive and the rest of my stuff on conventional drives. If I need to wipe my primary drive I don't need to re-install 1TB worth of games.... win win :D

The same will be said with the 1TB secondary that you are considering :)
Click to expand...

Thanks once again for the help and explanations.

I’ll need to check my monitor, but apart from that this sounds really good!
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
To be honest the monitor won't make too much odds at this level. If it's 1080p the GPU is well matched for a good level of gaming. If it's 1440p you're going to be around £100-£150 short on the budget to have the same level of 1440p gaming. If it's less than 1080p then I would just stick with the 570 anyway as it's a good GPU and will serve you well.
 
P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
Scott said:
To be honest the monitor won't make too much odds at this level. If it's 1080p the GPU is well matched for a good level of gaming. If it's 1440p you're going to be around £100-£150 short on the budget to have the same level of 1440p gaming. If it's less than 1080p then I would just stick with the 570 anyway as it's a good GPU and will serve you well.
Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks.

So you wouldn’t recommend downgrading to the 4GB 550 to save a bit of cash?
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
No, they aren't even remotely in the same ball park. It's not the RAM that's the major difference with those cards, it's the processing power. I don't think I've ever seen a 550 recommended in a build, I can't think where it would even fit.
 
P

PeoplesWelbo

Member
Scott said:
No, they aren't even remotely in the same ball park. It's not the RAM that's the major difference with those cards, it's the processing power. I don't think I've ever seen a 550 recommended in a build, I can't think where it would even fit.
Click to expand...

Haha, cool cool. I’ll stick with the above then. Thanks again man!
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
No worries at all. If you go for it, post back with your thoughts. I think you'll be very pleasantly surprised with just how good it is.
 
Scott

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
If budget is a real issue this is another option. The upgrade path is still the same so this isn't compromised in the slightest. The CPU on offer is not quite as good as the 3000 series CPU but it's certainly no slouch and fairs well in any gaming scenario along with multi-tasking. If you drop the M2 drive for a conventional drive it also makes way for some cash. One downfall that I can't cover is the RAM. It's slower RAM, which does matter, but it's as fast as you can get with the 2000 series builds on here unfortunately.....

It's STILL a great system, just slightly compromising with budget in mind.

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
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
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
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 12 to 14 working days
Price: £683.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/yvwx47S7qz/
 
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