New Gaming build from scratch, UK, ~£1,000

About damn time!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor (£178.50 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI - B350M BAZOOKA Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£72.94 @ Box Limited)
Storage: Crucial - MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£74.47 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte - Radeon RX 580 8GB Gaming 8G Video Card (£269.98 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Thermaltake - Versa H15 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£34.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA - SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£73.72 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: AOC - E2460SH 24.0" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor (£104.98 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Logitech - K120 - UK Layout Wired Standard Keyboard (£9.95 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Other: EasySMX Comfortable LED 3.5mm Stereo Gaming LED Lighting Over-Ear Headphone Headset Headband with Mic for PC Computer Game With Noise Canelling & Volume (Blue) (£15.99)
Other: RAM - 4x4GB 3000mhz (£130.86)
Total: £1019.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-16 20:15 BST+0100

- Link to RAM: https://www.ntstore.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&view=productdetails&virtuemart_product_id=219298&virtuemart_category_id=735&Itemid=1

- I looked at Coffee Lake but it's not worth it, not sure what Intel are thinking with how competitive for price and performance Ryzen has been across the board. An i5 8400 is about identical to an overclocked 1600 but due to there only being '370' series motherboards you'll spend a good £30-40 more. An i5 8600K does outperform it but is about £100 dearer, needs it's own cooler which is a good £30+ at least again, and once you factor in the motherboard again you're looking at probably north of £400 vs £250 for Ryzen.

- I'd take the 580 8GB over the 1060. They're about identical in price, and there's not a world in terms of quality difference but it's good as unanimous that the 8GB 580 is a little better. Also the extra 2GB VRAM should help out a bit on those XCom/Total War type of games and if you're a Civlization fan will it will come in very, very handy and enable even mods for even bigger maps etc. If you ever upgrade I believe the 580 8GB also makes a decent fist of 1440p (but check it first if you do!).

- 16GB of DDR4 300mhz since Ryzen needs 2666+ to get the best from it will see you good probably for the full lifespan of the system. A 275GB SSD for the OS, programs etc and also some games. SSDs don't always make a worthwhile difference for game load times but the ones they do on are almost always open worlders (fast travel etc) like Witcher and the likes of Total War/Xcom when it comes to loading battles/missions/etc. Also a 2TB HDD to give you plenty of storage for other games, media etc.

- Supernova's are known to be among the very best PSUs out there, Gold+ and fully modular too, and 550W gives you tonnes of overhead for overclocking, adding extra storage, if you upgrade the CPU/GPU to something more demanding in future and so on.

- It's a decent looking case, but check around for an ATX/MATX you prefer, always the most subjective part of any build.

- 1080p 60hz monitor at 24" should do the trick nicely for now since the budget was tight.

- I skimped on the peripherals to keep close to budget and because they're much easier than upgrading the stuff inside the computer. The Logitech one has good reviews/feedback and I used those same headphones for my first 9 months or so and was delighted with them for that price. If you're able to spend £25 more I moved to these which are better again, stupidly comfortable and wireless with a detachable mic which helps with tidiness/space - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01EAF3AK2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

- As for Windows, I'd say use the free/evaluation version in the mean time, it's the same but just has a tiny watermark in the bottom corner.

Looks solid from what I can see! Only think I would look at is the HDD; you can get a 2TB one for about £55-70 (I think the Hitachi one was at that price but must have jumped by a lot which sometimes happens when using PCPP!).

Also because I'm blind as a bat for spotting them despite having had it pointed out to me on a few occasions I would just double check that the motherboard has the heatsinks required for overclocking. I would assume it does because the ones that don't are typically in the £60 range but best to get confirmation off someone not useless at spotting them first.

Most posters on here could tell you about the motherboard at a glance, I think the grey row of bits beside the CPU slot (top right) should be it but better safe than sorry all the same.

As for the keyboard/mouse, I guess it depends. On games like Witcher, Doom etc I use an Xbox 360 controller so I'm not much use there in terms of how your current one would do. Because I use the projector and couch since I basically double it as a HTPC I wanted the most wireless setup possible and a smaller keyboard to avoid sitting room clutter. For the likes of XCom, Civ, Total War etc I'm on the keyboard and mouse but just use a €10 wireless mouse I got in Argos that's a surprising nice feel and this wireless keyboard. But how something like that would fare in faster paced games I really can't tell you.

"Dem yolkies" is also acceptable nomenclature.

ancapailldorcha wrote: »

Placing orders now. Thanks again gents.

Get ready for the torture of waiting for the parts to arrive... hopefully you don't get everything in one delivery except the RAM which took an extra week for me! :pac:

And on the dyspraxia, I've not got it too bad at all - I'm just hopeless at precision sports like golf or tennis, a mobile disaster when trying to dance, and if you ever need to give me a to-do list, you had better be 100% certain I write it down or it's not happening or even being remembered!