Ready made or DIY?

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

Okay. So change of plan maybe. I may be extremely lucky to get some early inheritance which would buy a PC. Now every time I start looking at a PC, I think 'I could build it and probably save a heap of money, but....' maybe its just easier getting a ready built PC. However, I don't know what is actually a decent deal if it is.

 

For once in my life I actually get the chance to ask what's the best PC available to run Star Citizen, Overwatch, Rainbow 6, Divinity, 7 Days, Minecraft.

 

I trust all your opinions as you know more than me easily. I did put my old PC together but thats way over 10 years ago and i'm possibly worried i'd mess it up. Let me know what you think guys.

[phil bottle 9,761]

There's plenty to consider Lee and it's a good idea to get feedback.

Most people will tell you to build it yourself but i'll give you some things to consider in favour of the custom made option.

1. Price is not as much a consideration as you'd think. A lot of the firm's who custom build PC'S these days will put it together for the price you'd pay buying the parts yourself.
2. If you have a dud chip in your CPU, which is always a possibility, you run the risk of frying your motherboard and anything connected to it. This can happen when overclocking from what I understand. It'll all be under warranty but it could be a pain in the ass if it happens.

I'm no expert by a long chalk so don't let the above sway you too much. My PC was custom built but when an electrical surge fried my ethernet port I had no problem attaching a new pci to the motherboard and I'll be replacing the gpu myself in the near future.

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[phil bottle 9,761]

I'll also have a look this weekend online to make a current comparison of what you can get for your money via each option.

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[The3rdWalker 1,271]

A lot of prebuilt computers do not give you much say in the quality of components you pick. Your best bet is showing us a pre-built gaming pc and let's see if we can price something out of better quality in a similar price. I've got to disagree with Phil, and say you absolutely will save money building your own compared to a pre-built machine.

 

Issues to run into with DIY:

Faulty components- it's not uncommon to get a piece that does not work out of the box, where you have to get a replacement from the manufacturer. My PC was perfect which is uncommon (i believe) to have everything work first go. 

User error- a pc is pretty straightforward and relatively easy to set up. However, you run the risk of breaking something yourself... I wouldn't worry about that Lee. 

 

Give us a price range and I will go through Cyber Power, iBuy Power, etc as well as give you a custom parts list. 

[crispymorgan 1,056]

I'll spend a weekend with you to build.

Via the FG App

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

Thanks @phil bottle and @The3rdWalker. Start with £1,500 as the budget. The only things that I know I want is an Elgato for it and the best performance I can get for the games stated above. I won't need to buy a monitor as i'll have to link it to one of my TVs.

 

@crispymorgan, thanks buddy. Let's try and do that then if I can get all the bits!

[phil bottle 9,761]

If your gpu is by nvidia you have no need of elgato.
I know where Rib is coming from re cost but seriously in the UK the difference is minimal.
But i'll test that with a proper comparison tomorrow. And I'm prepared to be wrong [emoji5]

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[The3rdWalker 1,271]

He wants an elgato to hook his consoles up to and stream with an overlay on Twitch.


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[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

Yeah, sorry Phil, should've mentioned its because I want to stream some PS4 stuff every now and again and it would be nice to have an overlay over it showing where to find FG

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

So I'm starting into getting the chance to do this now.

 

@crispymorgan thanks for some laptop suggestions  (not on here though) via hot uk deals. I was thinking that but really worried it will go out of date quickly and I've got to start all over again.

 

However, if consensus is that it will be okay I'm still open to them.

[The3rdWalker 1,271]

I will always vote against a laptop. You won't be able to upgrade components which is one of the biggest draws to a PC over a console.

[phil bottle 9,761]

Haven't forgotten about this. GPU prices are fluctuating a lot and Nvidia have dropped a 1070ti onto the market.

I did a quick build and compared it with some custom PC builders in the UK and it's amazing what you can get built for a similar price.

I may ask you some questions this week so I can be as useful as possible.

No laptops allowed though.

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[The3rdWalker 1,271]

1 hour ago, phil bottle said:

No laptops allowed though.
 

 

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

3 hours ago, phil bottle said:

Haven't forgotten about this. GPU prices are fluctuating a lot and Nvidia have dropped a 1070ti onto the market.

I did a quick build and compared it with some custom PC builders in the UK and it's amazing what you can get built for a similar price.

I may ask you some questions this week so I can be as useful as possible.

No laptops allowed though.

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That's great mate. I'm pretty much in a position to nearly order whatever I need. Let me know your picks and I geniunely will be going with what you guys think as you all know more than me on these things.

[phil bottle 9,761]

Right then, some questions.

Size. I recall you saying size is a factor in your decision. Is it an issue enough that you'd avoid a tower? Mines pretty big but it's quiet and under the table out of the way. This is important.

Do you need an optical drive, dvd player? Have a think if this a feature you want.

Windows. Do you think you can get an operating system? If not I'll be going with Windows 10 Pro 64 bit stylee.

WiFi. You want it? I didn't bother with my PC and kept it ethernet only. It's isn't that much more expensive for wifi but yeah fuck wifi for PC gaming[emoji5]

Ready for now and 1080p? Or something that you want to future proof and be able to 4k with?

That'll do for now.

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[Greboth 2,721]

I know I'm a bit late to this discussion but I'd agree the way this thread is going.  Also, you're not that far from me Lee so happy to give you hand if you go the DIY route.  One thing that has only partially been mentioned is warranty if things go wrong.  While a pre-built system you have the peace of mind of any problems day 1 you can send it back and they will have to go through finding the problem I've seen some pre-builts come with a 1 or 2 year warranty.  Whereas if you purchase DIY you can get much longer warranty periods - it's been a while but you used to be able to get 10 year warranty on some PSU's and I think Corsair still offer lifetime on their RAM etc.

 

Price wise though, things are a lot better than they used to be.  DIY was the only way to go as, short of buying really really cheap PC's it never worked out cheaper to by a pre-built.  Whether it is just through competition or PC's being easier to build that gap it a lot smaller and it is possible to get some pre-builts cheaper.  This seems especially true at the moment with the massive over inflation of the GPU market as it appears that some pre-builts price has remained stable while GPU's have gone up a lot recently (damn mining!).

 

Phil's on the ball with the questions  though I'd add what is your budget for the actual PC? If your budget is £1500 I assume this it the total for everything so includes things like the Elgato? Do you also need a mouse and keyboard? etc. So if you work out the budget for the actual bare PC and then we can start finding the best pre-builts and can price up the same spec in DIY as a comparison.

 

To be honest, I doubt doing the above there would be much difference.  I'd guess DIY will work out slightly cheaper but only slightly but it is all extra budget for little things like a slightly bigger SSD/NVMe/M2 drive, a better cooler if you plan on overclocking etc.

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

Right then, some questions.

Size. I recall you saying size is a factor in your decision. Is it an issue enough that you'd avoid a tower? Mines pretty big but it's quiet and under the table out of the way. This is important.

Do you need an optical drive, dvd player? Have a think if this a feature you want.

Windows. Do you think you can get an operating system? If not I'll be going with Windows 10 Pro 64 bit stylee.

WiFi. You want it? I didn't bother with my PC and kept it ethernet only. It's isn't that much more expensive for wifi but yeah fuck wifi for PC gaming[emoji5]

Ready for now and 1080p? Or something that you want to future proof and be able to 4k with?

That'll do for now.

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I know I'm a bit late to this discussion but I'd agree the way this thread is going.  Also, you're not that far from me Lee so happy to give you hand if you go the DIY route.  One thing that has only partially been mentioned is warranty if things go wrong.  While a pre-built system you have the peace of mind of any problems day 1 you can send it back and they will have to go through finding the problem I've seen some pre-builts come with a 1 or 2 year warranty.  Whereas if you purchase DIY you can get much longer warranty periods - it's been a while but you used to be able to get 10 year warranty on some PSU's and I think Corsair still offer lifetime on their RAM etc.
 
Price wise though, things are a lot better than they used to be.  DIY was the only way to go as, short of buying really really cheap PC's it never worked out cheaper to by a pre-built.  Whether it is just through competition or PC's being easier to build that gap it a lot smaller and it is possible to get some pre-builts cheaper.  This seems especially true at the moment with the massive over inflation of the GPU market as it appears that some pre-builts price has remained stable while GPU's have gone up a lot recently (damn mining!).
 
Phil's on the ball with the questions [emoji4] though I'd add what is your budget for the actual PC? If your budget is £1500 I assume this it the total for everything so includes things like the Elgato? Do you also need a mouse and keyboard? etc. So if you work out the budget for the actual bare PC and then we can start finding the best pre-builts and can price up the same spec in DIY as a comparison.
 
To be honest, I doubt doing the above there would be much difference.  I'd guess DIY will work out slightly cheaper but only slightly but it is all extra budget for little things like a slightly bigger SSD/NVMe/M2 drive, a better cooler if you plan on overclocking etc.

Ok, size. I'd love a big tower but Hayley won't have it on show. My gaming cave is off the kitchen so its made so you don't really see my game consoles and games. I have a place though I could hide it. I'd just have to connect the wire to my tv everytime I use it. The alternative is having the size of an xbox one which could go within my cabinet. I don't know the pros and cons so I'll go with what you guys say.

A dvd player is always useful. I enjoy physical remember. Lol.

There's room for an OS in that budget. I don't know how much they cost these days as previous ones came with my laptops.

WiFi - yes. I will look to do ethernet via Powerlines but useful if i have to move it. Actually, some better powerlines might be worth buying too.

Future proof it on graphics side Phil.
@Greboth, cheers mate. I'd love to get us all together to do this. Keyboard and mouse i need. Was looking at Razr ones. I'll also look for a moveable tray that i can rest them on so I can play away from the tv.


I know the TV may restrict graphics so heres the catch. I have 2 white 32" TVs alongside each other. If you found a white 32" monitor that could be the second one, I'll consider buying it. Back to my original point of the wife wanting the area to not look too gamey cos of where it is.

When the kids are much older and fly away, I'll get the chance to do what I want with an entire room.

Hope that helps for now?

[Greboth 2,721]

So rough pricing: The Elgato is around £150, W10 is about £100 or £150 (I'm not sure on what the difference is with the regular or pro version) and keyboard /mouse call £100 (maybe more if you go mechanical).  Unless I missed anything that's about £400 of your budget so say £1000 - £1100 budget for actual PC.

 

I think it was the other thread I said about it, you can get some pretty powerful hardware in small form factors (SFF) these days but SFF comes with the downsides of heat and/or noise.  The heat isn't a problem really as most coolers will keep things below thermal throttling temperatures (plus thermal throttling will save things if it does get too hot) so as long as you can live with some fan noise then SFF is the way to go.  I'll have a look for some parts when I get home later  

[Greboth 2,721]

Quick idea of what you could get.  I was thinking for your budget you might be able to push it to a 7600k and a GTX1070 but maybe not I've dropped the 7600k for 7500 as if you're going SFF there will be little change for overclocking anyway and dropping GTX 1070 to 1060 saves over £100.  A slightly variation on this is you could drop to 8Gb RAM which would save ~£100 and then bump back up to a 1070.  I'm sure though with some fine tuning and shopping around this spec could be bettered.

 

The other option is go Ryzen, a Ryzen 5 1600x and ITX motherboard with the same specs below and ~£30-£40 cheaper.

 

Edit: I've left a case ouf of this for now as depends exactly how much room there is in your shelf though I've left a small budget for one.

 

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x  Gigabyte GA-Z270N-WIFI Intel Z270 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £137.99
• 1 x  Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Red (CMK16GX4M2B3200= £188.99
• 1 x  Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £86.99
• 1 x  Noctua NH-L12S Low Profile CPU Cooler - 120mm= £44.99
• 1 x  Silverstone SX550 550W 80 Plus Gold SFX Power Supply= £84.95
• 1 x  Asus GeForce GTX 1060 Dual OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99
• 1 x  Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM006)= £56.99
• 1 x  Intel Core i5-7500 3.40GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £199.99

 

Total: £1,041.98

[The3rdWalker 1,271]

Say hello to 'Project Lee' your console destroyer. 

 

£1294.91

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  (£191.94 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler  (£34.46 @ Ebuyer) 
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  (£147.82 @ More Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£172.37 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£82.99 @ Box Limited) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£53.50 @ Aria PC) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Mini Video Card  (£349.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Case: Silverstone - RVZ02B HTPC Case  (£79.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Power Supply: Silverstone - 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  (£99.11 @ Alza) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  (£82.74 @ Aria PC) 
Total: £1294.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-28 17:55 BST+0100

 

• That case is absolutely amazing, should mimic the form factor, and looks of a console with great airflow. (slightly bigger than a PS3)
• The motherboard has a wireless antenna in it which should allow you to use wifi and not hook it up to a modem. However, as always a wired connection is better than wifi. (console, pc etc)
• Fully modular power supply adds less clutter, leaving out wires you won't need. 

 

Things to shop for:

• Keyboard & Mouse
• Wireless controller, OR, buy a micro sd cable that's long enough to wire your PS4 controller into it. (I have a wired PS4 controller for my PC)

 

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

On 28/10/2017 at 4:49 PM, Greboth said:

Quick idea of what you could get.  I was thinking for your budget you might be able to push it to a 7600k and a GTX1070 but maybe not I've dropped the 7600k for 7500 as if you're going SFF there will be little change for overclocking anyway and dropping GTX 1070 to 1060 saves over £100.  A slightly variation on this is you could drop to 8Gb RAM which would save ~£100 and then bump back up to a 1070.  I'm sure though with some fine tuning and shopping around this spec could be bettered.

 

The other option is go Ryzen, a Ryzen 5 1600x and ITX motherboard with the same specs below and ~£30-£40 cheaper.

 

Edit: I've left a case ouf of this for now as depends exactly how much room there is in your shelf though I've left a small budget for one.

 

My basket at Overclockers UK:

• 1 x  Gigabyte GA-Z270N-WIFI Intel Z270 (Socket 1151) DDR4 Mini ITX Motherboard= £137.99
• 1 x  Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-25600C16 3200MHz Dual Channel Kit - Red (CMK16GX4M2B3200= £188.99
• 1 x  Samsung 250GB 850 EVO SSD 2.5" SATA 6Gbps 32 Layer 3D V-NAND Solid State Drive (MZ-75E250B/EU)= £86.99
• 1 x  Noctua NH-L12S Low Profile CPU Cooler - 120mm= £44.99
• 1 x  Silverstone SX550 550W 80 Plus Gold SFX Power Supply= £84.95
• 1 x  Asus GeForce GTX 1060 Dual OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card= £229.99
• 1 x  Seagate BarraCuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache HDD - OEM (ST2000DM006)= £56.99
• 1 x  Intel Core i5-7500 3.40GHz (Kaby Lake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail= £199.99

 

Total: £1,041.98

 

On 28/10/2017 at 5:56 PM, The3rdWalker said:

Say hello to 'Project Lee' your console destroyer. 

 

£1294.91

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD - Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor  (£191.94 @ Aria PC) 
CPU Cooler: Noctua - NH-L9i 33.8 CFM CPU Cooler  (£34.46 @ Ebuyer) 
Motherboard: ASRock - X370 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard  (£147.82 @ More Computers) 
Memory: G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory  (£172.37 @ Amazon UK) 
Storage: Western Digital - Blue 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (£82.99 @ Box Limited) 
Storage: Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  (£53.50 @ Aria PC) 
Video Card: Zotac - GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Mini Video Card  (£349.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Case: Silverstone - RVZ02B HTPC Case  (£79.99 @ Overclockers.co.uk) 
Power Supply: Silverstone - 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply  (£99.11 @ Alza) 
Operating System: Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  (£82.74 @ Aria PC) 
Total: £1294.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-10-28 17:55 BST+0100

 

• That case is absolutely amazing, should mimic the form factor, and looks of a console with great airflow. (slightly bigger than a PS3)
• The motherboard has a wireless antenna in it which should allow you to use wifi and not hook it up to a modem. However, as always a wired connection is better than wifi. (console, pc etc)
• Fully modular power supply adds less clutter, leaving out wires you won't need. 

 

Things to shop for:

• Keyboard & Mouse
• Wireless controller, OR, buy a micro sd cable that's long enough to wire your PS4 controller into it. (I have a wired PS4 controller for my PC)

 

 

I like the case in Rob's because it would in the slot I ideally want it to go.

 

What's the difference between the AMD and the Intel Processors?

 

@crispymorgan can find a 1070ti on Hot UKdeals I think for cheaper (hopefully?)

[The3rdWalker 1,271]

14 minutes ago, GazzaGarratt said:

What's the difference between the AMD and the Intel Processors?

 

It's just better right now.
 

Comparison: Ryzen 5 1600X vs Core i5-7600K
AMD Ryzen 5 1600X	Features	Intel Core i5-7600K
6 / 12	Cores/Threads	4 / 4
3.6 / 4.0 GHz	Base/Turbo	3.8 / 4.2 GHz
16	PCIe 3.0 Lanes	16
16 MB	L3 Cache	6 MB
95 W	TDP	91 W

[GazzaGarratt 11,051]

33 minutes ago, The3rdWalker said:

 

It's just better right now.
 

Comparison: Ryzen 5 1600X vs Core i5-7600K
AMD Ryzen 5 1600X	Features	Intel Core i5-7600K
6 / 12	Cores/Threads	4 / 4
3.6 / 4.0 GHz	Base/Turbo	3.8 / 4.2 GHz
16	PCIe 3.0 Lanes	16
16 MB	L3 Cache	6 MB
95 W	TDP	91 W

 

What about the i7 though?

[crispymorgan 1,056]

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/powercolor-radeon-rx-580-red-dragon-v2-8192mb-gddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-18l-pc.html?campaign=affiliate/tagPC

[phil bottle 9,761]

Intel and Nvidia for me. The 1070 will come down in price soon now the 1070ti is doing the rounds.
I'll try and do my build tonight for comparison[emoji4]

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