Looking for a new machine - literally no idea where to start

P

Probrin

Member
Howdy,

I've owned my current PC for about 6 years now, and I'm finally looking to upgrade to something new. As I haven't looked at anything relating to PC hardware for the entire time I've owned this one, I'm a bit lost as to what I should go for now.

I'm going to be using the PC for gaming, and will be playing stuff like Anthem and Division 2 in the near future.

My budget is in the region of £800-1000.

I want to keep things simple and don't want to build the machine myself. Looking at PCSpecialist, I have my eye on something like this: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Fusion-XT/

I have also been considering something like the Intel Nuc Hades Canyon: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/computers/intel-nuc-pc-i7-hades/, as I'm somewhat limited on space and really like the idea of having a small device. I'm just not sure how long something like this would stand up.

Any recommendations/suggestions/alternative models suggestions would be really appreciated - I'm just completely lost with the amount of choice there is!

Thanks!
 
Last edited:
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I think you've along the right track with the Fusion XT but I would strongly recommend some changes to the spec, especially if the budget allows.


Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
---Tom Clancy's The Division 2 FREE w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs!
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP, DVI - VR Ready!
---Get Battlefield V -OR- Anthem with select NVIDIA GeForce RTX GPUs!
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB 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
Genuine 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 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 6 to 8 working days
Quantity
1

Price £1,022.00 including VAT and Delivery

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

RTX 2060 GPU is far more powerful than the 1060, comes with a free copy of Anthem (or BFV if you prefer, you can pick) and has support for things like ray tracing and DLSS which Anthem may make use of.

2933MHz RAM - can benefit performance in some games a lot, with Ryzen CPUs especially.

Dropped the SSD for budget reasons and because a 120gb cheap SSD is both small and slow. You can pick up and add a decent, larger SSD yourself any time you like in the future

B450 motherboard as this has a lot more features and upgrade options.

550W PSU as it's a small price difference and will probably open up more future graphics card upgrade options in the years to come

I also picked a different case as £3 cheaper and an extra fan, but the Corsair 275R is fine if you prefer its looks.

If you really want to keep things closer to the £800 mark, I'd suggest the spec above but with the RX 580 graphics card. This is AMD's competitor with the GTX 1060, and over a range of games the performance is very similar. But it's £70 cheaper than the 1060 and comes with 2 free games. That makes the spec above £854.
 
Last edited:
P

Probrin

Member
Hey Oussebon - this is *super* helpful, thanks for the detailed response.

One thing - the 'unique URL to re-configure' doesn't appear to go anywhere, it just takes me to the PC/Laptop section of the website - am I using it wrong?

Thanks!
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
No, you're right, the link was broken. Sometimes when generating the links the website fails to include part of the middle of it.

Anyway, it should work now :)
 
P

Probrin

Member
Sorry, couple of additional questions if you don't mind:

- Is it worth upgrading to the 2600X CPU? It's only about £20 more, so if it's valuable I may do that?
- I'd be tempted to add an SSD to have windows installed on, then install games etc on a second HDD, I'm thinking of the 250GB Samsung SDD, and the 500GB SATA-III HDD? I hear Samsung are pretty much the go-to when it comes to SSDs - is that right, or are there decent / cheaper alternatives?
 
Last edited:
J

jerpers

Master
An Ssd will certainly help boost things for you, increasing boot times no end. If you can stretch to an m.2 NVME drive such as the WD Black that would be the ideal for speed however any SSD will help.

You will probably have to upgrade the Graphics card during the life of the machine depending on what games you want to play and at what resolution. The base machine itself will be great for many years though.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Whatever you do in terms of SSDs, I'd suggest the 1 TB HDD over the 500gb one. It's only £6 more but offers double the storage and is faster.

The 250gb 860 Evo is a good choice, and if you're happy spending the extra that's fine. The cheaper SSDs PCS sell aren't cheaper enough to warrant the performance loss in my opinion (though pricing can vary day to day of course). 250gb will also be large enough for Windows, programs, and a game or two for sure. The faster loading speeds of the SSD are a nice quality of life improvement for launching your game faster.

As above, a fast NVMe SSD from the M.2 SSD menu like the WD Black would be an ideal, though not essential if the budget is critically stretched.

- Is it worth upgrading to the 2600X CPU? It's only about £20 more, so if it's valuable I may do that?/QUOTE] Apparently it's £34 more. Performance is pretty similar and by the time the 2600's performance becomes unacceptable for future titles the 2600x won't be much better. Also new CPUs compatible with existing motherboards are coming out this year, which further undermines the futureproofing argument.

It's splitting hairs a bit, but on balance I wouldn't say it was worth it.
Click to expand...
 
P

Probrin

Member
Oussebon said:
Whatever you do in terms of SSDs, I'd suggest the 1 TB HDD over the 500gb one. It's only £6 more but offers double the storage and is faster.

The 250gb 860 Evo is a good choice, and if you're happy spending the extra that's fine. The cheaper SSDs PCS sell aren't cheaper enough to warrant the performance loss in my opinion (though pricing can vary day to day of course). 250gb will also be large enough for Windows, programs, and a game or two for sure. The faster loading speeds of the SSD are a nice quality of life improvement for launching your game faster.

As above, a fast NVMe SSD from the M.2 SSD menu like the WD Black would be an ideal, though not essential if the budget is critically stretched.

- Is it worth upgrading to the 2600X CPU? It's only about £20 more, so if it's valuable I may do that?/QUOTE] Apparently it's £34 more. Performance is pretty similar and by the time the 2600's performance becomes unacceptable for future titles the 2600x won't be much better. Also new CPUs compatible with existing motherboards are coming out this year, which further undermines the futureproofing argument.

It's splitting hairs a bit, but on balance I wouldn't say it was worth it.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info! I think I may go for the WD Black M.2 - just to check, would PCS automatically install Windows to that drive, or would I need to instruct them somehow?
Click to expand...
 
SpyderTracks

SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
Probrin said:
Oussebon said:
Whatever you do in terms of SSDs, I'd suggest the 1 TB HDD over the 500gb one. It's only £6 more but offers double the storage and is faster.

The 250gb 860 Evo is a good choice, and if you're happy spending the extra that's fine. The cheaper SSDs PCS sell aren't cheaper enough to warrant the performance loss in my opinion (though pricing can vary day to day of course). 250gb will also be large enough for Windows, programs, and a game or two for sure. The faster loading speeds of the SSD are a nice quality of life improvement for launching your game faster.

As above, a fast NVMe SSD from the M.2 SSD menu like the WD Black would be an ideal, though not essential if the budget is critically stretched.




Thanks for the info! I think I may go for the WD Black M.2 - just to check, would PCS automatically install Windows to that drive, or would I need to instruct them somehow?
Click to expand...

When you click proceed on the build, it will default to the m2 drive but you can specify any drive you like. Of course m2 would be optimum.
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top