Budget Gaming Build

Darabin · 13 Sep 2020 at 21:53

Hi all, first of all thank you in advance for sharing your expertise with us.

I am wanting to build a gaming PC for things like Rust, WoW, Overwatch.

I am open to the second hand market / buying a pre built PC if that is better value for money.

Budget - ideally about £500 or £600 at a push. Need to try and squeeze a monitor into the budget too if possible. I know not to expect too much in this price range.

I have saw a lot about the upcoming announcements, but am not sure if this will affect me much with my budget being low?

Can you please assist in recommending a build that is price conscious with an acceptable performance? I will probably buy cheap peripherals for now and upgrade them as I go on. If I need to do the same with the monitor then so be it...

Any parts you recommend looking for 2nd hand in particular to help bring the costs down would also be great to know.

Many thanks to you all!

mickyflinn · 13 Sep 2020 at 21:59

@Sparx did a build including a monitor in this thread, post 7

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/foru...p-me-get-a-budget-gaming-pc-for-650.18898656/

Sparx · 13 Sep 2020 at 22:14

That was @Gray2233 not me

mickyflinn · 13 Sep 2020 at 22:23

Sparx said:
That was @Gray2233 not me

Silly me I'm tired

Colud you improve on @Gray2233 build ?

Looks pretty good.

Sparx · 13 Sep 2020 at 22:25

I’d go for the below personally.

Obvious answer is get as much as you can 2nd hand. Prob save some money on GPU and monitor if look in used markets. And anything else of course you can find.

PSU is at least semi modular. Case is very good quality for mATX at this price by Lian Li. SSD is good choice with DRAM.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Quad Core 3.9GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £99.95
1 x Gigabyte A520M DS3H (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £67.99
1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0A)= £53.99
1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99
1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER TUF OC 4096MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £158.99
1 x Lian-Li Lancool 205M Micro-ATX Case - Black Window= £43.99
1 x Viewsonic VX2458-mhd 1920x1080 TN 144Hz 1ms FreeSync Widescreen LED Backlit Gaming Monitor= £139.99
1 x Corsair CX-M Series CX550M 550W 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020102-UK)= £67.99

Total: £692.88 (includes shipping: £0.00)

Darabin · 13 Sep 2020 at 22:26

Interesting... do you think there is much point in me holding off until the new releases like most are at the moment or will it not really impact the lower end much?

I'm currently without a PC so the sooner the better, but very aware I don't want to buy something that will be rubbish in a year.

There is currently a 2nd hand pre-built computer that is around £350, and includes some peripherals, so would get me up and running and leave me with some cash for a monitor / any necessary upgrades. What do you think of this?

Technical specification:
Product Description MSI Infinite S 9SA 070UK - compact PC - Core i5 9400F - 8 GB - SSD 256 GB, HDD 1 TB
Processor Intel Core i5 (9th Gen) 9400F (6-core)
RAM 8 GB (installed) / 32 GB (max) - DDR4 SDRAM
Storage Controller SATA (SATA 6Gb/s)
Hard Drive SSD 256 GB
Hard Drive (2nd) HDD 1 TB - Serial ATA - 7200 rpm
Graphics Controller NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Video Memory 4 GB
Audio Output 7.1 channel surround
Networking GigE, Bluetooth, 802.11ac
OS Provided Windows 10 Home

Gray2233 · 13 Sep 2020 at 22:41

With more room to move beyond £650 I think @Sparx has done a good job tbh.

The build you're looking at looks a bit scammy to be honest @Darabin.

Darabin · 14 Sep 2020 at 20:57

This looks great, thank you for taking the time to do that Sparx!

Just a quick question - I have found a second hand Nvidia GTX1050ti 4gb for £30 - would this do for the next 6 months to a year, and fit in to the below build without any issues?

Thinking I could then upgrade to one of the newer graphics cards with some Christmas/birthday money put to one side.

Sparx said:
I’d go for the below personally.

Obvious answer is get as much as you can 2nd hand. Prob save some money on GPU and monitor if look in used markets. And anything else of course you can find.

PSU is at least semi modular. Case is very good quality for mATX at this price by Lian Li. SSD is good choice with DRAM.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Quad Core 3.9GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £99.95

1 x Gigabyte A520M DS3H (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £67.99

1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0A)= £53.99

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99

1 x Asus GeForce GTX 1650 SUPER TUF OC 4096MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £158.99

1 x Lian-Li Lancool 205M Micro-ATX Case - Black Window= £43.99

1 x Viewsonic VX2458-mhd 1920x1080 TN 144Hz 1ms FreeSync Widescreen LED Backlit Gaming Monitor= £139.99

1 x Corsair CX-M Series CX550M 550W 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020102-UK)= £67.99

Total: £692.88 (includes shipping: £0.00)

Sparx · 14 Sep 2020 at 21:20

1050 Ti is realllyyyy not that good... Have a look at benchmarks here compared to a 1650 Super. Seems to only average 40-50 fps in games @ 1080p.

Depends on your expectations. I mean sure it'll run WoW and Overwatch. But putting up with it for 6 months to a year? Yikes

mickyflinn · 14 Sep 2020 at 21:36

For £30 its worth it if your pre paired to dial back the settings.

Darabin · 14 Sep 2020 at 21:58

I'll have a go with it until Christmas at least - they go for more on eBay so can always make a small profit re-selling if it's not sufficient. It gets me up and running for now at least!

I have revised the basket, down to £533 now

Going to take a look at some monitors - any particular screen sizes, resolutions or specs I should be going for with this build?

I know I should be looking out for less ms response time and more Hz refresh rate. Is an 'IPS' type essential?

Would a 27" Dell monitor with 5ms response and 75Hz refresh rate with Freesync that does 1920 x 1080 be an acceptable option or is this more for general PC use than gaming?

Sparx said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Quad Core 3.9GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £99.95

1 x Gigabyte A520M DS3H (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £67.99

1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0A)= £53.99

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99

1 x Lian-Li Lancool 205M Micro-ATX Case - Black Window= £43.99

1 x Viewsonic VX2458-mhd 1920x1080 TN 144Hz 1ms FreeSync Widescreen LED Backlit Gaming Monitor= £139.99

1 x Corsair CX-M Series CX550M 550W 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020102-UK)= £67.99

Used Nvidia 1050ti - £30

Total: £533.89

Sparx · 14 Sep 2020 at 22:02

Yeah fair enough. It's not that bad, just not that great. But it'll still run the games you want.

Display wise... It's up to you, a monitor is kind of a "don't change it that often" component though. Depends how tight you are with the budget.

Ideally I'd try at least get a high refresh rate (120Hz+) disply if you can. But if you can't then just get whatever cheap 24-27" 1080p display you can.

Darabin · 17 Sep 2020 at 23:22

What date is the A520M DS3H getting released, and if you don't mind me asking why this one over the others (I'm not sure what look out for with a motherboard)?

Are there any alternatives that can be ordered currently?

Also the Lian-Li case is OOS until 30.09 - any recommended replacements or is this the best in that price range? If so I can hang on till 30th.

Edit: My bro has a brand new 24" Philips 1080p monitor, 5ms and 60hz that he does not use. Going to use this for now

Darabin · 18 Sep 2020 at 21:04

Revised build price with the used parts sourced.

Really happy with the price! Gives me a bit of money to spend on peripherals - I've got a set of HyperX headphones already but need to invest in a mech keyboard / mouse.

Only problem now is the Lian-Li OOS till 30/09, and A520m showing as 'pre-order'. Any other alternatives to these or am I best waiting?

Sparx said:
My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Quad Core 3.9GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £99.95

1 x Gigabyte A520M DS3H (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £67.99

1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS500G2B0A)= £53.99

1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £59.99

1 x Lian-Li Lancool 205M Micro-ATX Case - Black Window= £43.99

1 x Corsair CX-M Series CX550M 550W 80 Plus Bronze Semi Modular Power Supply (CP-9020102-UK)= £67.99

Free - Philips 24" 1080p monitor

£30 - Nvidia 1050Ti Graphics Card

Total: £393.90

Sparx · 18 Sep 2020 at 21:21

You found somewhere to get the 3100 CPU?

Swap mobo to this Asus model then
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/asus...cket-am4-ddr4-matx-motherboard-mb-6fe-as.html

Case could swap to this, pretty decent with 4 pre-installed fans
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/aero...-atx-case-black-tempered-glass-ca-21n-ae.html

Darabin · 18 Sep 2020 at 21:35

Yeah going to hang on and see if OC get the 3100 in stock first, but there are places with stock available if need be when I'm ready to buy.

One thought I have had is if I was running off LAN I would have to buy a power line to run the cable upstairs - why not spend the extra money on a better motherboard with WiFi?

This seems to be the cheapest AMD board that has WiFi - would you recommend this model or is there better around the same price?

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/msi-...am4-b550-micro-atx-motherboard-mb-358-ms.html

Sparx · 18 Sep 2020 at 22:19

OcUK haven't had stock of the 3100 for weeks, no ETA shown either. So if you've found it elsewhere I'd grab it fairly sharpish.

Yeah that's a decent B550 board with WiFi for the money. If you can find it in stock, go for it.