Decent Desktop PC for Gaming - under $1000 - Is It Possible?

chichi on 29/12/2017 - 11:28

Have done a bit of a search on here but people mainly seem to be asking for recommendations for $1500 and over (unless I've missed something).

My son has been using a PC purchased from Aldi a few years ago and it's just about to die. Would like something a bit fancier but we can't really spend more than $1000. We have always just purchased our PCs prebuilt but after doing a lot of reading it looks like that's not really a good idea for what he wants. He's very much into gaming now so something that's good for that.

He's been looking at various sites getting ideas on doing a build but everything seems to add up to more than we can pay. We don't need a keyboard, mouse or monitor.

I'm after any suggestions on where to go to buy and parts that we should spend more on (hope that makes sense).

Cheers

Computing

Comments

  • FireRunner on 29/12/2017 - 11:55
    +1

    I'm not an expert but I would recommend salvaging as much from your old computer as possible.
    Possibly case, hard drive, RAM, maybe more. Do you know the specs of your Aldi machine? Posting them here would be a good idea.
    Also when you say its dying do you mean slow or non-functional?

    • chichi on 29/12/2017 - 12:17

      It's extremely slow and the Blu-ray drive is dead. I'll find out the specs and post them.

  • MIMIKYUU on 29/12/2017 - 12:32
    +1

    CPU - Ryzen 5 1600 ($279 @ umartonline)
    MOTHERBOARD - MSI b350m gaming pro ($110 @ umartonline)
    RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8gb 2x4gb ($139 @ MSY)
    STORAGE - WD BLUE 1TB HDD ($62 @ MSY)
    GPU - GALAX gtx 1060 3GB ($299 @ MSY)
    PSU - Corsair VS550 550watt PSU ($63 @ MSY)
    CASE - your preference. ( I would go with some cheap $35ish case from MSY. There's like no space for cable management in cheap cases so just try your best putting the back panel on again after installing everything.
    CPU COOLER - use the stock cooler that comes with the CPU

    Just upgrade GPU over time if needed. I would recommend waiting for the 20% ebay sale for pc parts where u can get the same gpu and CPU for around $240 each. Also, the RAM prices are extremely high ( I bought the same brand 16GB version for $165 at the beginning of this year (now over $240) so I would wait to see if it will go any lower. Try and pick up your pc parts at your local store instead of shipping to save money (unless you wait for ebay sale because it includes free shipping for all pc parts)

    • scrimshaw on 29/12/2017 - 12:45
      +3

      I have pretty much the same build - I do suggest getting the 6GB VRAM version of the card as it lets you turn up the graphics quality way higher than what the 3GB VRAM card allows.

      A lot of open world games for e.g will benefit from the extra VRAM.

      • MIMIKYUU on 29/12/2017 - 12:51

        It goes over the 1k budget tho :/ If possible I would actually go for rx 580 8gb rather than gtx 1060 6gb but yeah a 6gb 1060 is still great

  • jzdhgkd on 29/12/2017 - 14:55
    +1

    Definitely possible

    http://www.logicalincrements.com/ Check out this site for lots of up-to-date build lists in AUD

    http://www.logicalincrements.com/newuserguide if you don't understand wtf is going on at the main page

  • chichi on 30/12/2017 - 10:57

    Thankyou everyone for your replies. I've passed everything on to my son and he's comparing that build to the list he has.

  • [Deactivated] on 30/12/2017 - 12:18
    +1

    $1000 gaming PC is easily doable.

    MIMIKYUU has a good list. It'll be easy to upgrade ontop of that one too for extra performance (i.e. you'll eventually want an aftermarket CPU cooler)

    1060 is a good level for Graphics cards these days. Don't go higher, you don't need to.

  • chichi on 31/12/2017 - 11:23

    Thanks so much everyone.

    This is his list so far. Would love some suggestions/comments - anything that doesn't seem right or that we should get that would be better. Also is it better for us to wait for an ebay sale? If so are there any particular sellers that we should buy from? Cheers

    CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 ($279 umart)

    MOTHERBOARD - MSI b350m gaming pro ($110 @ umart or msy)

    RAM: Team Elite 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 24000MHz Memory ($99 centrecom)

    HDD: Seagate 2TB Barracuda 6Gb/s Hard Drive ($81 centrecom)

    GPU: GALAX GeForce GTX 1060 3GB ($285 umart)

    PSU: Corsair VS550 550W PSU ($59 umart

    INTERNET: ASUS PCE-N15 300Mbps Wireless N PCIe Adaptor ($19 centrecom)

    DVD DRIVE: LG H24NS SATA 24X+- Super Multi DVDR Black OEM ($17 umart)

    CASE: Deepcool Tesseract SW Mid Tower Black ($49 umart)

    In regards to internet - no one had mentioned anything about that. Is the adaptor he picked suitable?
    Is it best for us to pay the extra for the 6gb 1060 too?

    • chichi on 31/12/2017 - 14:07

      Oops I just realised I made a mistake on the RAM. Should be Team Elite 8GB (1x8GB) DDR4 2400MHz Memory ($99 centrecom) - not 24000MHz

      He's also changed the PSU to Cougar 650W STX650 80+ White Certification ATX PSU - ($69 @ umart) - or should he stick with the other?

    • MIMIKYUU on 31/12/2017 - 14:22
      +1

      It all depends on how much VRAM you're going to use in games. Keep settings below 3GB then it will run just like the 6GB variant. Once the game uses more than 3GB you need to either buy a GPU with more VRAM or lower the settings to keep the game running below 3GB VRAM. Nvidia is fine now (runs DX 11 games really well) but in the future, more games will use DX 12 where AMD truly shines (Nvidia doesn't run DX 12 as good as AMD). So basically you either get something like a RX 580 8GB to make it more future-proof (I highly recommend this if you're willing to pay more) or get a 3gb 1060 and upgrade after you get enough money for next gen GPUs.
      I would look into buying a 144hz monitor if you get a GPU at least a power of a gtx 1060.
      As for the WIFI receiver, there is a slot on the Motherboard that seems to accept the WIFI receiver so it should work fine. I don't know much because I prefer using an ethernet cable to reduce latency in online games.

      If you're willing to pay more, I would get a Cpu cooler to OC the cpu, buy a SSD from Samsung, and get a 80+ Gold PSU atleast 550W.

  • Kiato on 31/12/2017 - 13:19
    +1

    pc partpicker build

    same cpu as you mentioned and still using the 8 gig of ram but at a slightly faster speed. the motherboard if you can find a extra 30$ i recommend you go to a asus prime. as for the network card it will do fine for wifi the motherboard will have lan. tbh you probably do not need the dvd drive as they are essentially obsolete now for gaming with most games delivered digitally so you can save a few $ there. the 6gig variant of the 1060 only offer a small performance increase over the 3 gig variant and it mostly only occurs when playing at higher graphical settings on higher resolutions, but playing at the standard 1080p the 3gig will be fine.

    • chichi on 31/12/2017 - 14:12

      Thankyou for that.

      Do you mean the Asus PRIME B350-PLUS ?

  • Kiato on 31/12/2017 - 17:48

    Yes that’s the one. It’s a full atx Mobo and I’ve worked with it a lot it’s a pretty good choice for features plus expand ability.

    • Kiato on 31/12/2017 - 17:49

      Additionally with wifi cards cheap ones will work be try to find one that has both the 2.4 and 5ghz band. As the 5ghz is the one that will offer the fastest transfer speeds while the 2.4 offers range.

      Also Evga graphics cards have an international warranty so check their prices on like amazon and newegg USA etc you maybe able to save a little by importing it.

      • chichi on 01/01/2018 - 19:49

        Thanks.

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