Tight budget gaming pc

[steveg]

My daughter has decided she wants to get into gaming (although has not specified what games) so has asked for a basic gaming pc for xmas.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/t9rM8Q

 

She wants it to look pretty and be white, hence the case (will probably shop around more for this) and keyb / mouse. Budget is around £450 for the pc, need to add a windows licence to it, but there is a little wiggle room as keyb / mouse will likely be brought by another relative.

 

Have gone with integrated graphics which should be good enough initially, then if she actually gets into gaming she can save up and add a dedicated gpu. Going for a dedicated gpu would have been tight and would likely meant an AM4 option.

 

Already has a 1080p monitor.

[PotNoodleTech]

Pm'd you

[dmj]

Can't recommend a steamdeck enough. Similar money and works great in desktop mode.

No kernel level anti-cheat though.

[NegativeKillDeath]

Going to throw my weight behind steamdeck as well. Also Halflife 2 is updated for 20th anniversary and free.

[chazzy2501]

With DDR5 dual channel (2 sticks) is not important due to the way it now works, a single 16GB DDR5 stick is the better choice as it has better upgrade path.

[mbedford]

+1 SteamDeck, get the cheaper model and self install a bigger NVME drive, its really easy.

 

Dual boot Win 11 to get around any anti-cheat concerns or just remove SteamOS and use Win 11, I do this for Fortnite, works fine. Valve support it with drivers and there are some third party applications which make it more user friendly.

 

https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6121-ECCD-D643-BAA8

Edited November 19, 2024 by mbedford

[andy_nic]

I have a ASUS ROG Ally, would recommend, playing gears 5 on it, halo for a bit just to test it. I mainly use mine for ets2 and sonics games currently.

[dmj]

+1 SteamDeck, get the cheaper model and self install a bigger NVME drive, its really easy.

 

Another top tip for space on smaller drives is deduping the home directory with btrfs as you can save tonnes of space esp with the shader cache

[steveg]

Am probably getting a steamdeck for my son, but she needs to use the computer for studying and other bits as well.

[3s-gtech]

You can use a Steam Deck as a desktop replacement - output to monitor, install Windows. It’s quite versatile.

[thimon]

Just throwing this out there, GeForce NOW? I used it for a month and was very impressed. No noticeable lag whilst playing. Their most expensive option is £19.99 per month, might work out cheaper than a whole new device? https://www.nvidia.com/en-gb/geforce-now/memberships/

[Norphy]

My daughter has decided she wants to get into gaming (although has not specified what games) so has asked for a basic gaming pc for xmas.

 

Any thoughts on this?

 

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/list/t9rM8Q

 

She wants it to look pretty and be white, hence the case (will probably shop around more for this) and keyb / mouse. Budget is around £450 for the pc, need to add a windows licence to it, but there is a little wiggle room as keyb / mouse will likely be brought by another relative.

 

Have gone with integrated graphics which should be good enough initially, then if she actually gets into gaming she can save up and add a dedicated gpu. Going for a dedicated gpu would have been tight and would likely meant an AM4 option.

 

Already has a 1080p monitor.

 

I don’t have much to add, but for what it’s worth I’m doing most of my gaming on a Ryzen 4600GE and I’m pleasantly surprised at how good the onboard GPU is. I’m playing through LEGO Star Wars Skywalker Saga when I get a spare moment or two and it handles that at 1080p just fine. I’ve also tried Doom Eternal and that’s ok too.

 

The other games I’ve got are much older and there’s no issue with those either.

[dmj]

Am probably getting a steamdeck for my son, but she needs to use the computer for studying and other bits as well.

 

That's literally why I got the steamdeck - plug it into a kb/monitor/mouse and it's a fully functional desktop pc.

I've used it for work one time when I forgot my laptop.

[3s-gtech]

It’s such a good compromise, I’m seriously considering one for my next PC. My ‘gaming’ PC will stay as a retro machine and go offline only as it’s so old. I can’t justify the cost of modern graphics cards etc as I barely game now - but I may if it’s portable.

 

How easy would it be to dual boot?

[TheHyperTechie]

I saw these recently on Stone's 'refurb' website, and thought the price was good.

 

Should handle 1080p with decent FPS on most games.

[steveg]

Thanks all, will look into a steamdeck / dock more, also good to know that the G series AMD cpus cope well with basic gaming if I do go that way.

 

Stone pc looks pretty good value for the money. I thought the Geforce now service had shut down, that must have been another service that did.

[mbedford]

GeForce now is still going, but they have changed there service plans. If I remember correctly, even the top tier plan is now time limited (8hrs, as a 40 year old, that seems long enough, but im sure many teenagers would disagree!)

 

 

 

Thanks all, will look into a steamdeck / dock more, also good to know that the G series AMD cpus cope well with basic gaming if I do go that way.

 

Stone pc looks pretty good value for the money. I thought the Geforce now service had shut down, that must have been another service that did.

[PotNoodleTech]

If I remember correctly, even the top tier plan is now time limited (8hrs, as a 40 year old, that seems long enough, but im sure many teenagers would disagree!)

 

Maybe that's a good thing lol. Gaming session over now get outside and climb a tree!