Looking for a pre-built gaming computer under £500

[Guest]

Hey guys,

As the title states I am looking for the best prebuilt gaming computer under £500. I want to use it for playing a variety of games and perhaps do some recording (I understand my price range doesn't allow the ideal specs for recording, but I'd still like to give it a go). The cheaper it is the better, left over money is going towards a new monitor and keyboard.

Graphics card: I would like it to have a Nvidia graphics card, I know some people argue you can get more bang for your buck with AMD but from personal experience I find Nvidia to be much more compatible... I also want to try out shadow play. At minimum I'd like a 750 but it should probably have a Nvidia GeForce GTX 750 Ti graphics card. Anything above that would be awesome, but I don't think it's within my price range.
Processor: I don't really know anything about processors. I've heard intel is the best, I'd be happy with an Intel i3 graphics card. i5 would be great, but again, I don't think it is within my price range.
Memory: Don't know much about this either. I don't have that much knowledge on computers, so yeah hoping you guys have a better idea of what to look for. I think 8gb or RAM is fairly standard for my price and I 'd just like a regular 1TB hard drive.
Case: Not too fussy about the case. I'd like to to come with a cd/dvd rom drive and at least a couple USB 3.0 ports. The regular ports such as for ethernet cables and such would be nice but as long as I can get adapters I guess they're not necessary.
Other stuff: As I've said, don't know that much about hardware so I trust that you guys will know if the fans, power supply and motherboard are at least OK.
Operating system: It must either come pr-installed with windows or be about £70 cheaper so I can buy a windows licence with it.

Below are some computers I've already looked at and am considering buying. If anyone could point me in the right direction or recommend any other prebuild systems I'd greatly appreciate it. Unless there is a very promising unreleased computer on the horizon, my time frame is a couple of weeks.
http://www.ebuyer.com/658256-chillblast-fusion-shield-2-gaming-pc-cbfushield2
http://www.fiercepc.co.uk/phantom-intel-gaming-pc
http://www.amazon.co.uk/OCHW-DEFENDER-Computer-Graphics-Operating/dp/B00JS1TLX4/ref=sr_1_30?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1432908835&sr=1-30&keywords=Gaming+pc
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ADMI-Quad-Core-Graphics-1600MHz-Vantage/dp/B00SJAZ3MS/ref=sr_1_31?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1432908835&sr=1-31&keywords=Gaming+pc
http://www.amazon.co.uk/PILEDRIVER-FX-6350-Gaming-Graphics-pre-installed/dp/B00CMQWJXQ/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t

Thanks,
Reuben

 

[turbopiki]

Why pre-built just buy parts and build it yourself. If you dont know there is a bunch of youtube videos showing how to. But you still dont want to build it yourself take the parts to local PC store and pay them to do it for you, some shosp that sell parts online even offer to build it for you if you pay a bit extra

Maybe something like this :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£86.07 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£57.77 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£46.06 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.14 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£112.36 @ More Computers)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£25.29 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.20 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.96 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) (£75.34 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £491.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-05 19:44 BST+0100

 

[sora]

Why not build your own computer yourself? You would save a lot of money... and in addition, there are tons of videos on YouTube that could help you.

 

[Guest]

Why pre-built just buy parts and build it yourself. If you dont know there is a bunch of youtube videos showing how to. But you still dont want to build it yourself take the parts to local PC store and pay them to do it for you, some shosp that sell parts online even offer to build it for you if you pay a bit extra

Maybe something like this :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£86.07 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£57.77 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£46.06 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.14 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£112.36 @ More Computers)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£25.29 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.20 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.96 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) (£75.34 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £491.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-05 19:44 BST+0100

I don't really know anything about computers so I'm worried that something will go wrong or be incompatible. Just seems a lot easier to buy one which is prebuilt and will work out of the box.

The computer you're suggesting doesn't even look that good either.. It's got an i3, which is fine, but the overall cost is still relatively high. I also stated I would like a Nvidea graphics card. These two computers just seem outright better and are about the same price or cheaper:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ADMI-Quad-Core-Graphics-1600MHz-Vantage/dp/B00SJAZ3MS/ref=sr_1_31?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1432908835&sr=1-31&keywords=Gaming+pc
http://www.fiercepc.co.uk/phantom-intel-gaming-pc
This one also seems about on par specs-wise and, like the others, is prebuilt:
http://www.ebuyer.com/658256-chillblast-fusion-shield-2-gaming-pc-cbfushield2

 

[turbopiki]

Why nvidia they have nothing between GTX 750ti and GTX 960 that why i picked R9 270.

The thing with these pre-built PC is they have the lowest quality motherboard and PSU.

Build with motherboard with less features and lower quality.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£86.07 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£30.23 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£46.06 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.77 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£144.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£25.29 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.20 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.96 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) (£75.34 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £496.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-06 20:09 BST+0100

non of those pre built is this good you could get even better parts if you choose bad quality PSU the prebuilts have but the problem with bad quality PSUs is if they die the will take the whole system with them. and you will need to buy all the parts again

 

[Guest]

Why nvidia they have nothing between GTX 750ti and GTX 960 that why i picked R9 270.

The thing with these pre-built PC is they have the lowest quality motherboard and PSU.

Build with motherboard with less features and lower quality.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor (£86.07 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£30.23 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£46.06 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.77 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card (£144.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Zalman Z3 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case (£25.29 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£37.20 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer (£9.96 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) (£75.34 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £496.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-06 20:09 BST+0100

non of those pre built is this good you could get even better parts if you choose bad quality PSU the prebuilts have but the problem with bad quality PSUs is if they die the will take the whole system with them. and you will need to buy all the parts again

Thanks for your response. What's the advantage of having a better quality motherboard? What kind of 'features' do you get? And what are the chances of a bad PSU dying and destroying the whole system?
This is my first time doing this kind of thing so apologies for being so naive.

Also, I said in my original post that I would like an Nvidea graphics card because I've noticed it's more compatible with most games



On a side note, I'd still much rather buy a prebuilt PC than build my own. If anyone has any other recommendations or knows if any of the computers I've already mentioned are good I'd greatly appreciate your input.

 

[turbopiki]

Advantage of a better quality PSU. More stable no crashes, better capacitors, less likely to die, if it dies it wont destory other components. (If a low quality PSU dies it will most likely fry other components such as GPU, CPU... so you will need to buy new with good quality PSU all you will need to do is buy a new PSU)

Advantage of better quality motherboard, better capacitors, better VRM coolers, more VRM power phases, more stable, more different ports and connectors...

What do you mean Nvidia is more compatible ? you will get way more FPS in games with r9 270 than with GTX 750Ti