Bargain Alerts/Adverts Discussion Thread

ShiverinEskimo

Razer Viper Ultimate Ambidextrous Wireless Gaming Mouse with Charging Station Powered by Hyperspeed Technology

£126 sterling. Lowest price it's been.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07Y8M4BCW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_-XxfEb6WP1AAS

Rob2D

Not just MSI either. I decided to upgrade my work rig to Ryzen for the craic before Christmas and it was a nightmare. Got a 3600 and an Aorus B450. I think I got it to post maybe twice. Constant CPU error light on the board. Tried everything and couldn't get it to work. Ended up sending it all back to amazon.

Looks I'll be sticking to Intel in the future. AMD are certainly leading the way at the moment. But at the end of the day it's hard to beat Intel reliability and compatability. I prefer machines/tools that just work.

BloodBath

Rob2D wrote: »

Not just MSI either. I decided to upgrade my work rig to Ryzen for the craic before Christmas and it was a nightmare. Got a 3600 and an Aorus B450. I think I got it to post maybe twice. Constant CPU error light on the board. Tried everything and couldn't get it to work. Ended up sending it all back to amazon.

Looks I'll be sticking to Intel in the future. AMD are certainly leading the way at the moment. But at the end of the day it's hard to beat Intel reliability and compatability. I prefer machines/tools that just work.

Then you should have bought x570. Why buy b450?

wotzgoingon

Rob2D wrote: »

Not just MSI either. I decided to upgrade my work rig to Ryzen for the craic before Christmas and it was a nightmare. Got a 3600 and an Aorus B450. I think I got it to post maybe twice. Constant CPU error light on the board. Tried everything and couldn't get it to work. Ended up sending it all back to amazon.

Looks I'll be sticking to Intel in the future. AMD are certainly leading the way at the moment. But at the end of the day it's hard to beat Intel reliability and compatability. I prefer machines/tools that just work.

BloodBath wrote: »

Then you should have bought x570. Why buy b450?

I second this. I have a X570 Aorus board with a 3700X and have no issues.

GarIT

BloodBath wrote: »

Then you should have bought x570. Why buy b450?

Price?

M00lers

I've a MSI Pro Carbon B450 and a 3700x, I've never had an issue. Works like a dream TBH.

BloodBath

GarIT wrote: »

Price?

If price is an issue then why go intel then?

If you don't want to take compatibility issue risks then b450 probably isn't the best choice. Especially if going budget b450.

Higher end b450 isn't that much cheaper than budget x570.

BloodBath

BloodBath wrote: »

If price is an issue then why go intel then?

If you don't want to take compatibility issue risks then b450 probably isn't the best choice. Especially if going budget b450.

Higher end b450 isn't that much cheaper than budget x570.

Bargain alerts thread prob not the place to talk about increasing price points

TitianGerm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Bargain alerts thread prob not the place to talk about increasing price points

A bargain is all relative. A monitor reduced from 150 to 125 or a GPU reduced from 600 to 400.

Rob2D

Indeed price was the issue! I was only doing it for fun anyway so didn't want to splash out. And the B450 box had a big notice on the front saying "ready for Ryzen 3000!". How was I to know?

Now, it could have been the CPU itself was bad I don't know, had no other way to test it obviously. My old 4770K had to bail me out yet again.

I am left with some DDR4 ram that I threw away all the packaging for. Will probably put it up on adverts later if anyone is in need.

TitianGerm

TitianGerm wrote: »

A bargain is all relative. A monitor reduced from 150 to 125 or a GPU reduced from 600 to 400.

Indeed but if someone says my budget was X so this deal was great for me, saying "you should have spent Y more" kinda defeats the purpose

MadYaker

What sites are best for ordering a pre built gaming PC?

Skerries

https://www.cclonline.com/
https://www.dell.com/en-ie/shop/gaming-and-games/sc/game-desktops
https://www.pcspecialist.ie/custom-pc/
https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/gaming
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/pc-systems/gaming-pc

CCL are the one I would look at in particular and you can skip adding Windows and just download it yourself and have just a watermark on the desktop

deals for them are usually posted on hotukdeals

Rob2D

I was actually on Dell's business site there a couple weeks ago and looked at the best Optiplex, with a 2080 in it. I think it all came to like 1800. But that includes all your peripherals and whatnot. You could do a lot worse than buying from them in fairness.

Standman

Saw this posted on the bargain alerts forum, Desktop Ryzen 5 3400G, 8GB, 128GB SSD + 1TB, GTX 1650 4GB, 144Mhz monitor €664 - use code "MONITORDEAL".

Ye reckon it's a good deal with those specs for a good bit of gaming?

Cuddlesworth

Standman wrote: »

Saw this posted on the bargain alerts forum, Desktop Ryzen 5 3400G, 8GB, 128GB SSD + 1TB, GTX 1650 4GB, 144Mhz monitor €664 - use code "MONITORDEAL".

Ye reckon it's a good deal with those specs for a good bit of gaming?

At first glance, maybe. Then you start to look at it and think, probably not worth it, the components themselves would be overpriced and underpowered in each category.

iLikeWaffles

Cuddlesworth wrote: »

At first glance, maybe. Then you start to look at it and think, probably not worth it, the components themselves would be overpriced and underpowered in each category.

I agree, I even went as far as using pcpartpicker. But stopped because the component's spec is ambiguous.

2ndcoming

Standman wrote: »

Saw this posted on the bargain alerts forum, Desktop Ryzen 5 3400G, 8GB, 128GB SSD + 1TB, GTX 1650 4GB, 144Mhz monitor €664 - use code "MONITORDEAL".

Ye reckon it's a good deal with those specs for a good bit of gaming?

It's a very unusual combo, the G processors are designed for people who just want to be able to do a bit of light gaming (online/older titles) on a general use pc. Adding a bottom of the ladder GPU actually gains you very little, you're still going to extremely struggle to crank out the high frame rates a 144hz monitor wants on anything but online or older titles.

Putting the parts together yourself will get you a Ryzen 5 3600, 1660Ti or similar and the rest the same for around the same price which would be a much more balanced build...

Homelander

For E660, a pre-built machine with a 144hz monitor it was an amazing deal. Yeah, the GTX1650 isn't a 144hz card, but again....it was 660 for the PC plus a 144hz monitor. Unbeatable for a pre-build, for someone looking to get into gaming. It would run most popular games at high-ultra 60fps depending on the game.

If you had a budget of 700 for a full setup and no interest in building, there's no way you would really beat it at all.

K.O.Kiki

Homelander wrote: »

For E660, a pre-built machine with a 144hz monitor it was an amazing deal. Yeah, the GTX1650 isn't a 144hz card, but again....it was 660 for the PC plus a 144hz monitor. Unbeatable for a pre-build, for someone looking to get into gaming. It would run most popular games at high-ultra 60fps depending on the game.

If you had a budget of 700 for a full setup and no interest in building, there's no way you would really beat it at all.

It would run SOME popular (lightweight/eSports) titles at Medium/High 60fps variable.

The GPU is a dog.

Homelander

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

It would run SOME popular (lightweight/eSports) titles at Medium/High 60fps variable.

The GPU is a dog.

Bit dramatic. I have a GTX1650. It runs Apex Legends at max 60fps, and it'll also run popular games like Siege, Modern Warfare etc at max 60fps.

The more "lightweight" games you mention like Overwatch, it will run at 144hz without any problem.

The reason the GTX1650 doesn't make sense usually is that it's the same price as an RX570 and bit slower. In a prebuilt desktop for €660 with a 144hz monitor included, that's not a factor.

Impressed at the mental gymnastics required to imply a new pre-built machine with a 3400G/GTX1650 and 144hz monitor for €660 is somehow a bad deal.

Rsaeire

Homelander wrote: »

Impressed at the mental gymnastics required to imply a new pre-built machine with a 3400G/GTX1650 and 144hz monitor for €660 is somehow a bad deal.

The 1650 is a good mid-range GPU and fits the bill for the likes of the games you mentioned. It's especially useful for those who have strict power requirements, i.e. only requiring power from the PCIe slot. I find most people tend to disregard it because it's technically not as good value as the AMD cards in the same price range as the AMD cards are faster; however, the AMD cards use a lot more power and just aren't a good fit for some people, myself included.

Cuddlesworth

Homelander wrote: »

Impressed at the mental gymnastics required to imply a new pre-built machine with a 3400G/GTX1650 and 144hz monitor for €660 is somehow a bad deal.

It's not a bad deal, it's just not a good deal in general. Mainly because of the CPU and GPU.

You can pick up 6 core 12 thread Ryzen processors without a IGPU for around the same price. Certain titles now and going forward, really struggle with 8 threads. It's not a gaming CPU, it's a office CPU.

The GPU is pretty bad value for money, very low end DGPU's always have been. It costs around 130quid from amazon to buy, to has less than half the performance of a 1660 Super, which costs 60 quid more.

If it was me, I'd look past the super cheap price, see I'd need to do upgrades, bump the budget to 1k and buy a PC and screen that gives 2x the performance and won't need upgrades for around 3 years.

2ndcoming

For me the main thing is while no one is saying they are bad parts individually, no one in their right mind would combine those parts for the purposes desired.

It's a bit like if I offered you a suit for a good deal but instead of shoes you get a pair €150 Adidas runners and instead of a shirt you get a €100 Gucci t-shirt. You are certainly getting a good deal but you're going to get some funny looks at that family wedding.

As with most pre-builds when you dig down you start to question the value. There isn't enough memory, there isn't enough storage, the GPU isn't ideal, the G chip is rendered pointless, you're more than likely going to have a non-standard PSU and motherboard complicating upgrades down the road, you'll have lots of non-branded generic Chinese parts and in the end you're only saving about €200 by skimping on all of that.

Homelander

The point being missed is that it's a decent performing pre built with nice monitor for €660. There's no point talking about adding €200, talking about self building, how more expensive parts are better (I mean....obviously) etc.

You won't get that setup anywhere for 660....in fact you could barely build it for that with the 144hz monitor.

And at the end of the day it's easily upgradable. I know some people here seem to live in a world where every man, woman and child should self build and have the budget to pick ideal parts but that's not realistic in the real world.

Places like curry's and Dell charge 800 for an inferior 9100f gtx1650 machine ( with no monitor) and people pay it every day. Until recently both Dell and curry's had 1200 and rx560 machines for more than the Lenovo, and that's literally twice as slow.

Again all well and good to talk about six core processors, gtx1660s but how much are you going to pay for a pre build like that with a good monitor? At least 1k+ I'd imagine on a good day and a lot more most place.

Edit: just in case it needs to to said I'm specifically talking about a good deal in the context of someone who has a 700 euro budget for a full setup and won't or can't build.

Obviously I'm not saying it's a great deal for someone who can handily build their own and produce a better rounded machine for similar money.

2ndcoming

I know where you're going but tbh in this day and age if you have access to the internet there's literally no need to get fleeced on a sh1tty pre-build. This is a good one certainly, but spending €660 on this versus €800 on the alternative is never going to be the correct decision.

Anyone that has come to this forum - which is called PC building & Upgrading let's not forget - we must assume is at least somewhat open to the idea.

I came here with no knowledge and within a few months had a PC for a few hundred quid that I am typing his reply on now, and I am not a savant. It's as difficult as Lego and if you can follow a Youtube video you can do it.

There's a reason PC World etc are closing all over the place and it isn't because people are buying pre-builds online. They are in the travel agent situation where the internet has lifted the veil and there isn't really any going back.

If you literally have no alternative but to buy a pre-build this is as good a deal as you're likely to see, sure, but I think lots of people who think that's their only choice probably just don't realise how easy it actually is.

Solitaire

To be fair, laptop and tablet markets have expanded to hoover up a lot of the demographic that in previous decades bought pre-built. A much bigger proportion of the remaining consumer desktop PC market are self-builders than before because technical limitations keep them loyal; they can't get the same performance out of a laptop twice the price of their desktop and they know what to buy and how to assemble it so they'd never dream of paying over the odds for a prebuilt either. Its not that the self-build market is really expanding; more that the prebuilt market is shrinking and has always had an uphill struggle fighting for share in certain demographics, particularly gaming, that have remained relatively unaffected by the growth of phone/tablet/laptops for performance reasons.

Cuddlesworth

You can pick up the desktop now for around 400 quid. Thats worth a punt.

Homelander

Unfortunately that Asus TUF 5700XT is horrible, easily the worst 5700XT on market. Worse than the reference cooler I would say, it looks like a solid, bulky cooler but it's extremely misleading, it's mostly all plastic, bad, cheap heatsink and its cooling is horrible.

K.O.Kiki

For that price you can buy it cheap & add an Arctic Accelero or liquid cooler to it!