Recommendations for £700 VR Build pls

[Earth[Tera].bin]

Targeted at playing HL Alyx really , limited funds to play with so it's an entry build. Would appreciate a recommend spec...cheers

*Nvidia cards better for VR?
*SSDs not required.
*Have a spare Micro-atx case

 

[mickyflinn]

Zen 3 is due for release mid October can you wait or want to build now ?

 

[4K8KW10]

Have you already got an SSD or do you think it'd better to skip it?
SSD is a must because otherwise your system will be unpleasant for daily use.

I recommend this since it's very difficult to fit in the budget and get anything too fancy.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99
• 1 x Asrock B550 Phantom Gaming 4 (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £108.95
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan TUF Gaming Alliance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C19 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Blac= £64.99
• 1 x MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Mech OC 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £188.99
• 1 x Corsair Force MP510 series 240GB NVMe PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F240GBMP510)= £44.99
• 1 x Kolink Classic Power 400W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply= £36.95
• 1 x Raijintek Arcadia II Midi-Tower Gaming Case - Black Window= £32.99

Total: £709.15 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​

Windows 10 license key can be had these days for around $8, the case has place for DVD/Blu-ray drive, so you could also write discs for your car audio system or home hi-fi.

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

Zen 3 is due for release mid October can you wait or want to build now ?

I'll be waiting for Quest 2, so I could in theory wait.

 

[mickyflinn]

I'll be waiting for Quest 2, so I could in theory wait.

Ok here's a build for now you could shave £50 of this if you shop wisley.

E My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming OC 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £62.99
• 1 x MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £109.99
• 1 x Corsair CV Series CV650 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (CP-9020211-UK)= £54.95

Total: £688.01 (includes shipping: £11.10)​

​

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

Have you already got an SSD or do you think it'd better to skip it?
SSD is a must because otherwise your system will be unpleasant for daily use.

I recommend this since it's very difficult to fit in the budget and get anything too fancy.

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99
• 1 x Asrock B550 Phantom Gaming 4 (AMD AM4) B550 ATX Motherboard= £108.95
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan TUF Gaming Alliance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-28800C19 3600MHz Dual Channel Kit - Blac= £64.99
• 1 x MSI Radeon RX 5500 XT Mech OC 8192MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £188.99
• 1 x Corsair Force MP510 series 240GB NVMe PCIe M.2 Solid State Drive (CSSD-F240GBMP510)= £44.99
• 1 x Kolink Classic Power 400W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply= £36.95
• 1 x Raijintek Arcadia II Midi-Tower Gaming Case - Black Window= £32.99

Total: £709.15 (includes shipping: £12.30)
​

Windows 10 license key can be had these days for around $8, the case has place for DVD/Blu-ray drive, so you could also write discs for your car audio system or home hi-fi.

Yeah I've got 2x120GB and a spare 1TB M2 which is currently in a NUC at the moment, so that an be skipped.

Cheers for that, was being realistic so I was expecting a low entry build. I was looking at just plumping for a Hades Canyon NUC , few years old I know and whilst isn't spec to run HL Alyx seems to cope with it fine. ( Currently have a Skull Canyon model and I like the form factor )

Your recommendation looks good though, also second hand parts are fine so I'll use yours as a template. Thanks

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Targeted at playing HL Alyx really , limited funds to play with so it's an entry build. Would appreciate a recommend spec...cheers

*Nvidia cards better for VR?
*SSDs not required.
*Have a spare Micro-atx case

Very important question...

What headset are you using? Given some of them have massively different resolutions to run so it will be good to know roughly how much gpu grunt will be needed.

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

Ok here's a build for now you could shave £50 of this if you shop wisley.

E My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming OC 6144MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core 4.2GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £218.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £62.99
• 1 x MSI B550M PRO-VDH WiFi (AMD AM4) B550 Micro-ATX Motherboard= £109.99
• 1 x Corsair CV Series CV650 650W 80 Plus Bronze Power Supply (CP-9020211-UK)= £54.95

Total: £688.01 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

Cheers mate, been a few years since I built my own PC but I'm starting to recall how the head hurts with all the potential configs lol, especially on a budget.

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

Very important question...

What headset are you using? Given some of them have massively different resolutions to run so it will be good to know roughly how much gpu grunt will be needed.

It's the Quest 2 , as much as I'd like to go all out and nab a Valve Index and a beast of a machine - it's not an option.

 

[FloppyPoppy]

It's the Quest 2 , as much as I'd like to go all out and nab a Valve Index and a beast of a machine - it's not an option.

To be fair i THINK the quest 2 has higher resolution displays than the index totals up to something like 3800x3600 il see if i can spec something i think would be more suitable for that!

 

[mickyflinn]

Cheers mate, been a few years since I built my own PC but I'm starting to recall how the head hurts with all the potential configs lol, especially on a budget.

Your welcome .

You have access to the members market you could get a lot more for your money but if something goes wrong.

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

To be fair i THINK the quest 2 has higher resolution displays than the index totals up to something like 3800x3600 il see if i can spec something i think would be more suitable for that!

Excellent, cheers.

Your welcome .

You have access to the members market you could get a lot more for your money but if something goes wrong.

Yeah, that's the trade off. Depends on the savings really. Thanks again

 

[FloppyPoppy]

Personally in your situation and use case i would do something like this :

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x ASUS TUF GAMING A520M-PLUS (Socket AM4) DDR4 mATX Motherboard= £79.99
• 1 x AMD Ryzen 5 3600X Six Core 4.4GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £229.99
• 1 x Team Group Vulcan Z T-Force 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Grey= £62.99
• 1 x Seasonic Core Gold GC-500 500W 80+ Gold Power Supply= £69.95
• 1 x Palit GeForce RTX 2060 StormX 6144MB GDDR6 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £269.99

Total: £724.01 (includes shipping: £11.10)
​

I chose the RTX 2060 over the 5600XT as i personally have issues with AMDS gpus and driver instability however your results may vary and you could easily swap out the gpu for a 5600XT for the same price if you wanted. the 2060 and 5600XT basically trade blows in benchmarks so they are quite evenly matched. The only other thing to consider is the 5600XT will give you 2GB more V-Ram and that may be worth researching for your headset. How much Vram will half life draw upon if it's more than 6GB you may be better with the 5600XT

Went a tiny bit over on budget but you should get free shipping so your probably looking at £710 for the above.

EIDT : Also as above you have access to members market. Im pretty sure you could get something like a 1080ti or a 2070 for the same cost as the new 2060/5600XT

 

[Earth[Tera].bin]

Yeah I can stretch £30 over my budget. I've trawled through the MM , missed a few decent deals but will keep an eye out. Definitely got a better idea of what to aim for now, maxmise my budget etc. Cheers all.

I did read HL's minimum is 6GB but as stated before people have been able to play Alyx on the Hades Canyon and it's mGPU has 4GB vram. No AMD/Nvidia preference here so I'll look into the 6GB v 8GB , more is better with VR Imagine and future proofing.

 

[mickyflinn]

Put a post in the wanted section of the members market.