Decent 'cheap' Gaming PC

MickLee93 on 21/08/2017 - 10:49
Last edited 21/08/2017 - 19:59

Hey everyone,

I'm after a decent gaming pc, but one that's not to expensive (that's not the ozbargain way 😂) Doesn't need to include a screen etc just the tower will be fine.

Let me know of some sites/stores to go get one cheap… pre built would be great. Max price $1500 (ish)

Thanks

Computing

Comments

  • Ryanek on 21/08/2017 - 10:53
    +3

    'Cheap' is relative. What is your budget?

  • Baysew on 21/08/2017 - 11:01

    MSY

  • Axelstrife on 21/08/2017 - 11:16

    $1000? $2000?

  • Kangal on 21/08/2017 - 11:44
    +2

    Do you want cheap?
    Get a dusty Xeon/Core i7-860, 8GB DDR3, GTX560Ti, 1TB HDD.
    Aim for <$250.

    Or best value?
    Old SFF Dell/HP with Sandy/Ivy Bridge, 8GB DDR3, 250GB SSD. Use a GTX 750Ti/1050Ti <$400
    New DIY, Ryzen 1600, 16GB DDR4, 500GB SSD. Use a GTX 1060/RX 580… if you're lucky <$900

    Or an affordable higher end?
    New DIY, Ryzen 1700, 16GB DDR4, 1TB SSD. Use a GTX 1070/1080… <$1,600

    • MickLee93 on 21/08/2017 - 18:17

      do you have a link to prebuilt machines like these? :)

      • Kangal on 21/08/2017 - 19:02

        Prices depends entirely on how much hands-on you want to be, and how savvy you are with sniping deals.

        You can start off with 4GB RAM, Little to no HDD, and no OS installed.
        Then add/swap for more (and faster) RAM. Swap for a newer, faster, larger HDD. Or SSHD. Or pure SSD plus a HDD.
        Windows 10 is free to download without a license. However, most boxes come with a CoA sticker for free full Win10 Pro install.

        They range from a lowly Core i5-2400, or get a beastly Core i7-3770, or anything in-between.
        I recommend a balance of Core i7-2600, 8GB DDR3, 256GB SSD + 2TB HDD, GTX 750 Ti for ~A$400 if you can.
        You can throw in a Low-Profile graphics card that is powered entirely from the PCIE (no power sockets).
        So you can use:
        iGPU (free)
        GTX 750 (old)
        RX 550 (slow)
        GT 1030 (cheap for HDMI 2.0)
        GTX 750 Ti (used bang for buck)
        RX 460/560 (meh)
        GTX 1050 (meh)
        GTX 1050 Ti (fastest option)

        Here's a couple on eBay:
        http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-Optiplex-790-SFF-Core-i5-CPU…
        http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-Optiplex-3010-SFF-Intel-Quad…
        http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Dell-Optiplex-990-SFF-Core-i7-260…
        http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/DELL-Optiplex-990-SFF-i5-2400-4-1…

        • Axelstrife on 21/08/2017 - 19:55
          -2

          @Kangal:Why are you recommending him complete garbage? he's looking to game on it not web browse and email.
          That GPU is so low end they don't even call it GTX but rather GT. (Yes the ebay listing is wrong)
          He's got a $1500 budget not a $100 budget like This guy

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyltDBo3m_A
          That GPU can't even get anywhere even close to 60fps in games struggles to even get 30 fps and that's with settings turned down according to the video.

        • Kangal on 21/08/2017 - 20:17

          @Axelstrife:
          Well, firstly, he asked for a prebuilt, I assumed he meant like an old HP or Optiplex for a CHEAP GAMING PC. He didn't have a budget listed before, so I didn't know if he wanted a $200 PC, a $500 PC, a $1,000 or more. He's edited his post after. So I know now he wants a $1.5K PC.

          Secondly, there's the Miners Boom… all GPU's are overpriced except for certain slow, expensive, and used markets.
          The GT 1030 is a fantastic card.
          It can play new games on 720p-1080p/Med-High/30-60fps… and do it all from the PCIE on the cheap.
          Older games should run better. And emulators upto the Wii U shouldn't be much problem.
          Its a good fit for these older SFF PC's for some CHEAP GAMING PC action.

          I guess that means he wants a $1K prebuilt*, plus something like a $500 GPU: RX580, GTX 1060… or if lucky GTX 1070.
          (The GTX 980 and 980Ti's shouldn't be glossed over though)
          I'll leave him to hunt for the deal. Although I should say the AM4 platform (RyZen) is significantly more futureproof than Intel at this moment.

          *I'm guessing the prebuilt will come with a Core i5-6500 <-> Core i7-7700, 16GB RAM, +250GB SSD plus a HDD.

        • Axelstrife on 21/08/2017 - 20:37
          -1

          @Kangal:You posted the two comments above mine AFTER he responded with his budget idk if you missed his comment either way i'd NEVER reccomend a GT 1030 for gaming.

          Yep in know doesn't mean you should tell someone to go for a GPU that Nvidia themselves doesn't even describe as a "gaming card" on their website. https://www.geforce.com/hardware/desktop-gpus?keys=&field_gp…
          GTX 1060 6gb would be best or gtx 1070
          https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/324008
          GTX 1060 $360 decent price atm

          Now that we got that out of the way.

          I'd hold off any brand new intel CPU recommendations till tomorrow till after we find out Intel's 8th gen CPU info which is only 4 and a half hours away

        • Kangal on 21/08/2017 - 22:03

          @Axelstrife:
          Still can't recommend Intel.

          The new 8th-gen chips are being announced now, are still based on Kaby Lake hence labelled KBR (Refresh). That means the IPC is equivalent to Intel's 7th-gen chips which are equivalent to Intel's 6th-gen chips. In fact, the 8th-gen chips should be a decent SLOWER than the 6th-gen chips and possibly slower than the 5th-gen chips when it comes to single-core performance. Because Intel has really pushed the efficiency to its limits, so the new cores can't clock very high for very long.

          In this trade-off, Intel has managed to double the core/thread count. Overall this is a good thing, and I estimate it's actual multicore performance improvement is in the ballpark of 30%. So I have a feeling Ryzen will be more competitive in terms of single-core performance, less competitive in terms of multicore performance against 8th-gen, as opposed to 7th-gen.

          But despite this, Ryzen processors will be upgradable on the same motherboard for, I believe, the next 3 years. This years Intel chips will need current motherboard, or an older motherboard with a BIOS flash/update. Then after that, the new motherboard architecture kicks in anyway. It's just a mess and not worth the hassle. It just means AMD is much more futureproofed, I can draw some comparisons to when Intel released their Sandy Bridge chips.

          And to top it off, the Intel cpus will still be a decent 20-50% more expensive, and another 10-30% more expensive on their motherboards. It's a no brainer.

        • Axelstrife on 22/08/2017 - 00:10

          @Kangal: Sorry but https://videocardz.com/72112/intel-claims-i7-8700k-to-be-11-…

          I wouldn't think Intel themselves would state Single core performance increase as well as multiple core increase compared against Kabylake and not against some older gen.

          would be false advertising to say this and outright lie about it.

        • Kangal on 22/08/2017 - 17:27

          @Axelstrife:
          Well, Intel has lied, is lying, and will lie in the future.
          So not sure what to make of this.
          I was going off all the previous leaks, and technically this is a leak.
          One thing that is striking is that Intel claims the 8700k is 51% faster than the 7700k in Multi-core.
          Why that's important is because these are two flagship chips; ie best of the best/not held back.
          So any architectural improvements should be apparent here. Yet, the 8700k has 50% more cores and more threads.
          Thus, going apples to apples, we should see at least a 50% performance increase at the least, and we barely do.
          So that leak is saying there is no speed improvements in KBR, hence, no Single-core improvements.
          Yet right next to it, they claim a 11% improvement… so something is definitely fishy.

          Not to mention, the performance from the 6700k to the 7700k was supposed to be 15%.
          It's not, its about 0.5%.
          If we follow Intel's old rule, and deduct 15% from the 11%… then we might actually be talking about a 5% reduction in performance. I dunno, Intel's claims still don't add up and I believe its because they're fudging the numbers and fixing the benchmark. And let's not forget the 6700k was a hot n thirsty card like the 7700k… so there's not too much thermal room either to boost voltages.

          We will have to see proper extensive reviews once units are out in the wild from credible sources.
          In particular, the Cinebench r5 results for Single-core and Multi-core… very indicative of hardware behaviour.

        • MickLee93 on 24/08/2017 - 17:34

          @Kangal: yea thats my bad sorry I should have stated the price earlier :) I think I'm sold on this one…https://www.pccasegear.com/products/40128/pccg-gunmetal-1060-gaming-system unless anyone has any better sites to buy from? maybe one thats doesn't charge shipping :)

        • Kangal on 24/08/2017 - 19:15

          @micksick66:
          Yeah, you really made me look like a doof.

          It's acceptable, but not really great PC. Definitely not future-proofed, so value wise it isn't that neat.

          i5-7400… that's the bare minimum I would recommend, its only as fast as a 2500k OC'd.
          8GB 2400 RAM… also the bare minimum, also note you can't upgrade the RAM without replacing these cheap sticks
          1060-3GB… runs fine for now, in 12 months it will have issues at 1080p due to low VRAM
          500W PSU… also is enough for most gpus, but will be stressed if you ever use it on an OC system, or water-cooling, or adding lots of internal/external peripherals
          Also that motherboard is from the low-mid level. And omits things you might like such as Bluetooth, Wifi, USB-C, ThunderBolt3 etc etc.

          The case is good. Although its quite cramped inside, when you see how large the footprint of the case really is. Its like a smaller-ATX case, but not mATX.

          Again, better for you to try to build one yourself. You should look for something a rather like:
          AM4 B350/X370…. future-proofing right here. Its like getting a cheap i5-2500 in early 2011 and upgrading to a i7-3770k in late 2013 when it had a price crash. The smart people who did this got a nice rig that was competitive for 6 years flat.
          R5 1600…. better than a 7700k in all tasks except gaming, but is still good for gaming. Upgrade this to a 8c Ryzen v2 later.
          16GB 3200 RAM… the faster RAM really helps Ryzen, and 16GB gives headroom to not bottleneck games
          RX480… if you're going midrange, AMD team looks to be better optimised for PS4-to-PC ports. Its like the HD7970 again.
          GTX 1070… if you're going high-end, very efficient and a decent 1440p/4K gaming card. Its like the GTX680-4GB again.
          600-750W PSU… allows for slightly better efficiency, noise, thermals. And future-proofs. Any more is wasted unless Cryptomining.

        • Ted Kul on 15/09/2017 - 13:50

          @Kangal:
          Hi Kangal,
          Will a 1060OC like this:
          http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Galax-nVidia-GeForce-GTX-1060-OC-…
          fit into Dell 990 SFF you mentioned above?

        • Kangal on 15/09/2017 - 13:59

          @Ted Kul:
          It definitely will NOT fit into the SFF Cases.

          However the MT (Mid-Tower) case might fit it. The problem then is to exchange the PSU (Power Supply Unit) in the MT to one which has an extra 6-pin/8-pin adaptor or is Modular.

          Sounds complicated but it's really not when you see the parts in front of you.

        • mrchim69 on 15/09/2017 - 18:40

          @Kangal: thanks for your advice, I couldn't find a MT model chheap enough, so i decided to go with 1050Ti instead. Do I still need to change the PSU or it is not necessary?
          And somehow I forget about Wifi card as well, as my home will have no wired connections near my desk lol

        • Kangal on 15/09/2017 - 19:10

          @mrchim69:
          GTX 1050 Ti is the best option.

          It just needs the LP/HH/PCI version. No need to change the PSU.

          Here's a video example:
          https://youtu.be/kjf1ZRDqzIg

        • mrchim69 on 15/09/2017 - 19:23

          @Kangal:
          That's great then. But will I be able to install wifi card along with 1050Ti?

        • Kangal on 15/09/2017 - 19:34

          @mrchim69:
          I recommend you use a USB-Wifi adapter. They're small, and work surprisingly well. (and they're pretty cheap)

          I hooked my brother's one up with just the LAN/RJ45/Ethernet cable.

        • Ted Kul on 16/09/2017 - 20:49

          @Kangal:
          Thanks for your advice Kangal. I bought TP-Link WN822N cuz my home the signal is not so strong, and don't wanna waste a lot on AC, since it still a long way from now :)) now waiting for the orders to come then I can assembly everything.

        • Marioedd on 30/09/2017 - 13:48

          @Kangal: If you are saying a 1060 3gb card will not be good in 12 months, what about the 1050ti 4gb? How long will it last on aaa games at 60fps on med-high settings?

        • Kangal on 30/09/2017 - 18:22

          @Marioedd:
          The GTX 1050 Ti is the fastest GPU card you can buy today in a Low-Profile form.

          So it's not Apples to Apples comparison.

          I used to say the 3GB card was superior to the 6GB card because it provides 98% of the performance for around 75% of the cost.

          However, recently the VRAM usage of AAA titles have bloated in 1080p/Ultra settings. It's hitting from what was a normal 2.7GB's to now around 3.6GB's in certain titles.

          That means cards like the GTX 970 and the GTX 1060-3GB are going to hit their VRAM limit, and it's going to cause stuttering at certain points of the game.

          You can solve this by lowering the settings down to High/Medium….but then it feels like wasted potential. It's not really a balanced system. So while the 3GB might have a higher (eg 65fps) Average Framerate than a 4GB-GTX 1050 Ti, the latter might be a playable 40fps fare…whereas the 3GB might be unplayable due to the stuttering.

          It's better to really go by the 1% minimum framerate to get a better idea about how well a game runs with a certain system and setup.

          Due to that forseeable scenario, it is now definitely worth paying extra to get at least 4GB VRAM for 1080p/Ultra cards. If you want 2.5K/4K gaming then you will need at least 8GB's. Which leaves the GTX 1060 in a weird position, but the sensible thing would be to round it down and compare the 6GB as a 4GB-tier card, and thusly compare the 3GB card to other 2GB/3GB cards (some popular ones are from 2011).

    • LEGEND27 on 09/09/2017 - 13:18

      What motherboard would you use for the <$900 PC

  • Arnor on 21/08/2017 - 12:03

    This https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/324980

    and get yourself a gtx1060 or better gpu

    • Cheap Charlie on 21/08/2017 - 12:19

      Good suggestion, but May faces challenges powering that GPU.

      • Arnor on 21/08/2017 - 12:22

        This is true, needs at least 500W with a 1060. Ive got 550W with 7 HDD and gtx1070

        • Cheap Charlie on 21/08/2017 - 12:29

          Those business grade per builds tend to be pretty light on with their PSU and often have proprietary connectors.

        • tonyjzx on 21/08/2017 - 18:07

          yeah I wouldnt turn this into a gaming PC unless you really know what you're doing.

          I suspect that the pci-e slot may not even put out enough power.

          This is HP remember. Heaps of gotchas.

  • Rochie on 26/08/2017 - 11:49

    eBay stores can actually be quite good. I purchased my PC from an eBay store roughly about 6 months ago. I paid ~$1400 for a setup with windows 10, Intel 6700 processor, gtx 1070 card, 16gb ram, and extras like wifi card etc. This can run pretty much everything on high, I also run my oculus rift comfortably on it. I used a 10% or 15% sitewide code to get it down to $1400, but in my eyes this was a bargain completely assembled ready to go with local warranty.

    Edit: I purchased the graphics card separately on sale and just rammed it into the case. I say rammed because they said there was enough space to fit the card but it was rubbing against the hard drive bay… My advice, don't get a mid-tower.

  • loke on 26/08/2017 - 12:04

    Never get pre-built, buy the parts, prepare a nice clear area and just piece it together, should take roughly an afternoon.

    Don't be like these fellas

    edit: should edit by saying 'most of the time' - you don't want any potential savings getting eroded due to an 'assembly fee' or the extra that's usually factored in a pre-built

  • MickLee93 on 08/09/2017 - 06:25

    So I found a pc on mwave.com.au…..anyone had experience buying from them? They charge a fee for using PayPal WHAT! how can they do that haha

    • Steptoe on 09/09/2017 - 19:00

      It costs them so they pass it on.

  • User228035 on 10/09/2017 - 22:38

    Wish I'd seen this before posting a new topic begins sweating profusely

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