I need a budget gaming setup

Dandy

New member
I'm kinda new to it all and am calling for backup.

I've got a budget around £1000 including monitor, keyboard and mouse, although I think I'd likely get the keyboard and mouse elsewhere for more options (I'm thinking a Corsair Strafe for the keyboard then the Harpoon for the mouse... I don't mind a lower-grade mouse but I want a good mechanical keyboard because I do a lot of typing when I'm not gaming). So budget is really about £850, including monitor.

I'm not a competitive gamer and want to focus on getting a solid gameplay experience from sandbox and creator games instead although I'd like for the processing power to be at least somewhat decent.

I don't know enough about the optimal compatibility of components to make a list I feel confident in, but I'm looking to run games like Minecraft, Terraria and Crossout at a good standard as well as single-player story-driven games.
 

polycrac

Rising Star
Here is another possibility:

Case:
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600X Six Core CPU (3.6GHz-4.25GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2666MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 570 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st Storage Drive
NOT REQUIRED
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB ADATA SX6000 Pro PCIe M.2 2280 (2100 MB/R, 1500 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
WIRELESS 802.11N 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD
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)
Monitor
Samsung LS24D330HSX/EN 24" LED monitor
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: £856.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/SA3Nx7YDup/

The savings from using an older CPU let you get a 24" full HD monitor (although, of course, you could buy without and shop around for that). You'll run out of space for games quite soon, but HDDs are easy to fit and it lets you put off that part of the cost until later, while still getting gaming now.

The CPU is decent; six cores and 12 threads, it should be plenty but the motherboard and PSU would allow you to upgrade the processor in time, if you needed more grunt.

Just to be clear, the build posted by Nursemroph is much better, but when budgets are tight, they are tight. This build cuts corners now but has potential for later upgrades
 

Dandy

New member
See I'm pretty determined on getting a third-gen processor... and that AOC monitor would be a lot more preferable... all depends on how much I can spend really.

Thank you both for the input, it's very helpful to have some extra heads for ideas. Cheers!
 

Scott

Behold The Ford Mondeo
Moderator
You can cut corners as suggested but the first build proposed would be the ideal minimum.

You don't need the TXm PSU, it's just a better bit of kit.
You don't need an M2 SSD, it's just the current standard for anything considered decent
The 570 is the lowest you want to go on the GPU, I wouldn't entertain anything lower. The budget completely limits any real option here.

£850 gets you a really good 1080P gaming system with the option to drop in a more powerful GPU down the line for 1440p gaming, or even more if you choose. Spending less than that gives diminishing returns.
 
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