Little brother's first PC

[whiper79]

So my little brother is going to get his first desktop PC, using for mainly schoolwork and gaming, was wondering if the following build spec was suitable for most pc games such as CS:GO BF5, BO4, Witcher 3 and Minecraft XD at 1080p maybe high/ultra settings in some games, the peripherals will be bought separately, was aiming for a budget of say £850 - £950. Also, want to know if this is a good price point or if a better value spec can be found at a slightly higher or lower budget. Also got both Intel and AMD build to see which was better and wondering if a CPU cooler is needed for either build to keep noises below jet engine level when gaming.

AMD Build
Case
Corsair Spec - Delta RGB MID Tower Gaming Case
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 3 2300X Quad Core CPU (3.5GHz-4GHz/10MB CACHE/AM4)
Motherboard
ASUS® PRIME A320M-K: Micro-ATX, AM4, USB 3.0, 6GB/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

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1st Storage Drive
240GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month 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: £639.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-home-office/4THNXY7QFd/

Intel Build
Case
CORSAIR SPEC-DELTA RGB MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i3 Quad Core Processor i3-9100F (3.60GHz) 6MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® H310M-A R2.0: Micro-ATX, DDR4, LGA1151, USB 3.1, SATA 6GBs
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2400MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
8GB AMD RADEON™ RX 580 - HDMI, DP - DX® 12

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Radeon Graphics
1st Storage Drive
240GB ADATA SU630 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (520MB/R, 450MB/W)
2nd Storage Drive
2TB SEAGATE BARRACUDA SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 256MB CACHE
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
NOT REQUIRED
Power Supply
CORSAIR 550W VS SERIES™ VS-550 POWER SUPPLY
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Processor Cooling
STANDARD 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
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month 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: £679.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-II/Gu4KUCpW3r/

 

[Scott]

That's a really tough price point. For just a little bit more you can have a do-it all system..... otherwise you are as well pocketing the savings as you have done already.

There are new AMD chips out on the 7th, so I would definitely hold out for them regardless.

Having a play around I'm finding approx. £1k to build a very competent, no compromise, system without any peripherals. There are savings that could be made but they all compromise something.

 

[Oussebon]

as aiming for a budget of say £850 - £950.

You say that but you post 2 specs sub £700.

Is it £850-950 including the periperhals or something?

What's the actual budget for the whole system i.e. PC tower, monitor, keyboard and mouse, plus anything else that's required?

 

[whiper79]

Sorry I mean that this £850 - £950 is the budget for the computer including all peripherals, monitor etc., it would be possible to push the budget to around £1000, what is the build like The_Scotster?, the £1000 pound no compromise build, like what are the components.

 

[Scott]

Sorry I mean that this £850 - £950 is the budget for the computer including all peripherals, monitor etc., it would be possible to push the budget to around £1000, what is the build like The_Scotster?, the £1000 pound no compromise build, like what are the components.

Unfortunately I was thinking that £900 was for the PC alone. Including the monitor and peripherals you are fairly close to what would be achievable already I imagine.

 

[Oussebon]

£1000 will get you pretty far

Case
FRACTAL FOCUS G BLACK GAMING CASE (Window)
Processor (CPU)
AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Six Core CPU (3.4GHz-3.9GHz/19MB CACHE/AM4)

Get 3 Months of XBOX Game Pass for PC w/ select AMD Ryzen CPUs
Motherboard
Gigabyte B450 AORUS ELITE: DDR4, USB 3.1 - RGB Ready
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair VENGEANCE DDR4 2933MHz ~ (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
6GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1660 - HDMI, DP - GeForce GTX VR Ready!
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 VS SERIES™ VS-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
Genuine 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
BullGuard™ Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser
Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Monitor
AOC G2460VQ6 24" LED Gaming Monitor
Keyboard & Mouse
CoolerMaster Devastator III Combo Keyboard and Mouse
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 4 to 6 working days
Price: £1,007.00 including VAT and Delivery

Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-pc/f!SK!G2AFe/

 

[Scott]

That's not half bad at all!

I would still hold off though, until the 7th

 

[whiper79]

Yeah I think I'll wait until the 7th, but I was wondering, if I need more space at the same budget, >512GB then what combination of HDD and SSD would be good. I would probably need around maybe 1TB or slightly more of overall storage and more than that would be desirable as we often back up photos and videos to the computers and my brother's steam library is around 270GB so not much space would be left if only 512GB total storage.

 

[Oussebon]

There isn't an option I can really suggest at the same budget.

That SSD is only ~£49. It's only ~£18 more than a 256gb SX6000.

So getting a smaller, cheaper SSD plus an HDD pushes you outside of the budget.

Cutting down on other things in the spec in order to afford more storage is massively shooting yourself in the foot too.

I think your options are:
Get the PC with a 500gb SSD and add an HDD when funds allow
Get the PC with a 2TB HDD and no SSD, and add and SSD when funds allow
Don't get the PC, save up ~£50 more, and get a similar spec with an SSD and HDD when funds allow

If their steam library is 270gb it should fit on the 500gb SSD and you'd have a bit of time to get an HDD before you ran out I guess?

 

[whiper79]

I guess since the 1TB is £38 more, not too much I could add that and that would be more than enough, could probably wait a little for the new processors and then get the hard drive as well.