Budget Gaming PC

[m1chael]

I have a Dell S2719DC Monitor (2560 x 1440 at 60 Hz). Since being Locked Down I have been enjoying playing CS:GO on a Macbook Air attached to this monitor – despite only getting 30fps.

I’d like to buy a PC to enable me to fully enjoy CS:GO and have as much potential as a general gaming machine as is possible within my tight budget of £600. I’d be very grateful for any advice on how the spec below could be improved to better meet those criteria:


Case
THERMALTAKE VERSA H17 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 2300X Quad Core CPU (3.5GHz-4GHz/10MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME A320M-K: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.0, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
256GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (1900 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 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 Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days

Price: £554.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/vwygAhjqBX/

 

[Scott]

I wouldn't recommend this in any way unfortunately. The absolute minimum for something worthwhile would be around £850 I'm afraid. As much as you could build a system for £600, as you have demonstrated, it wouldn't be powerful enough for decent gaming and there would be no future upgrade potential due to the components chosen.

You would be far better buying an Xbox and playing on that, would save you a fortune and be better performing.

 

[m1chael]

Thank you for the frank advice Scott.

Would the following £850 budget system be a good match for my Dell S2719DC Monitor (2560 x 1440 at 60 Hz)? I know the RX 570 is old - but my monitor supports Freesync which I have heard is worth utilising.

Case
CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ 275Q QUIET CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-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
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
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £824.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/3QwwkRZ!F6/

 

[Scott]

Hi there,

Unfortunately that monitor is a 1440p resolution, which requires a FAR more powerful GPU. You would be looking at the AMD 5700 or the Nvidia 2060 to make use of it. That would blow the budget right out the water.

The rest of the build looks good although I would go with the Focus-G over the 275 Quiet case.

 

[Scott]

If you have a current PC with a Windows license you could transfer that to the new system and that would save quite a few ££s to put towards the GPU. This is the cheapest I think you can manage 1440p gaming....

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 3600 Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.2GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B450-PLUS (DDR4, USB 3.1, 6Gb/s) - RGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 2060 - HDMI, DP - VR Ready!
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB PCS PCIe M.2 SSD (2000 MB/R, 1100 MB/W)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W CV SERIES™ CV-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
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
NO RECOVERY MEDIA REQUIRED
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365 (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 12 to 14 working days
Price: £923.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/mMe4T0Nszw/

 

[m1chael]

Thank you again.

Sadly I do need to buy Windows.

Forgive my ignorance but, would it make sense to go for a build like the one I proposed with an RX 570 to play at 1080p (and get the benefit of Freesync?) for now, and then plan on the GPU being the first component I upgrade in due course to allow 1440p gaming?

 

[Lemon_Haze]

you can buy windows from office uk for 20£ but i dont know how "legit" it can be, seems genuine but i rather wont post any link, although i would still recommend win when u building system. you get benefit with freesync on nvidia gpu as well, I didnt know that as well until @SpyderTracks advised me, so no problem with that, i would go with nvidia it will perform better, rtx 2060 and thats you for 1080p, if you want 1440p go eith 2070 rtx.

 

[Scott]

Thank you again.

Sadly I do need to buy Windows.

Forgive my ignorance but, would it make sense to go for a build like the one I proposed with an RX 570 to play at 1080p (and get the benefit of Freesync?) for now, and then plan on the GPU being the first component I upgrade in due course to allow 1440p gaming?

As suggested, Nvidia cards work fine with Freesync now. Down scaling a 1440p monitor to 1080p will look very poor unfortunately, as it's not quite halfed in size, if you know what I mean. I have a couple of 4k monitors in work and scaled to 1080p they look absolutely terrible, and that DOES scale well.

I would strongly recommend against not matching the GPU to the monitor but it's entirely your decision. I wouldn't be recommending the RX570 for your build in any way. The 5700 or the 2060 (Super) would be my recommendations.