Gaming PC - Anno/RDR2/Tomb Raider

dulpit

Hey all,

I am in the market for a new PC. It is actually for work, so was initially just going to look at prebuilt Dells or whatever, but I would like to build one and would like to be able to game on it. I don't need cutting edge gaming, the games I like would be RDR2, GTA V, Tomb Raiders, Anno 1800, things like that. Not mad into first person or anything.

I plan on building this in phases, as I have a more urgent need for work stuff first, and can add graphics/etc afterwards. I think my needs would be roughly:

• Fast processor (I know this is vague, but I am using a core i7 6600U processor which is just too slow. I do have remote access to a Threadripper 16 core processor machine, which is probably overkill, so somewhere in between).
• I'll aim to sort out powerline adapters, but wifi built in would be handy.
• 16 or (preferred) 32 GB RAM
• ~500 GB storage to begin with is fine
• I would be happy to get a machine without a graphics card, so on board graphics are a must to begin with, and my first upgrade would then be a graphics card. I don't need (for now) peripherals.

If I could get something without the graphics card for around €300-400, that would be great. Any suggestions? I am not in a massive rush to be honest, and I don't care about case look (it'll be tucked out of the way), so if there is something coming soon then I can happily wait until Christmas.

Sound.

Edit: meant to add - I don't have Windows, so I guess I'll have to add that to the requirement list.

Homelander

Your budget is kinda ridiculously low/expectation way too high for what you're asking.

I know fast is subjective, but a mainstream Ryzen 3600 is €200, most basic motherboard going is €50, 32GB Ram is €100, 500GB SSD is €60, decent case/PSU combo will cost the guts of €100, basic graphics card is €30. (Ryzen doesn't support onboard)

Then you have to add in other bits and pieces like Wifi adaptor, peripherals, etc. And this is assuming you are using un-activated Windows too.

Really, you want a budget of at least €500-600 to achieve what you mentioned (and that's still excluding Win, but it works fine un-activated)

I mean, for example, the "something in between" you mentioned would be the Ryzen 3700X, but that's €320 odd for the CPU on its own.

dulpit

To be fair, I wasn't really sure what sort of budget I needed. If €500-€600 is better bet, so be it.

Thecageyone

Ryzen do integrated graphics on their G series chips, like the 3400G , but not good enough to play the games OP mentions. Better off with something like a Ryzen 2600 and something like a GTX 1650, you'd get both inside of 300 on Amazon - plenty in the budget then for an SSD, PSU, case, RAM and fans

Homelander

Just buy a pre-built maybe? You're not really gonna get better value than something like this at €750 odd.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-mb520-argb-ryzen-7-2700x-nvidia-gtx-1660-super-16gb-ram-desktop-gaming-pc.html

€750 delivered when configured with Ryzen 2700X, 32GB 3000mhz Ram, 500GB SSD, Wifi and a GTX1660 Super.

A million times better than anything you would get from Dell or the likes and well able to run the latest games at ultra settings, and ticks all the boxes you were after.

dulpit

Homelander wrote: »

Just buy a pre-built maybe? You're not really gonna get better value than something like this at €750 odd.

https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-mb520-argb-ryzen-7-2700x-nvidia-gtx-1660-super-16gb-ram-desktop-gaming-pc.html

€750 delivered when configured with Ryzen 2700X, 32GB 3000mhz Ram, 500GB SSD, Wifi and a GTX1660 Super.

A million times better than anything you would get from Dell or the likes and well able to run the latest games at ultra settings, and ticks all the boxes you were after.

Interesting. I assume these types of prebuilt systems allow for easy upgrade paths?

Homelander

Yes. Pre-built systems from these type of companies all use standard off the shelf parts, nothing is proprietary as can be the case with OEM manufacturers like HP/Dell/Acer/etc.

Exactly the same as if you built it yourself from parts bought online. That particular PC is very cheap at the moment, must be clearing stock - I bought two of the same one, it was more expensive to build with the same parts bought on their own.

No barrier to upgrading anything for the most part, though if you were thinking 64GB RAM, the included motherboard only have two RAM banks. You can upgrade to X470 for £35 extra, that will have 4 ram banks.

B450M will support 4th gen Ryzen processors though realistically the 2700X will be fine for work/games for a very long time so I wouldn't get to tied up with that.

For €750 you can configure it with an 8-core Ryzen 2700X, 32GB of Ram, 500GB SSD and a GTX1660 Super. It's amazing value.

In comparison, Dell's cheapest Gaming PC is €880 and is an i5-10400, 8GB Ram (in horrific single channel config), 500GB SSD and GTX1660 Super. It also uses non-standard parts.

Samuel T. Cogley

+1 that's pretty amazing value.

dulpit

Does the manufacturer of a graphics card (otherwise the same type) really matter? I can see slightly different prices depending on which manufacturer you pick.

In addition, and I know this is subjective so hard to answer, but would like for like games on a ps4 versus 1660 super have similar performance on the pc? Or better?

Samuel T. Cogley

The manufacturer doesn't matter so much as the make up of the card. Really though with nVidia partners they're usually pretty solid and you only very occationally see a complete dog of a card. I'd say a 1660 Super would be a superior experiance to the current gen consoles. PC monitors are usually capable for 60 Frame Per Second which gives you a smother experiance than the 30FPS consoles generally target.

The new gen of consoles look pretty sweet though.

Homelander

The PS4 is light years behind a 1660 Super.

You're talking games at 1080p medium-ish 30fps vs 1080p ultra 60fps.

Consoles age better than cards because games are optimised specifically for the consoles, but right now a PS4 would be somewhere between a GTX1050ti and 1650 for the latest games, much closer to a 1050Ti on somewhat older titles.

dulpit

Suppose a better question is where would it compare to the new consoles?

Samuel T. Cogley

The new consoles will blow any PC out of the water at a given price point. The issue is the kind of telly they're hooked upto. You ideally want something with a high refresh rate. Also are the kind of games you want on console?