Would £900 get a gaming PC?

[ZuParadox]

My son (16) has saved up so far £900 for his first gaming PC

He mainly wants it for playing games like Fortnite, Minecraft, Rainbow 6 and Fifa

Is there a spec out there that would be close to his current budget that also allowed in future to be upgraded (don't worry about a monitor or keyboard/mouse these will come seperately for xmas)

 

[SpyderTracks]

My son (16) has saved up so far £900 for his first gaming PC

He mainly wants it for playing games like Fortnite, Minecraft, Rainbow 6 and Fifa

Is there a spec out there that would be close to his current budget that also allowed in future to be upgraded (don't worry about a monitor or keyboard/mouse these will come seperately for xmas)

Yeah, should be doable, you don’t need too much graphical grunt for those games, so should be able to build a strong platform that will allow for substantial gpu upgrades down the line within budget.

Give me a mo and we’ll draw something up.

 

[SpyderTracks]

This is a bit over. You could drop down to a 5000 series CPU, but then you'd drop the upgradeability, with a 7000 series platform, it's been confirmed to support CPU upgrades through 2025, and even if you were to stick on the same generation, upgrading to the 7800X3D would offer a significant boost down the line.

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 7600 Six Core CPU (4.0GHz-5.2GHz/38MB CACHE/AM5)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B650-PLUS (AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR5 5600MHz (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6600 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
512GB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 3500MB/sR, 1625MB/sW)
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 850W RMx SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead, 1.0mm Core)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 150 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
ONBOARD 2.5Gbe 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
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Microsoft® Edge
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £986.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am5-pc/2sDBTgvhRN/

 

[sck451]

I'd look at something along these lines: a touch over the budget but not by a huge amount... You could get it down to £900 with the 6600 graphics card, though it has a lot less performance.

The upgradability is limited by its being on an older platform, but there is still scope. You could, for instance, add a 5800X3D in a few years, and upgrade the memory, and upgrade the graphics, and add more storage, all very easily, depending where he finds himself limited.

And well done to him for saving up! If you want any thoughts about a monitor, I'm sure we could try to help...

Case
CORSAIR 3000D AIRFLOW MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 5600 Six Core CPU (3.5GHz-4.4GHz/35MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME B550-PLUS (AM4, DDR4, PCIe 4.0)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 3200MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 6650 XT - HDMI, DP - DX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB SOLIDIGM P41+ GEN 4 M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD (up to 4125MB/sR, 2950MB/sW)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 650W CV SERIES™ CV-650 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1.5 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
PCS FrostFlow 100 V3 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
Wireless Network Card
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6E AX210 2,400Mbps/5GHz, 300Mbps/2.4GHz PCI-E CARD + BT 5.0
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 [KK3-00027]
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
Microsoft® Edge
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 5 to 7 working days
Price: £948.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/pM5M652PPy/

 

[ZuParadox]

Thanks guys, appreciate the time you've taken to do this - i'll take a look through with him when he's home later

 

[sck451]

Just to explain the differences here. The builds are similar, except for the following:

• CPU. Mine suggests an older chip that's less powerful and less upgradable.
• Graphics. Mine has the more powerful graphics card, giving more performance. (Though this is the most likely component to upgrade.)
• Storage. Mine has less storage: the ideal configuration has two SSDs to give separation of concerns and in particular to make installing Windows easier when that's needed.
• Power supply. Mine has a significantly slower capacity power supply. This will be noisier and limit upgrades to a certain degree.
• Windows. Mine includes a Windows licence; @SpyderTracks does not. If you have a licence you can transfer to this machine that'll save you a lot of money. If not, it'll cost you quite a bit more to add.

At this budget you have to choose where you make your compromises!

 

[ZuParadox]

Just to explain the differences here. The builds are similar, except for the following:

• CPU. Mine suggests an older chip that's less powerful and less upgradable.
• Graphics. Mine has the more powerful graphics card, giving more performance. (Though this is the most likely component to upgrade.)
• Storage. Mine has less storage: the ideal configuration has two SSDs to give separation of concerns and in particular to make installing Windows easier when that's needed.
• Power supply. Mine has a significantly slower capacity power supply. This will be noisier and limit upgrades to a certain degree.
• Windows. Mine includes a Windows licence; @SpyderTracks does not. If you have a licence you can transfer to this machine that'll save you a lot of money. If not, it'll cost you quite a bit more to add.

At this budget you have to choose where you make your compromises!

Hiya

So we've had a look through and we would require Windows yes. I've also noticed yours has a wireless network card whereas Spyder's doesn't. Son would need to connect via wifi from his room so i'm guessing i would need that?

Also, If we were to go for a quieter power supply, would any of the other options in the drop down be suitable and ok to pick?

 

[sck451]

Hiya

So we've had a look through and we would require Windows yes. I've also noticed yours has a wireless network card whereas Spyder's doesn't. Son would need to connect via wifi from his room so i'm guessing i would need that?

Also, If we were to go for a quieter power supply, would any of the other options in the drop down be suitable and ok to pick?

Yes, it sounds like you'd need a WiFi card, or of course WiFi built into the motherboard if you upgraded it.

And yes, any of them would be fine. I'd suggest 750W is all you'll need; 850W would be some added insurance.