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Specific PC set up questions, need help from some knowledgable peeps pls

Freeman76

Member
Hey guys, This is a bit of a specific question, so bare with me.

Me and my wife like to game together, she has just bought a laptop for such games as Age of Empires, WoW etc.

I have a 4k TV and want a PC that I can buy from somewhere and get it quick, ie tomorrow/early next week. I will have the PC next to my consoles and play it through the TV, so will need a way to play on the couch with wireless Keyboard/mouse etc, as comfortable as possible.

I have around £700-800 I can spend. I want something that can play games smoothly. Any tips please? I am console gamer through and through, I do already have a PC but it's about 7 years old, has a GTX960, a crappy processor intel i5-4570 3.20ghz, and 8GB ram. It needs to be a decent step up from that if possible. Or am I just not gonna get this for my price range?
 

Kuranghi

Member
Yeah, do what DESTROYA DESTROYA says, unless you can push your budget quite a lot its better to just upgrade.

You could buy a RTX 2070 Super + 3600X + 16GB of RAM + alright Motherboard for about ~£900 quid. If you go to £1000 you can buy a 3700X instead of 3600X, this would smash what you have just now, you could easily do 4K, near max settings in most every game, but 30 fps, or near 4K, optimised settings for 60 fps.

A laptop with those specs would be near £2000 and even then the CPU and GPU won't be proper desktop versions, although you would get a nice high refresh rate screen.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
Good luck getting anywhere with £700-800 especially if you want a pre built. Not only are they more expensive but significantly worse value.

If you want a PC you need to be prepared to pay the premium price and build it yourself. Do yourself a favour and stick with console because it really seems like you're not cut out for PC gaming.

My first PC cost me £800 and I regretted pretty much every part of it. After about a year I replaced it because it sucked ass. My current PC is worth ~£4,000.
 

PhoenixTank

Member
Why not just upgrade the GPU and CPU and add more RAM ? it will be cheaper and much more powerful than any laptop you can get for your budget.
I'll third this.
Aiming for 4K shouldn't be awful, but most of the budget needs to go to the GPU.


I have around £700-800 I can spend. I want something that can play games smoothly. Any tips please? I am console gamer through and through, I do already have a PC but it's about 7 years old, has a GTX960, a crappy processor intel i5-4570 3.20ghz, and 8GB ram. It needs to be a decent step up from that if possible. Or am I just not gonna get this for my price range?
What is your motherboard & cpu cooler? PSU would help as well.

Any particular games that you want to play? The same as your wife?

If the base is good enough a 4790k with an OC might be economical. Really depends on prices. You are going to get somewhat bollocked on GPUs given we're theoretically close to new lines hitting the market. C'est la vie.
 
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DESTROYA

Member
Nah. That PC is too old with old BIOS and mb features.

Get a PC of your choice with at least 32G of RAM and it absolutely must have a 2080 Super or better yet a 2080Ti. Order from DELL or something. Make sure it has an SSD (1T)

Did you not see his budget requirements ? Great suggestion :messenger_weary: :messenger_ok:
Good luck getting anywhere with £700-800 especially if you want a pre built. Not only are they more expensive but significantly worse value.

If you want a PC you need to be prepared to pay the premium price and build it yourself. Do yourself a favour and stick with console because it really seems like you're not cut out for PC gaming.

My first PC cost me £800 and I regretted pretty much every part of it. After about a year I replaced it because it sucked ass. My current PC is worth ~£4,000.

Nice way to throw him under the bus sayin they are not cut for PC gaming when you can easily upgrade the GPU and RAM and still get amazing performance .
 

GHG

Member
If you're aiming for 4k then you can actually get away with a lot on the CPU side of things for now.

The most economical thing to do would be to make sure your current power supply is up to the task then add a 2080 super and an extra 8gb of ram.

If not then build/buy a new PC with a b550 motherboard, a ryzen 3600, 16gb ram (at least, 32gb would be better) and a 2080 super.

But honestly, wait a couple of months if you can, new GPU's are on the horizon.
 
Good luck getting anywhere with £700-800 especially if you want a pre built. Not only are they more expensive but significantly worse value.

If you want a PC you need to be prepared to pay the premium price and build it yourself. Do yourself a favour and stick with console because it really seems like you're not cut out for PC gaming.

My first PC cost me £800 and I regretted pretty much every part of it. After about a year I replaced it because it sucked ass. My current PC is worth ~£4,000.
Thats a bit extreme

I built a beautiful gaming pc for my brother for $1400

Add another $300 to $500 for a good monitor
 
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Freeman76

Member
Sorry guys, I'm not too knowledgable with PC building so was looking at prebuilt. I think the motherboard on my current one is rubbish, will check and post here to confirm though.

I found this one, hooked up to my TV with a wirelss KB and Mouse might be ok?

 
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Yes, it is viable to purchase a great setup within your budget, and it is generally recommended to custom build it by buying the parts separately. It may sound complicated, but it's effortlessly easy thanks to pc building websites in which you can also browse price ranges. Here's one i googled just now and took a quick look.

I would not keep your current motherboard because you don't have any good CPU choices to upgrade for the i5-4570. It is old.

I would keep your desktop and upgrade the motherboard, cpu, gpu and have a total of 16 GB of RAM. I would recommend as a start for the CPU the AMD Ryzen 5 3600X and build from there; it has great price range. I would not recommend a RTX 2070 (or Super, which is cheaper, but still beyond your budget) for your budget, unless it's 2nd hand or something. It is fantastic for 4K which is why a lot of people are going to recommend it, but is not viable at that budget. Instead, i would recommend the RX 5700 XT which i believe is fantastic for your budget.

With these two pieces out of the way, check the pc building website i linked regarding recommended motherboards and also inform yourself at PC Shops in your area. In a few days, you'll already have your build at your budget ready to be purchased and you can also hire someone to assemble it if you are not knowledgeable (or the guys at the PC Shop can do it for you). You do not need to do anything alone in 2020.

And i do not recommend prebuild, ever.
 

GHG

Member
Sorry guys, I'm not too knowledgable with PC building so was looking at prebuilt. I think the motherboard on my current one is rubbish, will check and post here to confirm though.

I found this one, hooked up to my TV with a wirelss KB and Mouse might be ok?


No this is terrible. Do not buy.

Check what model your current motherboard is, check what model of ram you have (and how many sticks your current build has) and check what the power supply model is along with the wattage rating.

Report back.
 

The Fartist

Gold Member
Nah. That PC is too old with old BIOS and mb features.

Get a PC of your choice with at least 32G of RAM and it absolutely must have a 2080 Super or better yet a 2080Ti. Order from DELL or something. Make sure it has an SSD (1T)

7S3VEpg.gif
 

All_Might

Member
Hey my friend,

I will try my best to help you and give you a general idea for how you should upgrade. Remember these are examples of how you can upgrade. Much like a Lego set you are the Builder and can change things to your liking.


Here is a link to an example build that I made for you. Excuse the German website, but it’s the largest retailer I know in Europe.
The build came to around 1045€ which is roughly 950£.

So let’s start with the cpu:
The Ryzen 5 3600x Should give a good base for gaming and doing things on the side. While it’s a 6 core 12 thread processor, it should be fine for the next 2-3 years. It’s more then powerful enough to play any game at good settings. If you want your cpu to be a little more future proof spend an extra 100 bucks on the Ryzen 7 3700x, which should be equivalent to what both next generation consoles have. Games scale with clock frequency, more so then core count right now, though that could change with the next gen consoles having high core count CPUs and using pc architecture that is very relevant right now.

Ram: 16gb of DDR4 cl16@3200 mhz is good for Ryzen processors, as they take advantage of that increase in speed. Ryzen processors do benefit from increased memory speed up to 3600 MHz, though the board i choose only supports 3200 MHz which is why I chose this ram. The timing are also important I choose CL16 as they should not be to high.

SSD:
Here I went with a good priced pci gen 3 TLC m.2 ssd. It should provide good speeds of up to 2 gb/s on read and write which is only a little slower then XSX. It’s plenty for now and a terabyte is a good start.

Power supply:
While 700 watts is a lot for this build it doesn’t hurt to have a little extra power, power supply’s degrade with time, especially if they run hot constantly. Also this one is priced really well.

Gpu: amd Radeon rx 5700xt
This is a controversial one, this gpu provides a lot of power and performs around the level of a Rtx 2070 for the price of a rtx 2060. It does run really well with this cooler and should provide plenty of gaming power. Alternatively if you really want raytracing or like Nvidia, go with the rtx 2060 which is within your budget or wait for next gen cards. They will perform better for the same price.

Case:
Choose any you like, this is an example.

Cpu cooler:
For amateurs I would always recommend to go with an air cooler, as they really do a fantastic job while keeping it simple. This cooler from be quiet is one of the very best, but it’s optional as the cpu already comes with an okay cooler for free. This cooler simply will run the cpu at better temps while being really quiet. It’s really big though which is why I chose a case which would fit it. Also if you leave it out you are within your 900£ budget.

Mainboard:
Lastly the mainboard, well this one is also where you have multiple boards to choose from. This board should do a good job of simply supporting your gaming sessions. It does not provide support for pci 4.0 ssds over its m.2 drive. But that should not really bother you. If you want better future support through pci 4.0 and more, go with a more expensive B550 board. Remember if you choose a different board, it needs to be one with a AM4 socket (ie x570, b550, b450 etc.)

So this is a quick Guide to help you, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them.
 

teezzy

Banned
Does it have to be 4k?

I mean you could just upgrade to a GTX 1660 in your current machine for a couple hundred and see a significant performance boost, as is. Take the money you didn't spend and tuck it away until the new cards come out, etc.

I'd just put a new GPU on it. Your CPU may bottleneck, so maybe snag a cheap i7-4790K used and put it in there also. That way you don't have to worry about upgrading mobo/ram/etc as well.

Best of luck OP.
 

Lux R7

Member
Hey guys, This is a bit of a specific question, so bare with me.

Me and my wife like to game together, she has just bought a laptop for such games as Age of Empires, WoW etc.

I have a 4k TV and want a PC that I can buy from somewhere and get it quick, ie tomorrow/early next week. I will have the PC next to my consoles and play it through the TV, so will need a way to play on the couch with wireless Keyboard/mouse etc, as comfortable as possible.

I have around £700-800 I can spend. I want something that can play games smoothly. Any tips please? I am console gamer through and through, I do already have a PC but it's about 7 years old, has a GTX960, a crappy processor intel i5-4570 3.20ghz, and 8GB ram. It needs to be a decent step up from that if possible. Or am I just not gonna get this for my price range?

you're not gonna build yourself right? Because getting the parts and build it is always the best option.

this is 199 dollars above your budget and i'm italian so i'm not sure about the shipping in your case (it's like 1k dollars to italy lol), but this could be a good option for the games you wanna play:

for less we should enter in the 8gb/1660 territory, which could also be fine if you don't want a pc that is also super future proof.
 
Hey my friend,

I will try my best to help you and give you a general idea for how you should upgrade. Remember these are examples of how you can upgrade. Much like a Lego set you are the Builder and can change things to your liking.


Here is a link to an example build that I made for you. Excuse the German website, but it’s the largest retailer I know in Europe.
The build came to around 1045€ which is roughly 950£.

So let’s start with the cpu:
The Ryzen 5 3600x Should give a good base for gaming and doing things on the side. While it’s a 6 core 12 thread processor, it should be fine for the next 2-3 years. It’s more then powerful enough to play any game at good settings. If you want your cpu to be a little more future proof spend an extra 100 bucks on the Ryzen 7 3700x, which should be equivalent to what both next generation consoles have. Games scale with clock frequency, more so then core count right now, though that could change with the next gen consoles having high core count CPUs and using pc architecture that is very relevant right now.

Ram: 16gb of DDR4 cl16@3200 mhz is good for Ryzen processors, as they take advantage of that increase in speed. Ryzen processors do benefit from increased memory speed up to 3600 MHz, though the board i choose only supports 3200 MHz which is why I chose this ram. The timing are also important I choose CL16 as they should not be to high.

SSD:
Here I went with a good priced pci gen 3 TLC m.2 ssd. It should provide good speeds of up to 2 gb/s on read and write which is only a little slower then XSX. It’s plenty for now and a terabyte is a good start.

Power supply:
While 700 watts is a lot for this build it doesn’t hurt to have a little extra power, power supply’s degrade with time, especially if they run hot constantly. Also this one is priced really well.

Gpu: amd Radeon rx 5700xt
This is a controversial one, this gpu provides a lot of power and performs around the level of a Rtx 2070 for the price of a rtx 2060. It does run really well with this cooler and should provide plenty of gaming power. Alternatively if you really want raytracing or like Nvidia, go with the rtx 2060 which is within your budget or wait for next gen cards. They will perform better for the same price.

Case:
Choose any you like, this is an example.

Cpu cooler:
For amateurs I would always recommend to go with an air cooler, as they really do a fantastic job while keeping it simple. This cooler from be quiet is one of the very best, but it’s optional as the cpu already comes with an okay cooler for free. This cooler simply will run the cpu at better temps while being really quiet. It’s really big though which is why I chose a case which would fit it. Also if you leave it out you are within your 900£ budget.

Mainboard:
Lastly the mainboard, well this one is also where you have multiple boards to choose from. This board should do a good job of simply supporting your gaming sessions. It does not provide support for pci 4.0 ssds over its m.2 drive. But that should not really bother you. If you want better future support through pci 4.0 and more, go with a more expensive B550 board. Remember if you choose a different board, it needs to be one with a AM4 socket (ie x570, b550, b450 etc.)

So this is a quick Guide to help you, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them.

Fantastic response that's detailed and worth appreciating. I was basically thinking of the same GPU and CPU, those two are fantastic at his budget.
 

DESTROYA

Member
Sorry guys, I'm not too knowledgable with PC building so was looking at prebuilt. I think the motherboard on my current one is rubbish, will check and post here to confirm though.

I found this one, hooked up to my TV with a wirelss KB and Mouse might be ok?


You mentioned you have a 4K TV is your intention to game at 4K or lower res like 1080p/1440p ?
 
Yeah I'd get a 1660 or a 2070 and like a matching RAM stick so you can have 16gb

A GTX 1660 is an excellent purchase because of its price, but i don't know if its viable for 4k. Wouldn't you say that a RX 5700 XT should fare far better? For its price range, that GPU is quite a bang and should be decent for 4k, as far as i'm aware of.

That motherboard and CPU are questionable to be left as is as well. His only viable upgrade is an old i7 4790K, as you have said, but that thing costs far more than its worth and it is old. A 3600X is a significantly better piece at a cheaper price, but requires a new motherboard which i believe is worth it for future CPU upgrades.
 

Freeman76

Member
Thanks for all the detailed replies, I will read them and absorb them to try and make an informed purchase. I am too impatient thats my problem lol, I just want to get something on the day I make the decision so we can get started on our marathon gaming sessions :)

PS: yeah sorry, 4k doesnt matter hugely, was just saying I have a 4k tv rather than a monitor, so if I can reach 4k on the PC I have a display to take advantage of that
 
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800 will maybe get you a decent 1080p machine. Tbh there's tons of great YT videos out there showing you exactly how to build such a thing, right down to every single component.
 

teezzy

Banned
A GTX 1660 is an excellent purchase because of its price, but i don't know if its viable for 4k. Wouldn't you say that a RX 5700 XT should fare far better? For its price range, that GPU is quite a bang and should be decent for 4k, as far as i'm aware of.

That motherboard and CPU are questionable to be left as is as well. His only viable upgrade is an old i7 4790K, as you have said, but that thing costs far more than its worth and it is old. A 3600X is a significantly better piece at a cheaper price, but requires a new motherboard which i believe is worth it for future CPU upgrades.

The pre-built OP is looking as isn't built for 4k either. It has a 1650 in there. Dude just wants to casually game on his couch with a wireless kb+m.

Slapping a 1660 in his current rig would pretty much give him similar end results (if not better) without him wasting 600 Europe dollars. If dude wants to commit to a 4k 60fps machine, then he should just save his money for the new tech anyhow.
 

Rikkori

Member
I'll be honest with you - rushing into a PC is a sure way to burn money & get frustrated. Assess what you already have and start doing some research. There's a good chance you could simply add 8 more GB RAM & a new GPU and be fine until you get more funds for a wider overhaul.
 
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The Fartist

Gold Member
The first four games were averaging 30fps... or lower. Lots of dips to 20fps.

Cod WW2 was the only one that ran mostly at 60FPS.
Potentially salvageable with settings changes, but that is not a good target for "smooth".

Seriously Freeman76 Freeman76 we need to know what games you want/expect to play :)
Can't complain for the budget, which is what OP wanted, low settings are his friend. Don't play dumb.
 
My first PC cost me £800 and I regretted pretty much every part of it. After about a year I replaced it because it sucked ass. My current PC is worth ~£4,000.
Damn son, may I ask speccs? (I promise to not bring up the "you payed 75% more for 20% more power" discussion; just curious)
 

PhoenixTank

Member
Can't complain for the budget, which is what OP wanted, low settings are his friend. Don't play dumb.
It is an alternative. It really isn't a good alternative, though.
A current gen console would seem to provide similar performance for much less money, no?

Don't move the goalposts from "this <30fps gameplay looks smooth to me" to "oh it'll be fine if he lowers setting, hurr durr".

I'd still rather see him with an upgrade to his current system, tbh but what he intends to play makes or breaks either a prebuilt or upgrade.
 

Danny Dudekisser

I paid good money for this Dynex!
Eh, just don't even bother at that point. Wait till you can get something better. The price is even more difficult if you have to factor in another keyboard/mouse/whatever other niceties you need to make playing on a TV more enjoyable.
 

Freeman76

Member
Thanks for all the advice guys. I think the best thing is probably to just upgrade mine a bit, I just never know where to start. I found this GPU
Would this be a noticable step up from a GTX970? Also are there any issues whereby this may not work with my motherboard?

Also how would I find out which RAM to buy? I know it's best to buy the same again, ie I have 8GB so another 8GB to add, correct? How would I find out which type of RAM I need?

With regards to games, the main ones we play together will be AoE 2 HD, AoE4 when it comes out, WoW, and 7 days to die. I just want something that will handle those at 60fps really
 
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jakinov

Member
If you are just going to play the games you listed in this thread. I'd just save up and upgrade your PC later when you have more demanding games to play. You can upgrade your PC, but you are going to be upgrading it with components that aren't going to give you bang for your buck. For example, you probably can't add modern CPU or modern RAM to your current motherboard. Save it instead, invest it if you want to take that risk, or spend it on something else that might save you money elsewhere (and you can pocket the savings) like a coffee machine, then when AOE 4 comes out in 2 years, you can buy a whole new computer instead of spending a significant amount of your funds upgrading to old parts.
 

Freeman76

Member
How can I tell what motherboard I have, so we can look into it further? My current set up chugs a bit when entering busy places in WoW, I havent tried 7 days to die yet but i doubt it will be much better? That Ram the guy above posted is only £40, will that improve much?

Sorry I know its basic stuff for an enthusiast forum, I have always been into console gaming more, only bought a PC to play MMOs
 

Freeman76

Member
you can run 'system information' from windows to see your motherboard.

imo, spend the 800 to build a new pc, the ssd alone will be amazing :messenger_grinning_sweat:


I have opened this up, is it baseboard model I am looking for? I have an Asustek B85M-G Rev X.0X. Man this is why I never bothered with PC gaming lol.

The easiest thing for me to do is add a bit more ram and buy a new gfx card atm, shouldnt be much more than £300 but I need to make sure the stuff I buy will actually fit in my computer :D
 
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longdi

Banned
i guess you are running 2x4GB of ram now. So you need to buy either 2x4GB or 2x8GB to add on.

DDR3 are outdated and worthless should your current motherboard dies.
Idk 7 years of use, imo we should expect some degration with your motherboard or powersupply.
 

Freeman76

Member
i guess you are running 2x4GB of ram now. So you need to buy either 2x4GB or 2x8GB to add on.

DDR3 are outdated and worthless should your current motherboard dies.
Idk 7 years of use, imo we should expect some degration with your motherboard or powersupply.

I have 1X DDR3 8GB. Man, I'm not sure whether to even bother putting anything new in it now tbh....apparently my card is still OK, definitely not going to see much difference if I buy a £200 card, and apparently RAM wont make much difference either. When playing AoE 2 it lags when loads is happening on screen, WoW plays at high framerates but Towns take ages to load assets in etc, I just wanted to make my experience a bit nicer without having to spend loads of money, but as someone said above, I dont think PC gaming is for me, it's just a nice thing to do with my Wife in the evenings.
 

longdi

Banned
In that case getting 1x8GB will help with the user experience, so will the 1660. You have been running single channel memory all this while. :messenger_grinning_sweat:
But dont expect too much with regards to the nigglies, stutters and loading
 
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nkarafo

Member
Your "crappy" i5-4570 is already a way more powerful CPU than anything in consoles on the market right now. If you pair it with a GTX 1660, that PC will become much more powerful than the XBOX one X. Not quite 4K 60 capable in all games though but still more powerful. Maybe add another 8GB of RAM though. 8GB is kinda pushing the limits (in some games) which means you might get stutters from virtual memory usage.

This should be enough until the next gen consoles release. It's not a good time to build a new PC right now. You should wait to see what will be available along the new consoles. You don't need a more powerful PC now because games are still being made with current gen consoles in mind. Once the new consoles arrive you should be able to get a better CPU at a lower price and a GTX 3060 or something. Which will make that PC better than the new consoles.

But now you won't be able to get a PC that will be future proof enough to rival the new consoles, unless you spend twice your budget.
 
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Freeman76

Member
In that case getting 1x8GB will help with the user experience, so will the 1660. You have been running single channel memory all this while. :messenger_grinning_sweat:
But dont expect too much with regards to the nigglies, stutters and loading

I have bought and installed the 8GB ram, and will research the gfx card a bit for the best price, maybe I can rebuild bit by bit. Do you have any gfx card recommendations?

Thanks for all the help everyone
 
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