Gaming Desktop PC - please help advise :(

whattodo02

Ant555 wrote: »

My Son recently used some money he saved up and bought a gaming pc (No monitor yet - we are using a 32" Samsung TV)

I got lots of very useful advice on these forums and from friends and eventually bought one from ebuyer - I considered buying parts and making ourselves but looking at the pre-built prices we decided there was limited benefit to us.
I researched all over - scan.co.uk, aria.co.uk, zoostorm.com etc but for the specific graphics card we wanted, the ebuyer system was the best value for our budget.

here is a link to gaming pc's on their web site
http://www.ebuyer.com/store/Computer/cat/Gaming-PC?sort=price+ascending

Note - order was placed at 10.35pm Wednesday evening on ebuyer web site and delivered at 10.30am on Friday morning.

I think your research should include looking carefully at Video cards as that is a critical component of any gaming setup. Maybe start with looking at the game they want to play now and check the specs in order to play it smoothly.

With regards to being expandable, if you get it right you probably don't need to expand much, apart from maybe adding more RAM. Experienced gamers might upgrade their graphics card but i'm not expecting to do that. We opted for a pc with a better graphics card but 'only' 8Gb memory rather than the one with 16gb memory and a slightly lesser spec graphics card. My thinking is that its going to cost me £40 and 5 minutes of time to add extra memory but several hundred quid for a newer/better graphics card and the hassle of selling my old one to help pay for it!

Hope this helps.

post a link here for an opinion if you spot anything interesting.

Thank you - I hope you don't mind, but I have PM'd you

whattodo02

Cisco001 wrote: »

whattodo02

what about this?


http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/acer-aspire-xc-780-desktop-pc-10146423-pdt.html

whattodo02

or this one?


http://www.ebuyer.com/751950-acer-aspire-xc-705-desktop-dt-sxmek-046

neilmcl

whattodo02 wrote: »

what about this?


http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/desktop-pcs/desktop-pcs/acer-aspire-xc-780-desktop-pc-10146423-pdt.html

whattodo02 wrote: »

or this one?


http://www.ebuyer.com/751950-acer-aspire-xc-705-desktop-dt-sxmek-046

Again, neither are gaming PCs. You need to get away from the obsession with Acer PCs.

Take the advice given, the most important component of a gaming rig is the graphics card, you need to be looking at PCs with a dedicated gaming graphics as shown in the links above.

Do you have an idea of what games your sons will be playing? Can I ask what age group they are?

whattodo02

neilmcl wrote: »

Again, neither are gaming PCs. You need to get away from the obsession with Acer PCs.

Take the advice given, the most important component of a gaming rig is the graphics card, you need to be looking at PCs with a dedicated gaming graphics as shown in the links above.

Do you have an idea of what games your sons will be playing? Can I ask what age group they are?

thank you for taking the time to read.

I think the reason i'm looking at Acer is with the thought that you can add your own graphics card?
and I was told 'gaming pc's' have a mark up on them so if you buy a basic one then add graphics card it would be cheaper?

13 and the games are


gang beasts
minecraft

Johnmcl7

Both those PC's would be terrible choices, they have integrated graphics cards and no ability to add a decent graphics card - as several other people have posted, the graphics card is one of the most crucial components for gaming.

The PC Cisco001 has linked is a superb deal and you can get cheap Windows OEM licenses for the operating system. I'd stick with Windows 10 as it has the best gaming features and I wouldn't be put off by having to install an operating system as it's very easy to do these days and useful to learn. On reading your budget my thought was a cheap Zoostorm PC and add a graphics card as that's always the most cost effective solution I've found for a cheap gaming PC but having a decent GPU already and just having to install the OS is much easier.

John

whattodo02

Johnmcl7 wrote: »

Both those PC's would be terrible choices, they have integrated graphics cards and no ability to add a decent graphics card - as several other people have posted, the graphics card is one of the most crucial components for gaming.

The PC Cisco001 has linked is a superb deal and you can get cheap Windows OEM licenses for the operating system. I'd stick with Windows 10 as it has the best gaming features and I wouldn't be put off by having to install an operating system as it's very easy to do these days and useful to learn. On reading your budget my thought was a cheap Zoostorm PC and add a graphics card as that's always the most cost effective solution I've found for a cheap gaming PC but having a decent GPU already and just having to install the OS is much easier.

John

Thank you for your reply.


ive just had a look at the one Cisco001 has linked and seen it only has i3 XXX is that ok?

Johnmcl7

whattodo02 wrote: »

Thank you for your reply.


ive just had a look at the one Cisco001 has linked and seen it only has i3 XXX is that ok?

Yes, the desktop i3's are good value for money as they're dual core with hyperthreading (which makes them good at multitasking) and they have a decent high clock speed so the lack of turboboost isn't an issue. Conversely the mobile i3's are often not a good buy vs the i5's as they start off at a low clock speed and can't clock themselves up like the i5 and i7's can.

When I was building a second gaming PC as an under the TV machine I went with a similar spec, an i3 4xxx and GTX 760 and it was a good gaming machine, I think to get an i3 and GTX 960 for that price is extremely good.

My only concern is that the two games you've mentioned are both on PS4's which is much cheaper and split screen gaming on the same TV is a lot hassle than setting up two PC's to game with each other.

John

Ivrytwr3

The one posted here earlier is the one of the best for money at the minute:

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/awd-z1-intel-i5-6400-3-3ghz-gtx-1060-6gb-ddr5-vr-gaming-pc-599-95-awt-2536775

But if the games they are playing are Minecraft and similar, then any of the ones posted here will be ok.

I am after a pc too, but am waiting for the Cyber Black Friday deals to start.