Gaming PC, Max budget £700

Sweeney47

Well-known member
Hi Guys,

My colleague's son needs a new computer but they have a budget of £700 and want one primarily for gaming (I know they play Overwatch so it must meet the reqs on this game at least). I said I'd have a look but figured I'd ask for some advice on here too. I'm guessing that at their price point we're looking at an AMD system but my knowledge of AMD processors etc is nil!

I'm thinking if we could get a reasonable base system that has room for future upgrades (wiggle room on the graphics card here?)

I've tried an intel/nvidia build as I know their components slightly better with the following but any, this is over budget though so ideally need to reduce it. Really appreciate any help with this:


Case
COOLERMASTER ELITE 311 BLUE CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-7400 (3.0GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H110M-R: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 Ti - DVI, HDMI, DP
1st Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel 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 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 DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
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 3 to 5 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £767.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes//RW2xCVNH2j/
 

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Intel CPUs generally outperform AMD ones for gaming, not just at the high end but at similar price points (e.g. the i3 6100 often outperforms the FX 6350). It's sad but true.

I would suggest something like:


Case
InWIN GT1 BLACK GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i5 Quad Core Processor i5-7500 (3.4GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H110M-R: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LG1151, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Kingston DUAL DDR4 2133MHz (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
2GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1050 - DVI, HDMI, DP
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 450W VS SERIES™ VS-450 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Super Quiet Titan DragonFly Heatpipe Intel 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 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 DVD & Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
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 3 to 5 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £703.00 including VAT and delivery.

Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/intel-home-office-pc/fyFUnGsGU8/


The Inwin GT1 is a much better case, having more preinstalled fans, more extra fan options, and room for decent size GPUs as future upgrades. The Elite 311 doesn't even have front-facing USB 3.

You can go for the cheaper RAM, in most cases I doubt there's even be a measurable difference let alone as perceptible one

I'd go with the GTX 1050 over the 1050ti at this price point. Performance is quite similar, especially in Overwatch:
Overwatch.png LL6EiTYKU2AsNha3a9WvQc-650-80.png
The 1050 ti is stuck awkwardly between the GTX 1050 and RX 470. It's about half-way between them in terms of price, but is far closer to the 1050 than the 470 in terms of performance. So it's not best value.
Saving that ~£25 is already 15% of the cost of a GPU upgrade in 2-3 years time. Or if spending the difference between a 1050 and 1050 ti one might as well double up and go for the RX 470.

I'd get the i5 7500 as it's £7 more for upto 400 MHz more speed. This will help in some games (mostly MMOs) but will also help postpone the day where the CPU's performance become an unacceptable bottleneck to future GPU upgrades. For £7 more it's a no-brainer.

I wouldn't bother with the CS650 PSU for this budget. While bad PSUs should be avoided like the plague, like the "850W Efficient PSU" ones for £20 you can see on certain websites, the VS series is perfectly adequate. It's not brilliant like an RMi, but it's perfectly legit. It's widely used by reputable system builders from what I've seen. 450W is enough to run even powerful GPUs so should provide decent upgrade headroom.

Hope that's of some interest to you / your colleague / their son :)
 
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