[SOLVED] Best Sub-£350 gaming pc

[OblivionsEdge]

My girlfriends birthday is coming up, and in the summer we were planning on buying and building a PC as it is something I am interested in and she wanted to learn a bit about it. However, being the genius bf I am I didn't have a clue what to buy her, so I thought I'd buy the parts for the PC, and we could build it when the UK lockdown is over. However, I've been out of the game for a while, and dont know too much about recent parts, since I built my PC in Dec 2015.
I need a basic best specs for less than £350. Theres a chance she may want to do some basic VR games in the future, so I have been looking at some 1060 6gb on ebay for around £120.

She wouldnt need it for many AAA games, just basic things like Sims 4, Planet Zoo, and other rubbish like that, but as I said, some 'wriggle room' for VR if thats possible for under £350.

If anyone could help, that would be great. Let me know if you need any extra information

 

[tennis2]

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: Intel Core i3-9100F 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor (£64.98 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI B365M PRO-VDH Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£62.99 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) DDR4-3000 Memory (£39.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate BarraCuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£34.96 @ Currys PC World Business)
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 570 8 GB STRIX GAMING OC Video Card (£134.99 @ Box Limited)
Case: Xigmatek Scorpio MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£29.35 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12III 550 W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£55.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £422.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-22 15:27 BST+0100

 

[King_V]

I know the budget it tight, but the S12III should be avoided.

Are there any parts you already have? Keyboard, mouse, monitor? What is the monitor's resolution and refresh rate if you have one?

Do you have a Windows license already?

 

[tennis2]

I could list MANY PSUs that are far worse than the S12III x50W. And yeah, it's pretty much a "sort lowest price and pick the cheapest thing that isn't garbage" situation.

 

[OblivionsEdge]

I know the budget it tight, but the S12III should be avoided.

Are there any parts you already have? Keyboard, mouse, monitor? What is the monitor's resolution and refresh rate if you have one?

Do you have a Windows license already?

She doesnt understand very much to do with PC, so Monitor will probably be a standard 1080p 60hz monitor, although she does have a 4k tv at home. Peripherals are not too much of a problem, ive got some spare stuff she can have, and sourcing anything else wont be an issue. Ill find a windows license key for £20 so thats not too much of an issue.

Basically I'm just in need of the part. Like whats good paired with what etc

 

[bryanc723]

You might have better luck on the used market with your budget. Try Ebay or something like it if you can. The PSU i wouldn't cheap on and buy a quality new unit. Everything else you can probably pick up on the used market for a good discount. Will at least help you stay closer to your budget, but still probably over it a bit.

 

[OblivionsEdge]

You might have better luck on the used market with your budget. Try Ebay or something like it if you can. The PSU i wouldn't cheap on and buy a quality new unit. Everything else you can probably pick up on the used market for a good discount. Will at least help you stay closer to your budget, but still probably over it a bit.

yeah, thats my plan. I saw tennis2's list, and it looks pretty good (apart from the PSU apparently), can probably source the parts second hand for around £350. Is there any other good pairings that I could consider?

 

[punkncat]

350 is going to be tight, but I think I would try to pull a Ryzen 3 or 5 based APU type thing out of this as initial build and then add on the graphics card as needed for the games and certainly before VR.

All of this is dollar, but you get the idea
R3 3200G $95 - Newegg/Amazon
ASRock B450M-HDV - $69 shipped* Newegg
G Skill Ripjaws 16gb 3200 - $76 Newegg
Corsair CX 450 - $60 Newegg*
Case - There are MANY options for cases at and under $50 ( priced in a known $25 model- by DIY PC)

$325 as listed
I would mention that the market and pricing is wierd right now. My go to on the motherboard is a Tomahawk Max (B450) but the pricing that should be ~$120 is currently nearer $200.
The PSU pricing seems to be all over as well. I would normally spec something decent, bronze rated ~550-600W and fall between $60-80. That amount of power is overkill (for now) but leaves room for a powerful GPU later. The spec'ed 450 unit would handle a moderate card.

With the above and conversion to pounds you might even squeeze an RX570 or the like. Not sure if that would meet VR demand (or CPU for that matter) but it's in budget.

EDIT- I also realized that I did not add storage, and of course no OS.

 

[OblivionsEdge]

350 is going to be tight, but I think I would try to pull a Ryzen 3 or 5 based APU type thing out of this as initial build and then add on the graphics card as needed for the games and certainly before VR.

All of this is dollar, but you get the idea
R3 3200G $95 - Newegg/Amazon
ASRock B450M-HDV - $69 shipped*
G Skill Ripjaws 16gb 3200 - $76 Newegg
Corsair CX 450 - $60 Amazon*
Case - There are MANY options for cases at and under $50 ( priced in a known $25 model- by DIY PC)

$325 as listed
I would mention that the market and pricing is wierd right now. My go to on the motherboard is a Tomahawk Max (B450) but the pricing that should be ~$120 is currently nearer $200.
The PSU pricing seems to be all over as well. I would normally spec something decent, bronze rated ~550-600W and fall between $60-80. That amount of power is overkill (for now) but leaves room for a powerful GPU later. The spec'ed 450 unit would handle a moderate card.

With the above and conversion to pounds you might even squeeze an RX570 or the like. Not sure if that would meet VR demand (or CPU for that matter) but it's in budget.

yeah that list looks good. using second hand parts, I'm sure I could find some wriggle room here and there. I've been looking at the VR performance of the RX570 and it looks capable enough. I'm fairly sure she just wants to play BeatSaber haha.

 

[punkncat]

yeah that list looks good. using second hand parts, I'm sure I could find some wriggle room here and there. I've been looking at the VR performance of the RX570 and it looks capable enough. I'm fairly sure she just wants to play BeatSaber haha.

Just curious, and this would be a really weird coincidence....

Do you happen to play Need For Speed under this same username and driving a red Ferrari yesterday evening?

 

[OblivionsEdge]

Just curious, and this would be a really weird coincidence....

Do you happen to play Need For Speed under this same username and driving a red Ferrari yesterday evening?

I do play NFS, however, nope that wasn't me unfortunatley. If it was Forza Horizon 4, then yesterday yes I was haha. My Origin name is replaced with numbers because someone else had the full name 🙁

 

[tennis2]

Be careful about buying used. If it's a whole system, it defeats the purpose of:

we were planning on buying and building a PC as it is something I am interested in and she wanted to learn a bit about it.

If it's a used OEM (Dell/HP/Lenovo/etc) system, you may run into compatibility limitations, so consult here first.

Be mindful of the price you're paying for USED components. These days, everyone expects to get "new" pricing for their used stuff.

 

[OblivionsEdge]

Be careful about buying used. If it's a whole system, it defeats the purpose of:


If it's a used OEM (Dell/HP/Lenovo/etc) system, you may run into compatibility limitations, so consult here first.

Be mindful of the price you're paying for USED components. These days, everyone expects to get "new" pricing for their used stuff.

Would only be looking at buying single components used, as I'm not really a fan of using old system build as they tend to be bulky. Hope to be looking at possible MicroATX anyway. In terms of buying used stuff, I'll probably just be deciding on a max cost per component, and then bidding until it goes over, otherwise, what the point of buying used haha

 

[tennis2]

I guess it depends on how long you've got to bid on stuff before your GF's birthday!

It's certainly possible to jank together some used parts off Ebay and get more for your $ if you've got time to search/wait.