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Gaming PC (Pre-Built) - Reasonable value?

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  • 22-12-2020 11:01am
    #1
    GuinnessSupper
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭


    Hi all, I've been looking to have a PC custom built for gaming only, somewhere between budget and mid-range with about €800-900 to spend on the tower. I'd like to be able to run really any AAA games released in the past few years at 1080p with high settings at a better frame rate than I'm used to on playstation, say 60fps. I'm currently in Northern Ireland for a few months where it seems the prices are much cheaper, where ordering from UK Mainland and paying postage to NI still works out considerably cheaper than buying in EUR from IE sites.

    I've tried a lot of the custom build websites (ipower.de/PC Specialist/many others that are extortionate so never completed the build) and Fierce PC seem to be the most reasonable, but I might be missing something that someone with more experience would spot.

    - CiT Tornado Gaming PC Case (with extra fan)
    - AMD Ryzen 3 3100 Quad-Core 3.6GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) Processor (stock cooler)
    - AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB Graphics Card
    - 16GB Corsair Vengeance LPX 3000MHz DDR4 Memory (2 x 8GB)
    - 1TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe M.2 Solid State Drive  
    - ASUS PRIME B450M-A II AM4 Motherboard
    - Corsair CV550 550W Bronze PSU OR Aerocool Integrator 700W 80+ Power Supply
    - 300Mbps TP-Link WIFI Card
    - No windows 10 license included (from reviews it seems to come installed)

    Its coming in at £724 excluding deliver of £15, so around €813 all in.

    My mains concerns are:
    1) Is my Motherboard "future proof" in any way?
    2) Should I go for a 550W PSU made by a trusted brand, or a 700W PSU from a less trusted brand? They're exactly the same price.

    Any help or thoughts at all would be much appreciated.


Comments

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    #2
    Kimbot
    Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 18,452 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kimbot


    To me you could build far better for the same money. Firslty I would go Ryzen 5 3600 and the GFX is a good bit outdated now.


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    #3
    Samuel T. Cogley
    Registered Users Posts: 10,684 ✭✭✭✭Samuel T. Cogley


    Basically it's a 'what we have lying about that no one else bought' PC and it's a little over priced. Motherboard will take a 3600, not sure if it's getting updated for the 5000 series but at best it would take a 5600, IIRC it's not great from a VRM (Power delivery) perspective which would cause an issue with higher core count parts.

    Go with a known brand PSU IMHO.

    If you can get some faster RAM for a reasonable price (fiver/tenner) then it's a worthwhile investment.

    I'd wait, but I understand the pressure for Xmas and all. Is it absolutely going to arrive before the 1st and Brexit imposed Duty/VAT?


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    #4
    JoyPad
    Registered Users Posts: 1,701 ✭✭✭JoyPad


    Samuel T. Cogley wrote: »
    Is it absolutely going to arrive before the 1st and Brexit imposed Duty/VAT?

    He is in Northern Ireland, so Brexit is not a factor.


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    #5
    GuinnessSupper
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭GuinnessSupper


    Thanks both for your comments. I understand its always cheaper to build rather buy pre-built, but would rather buy it outright for the warranty on the whole PC. Points taken on the CPU, GPU and PSU. Maybe then its best to wait a few months and go for a Ryzen 5 3600 and an RTX 2060 or something along those lines. Is the expectation that prices of say GPUs will come down come February(ish) and the builders are relatively quick to reflect that in their price?

    Thankfully I'm in no real rush, eager to start playing but I can wait. In terms of arriving before 1 January, I've always assumed that as long as any import is bought to remain in UK (in this case NI) then there would be no duty/VAT implications. Maybe I'm wrong? Not up to speed on my Brexit knowledge!


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    #6
    Samuel T. Cogley
    Registered Users Posts: 10,684 ✭✭✭✭Samuel T. Cogley


    Hi Guinness, apologies for missing you were in NI and for probably coming across as a bit of a dick in my comments. It's actually not that much better of a deal to build yourself than to order from someone like AWD-IT - it's just you get to pick your exact components.

    If you can wait, please do as I foresee a 5600 non-X and mid range GPUs launching and I just think you'll get much better value in the new year. FWIW the 3100 isn't a bad wee chip - I'm rocking one at the moment due to my 5600X getting pinched! What you will start to notice on a quad core is stutter starting to creep in on newer games. The 580, fine wine that it is, is just a bit past it at this stage.

    Faster RAM is ideal 3200 is good, 3600 is better due to the way the CPU communicates internally. Don't go mad though if it's more than beer money it's not worth the upgrade. A B550 motherboard would also be my pick, they tend to have better power delivery and your upgrade path is a higher core count 5000 series down the line. That said a cheaper B450 and 3000 series could just be replaced with something even better.

    I think we will start to see prices dropping off a bit in Jan/Feb as there will be stock again, at the moment builders can just charge what they want for things as there are no options.


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    #7
    GuinnessSupper
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭GuinnessSupper


    Not at all, I appreciate the feedback. It definitely sounds like its best to wait so. Whatever I do end up buying I'd like to be able to use for a couple of years without any upgrades so I'll have to buy a better GPU and CPU than my original build. In the meantime it means I've a few months to save a bit more and continue with research.

    I can see how this becomes a hobby, I am absolutely hooked on pc building youtube videos and articles! May end up building myself at this rate.


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    #8
    Dante7
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,543 ✭✭✭Dante7


    This is available to order and isn't too much above your price range and is a much better spec including an RTX 3060 Ti.

    https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-observatory-lite-mesh-3500x-six-core-4.1ghz-nvidia-rtx-3060ti-8gb-desktop-pc.html


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    #9
    GuinnessSupper
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭GuinnessSupper


    Dante7 wrote: »
    This is available to order and isn't too much above your price range and is a much better spec including an RTX 3060 Ti.
    Thanks for the feedback. Looks decent alright, though the site right now says "Out-of-stock". Also with two 8gb 3200Mhz RAM, 1TB WD NVME SSD and a WiFi card w/ Bluetooth we're up at £938. If in a few months the same rig comes down by about £100 i would be happy to wait. Is that at all likely?


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    #10
    Samuel T. Cogley
    Registered Users Posts: 10,684 ✭✭✭✭Samuel T. Cogley


    Price will be similar but I suspect you would be looking at a Ryzen 5 3600 and the base spec not being quite so bare bones.


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    #11
    GuinnessSupper
    Registered Users Posts: 14 ✭GuinnessSupper


    Dante7 wrote: »
    This is available to order and isn't too much above your price range and is a much better spec including an RTX 3060 Ti.

    https://www.awd-it.co.uk/awd-observatory-lite-mesh-3500x-six-core-4.1ghz-nvidia-rtx-3060ti-8gb-desktop-pc.html

    By way of an update, I did order this from AWD-IT on 1st Jan, however they emailed today to say that there was a "slight issue" with the order in that they do not have the 3060Ti in stock. Surely you can't sell something that you don't have in stock? What's worse is the alternative offered was to upgrade the GPU to a RTX3070 for an additional £150. The difference between these GPUs in MSRP is $100 in US or £100 in the UK. I rang them to ask if they could do better considering they've had my cash for 18 days and they said they won't budge. So I cancelled the order.

    Looking back on other reviews it looks like they seem to sell items they don't have in stock fairly regularly. They seem to be always recommended here though. Do people on here use them regularly?


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