[Technology] Help please...Building a budget gaming computer

[1066familyman]

Novice question time. Apologies, there might be a few of these coming up

If we went with the AMD Ryzen 3 3200G CPU, how does the integrated graphics come into play if we are buying a separate graphics card? Surely no need to step up to the Ryzen 5 for the better integrated graphics? Or doesn't it work like that?

Also, am I correct in thinking this Ryzen CPU comes with it's own Cooling fan that has the thermal paste already applied, so no worrying if we're going to bugger up applying thermal paste ourselves? £80 for all this at Curry's seems a bargain.

 

[1066familyman]

If this is just for playing games, would you not be better off buying an Xbox / PS4 (or 5)?

I get the desire to build it, but frankly PC gaming is generally a lot more of a faff than a console, and if you're starting from scratch that budget is incredibly tight.

It's not me doing the gaming. The request is specifically for a gaming PC, so the deal is, Ok, if we make a project of it and build it ourselves.

Of course, this all has the potential to end in tears before bedtime, seeing as neither of us have done anything like this before, but you live and learn and all that

 

[beorhthelm]

Novice question time. Apologies, there might be a few of these coming up

If we went with the AMD Ryzen 3 3200G CPU, how does the integrated graphics come into play if we are buying a separate graphics card? Surely no need to step up to the Ryzen 5 for the better integrated graphics? Or doesn't it work like that?

Also, am I correct in thinking this Ryzen CPU comes with it's own Cooling fan that has the thermal paste already applied, so no worrying if we're going to bugger up applying thermal paste ourselves? £80 for all this at Curry's seems a bargain.

you'll get better graphics from separate card, so little point going for higher priced CPU/GPU combo. you'll plug in the to the GPU and the OS should switch to that as primary. you can run a second monitor for desktop, so its worth having integrated for that.

retail CPU packages will come with cooler and thermal paste applied, dont worry too much though you may have to apply quite a lot of force to secure the cooler unit.

 

[1066familyman]

you'll get better graphics from separate card, so little point going for higher priced CPU/GPU combo. you'll plug in the to the GPU and the OS should switch to that as primary. you can run a second monitor for desktop, so its worth having integrated for that.

retail CPU packages will come with cooler and thermal paste applied, dont worry too much though you may have to apply quite a lot of force to secure the cooler unit.

Thanks. So do you think the AMD Ryzen 3 is a good choice then? The Intel i3 equivalent is about £30 more. Also, surprised Curry's have that AMD Ryzen 3 cheaper by miles than anywhere else I've looked. Any parts supplier recommendations?

Good to know all the CPU packages have thermal paste already applied to the fan

 

[Shropshire Seagull]

I'd recommend an i5 min and an i7 if the budget will stretch.

Can't vouch for AMD, always avoided ....

 

[schmunk]

I'd recommend an i5 min and an i7 if the budget will stretch.

Can't vouch for AMD, always avoided ....

For a long time Intel had the upper hand, but these days the AMD Ryzen CPUs are their equal and generally somewhat cheaper like-for-like.

 

[Brighthelmstone]

Thanks. So do you think the AMD Ryzen 3 is a good choice then? The Intel i3 equivalent is about £30 more. Also, surprised Curry's have that AMD Ryzen 3 cheaper by miles than anywhere else I've looked. Any parts supplier recommendations?

Good to know all the CPU packages have thermal paste already applied to the fan

For parts suppliers i've always used Scan, Ebuyer or Amazon.

Also, use https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ and get lost in there for hours will show if you've selected incompatible parts and the cheapest suppliers etc.

 

[schmunk]

For parts suppliers i've always used Scan, Ebuyer or Amazon.

Also, use https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ and get lost in there for hours will show if you've selected incompatible parts and the cheapest suppliers etc.

Novatech, Aria and CCL Systems are also trusted suppliers I've used (albeit rather a while ago now...)

 

[1066familyman]

For parts suppliers i've always used Scan, Ebuyer or Amazon.

Also, use https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ and get lost in there for hours will show if you've selected incompatible parts and the cheapest suppliers etc.

Thanks.

Funnily enough, I was looking at Amazon reviews yesterday of parts and pcpartspicker cropped up.
I did indeed get lost for hours! . It's fantastic. Showed me the exact power output of the system I put together (170 watts), gave me sites I've never heard of for buying parts from and told me that the AMD Ryzen 3 CPU might need bios update if paired with Picasso something or another. Brilliant site

 

[binky]

Is it possible to build a half decent gaming computer for around £300 ?

Games to be played are mainly Minecraft and Roblox.

After recommendations for the following that will all work together:

Tower case -

Graphics Card -

CPU -

Ram -

Power Supply -

Memory - 500gb SSD possibly?

Anything else I'll need? Peripherals all sorted.

Thanks.

Oh and does, say a 450w power supply, actually use 450w of energy? Bit concerned about the ever increasing electricity bill.

You are going to be hard pressed to build a decent gaming computer for £300.
As others have said, second hand is probably your best route to value for money.

I have recently upgraded my VR rig, because the CPU was insufficient to play Half Life Alyx with no stuttering.
It plays averything else with no problem.

Consequently, I have motherboard, CPU and memory sitting on a shelf.

CPU Intel Core Skylake Processor i5-6500/3.2 GHz Processor CPU with Heatsink and fan
Motherboard MSI Z170*A Pro Socket LGA1151*Max 64GB ATX
Memory HyperX FURY 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 2133 MHz DDR4 CL14 UDIMM Memory Kit (Skylake Compatible) - Black

These items were bought in August 2016, so are out of date now, but still capable.

If you are interested in striking a deal, PM me. I'm looking for £100

The best graphics card within your budget will be the Nvidia GTX 1650 at circa £150.
Curries have PNY and Gigabyte variants currently at £140

That leaves you with £60 for Case, PSU, and Hard drive, which will be tight.
You may have to up your budget a bit.

Don't forget the Operating System.
I have used mmoga.com in the past to source Windows OEM keys.
Windows 10 is £13.80 with them at the moment. They send an email with the key in 24 hours or so.
If you are going with more than 4GB RAM you need to make sure your operating system is 64bit.

That's all I can think of right now.

 

[1066familyman]

You are going to be hard pressed to build a decent gaming computer for £300.
As others have said, second hand is probably your best route to value for money.

I have recently upgraded my VR rig, because the CPU was insufficient to play Half Life Alyx with no stuttering.
It plays averything else with no problem.

Consequently, I have motherboard, CPU and memory sitting on a shelf.

CPU Intel Core Skylake Processor i5-6500/3.2 GHz Processor CPU with Heatsink and fan
Motherboard MSI Z170*A Pro Socket LGA1151*Max 64GB ATX
Memory HyperX FURY 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) 2133 MHz DDR4 CL14 UDIMM Memory Kit (Skylake Compatible) - Black

These items were bought in August 2016, so are out of date now, but still capable.

If you are interested in striking a deal, PM me. I'm looking for £100

The best graphics card within your budget will be the Nvidia GTX 1650 at circa £150.
Curries have PNY and Gigabyte variants currently at £140

That leaves you with £60 for Case, PSU, and Hard drive, which will be tight.
You may have to up your budget a bit.

Don't forget the Operating System.
I have used mmoga.com in the past to source Windows OEM keys.
Windows 10 is £13.80 with them at the moment. They send an email with the key in 24 hours or so.
If you are going with more than 4GB RAM you need to make sure your operating system is 64bit.

That's all I can think of right now.

This is very helpful. I'll PM you at some point to discuss further. Thanks

 

[1066familyman]

Thanks all for the advice here. Really appreciated, so I thought I'd provide a quick update as I have now sourced all the parts and just ready for the build over the holiday.

Second hand from Binky ( who has been brilliant with advice and chucking in the odd extras ) :

MOTHERBOARD - MSI Z170A Pro.
CPU - Intel i5 6500/3.2ghz. with fan and heatsink already fitted.
RAM - 2 x 8gb Hyper X Fury DDR4.

New:

PSU - Corsair 450w Bronze Plus.
STORAGE - Western Digital Blue 500gb SSD.
GRAPHICS CARD - Palit GTX 1650.
TOWER - Fractal Design Focus G Midi.

Price for all of the above = £376. So a bit above budget, as you all said was likely, but for the spec I'm quite happy with the price. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have got that spec pre built at that price, plus I get the added bonus of learning something new together with young 1066 and her having proper ownership of it, rather than just opening a box and pressing the on button.

Probably will add a 1tb HDD at some point down the line? ( thoughts appreciated).

Wish us luck with the build....We may need it!

 

[Dorset Seagull]

Thanks all for the advice here. Really appreciated, so I thought I'd provide a quick update as I have now sourced all the parts and just ready for the build over the holiday.

Second hand from Binky ( who has been brilliant with advice and chucking in the odd extras ) :

MOTHERBOARD - MSI Z170A Pro.
CPU - Intel i5 6500/3.2ghz. with fan and heatsink already fitted.
RAM - 2 x 8gb Hyper X Fury DDR4.

New:

PSU - Corsair 450w Bronze Plus.
STORAGE - Western Digital Blue 500gb SSD.
GRAPHICS CARD - Palit GTX 1650.
TOWER - Fractal Design Focus G Midi.

Price for all of the above = £376. So a bit above budget, as you all said was likely, but for the spec I'm quite happy with the price. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have got that spec pre built at that price, plus I get the added bonus of learning something new together with young 1066 and her having proper ownership of it, rather than just opening a box and pressing the on button.

Probably will add a 1tb HDD at some point down the line? ( thoughts appreciated).

Wish us luck with the build....We may need it!

Good luck with the build. I built a few PC’s many years ago and it was just really easy to do. Believe me I am no expert and am one of those people that is normally a complete failure when it comes to anything practical so you should be ok.

Look forward to hearing of your success