[SOLVED] Changing from a PS4 to a gaming PC. Can someone help advise what I need for my uses?

[Cgamble99]

Hi,
I currently have a PS4 which I pretty much only play games like Fifa, call of duty and assassins creed on, and a laptop which is incredibly slow which I use for my university work (word, powerpoint and the internet). I want to switch over to a PC to do both my gaming and university work but I have no idea about what I need. I've tried researching it all but I don't understand all the jargon. Obviously I'm a university student so I'm not looking to spend like £1000 on it but just want something that runs fast, will play the games I mentioned at a good speed and graphics and that I can write my essays on. I will be hooking it up to my TV using a HDMI cable if that's information that anyone needs? Any advice on what I should be buying will be appreciated! thank you.

 

[tennis2]

Are you wanting a gaming laptop then?

AMDs Ryzen 4900HS made a pretty big splash yesterday.

 

[Cgamble99]

Are you wanting a gaming laptop then?

AMDs Ryzen 4900HS made a pretty big splash yesterday.

No, just the actual PC so that I can connect it to my TV and use that as like a computer.

 

[RodroX]

Well this is what I came with:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.78 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (£104.97 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£79.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial MX500 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£45.84 @ Currys PC World Business)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£107.58 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card (£382.64 @ Box Limited)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£63.99 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£87.98 @ Box Limited)
Total: £1029.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 14:32 BST+0100

You could remove the 250GB drive and save some money, I usually want another drive for the OS, leaving the bigger one for games and personal/document files.
You could use the saved money to add a keyboard and mouse, but I guess you are going to use a controller for gaming ?, so the mouse and keyboard are essential but does not need to be very high end.

Anyways, I hope it helps, cheers!!!

PD: You could build a smaller system with a diferent (smaller) case and motherboard, but then you need to be very carefull picking up the GPU to be sure it will fit inside.

 

[Cgamble99]

Well this is what I came with:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.78 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B450 TOMAHAWK MAX ATX AM4 Motherboard (£104.97 @ Box Limited)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£79.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial MX500 250 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£45.84 @ Currys PC World Business)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£107.58 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card (£382.64 @ Box Limited)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£63.99 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£87.98 @ Box Limited)
Total: £1029.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 14:32 BST+0100

You could remove the 250GB drive and save some money, I usually want another drive for the OS, leaving the bigger one for games and personal/document files.
You could use the saved money to add a keyboard and mouse, but I guess you are going to use a controller for gaming ?, so the mouse and keyboard are essential but does not need to be very high end.

Anyways, I hope it helps, cheers!!!

PD: You could build a smaller system with a diferent (smaller) case and motherboard, but then you need to be very carefull picking up the GPU to be sure it will fit inside.

Thanks man! That sounds good, I think? like i said I dont really know what I'm looking for haha. Is there any other ways I can cheap out on some of this and not suffer too much in performance? Like I said, I'm a uni student and after selling my Laptop and PS4 I will probably have £400 along with the £400 I'll have left over from my student loans. If there's any way you'd be able to get it down to around £800 that would be perfect!

 

[King_V]

Am I correct in assuming that the TV is 1920x1080? Or is it a higher or lower resolution? In either of those cases, the 2060 Super is probably a bit of overkill, and I'd step down to a GTX 1660 Super.

Finally, you can go down to a Ryzen 5 2600 or 2600X, you lose some performance, but has a better price/performance ratio.

I think the second, small SSD is probably superfluous, as @RodroX suggested in his build, and a matter of personal preference.

 

[RodroX]

Thanks man! That sounds good, I think? like i said I dont really know what I'm looking for haha. Is there any other ways I can cheap out on some of this and not suffer too much in performance? Like I said, I'm a uni student and after selling my Laptop and PS4 I will probably have £400 along with the £400 I'll have left over from my student loans. If there's any way you'd be able to get it down to around £800 that would be perfect!

This is one cheaper option:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.78 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£69.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£79.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£107.58 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER 8 GB WINDFORCE OC Video Card (£382.64 @ Box Limited)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£63.99 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£85.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £946.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 14:50 BST+0100

And heres another one lowering the GPU power 1 step down:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.78 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£69.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£79.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£107.58 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce RTX 2060 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card (£298.47 @ Ebuyer)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£63.99 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£85.98 @ Aria PC)
Total: £862.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 14:53 BST+0100

 

[Cgamble99]

Thanks guys, your help has been great! I've tried to combine what the two of you were saying to make it as cheap as possible without losing too much. Would you be able to take a look at what I came up with and let me know your thoughts on whether that would work for me or not? Thanks.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/NQCLjp

 

[RodroX]

This is what I would do then, just a bit higher than your list, but I think a more balanced one:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.78 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£69.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£79.98 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Crucial MX500 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£107.58 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB BLACK GAMING Video Card (£233.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Phanteks Eclipse P400A ATX Mid Tower Case (£63.99 @ Box Limited)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Currys PC World Business)
Total: £776.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-03-31 15:58 BST+0100

Keep in mind lately prices change every minute it seems.

 

[King_V]

250GB is definitely NOT enough space.


I'm on board with @RodroX 's latest listing, in general, especially going with the MATX board rather than full ATX, since you're not going to need all those expansion slots.

Tweaking it a bit - I might go instead for this 1TB SSD from Intel, which is a bit faster than the MX500, given that the 660p is NVMe protocol instead of the MX500's SATA protocol:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...1tb-m2-2280-solid-state-drive-ssdpeknw010t8x1

Or the WD SN550 Blue version (which appears to be unavailable from Amazon), but is a bit faster than the Intel, and has a higher endurance rating:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product...tb-m2-2280-nvme-solid-state-drive-wds100t2b0c

CPU-wise, the 2600X is only £3.74 more than the 2600, and brings you closer to the 3600's performance, while being £42 less than the 3600.
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/product/6mm323/amd-ryzen-5-2600x-36ghz-6-core-processor-yd260xbcafbox

The 2600X is a bit more power hungry, but comes with a beefier cooler, so that balances out.

 

[King_V]

Also, when it comes to getting games, store.steampowered.com

If you don't already have a Steam account, get one. And NEVER pay full price for anything. Their sales are sometimes outright insane!

 

[Cgamble99]

Is the 3600 worth the £43 more than the 2600x? At the moment with it as a 2600x it costs £745.46 - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/HRnLjp
But if I swap that out for the 3600 it goes up to £787.64, which I could afford, but it also says there are compatibility issues when I swap that in? https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/78PVCL

 

[Cgamble99]

Is the 3600 worth the £43 more than the 2600x? At the moment with it as a 2600x it costs £745.46 - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/HRnLjp
But if I swap that out for the 3600 it goes up to £787.64, which I could afford, but it also says there are compatibility issues when I swap that in? https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/78PVCL

I combined the latest two suggestions by the way! thank you for them

 

[RodroX]

I combined the latest two suggestions by the way! thank you for them

Don't pay attention to that, all MSI "MAX" B450 motherboard come with Ryzen 3xxx BIOS installed. pcpartpicker just don't know that and shows the warning. You can check that in MSI website if you wan to make sure for youself, I think they still have the information there as a "sticky" somewhere.


I think it say it somewhere here, but Im kinda in a hurry: https://www.msi.com/blog/msis-max-motherboard-lineup.

Cheers

 

[King_V]

Is the 3600 worth the £43 more than the 2600x?

In my opinion, no. But I tend to be really particular (some might say a cheap SOB) when it comes to spending extra on the latest and greatest. I'm willing to take, say, a 10% performance penalty to save 35% on cost.

At the moment with it as a 2600x it costs £745.46 - https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/HRnLjp
But if I swap that out for the 3600 it goes up to £787.64, which I could afford, but it also says there are compatibility issues when I swap that in? https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/78PVCL

That's a note they put for just about every B450 motherboard with the Ryzen 3000 chips. I will defer to @RodroX on whether the board already has the new BIOS with support for the 3000 series.

Also, I think that some MSI boards have a feature where you can update the BIOS without having a CPU in the socket (normally, you'd need one of the earlier CPUs to do this), but I don't know if this specific model is one of them.

 

[RodroX]

In my opinion, no. But I tend to be really particular (some might say a cheap SOB) when it comes to spending extra on the latest and greatest. I'm willing to take, say, a 10% performance penalty to save 35% on cost.



That's a note they put for just about every B450 motherboard with the Ryzen 3000 chips. I will defer to @RodroX on whether the board already has the new BIOS with support for the 3000 series.

Also, I think that some MSI boards have a feature where you can update the BIOS without having a CPU in the socket (normally, you'd need one of the earlier CPUs to do this), but I don't know if this specific model is one of them.

Its called BIOS flashback, and yeah some motherboard have it.

 

[refillable]

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/MNCzWb

Here's my take

3600, MSI B450-A PRO MAX (guaranteed to ship with Ryzen 3000 compatible BIOS), RAM that's listed on MSI's official RAM support site, A quick 1 TB NVMe SSD, and a 550W PSU that's more than enough for even if you upgrade into a 5700 XT GPU-teritory.

 

[Cgamble99]

Okay perfect. Thanks everyone. Lots to think about, excited to become a PC gamer haha

 

[tennis2]

To be clear, a laptop can also be connected to a TV.

I only suggested the laptop since you said your existing laptop is junk, so I figured we could kill two birds with one stone. If you don't need the portability of a laptop though, a desktop gives more performance/$.

 

[Cgamble99]

To be clear, a laptop can also be connected to a TV.

I only suggested the laptop since you said your existing laptop is junk, so I figured we could kill two birds with one stone. If you don't need the portability of a laptop though, a desktop gives more performance/$.

So what would be the main differences between me getting a gaming PC and a gaming laptop?

 

[RodroX]

So what would be the main differences between me getting a gaming PC and a gaming laptop?

Price, performance, upgradability and size are the main differences.

Laptops are "closed" systems that usually have very few components that are exchangeable (RAM, Storage, in some very limited cases CPU, and in even very less limited situations GPU).

PC are open systems that can be upgraded without problems as long as components are compatible. For example PCI-E slot its been here for many years, actual version is 4.0 (only AMD X570 chipset systems) but even PCI-E v1.0 GPU (discrete graphic cards) can work on the latests slot and otherwise the opposite should work too (New Radeon RX 5xxx GPUs are PCI-E 4.0 but they work on PCI-E 3.0, you may have some bandwidth limitations, on 1 or two particular GPUs, but they work fine). Another example of backward compatibility is USB.

A decent gaming laptop will cost more than its desktop counterpart or, from another angle, a gaming desktop PC will perform better than similar budget laptop.

 

[King_V]

My personal opinion, given the limitations of laptops decribed by @RodroX , as well as gaming laptops being kind of notorious for heat buildup, I'd prefer a regular PC for gaming.

Less chance of heat issues, expandable/upgradable, and, in my particular gripe, you get more performance per dollar from a regular gaming PC than from a gaming laptop.

 

[tennis2]

Psht! i got you all beat:

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor (£156.78 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI B450M MORTAR MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard (£89.98 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Patriot Viper Steel 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory (£74.55 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 512 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive (£74.99 @ Box Limited)
Storage: Western Digital Blue 2 TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.98 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 SUPER 6 GB OC Video Card (£226.03 @ Technextday)
Case: Cougar MG130-G MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£34.38 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply (£64.98 @ Currys PC World Business)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PWM 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan (£13.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case Fan: ARCTIC P14 PWM 72.8 CFM 140 mm Fan (£13.47 @ Scan.co.uk)
Total: £801.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-04-02 19:24 BST+0100