Help Needed Please! Purchasing A Gaming Computer - Advice On Spec!

KerryW

Member
Hi!

I‘m wanting to purchase a new gaming computer & monitor as a Christmas gift for my other half, but I don’t know where to start! 😅

I ALMOST purchased one from PC world (they made it sound good on the description to someone like me who has no clue on technical stuff!!)
However, I’m so happy that I stumbled across this amazing forum as I now know that buying an off the shelf computer is definitely not the way to go!!!

I‘ve spent days reading the forums and advice but am still clueless and don’t want to mess this up, so any help and advice anyone can give would be so very appreciated! 😊

USAGE - The only games Jason ever plays is Total War (I know he goes online and downloads mods for the game too, I don’t know if this info matters?)
Other than playing Total War, it’s only other use would be for light internet browsing.

BUDGET - I would love if a £2,000 budget would get me an amazing PC & monitor, however I am flexible on that to get the perfect set up, so could go more if needed.

EXTRA INFO - One thing I thought was probably important for him is the monitor size … Whilst I know size isn’t everything 😂 he is used to playing on a 42” TV, i know switching to an actual gaming monitor will be a huge difference in quality of play regardless of size, but I think I’d rather go for a monitor that’s not too different in size to what he’s used to!!
My ideal would be 36/37” or preferably more (I’d actually love to get even larger than that if there are any suggestions of any great screens that won’t blow the budget too hugely, but that might be asking the impossible!)
Also maybe one of the curved monitors might be good, would you recommend a curved monitor being a good option for battling Total war?

As mentioned, if I need to go a bit more than the 2k to get the monitor and computer set up then I’m ok to do that as I just know it will be money well spent …. most of the time I think he deserves it 🤣 (he’s currently playing on a HP computer that is probably about 10/12 years old which makes noises like a small aircraft taking off when he is playing his game, not to mention how often it crashes mid battle!!)
I feel that whatever you experts might be able to recommend for me to go with will blow his mind based on what he’s been playing on for over a decade! 😂

My apologies that I haven’t done any kind of ‘spec list’ to make it easier - but I would literally be randomly clicking any option on the build list since I have no clue on any of it - other than reading forum posts and knowing I should avoid going with an Intel and to opt for AMD and I definitely don’t need to go with the free anti virus software, oh and also that the case is an important factor too for functionality and not just to pick one that looks nice, since these points were mentioned SO many times on forum posts!! Other than this I am clueless 😂

Hoping that someone may be able to point me in the right direction!!

Also on a cheeky side note if I could additionally ask if there are any recommendations of headphones and mouse? - I’m thinking these would be perfect Christmas gifts that other family members can buy him - I’d probably say a max of £50/£60 for headphones and around £30 for a mouse - but again if I’m way off on pricing to get something decent for these then just tell me what I should be getting!

Thank you so much in advance for any help you can give!
Kerry x
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Ok here's a suggestion that's a bit over your £2k budget but you'd have a very happy partner I'm sure, you could link this up to a nice ultra wide monitor as in the link below, if you couldn't do the monitor for now this would still work very well with the TV, and get the monitor when budget allows

Case
CORSAIR iCUE 5000X RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Eight Core CPU (3.8GHz-4.7GHz/36MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® STRIX B550-F GAMING (DDR4, USB 3.2, 6Gb/s) - ARGB Ready!
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE RGB PRO DDR4 3600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE RTX 3070 Ti - HDMI, DP, LHR
1st Storage Drive
1TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 64MB CACHE
1st M.2 SSD Drive
500GB SEAGATE FIRECUDA 530 GEN 4 PCIe NVMe (up to 7000MB/R, 3000MB/W)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB INTEL® 670p M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR | 2500MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1000W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
Corsair H150i ELITE CAPELLIX RGB Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste
STANDARD THERMAL PASTE FOR SUFFICIENT COOLING
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Card
10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB/Thunderbolt Options
MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 2 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2 FRONT PORTS
Operating System
Windows 11 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KUK-00003]
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10/11 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
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 13 to 16 working days
Price: £2,237.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/WvQpcFHWVu/

 

KerryW

Member
Brilliant!
Thanks so much for your help Martin!
I will go with this and I’m sure he will have the best Christmas ever 😂 like you said I can hang fire on the monitor or he could treat himself to that!

Any suggestions of what I should be looking at for a pair of headphones & mouse that would be good for his total war gaming?
Thanks again!
Kerry x
 

Martinr36

MOST VALUED CONTRIBUTOR
Brilliant!
Thanks so much for your help Martin!
I will go with this and I’m sure he will have the best Christmas ever 😂 like you said I can hang fire on the monitor or he could treat himself to that!

Any suggestions of what I should be looking at for a pair of headphones & mouse that would be good for his total war gaming?
Thanks again!
Kerry x
Mouse I'd say M65 elite
keyboard K70
Headphones HS70 Pro
 

KerryW

Member
Hi! Hoping @Martinr36 or any other lovely expert might be able to quickly help me!
I just went to go through checkout with the build Martin suggested (now gone up by £90ish pound - my bad for waiting til payday! 🤦🏼‍♀️😅)

Anyway, when I click to proceed, it flashed up with 3 questions of things to confirm & I darent select anything further until I’ve checked whether I’m good to confirm and what to say on the last question ….

1. The Motherboard I Have Selected Does Not Support USB-C
its telling me that the front usb-case will not be functioning ….. I know this is probably a ridiculous question, but will there be USB ports on the back for plugging in mouse / the internet dongle thingy and anything else that’s needed?) I’m sure there must be, which is why this is probably a totally silly question, but just thought I’d best check! 😂

2. You have selected a 1000W power supply, by our calculations you actually only need a 650W power supply. We have calculated your specification to require around 568W of power including a 20% allowance.
Should I change this or leave as is?

3. We note you have selected an M.2/PCI-E SSD drive& a mechanical hard drive under the primary hard disk drive option.
please confirm whether you would like your operating system (OS) to be installed on the SSD drive or on the mechanical hard drive.

This then gives me a drop down menu to select - i have no clue - help! 😂

If anyone could help that would be fab, thank you!
i’ve added a screenshot of the exact wording it gave on the above.

thanks in advance
Kerry
 

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SpyderTracks

We love you Ukraine
1. The Motherboard I Have Selected Does Not Support USB-C
its telling me that the front usb-case will not be functioning ….. I know this is probably a ridiculous question, but will there be USB ports on the back for plugging in mouse / the internet dongle thingy and anything else that’s needed?) I’m sure there must be, which is why this is probably a totally silly question, but just thought I’d best check! 😂
Yes, the motherboard has loads of USB's on the back of the board. Loads of space for anything USB. The case as well will have some USB ports on it too.

1637975672603.png


2. You have selected a 1000W power supply, by our calculations you actually only need a 650W power supply. We have calculated your specification to require around 568W of power including a 20% allowance.
Should I change this or leave as is?
Keep it as it is, that's your current requirements, but we're factoring in for upgrades for the next 7 to 10 years. Next gen GPU's are set to use more power than current, so it gives him the option to upgrade to a top tier GPU in the future should he wish to.

3. We note you have selected an M.2/PCI-E SSD drive& a mechanical hard drive under the primary hard disk drive option.
please confirm whether you would like your operating system (OS) to be installed on the SSD drive or on the mechanical hard drive.

This then gives me a drop down menu to select - i have no clue - help! 😂
You want it on the M2 SSD.
 

AgentCooper

At Least I Have Chicken
Moderator
As regards the USB-C situation, the case has one of those ports at the front so it’ll simply be inactive. Like so…

02F0B6CD-2BEC-49F2-817E-5BA3E82440E2.jpeg


The other two standard USBs at the front will function perfectly well. It’s not a medium that everyone uses so he won’t be missing out too much… and now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure that motherboard has an active USB-C at the back that will work should he want to take advantage of it.

EDIT - Just saw the handy pic that the Spyder posted, there definitely is a USB-C at the back. God bless him.
 
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