Best gaming PC under £1000... Please be kind!
Discussion
As title.
My 16yo daughter is a keen gamer, wants to get into game design in fact. I'd like to get her a PC that will enable both basic game development as well as play.
I have a budget as above for the PC (monitor and other peripherals will be considered separately) . I've looked at a few options and understand basic PC specs but need some experienced views on a good balance of capabilities across processor, graphics, memory, ease of upgrade... And whatever else I should consider.
If I can spend less for decent starter set up, all the better, of course
Please feel free to direct me to an existing thread, otherwise all advice gratefully received!
(PS. if relevant, I have a 10% discount on anything from Currys..
)
My 16yo daughter is a keen gamer, wants to get into game design in fact. I'd like to get her a PC that will enable both basic game development as well as play.
I have a budget as above for the PC (monitor and other peripherals will be considered separately) . I've looked at a few options and understand basic PC specs but need some experienced views on a good balance of capabilities across processor, graphics, memory, ease of upgrade... And whatever else I should consider.
If I can spend less for decent starter set up, all the better, of course
Please feel free to direct me to an existing thread, otherwise all advice gratefully received!
(PS. if relevant, I have a 10% discount on anything from Currys..
) Edited by redrabbit on Sunday 13th November 18:33
FourWheelDrift said:
What games does she play and what monitor (resolution & Hertz refresh) will she be using? This will be determine what's needed.
She wants to play Steam based games, and be able to use Unreal Engine for coding and 3D modelling (she says). I haven't thought about monitors yet.Steven_RW said:
I'd consider second hand.
I sold a pc with i7700k and 4 x 2080ti all watercooled for £1100 the other day on ebay just to get rid of it.
2080ti is the same as a 3070 which is more than enough for solid gaming and fun.
Just my view. Good luck.
RW
Watercooled PCs are a thing?! I had to Google to check you weren't pulling my leg I sold a pc with i7700k and 4 x 2080ti all watercooled for £1100 the other day on ebay just to get rid of it.
2080ti is the same as a 3070 which is more than enough for solid gaming and fun.
Just my view. Good luck.
RW
Don't think I'm prepared to go second hand tbh, don't know enough to deal with any issues myself so need the reassurance of warranty... thanks for your thoughts, though.
FourWheelDrift said:
The precise games matter, a potato PC can run Fortnite but can't run Cyberpunk 2077.
Stuff like Overwatch, Terraria, Ark, Valorant, Genshin Impact, apparently. I'm thinking a potato PC (I guess that means bog standard) might be all she needs at this stage, if it could be upgraded at some point.
redrabbit said:
Steven_RW said:
I'd consider second hand.
I sold a pc with i7700k and 4 x 2080ti all watercooled for £1100 the other day on ebay just to get rid of it.
2080ti is the same as a 3070 which is more than enough for solid gaming and fun.
Just my view. Good luck.
RW
Watercooled PCs are a thing?! I had to Google to check you weren't pulling my leg I sold a pc with i7700k and 4 x 2080ti all watercooled for £1100 the other day on ebay just to get rid of it.
2080ti is the same as a 3070 which is more than enough for solid gaming and fun.
Just my view. Good luck.
RW
Don't think I'm prepared to go second hand tbh, don't know enough to deal with any issues myself so need the reassurance of warranty... thanks for your thoughts, though.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/295321085550?hash=item4...
I would be looking at building one yourself. It really isn't that difficult and a great thing to learn to do for your daughter and you. It also means you can buy 2nd hand parts to keep the cost down and spec up and know how to upgrade bits as required in the future .
It sounds daunting, but it really isn't.
It sounds daunting, but it really isn't.
Edited by alfabeat on Tuesday 15th November 07:04
The hidden gem of budget PC gaming is the used dell optiplex. You can get models with i7 6700s. BYO GPU and SSD, just make sure the PSU can power a GPU.
Take a google around, plenty of people with experience on this out there, which model is best to get. A lot of them are the SFF case, but full towers can still be found.
Take a google around, plenty of people with experience on this out there, which model is best to get. A lot of them are the SFF case, but full towers can still be found.
alfabeat said:
I would be looking at building one yourself. It really isn't that difficult and a great thing to learn to do for your daughter and you. It also means you can buy 2nd hand parts to keep the cost down and spec up and know how to upgrade bits as required in the future .
It sounds daunting, but it really isn't.
I did this with my son last year. No experience or skill at all, I'm pretty much a full time gardener so I'm more spades and rakes than tiny screwdrivers.It sounds daunting, but it really isn't.
Edited by alfabeat on Tuesday 15th November 07:04
It was so easy, just followed a youtube guide so so simple.
The bits we got from various places just using google.
Budget creep set in a bit as we spent a bit extra on the gaming card thingy.
Also it was fun.
You are going to really struggle for a machine that won't potentially disappoint for that price point unfortunately.
The ebay link a couple of posts up looks good at face value, as said, decent quality components - although I suspect that his 120FPS @ 1440P claims on a handful of games doesn't include many recent titles.
Even self build with brand new parts (which isn't difficult, but you would want a friend you could call on in case it doesn't all just work!) wouldn't likely get you a "gaming" PC under a grand - a quick look suggests about £1100 (*edit - cheaper CPU highlighted by someone else below!) would be more realistic for reasonable specs and decent parts (decent parts being the minimum I'd put in a PC I was building for myself!)
The ebay link a couple of posts up looks good at face value, as said, decent quality components - although I suspect that his 120FPS @ 1440P claims on a handful of games doesn't include many recent titles.
Even self build with brand new parts (which isn't difficult, but you would want a friend you could call on in case it doesn't all just work!) wouldn't likely get you a "gaming" PC under a grand - a quick look suggests about £1100 (*edit - cheaper CPU highlighted by someone else below!) would be more realistic for reasonable specs and decent parts (decent parts being the minimum I'd put in a PC I was building for myself!)
Edited by Motorman74 on Tuesday 15th November 10:04
Edited by Motorman74 on Tuesday 15th November 10:27
The main trouble with this stuff is that it's easy to convince yourself that you always need the latest and best spec, and get carried away. Mine was about 1400 beans a couple of years ago IIRC, nothing special but runs MS Flight Sim in VR quite happily, for example.
Second hand is not a bad shout at all, there's always someone upgrading to the newest thing. Somewhere like scan.co.uk is good to get an idea of what's available in the price range. The last time I looked at upgrading, I actually bought a ready-made one from them because I couldn't do it cheaper by buying parts; the days when you could save loads of money by building yourself seem to have largely gone now. That said it is a good thing to learn and do.
Second hand is not a bad shout at all, there's always someone upgrading to the newest thing. Somewhere like scan.co.uk is good to get an idea of what's available in the price range. The last time I looked at upgrading, I actually bought a ready-made one from them because I couldn't do it cheaper by buying parts; the days when you could save loads of money by building yourself seem to have largely gone now. That said it is a good thing to learn and do.
I'm going to go against the flow and say £1k is plenty to build your own decent gaming PC - if you have a look on Hot UK Deals you'll find some great bundles from Palicomp to start you off.
Mine was around £700 and is rather excellent for the limited budget - running most recent titles at a reasonable framerate.
Mine was around £700 and is rather excellent for the limited budget - running most recent titles at a reasonable framerate.
Its been a while since I've done this so I could be wildly wrong about current parts. After a quick play around I came up with this:
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU:AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (£139.67 @ NeoComputers)
Motherboard:MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£122.18 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: * Silicon Power XPOWER Turbine 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£86.59 @ Amazon UK)
Storage:Kingston NV2 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£111.06 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: * MSI MECH 2X Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Video Card (£399.59 @ Newegg UK)
Case:KOLINK Citadel Mesh MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£49.13 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply:MSI MPG A750GF 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£79.99 @ Box Limited)
Total: £988.21
PCPartPicker Part List
CPU:AMD Ryzen 5 5600 3.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (£139.67 @ NeoComputers)
Motherboard:MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£122.18 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: * Silicon Power XPOWER Turbine 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (£86.59 @ Amazon UK)
Storage:Kingston NV2 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (£111.06 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: * MSI MECH 2X Radeon RX 6700 XT 12 GB Video Card (£399.59 @ Newegg UK)
Case:KOLINK Citadel Mesh MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£49.13 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply:MSI MPG A750GF 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (£79.99 @ Box Limited)
Total: £988.21
Firstly, avoid Dell they are garbage, very limited upgradability and use their own motherboards with holes in different places so an off the shelf board will not fit.
Secondly, Genshin Impact is the most demanding game you listed, but still it's not that demanding (recommends a GTX 1060). So any machine with (you can't really get new 1060s) a 1650 Super, 1660, 1660 Super, RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 6600/6650 will be totally fine, nothing bigger required but can be later with an upgrade.
If you want to go pre-built AWD have a good range of PCs for between £599 - £799
here - https://www.awd-it.co.uk/gaming-pc.html?product_li...
What would I pick in that range? - This one https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-python-ryzen-5-4500-s... with the CPU changed for the Ryzen 5 5600, total £749.98 + £22 for Windows (see below)
Their specs can be changed too, most if not all do not come with Windows (they charge £90 if you add it) you can get a legal Windows key for around £22 if you install it yourself via a USB flash drive.
Use those as a guide for other retailers, like Scan, Box, Ebuyer, CCL, PC Specialist etc.. to see what they have especially with Black Friday approaching and potentially old stock being shifted.
Secondly, Genshin Impact is the most demanding game you listed, but still it's not that demanding (recommends a GTX 1060). So any machine with (you can't really get new 1060s) a 1650 Super, 1660, 1660 Super, RTX 2060 or Radeon RX 6600/6650 will be totally fine, nothing bigger required but can be later with an upgrade.
If you want to go pre-built AWD have a good range of PCs for between £599 - £799
here - https://www.awd-it.co.uk/gaming-pc.html?product_li...
What would I pick in that range? - This one https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-python-ryzen-5-4500-s... with the CPU changed for the Ryzen 5 5600, total £749.98 + £22 for Windows (see below)
Their specs can be changed too, most if not all do not come with Windows (they charge £90 if you add it) you can get a legal Windows key for around £22 if you install it yourself via a USB flash drive.
Use those as a guide for other retailers, like Scan, Box, Ebuyer, CCL, PC Specialist etc.. to see what they have especially with Black Friday approaching and potentially old stock being shifted.
It was mentioned earlier in this thread...but if she's happy gaming at 1080p for the time being then something with a GTX 16xx series card would suffice and keep the costs below that £1000 budget. Swappable at a later date and as funds allow for a beefier card / PSU if needed.
Something like this....? https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers-for-next-...
Something like this....? https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers-for-next-...
Buy used. Be choosy as. Find one that came from a builder that bought lots of great bits and now just upgraded to the latest 4090 gpu and 13th gen intel cpu in a new build and wants rid of their 30 series machine.
In terms of having fun building something, you can always take the working pc to pieces and clean out any dust for a bit of a project.
2nd hand pcs lose quite a bit of value compared to selling each part individually so it would be a good way of making your money go further.
If I could have a used 3070 gpu or some first hand 16xx gpu i know id go for the much more powerful 3070.
In terms of having fun building something, you can always take the working pc to pieces and clean out any dust for a bit of a project.
2nd hand pcs lose quite a bit of value compared to selling each part individually so it would be a good way of making your money go further.
If I could have a used 3070 gpu or some first hand 16xx gpu i know id go for the much more powerful 3070.
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