~£700 Gaming Build

[Ron011]

I'd appreciate any opinions on this quote. It's a PC for moderate gaming use, I'd like it to be VR capable for when the new Half-Life game comes along.

I've stuck to Intel for the processor rather than AMD as I play some quite old games (TF2) which are poorly optimised for AMD processors based on my past experience with the Bulldozer family of processors.

Is the upgrade to the sound card worth it? Its an extra £28 but I do listen to a lot of music on the PC, although only through headphones.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275R TEMPERED GLASS GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Six Core Processor i5-9400F (2.9GHz) 9MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H310M-A R2.0: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
240GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD CPU COOLER
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Extra Case Fans
2x 120mm Black Case Fan (configured to extract from rear/roof)
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster® Audigy™ FX OEM
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
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 5 to 7 working days
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Price: £708.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[steaky360]

Would you plug your headphones into the soundcard? Remember that would be at the back of the PC the soundcard might not have passthrough to the front I/O on your case, so if you plug into that you'll be bypassing the sound card entirely.

Motherboards tend to have good enough sound quality these days regardless though so unless you've got particular requirements for a soundcard its probably not worth it.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Modern AMD chips are literally nothing like the old bulldozers, they’re superior to intel in almost every way. Don’t be put off by their previous chips from years ago.

 

[Oussebon]

You should be aware of the downsides of the system you're buying

low spec PSU will limit future GPU upgrade options
low end mobo with no upgrade path, slow M.2 slot, and support only for slow RAM (the latter also being true of the B450s)
Slow RAM will be a disadvantage for performance in some titles, often quite CPU-dependent titles.
Sound card is probably otiose as above

The 9400F is the lowest end of Intel's i5 offerings. An AMD R5 3600 will be more futureproof especially thanks to its additional threads. Though it is a little more expensive.

Also, a £700 gaming PC to happily power a £XXX VR kit... is ambitious to say the least.

 

[Ron011]

Thanks for the advice all, I've made some changes and am considering the below build instead. I take it the problem with the suitability of the earlier build for VR was the GPU?

I don't mind losing out on upgradability, from past experience once it's time to upgrade one major component things have moved on so much that I've been as well building a new PC.

Case
PCS SR-628B RGB GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
240GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 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
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 7 to 9 working days
Promotional Item
Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Welcome Book
PCSpecialist Welcome Book - United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland
Logo Branding
PCSpecialist Logo

 

[SpyderTracks]

I don't mind losing out on upgradability, from past experience once it's time to upgrade one major component things have moved on so much that I've been as well building a new PC.

This really isn't the case, if done properly, that's the whole point. I'm still on the same platform from 2009, with 3 iterations of upgrades along the way. I am looking to upgrade the core mobo, RAM and CPU next year, that's an 11 year cycle for the core components. That's exactly how PC upgrading should go. Upgrading the whole PC at the first path means that you've missed out on the benefits of a good core system and have cheaped out needlessly.

If you post your max budget and what the above build came to, we can suggest something more appropriate. You will need an RTX2070 to comfortably achieve VR.

 

[Oussebon]

As above, you can expect to change the graphics card a couple of times within the lifespan of a gaming PC, so allowing a decent case and a larger than minimum PSU (and having a decent CPU e.g. R5 3600 to avoid CPU bottlenecks down the line) is wise.

Especially with the increased GPU horsepower needed for VR, or future games in general.

We don't know what Alyx will need to run at given settings, and ofc what settings you find acceptable will be down to personal choice too, but given that Steam lists a GTX 1060 as a minimum (unsurprising for a AAA VR title) a 1660 may not give an optimal experience at all. Granted system requirements must be taken with a pinch of salt on the one hand, but on the other, you can live with a choppy gaming experience on a monitor, less so with a headset.

 

[Ron011]

I am completely new to VR gaming, so I see I may have to flex a bit on the build/price.

The latest build I listed came to £770. That's quite close to my maximum budget, I'd prefer not to break the £900 mark (not including the operating system).

 

[Oussebon]

Do you already have a VR kit? What VR kit are you using? If you don't have a VR kit, when do you expect to purchase it and what will your budget for that be?