£900 Budget, my friend plays games like Minecraft, GMOD, Roblox.

[gritty iron]

Hi everyone, I am building this for a friend who has asked me if he could have some advice. I have come here looking to see the best system I can get for £800-£900 that can run all the games above well. He doesn't know much about computers so trying to help him out.

Windows key cant be taken off old laptop as its gonna be given to his brother.
He also sometimes plays modded MC.
He has advised me he will only be using a TV 🤦‍♂️
The TV is 60hz and isnt 4k or anything like that.

Thanks in advance.

[verbal adder]

hm

I'll try my best to configure a pc fit for you just a minute

[gritty iron]

Thanks 👍

[verbal adder]

What would your ideal platform be for cpu , Intel or AMD

[gritty iron]

Either, whatever can give good performance for them games.

[verbal adder]

this is pretty good tbh I would like others opinions on this https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/configuration/

ops hold on

sorry for not posting the link it wont let me login 😅

this is 65 over the budget but use one of the promo codes and you'll be good

[jaunty tulip]

wait

@gritty iron does your friend play modded minecraft

[gritty iron]

Looks good, gonna wait for more opinions.

[jaunty tulip]

or just vanilla

[gritty iron]

I will ask.

[jaunty tulip]

also you'll want to get two seperate drives, one for windows and the other for everything else

[gritty iron]

He does play modded MC sometimes.

[jaunty tulip]

ok

well an i3 will be not good for that

what mods/modpacks does he play?

[verbal adder]

Yh

if he played Intense Modded MC then

I'd recommend a better system

[gritty iron]

Yep, asking rn.

[jaunty tulip]

does your friend also have an existing windows PC

[gritty iron]

No, he uses an old laptop.

[jaunty tulip]

does it have windows

[gritty iron]

He would rather a new fresh install of windows than taking the old one off.

[jaunty tulip]

you can transfer licenses

easily shaves off a hundred quid or so

[verbal adder]

yh

120 - 150

[jaunty tulip]

which can be used to invest in better stuff

[gritty iron]

He told me he wants to get just a fresh install as he is gonna give the laptop to his brother.

[verbal adder]

o

[jaunty tulip]

oh

[gritty iron]

Yeah forgot to add.

[jaunty tulip]

so i assume a new license

[verbal adder]

Yh prob

[jaunty tulip]

ok

10 or 11

windows ver.

[gritty iron]

Yes.

11 ideally

[jaunty tulip]

ok

[gritty iron]

He told me the only mods he really installs are gun mods, car mods stuff like that/

To play with friends.

So nothing to serious and heavy.

[verbal adder]

hm

[green moat]

You will struggle a bit on that budget, but this is my suggestion.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/VZ05t!7Zu9/

[verbal adder]

ooo yes

[verbal adder]

He could use a promo code

[gritty iron]

Looks good.

[verbal adder]

knock 30 off the price

[sweet cave]

Note: such codes are NOT allowed to be posted in here

[verbal adder]

Oh alright srry

currys is over priced tbh

[jaunty tulip]

discrete graphics cards aren't really needed

for roblox or mc

[gritty iron]

Sorry for that link mod didn't realise.

It couldn't be posted.

[jaunty tulip]

idk about gmod

[gritty iron]

Thats mb.

[sweet cave]

@gritty iron links to competitor machines are not allowed in here btw

[gritty iron]

Yeah thats my bad sorry, I'm new here.

[jaunty tulip]

my take

[gritty iron]

I had someone suggest this to me aswell https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/dN3Gtwcmth/

[jaunty tulip]

you won't need the power of that GPU

[gritty iron]

Ok.

[half maple]

for 880 that’s not terrible

[sweet cave]

Also note that oen didnt have Windows, which your friend does need - least you said they did

[half maple]

oh shoot i didn’t see that 💀

[gritty iron]

Ah yes didnt see that.

[half maple]

wait what games is it?

[jaunty tulip]

gmod, roblox, and modded minecraft

all pretty light on the GPU

prebuilts are typically worse than their custom built counterparts

[half maple]

don’t do that

[gritty iron]

For £700

[jaunty tulip]

again you don't need that GPU

[gritty iron]

Oops sorry Rakk.

[half maple]

i’d say otherwise

[gritty iron]

I thought you meant I couldnt post their links.

[jaunty tulip]

do elaborate

[sweet cave]

You cant but you cannot discuss them either

[crimson whale]

<:pcsrules:929747152878575620> ***Rule #7***

Keep build advice relevant to PCSpecialist builds - This server is to advise on PCSpecialist computer specifications only. We cannot advise on self-build, third party or competitor builds here. Furthermore, please do not post links to competitors websites or discuss competitors in this server.

PCSpecialist - www.pcspecialist.co.uk

[gritty iron]

Ok.

[half maple]

im unsure on Gmod

[jaunty tulip]

same

but i heard gmod is pretty light on GPU

compared to other games

[gritty iron]

I mean I bought a pc here for £999 which had a 3060 12GB, I5-12400F, 1TB PCS SSD, B660 PRIME, CV-550 but its gone of the currys website.

[jaunty tulip]

you want two SSDs

[half maple]

but minecraft with mods can be some what demanding shaders can also be put under mods and shanders don’t go light

[gritty iron]

But for something like his requirements dont know if something like this would be better for it:
https://www.currys.co.uk/products/pcspecialist-vortex-g30-gaming-pc-intel-core-i3-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10236924.html

[half maple]

you’ll be surprised with the fact that mods do take a chunk of gpu power

[gritty iron]

He told me he only uses very light mods, nothing tooo heavy.

[jaunty tulip]

any shaders

[gritty iron]

Nope, just that.

[half maple]

that might be with it the one you just linked

[jaunty tulip]

ok

[half maple]

if i remember correctly intel does bettter on minecraft then amd

[gritty iron]

Its 600 quid which isnt bad and by the looks of it looks fine? Maybe buy some better ram but that isnt rocket science to upgrade.

[jaunty tulip]

changes i'd make to that would make it an i5, 16 GB of RAM and two SSDs

[gritty iron]

Ok, ill have a pop at building one quickly.

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/view/Aero-Master/

[jaunty tulip]

that's still an i3

and one SSD

[gritty iron]

Oh it didnt show the upgrades I added.

[jaunty tulip]

nope

[half maple]

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-z690-pc/ZghzbZhTPs/

?

[gritty iron]

Thats what I just tried to build haha, that looks good.

[half maple]

can save 19 with this simple question does he play cable?

[gritty iron]

as in ethernet?

[half maple]

yah

[gritty iron]

No he uses normal wifi

No ethernet

[jaunty tulip]

may wanna opt in for a non-F model

[half maple]

oh okay you can’t save 19 the

[gritty iron]

Rephrase, he doesnt use ethernet.

[gritty iron]

Would it be cheaper?

[jaunty tulip]

just in case the GPU goes bang or something

[gritty iron]

So F model for the IGPU

[jaunty tulip]

more expensive but it'll be a fail safe if the GPU fails

F stands for "requires discrete graphics"

[gritty iron]

OMG

Im thick yes.

So no F model

[jaunty tulip]

cheaper in the long run maybe

[gritty iron]

Yes, wouldnt a warranty cover the GPU?

[jaunty tulip]

it's like 20 quid last time i remember

[half maple]

yah it would

[jaunty tulip]

depends on what warranty you get

[gritty iron]

3 year standards cover parts for 1 year it says.

So that should be good and save the extra 30.

[half maple]

as long as it’s not ur fault

[jaunty tulip]

how long is your friend keeping this PC

[gritty iron]

He wont play around with the PC, hes not like that

[half maple]

if you overclocking or you open it up and mess around and it goes bang then it’s on you

[gritty iron]

He will literally open it take the plastic packaging thing out and play.

[jaunty tulip]

12400 can't be OCed

[gritty iron]

Update graphics drivers, and XMP profile enabled.

And thats all he will do.

[half maple]

think xmp is on already

[gritty iron]

Yeah my XMP was on when my system came.

[green moat]

with a £900 budget, you're going to have to economise somewhere.. and that's why I was shaving money off by dropping the PSU down, taking a smaller cooler, taking a more budget (but decent airflow) case

The places you don't really want to scrimp is the CPU, GPU and ram speed imho.

[gritty iron]

https://www.currys.co.uk/products/pcspecialist-vortex-g30-gaming-pc-intel-core-i3-gtx-1650-512-gb-ssd-10236924.html

[jaunty tulip]

i dropped down on the GPU because those games mainly rely on memory and CPU

[gritty iron]

Would this suffice and then he can upgrade the RAM sticks?

He has told me he only runs like 1 mod at a time on MC.

[jaunty tulip]

gmod, mc, and roblox can run perfectly fine on a low end (or even integrated) graphics card

[green moat]

For the budget, I'd be taking an AMD cpu over Intel

personally

[gritty iron]

Ok 1 second.

[jaunty tulip]

intel performs better for minecraft though

so you may wanna consider that

[half maple]

whatttt

[jaunty tulip]

or was it another game

[half maple]

1 mod at time

[green moat]

is it because minecraft is more single-core intensive?

[half maple]

yas

[gritty iron]

He runs like 1 gun mod at a time and doesnt really go with intensive mods.

[jaunty tulip]

one gun mod

[half maple]

i remember i was watching videos on it a while back they said intel is almost always better with minecraft

[green moat]

mmm ok. But you are pigeonholing it a bit then

[gritty iron]

I aint a clue of MC mods work he just tells me he barely runs any mods at a time, basically 1 gun mod, maybe a car mod and a texture pack.

[jaunty tulip]

basically running vanilla unless he's either a) somehow confusing a mod for a modpack or b) running RTX minecraft

ok

two mods

does he run optifine?

[gritty iron]

No.

[jaunty tulip]

he should run optifine

[gritty iron]

Ok, I will tell him.

[green moat]

If he's only ever going to play minecraft and do nothing else.. if Intel is better then go for that for sure

[jaunty tulip]

optifine just cleans up notch's spaghetti-codes

[gritty iron]

MC, Roblox, GMOD.

[green moat]

But if he plans to do other things and multi-task.. I'd personally go with the AMD

[jaunty tulip]

and thus better performance

[gritty iron]

Roblox takes nout, he has discord open when he plays Roblox.

[jaunty tulip]

running two apps at once ok

does he have the desktop client or does he just use browser

[gritty iron]

Desktop client.

So uses more RAM.

[jaunty tulip]

aight ok

discord probably doesn't take up too much CPU but if it does i be damned

[gritty iron]

I dont believe it does, just RAM.

[jaunty tulip]

yeah electron apps are notorious for eating up RAM

[gritty iron]

Thats why i use browser discord.

[jaunty tulip]

aight ok

if your friend is just running a game and discord then yeah an i5 will do him well

[gritty iron]

Yes, Im gonna have a chat with him over the next few days as he doesnt want to decide now and will come back to the post later on.

[mortal bluff]

@gritty iron This’d be my two cents if he’s able to make the extra stretch https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/amd-am4-gen3-pc/WV9JjEx9WZ/

Happy to explain the choices if need be (:

[jaunty tulip]

bit overkill for what this guy's friend is doing

[mortal bluff]

Sure minecraft isn’t the most demanding game. But what happens when he decides to branch out into something else that’s more demanding and he can’t because all he’s got is a 1030? If you’ve got a budget you want to spend as much as you can for the best PC possible which will give you the best longevity possible

[jaunty tulip]

@gritty iron how long is your friend gonna have this pc again

[sweet cave]

I'd hope for at least a good few years,, no point getting one for one year then upgrading the whole thing

[jaunty tulip]

yeah

[mortal bluff]

Also… if an APU is all you think he needs, where’s the 5600G in this conversation? It’s got by far the most powerful APU on any consumer desktop CPU and is literally the performance of a 1030… and you don’t need to spend £70 on a 1030 😂

[jaunty tulip]

i never said he needs an APU

also i'm pretty sure intel is better for minecraft

not sure about roblox or gmod

[gritty iron]

Ty!

[mortal bluff]

But the AMD platform is so much cheaper it allows you to to get a far better GPU that’ll end up giving you better performance anyway

[jaunty tulip]

for games that he probably won't play

[deft field]

Even if Intel would be better for mc in thia case, the 1030 tanks it 😭

[jaunty tulip]

what

[deft field]

that

[jaunty tulip]

huh

wdym tanks it

[deft field]

That the 1030 absolutely drags the 13400 down, it's very unbalanced compared to a 5600 and 6600

[latent violet]

I guess the point is, unless I am missing something, nobody was actually suggesting a 1030 build

[deft field]

I must've misread that then 🤔

[mortal bluff]

I uhhhh

[deft field]

Yea that

[latent violet]

Guess I missed something then 🤣

[deft field]

You had me 2nd guessing myself 😂

[latent violet]

Let's just pretend that this was the plan all along 😬

[deft field]

I should 4th guess myself more often tbh

[jaunty tulip]

1030 shouldn't be a bottleneck since those are very (and i mean very) cpu-heavy games

at least roblox and minecraft are

i may be wrong though

[mortal bluff]

A 1030 would bottleneck a 4770K 😭 not actually. But it’s woeful GPU that as I said earlier, literally gets beaten by an APU. CSGO and the like are also demanding on the CPU but I wouldn’t offset the usual spend to spend more on a CPU coz at the end of the day, it’s a gaming PC and the most important part of a gaming PC is the GRAPHICS card

[jaunty tulip]

it depends on the games being played on the though

i am aware of the fact that the 1030 is beaten by an APU, but intel CPUs (excluding iGPU) typically performs better than AMD ones on roblox, gmod minecraft, and GPU doesn't matter all too much for them

also the 13400 is better than the 5600G

[mortal bluff]

13400 is effectively a 12600 non-K, the performance between the 5600X and the '13400' (so a slightly better CPU than the 5600, not the G) is 12.5% increase. The performance difference from a 1030 to a 6600 is 700% or 7X. Yes, I understand that MC and RBLX are more CPU demanding than your average game, but not so much so it'd outweigh a 700% performance increase on the GPU. Plus, generally speaking the 5600 and 6600 is a far more balanced spec that'd allow you to play SO many more games

Yes, I understand how Minecraft is more CPU dependant and I understand where you're coming from with your point but I just cannot understand how you think a 13400 and 1030 would be better than a 5600 and 6600

[jaunty tulip]

13400 + 1030 is coming from the fact that this guy only plays gmod, roblox, and mc

5600 + 6600 would be better overall if he's playing a lot of different games

[latent violet]

The way I see it, going with 5600 + 6600 means that they aren't limiting themselves to just gmod, roblox and MC.
And it'll run those games just fine. I know what I would go for

[sour mist]

i got a pc for £650
1650
8gb ram (i upgraded to 16)
i3 10105F
it plays all of these games decently well

and i would recommend it as they dont really need more than 100fps

https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/intel-home-office-pc-III/h3CBw980Sf/

that comes to 595 inc vat

gives him money for a moniter / peripherals

also upgrade to 16gb ram

and your set