New to PC gaming - what is right PC for me?

[Jennie Wallace]

Hi

I've been playing games on PS3 and PS4 games for a while, but I've wanted to play games on PC desktop for a while now, mainly as I want to be able to use mods. Very shallow, I know! Thing is, I know absolutely nothing about gaming PCs, I don't understand specs, it just looks a jumble of numbers to my Dyslexic brain. I've researched and asked questions but I still don't understand specs so I feel like I'm scrabbling in the dark.

I specifically want to be able to play RPG games like Dragon's Age (Origins, DA: II, and Inquisition), Skyrim, Fallout 4 etc and be able to use mods with them, I'd also love to be able to play the upcoming games like Cyberpunk 2077 too on the PC.

I understand that cost can dictate what type you get, but I'm really just looking for a gaming PC that I can play both Dragon's Age Origins and Inquisition to Skyrim on it with mods without worrying about it crashing. Any suggestions as to what type of gaming PC (brand, model etc) I should be looking at? I would prefer not to spend more that £1000 if that's possible/reasonable. I am planning to use my TV as a monitor and my PS4 controller, so it's really just the gaming PC tower I'm looking for.

I would strongly prefer a pre-built one as I simply don't understand enough about PCs to build my own, and I just don't understand the mechanics of building one (believe me I've tried) and I'd like one that I can just unpack, plug in and play when I get it. Any suggestions/advice would be very welcome!

Jen

 

[Danny75]

Welcome Jen.

You'll need a basic keyboard and mouse to be sure. Even if you use the controller for gaming. And a HDMI cable to connect graphics card to the TV. As you're not getting a monitor which usually comes with one you'll need to have one/buy one.

Here's a start:

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x WD Blue 3D NAND 1TB 2.5" SATA 6Gbps Solid State Drive (WDS100T2B0A)= £106.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £158.99
• 1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo White CPU Cooler - 2 x 120mm= £34.99
• 1 x Bitfenix Formula Series 550W 80 Plus Gold Power Supply= £66.95
• 1 x MSI B450M Mortar MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £89.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS432G320C6K)= £128.99
• 1 x Zalman M3 Plus Micro-ATX Case - Black Tempered Glass= £50.99
• 1 x ZOTAC GeForce RTX 2060 Twin Fan 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £269.99

Total: £920.18 (includes shipping: £12.30)​

​

OcUK could build this for you for around £1020. You'd have to enquire in the Customer Service Pre-Sales Queries forum for a precise quote.

It does not include Windows. Hopefully you'd be okay with installing it yourself to save £100 so more cash goes on actual hardware.

It has 32GB RAM based on the requirement to use assorted mods without crashing. It might not be necessary, depends on the mods and the games. It would just be nice to not to have to worry about that. In any case, installing more RAM is easy if you encounter an actual bottleneck there so you could cut costs if needed with 16GB.

Would you need Wifi? The above spec doesn't have it.

 

[EsaT]

• 1 x Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo White CPU Cooler - 2 x 120mm= £34.99

With limited budget and frugal CPU standard single fan version with £21 price tag is enough.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html

 

[Vidar]

@Jennie Wallace Hi and welcome to the forums!

A budget of £1000 will get you a decent tower, obviously the bigger the budget the better the machine. I would highly recommend building it yourself though, there are so many step by step guides and some really brilliant videos on Youtube from creators like Bitwit, Pauls Hardware and Jayztwocents. It seems daunting at first but honestly it's not difficult and you have all of us to offer support and guidence if you need it. It's also really rewarding.

Okay so my attempt, assuming you don't need a mouse and keyboard...

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £199.99
• 1 x MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX (Socket AM4) DDR4 ATX Motherboard= £103.99
• 1 x Patriot Viper Steel 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C17 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PVS416G360C7K)= £79.99
• 1 x Seasonic Focus GX-650 650W 80+ Gold Modular Power Supply= £103.99
• 1 x Samsung 500GB 860 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 64 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-76E500B/EU)= £79.99
• 1 x **B Grade** Seagate FireCuda SSHD 1TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST1000DX002)= £44.99
• 1 x **B Grade** Phanteks Eclipse P600S Glass Silent Midi Tower Case - Black= £99.95
• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 WindForce X2 rev3.0 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £359.99

Total: £1,088.18 (includes shipping: £15.30)​

​

So this will give you an SSD for Windows etc and your most played games, plus a 1tb SSHD for everything else. You will need to get yourself a Windows 10 key but if you have a look online you can find genuine keys elsewhere for around £10-£15.

If you do want OCuk to build it for you, start a thread in the Presales sub forum and they'll get back to you with a cost etc. That's found here https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/forums/pre-sales-queries.117/

Honestly though please consider building it yourself...

 

[Danny75]

With limited budget and frugal CPU standard single fan version with £21 price tag is enough.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/arctic-freezer-34-cpu-cooler-120mm-hs-077-ar.html

The better the cooling, the longer it won't throttle without maintenance. Slightly overspecced cooler is useful in such situations where the user doesn't want to build, wants plug and play etc as it's unlikely they will carry out much maintenance themselves. That is the reason for the pick, as well as it doesn't add that much.