Budget gaming PC

[Norphy]

So, it's been a looooooooong time since I'd had anything resembling a gaming computer. The last time I did any serious PC gaming the GeForce 9800 GTX was the new hotness, so hopefully that gives you some idea of how out of touch I am about these things.

 

Anyway, the only computers I have at home at the moment are my work laptop and a mid 2010 27" iMac which I suspect is on its last legs. The school holidays have started up here and my 7 year old son has been going to some "Lets get eSporty" camps while my partner and I are working, which appear to be LAN parties for children so far as I can see. He's enjoying it, so I'm thinking that maybe I should go about getting a gaming PC but I don't have a lot of money to spend on one.

 

What is considered a good budget GPU these days? I don't want to spend more than £500 on the entire computer, preferably not even that much to be honest. Are built in APUs worth it these days?

 

Don't care if it's Nvidia, AMD or Intel.

[tom_newton]

I don't know if it would fit the bill for this, but the steam deck is an incredibly budget friendly way of getting a gaming PC. Works great with a cheap 30 quid docking station

[Dan2025]

I don't know if it would fit the bill for this, but the steam deck is an incredibly budget friendly way of getting a gaming PC. Works great with a cheap 30 quid docking station

 

Would second this, could combine with Gamepass Ulti and use cloud streaming which I use most of the time now.

[Garacesh]

Funnily enough, I put together a reasonably-budget PCPartPicker list the other week. Prices are still higher than they used to be, but a full build for <£900 isn't terrible.

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/VbJTd9

 

Could probably jimmy a few of the parts around to save a bit of money, it was originally £850 so something has gone up in a few weeks but eh.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Garacesh

[PotNoodleTech]

I think I've got a 5600x and 16gb ram and mobo lying around if you need it. Might also have a basic 1080p capable graphics card or two. If you want to do it on a tight budget that is.

[localzuk]

In terms of buying a graphics card, the current time is probably the worst time in history to buy one - they're all majorly overpriced (especially Nvidia's 40XX series ones, which are hilariously overpriced).

 

The SteamDeck is excellent, but has limitations in terms of which games you can play on it (mostly due to things like launchers being a PITA and not working right). But, I love mine so far.

[Jawloms]

I've found CEX pretty good. Not the cheapest place to get second hand stuff, but cheaper than new and you get a two year warranty rather than only one year like you get if you buy new.

[chazzy2501]

The RX5700 XT cn be had for £150 and is a power house without ray tracing. A cheap B450 AMD mobo and a Ryzen 5 3600 (6 core 12 thread) both for £150 and some fast ddr4 3200+ 16gb ram for £40

 

1tb crucial nvme on amazon for £38!

 

Well under £500, I've just built this exact system.

 

 

 

good luck

[azc]

In addition to PCPartPicker which has already been linked, here's a great website that will help you get an idea of what you can put together for your budget: https://www.logicalincrements.com/