Looking to Buy/Build PC for 500-800€

[ripptide]

Hi, since my laptop broke last week I am now in the market for a new setup. My main problem is that the last time I informed myself was when I bought my first PC with a GTX 660. I've been scrolling Amazon a bit just to check out what I can expect in the price range, but it is hard for me to compare the systems without the necessary background knowledge. Thus, I am hoping for some adivce/common pitfalls buying prebuild (which I would prefer, since I want something with a long guarantee after my refurbished gaming laptop broke within a year).

It would be great if you could give me some direct advice or point me to some sources where I can read up comprehensively on newer gen graphics cards and stuff.

In my profile you can see my previous Laptop, I don't need much more power to be fair, but after a long time with constant tech problems I want something I can rely on for the coming years.

Any advice/sources/guides are welcome, since I would say I don't know anything.

 

[blueturtle]

Your going to be hardpressed building anything from sratch under $1500US/1400eu, not counting your monitor or copy of Windows...

 

[Vincero]

Your going to be hardpressed building anything from sratch under $1500US/1400eu, not counting your monitor or copy of Windows...

Wow, so optimistic....

Hi, since my laptop broke last week I am now in the market for a new setup. My main problem is that the last time I informed myself was when I bought my first PC with a GTX 660. I've been scrolling Amazon a bit just to check out what I can expect in the price range, but it is hard for me to compare the systems without the necessary background knowledge. Thus, I am hoping for some adivce/common pitfalls buying prebuild (which I would prefer, since I want something with a long guarantee after my refurbished gaming laptop broke within a year).

Advice will usually be you can sometimes get a better configuration building it yourself (edit: literally the first two replies after this post ). Sometimes even cheaper, but then of course you are on your own to deal with building / issues. In terms of longer guarantees some of the bigger brands will offer better warranties than smaller builders or retailers but the markup for some bigger retailers can be higher (even though the quality can be lower for the money).

One thing I will say is find out what other people in your country think about certain retailers / manufacturers - support from companies like HP, Dell, Corsair, NZXT, etc., is not always as consistent between countries as one would expect - likewise some local big retailers may also have a bad reputation.

It would be great if you could give me some direct advice or point me to some sources where I can read up comprehensively on newer gen graphics cards and stuff.

That would be a lot to read up on. Every new release usually has a large amount of content on web sites, youtube, etc., dedicated to it. You can search reviews easily enough on your favourite tech news sites, but if you're just looking for a fairly straightforward comparison then you could look at this:

The GPU benchmarks hierarchy 2024: Ten years of graphics card hardware tested and ranked

We've run hundreds of GPU benchmarks on Nvidia, AMD, and Intel graphics cards and ranked them in our comprehensive hierarchy, with over 80 GPUs tested.

www.tomshardware.com

But I would recommend more than one source of information regarding performance / product reviews.

In my profile you can see my previous Laptop, I don't need much more power to be fair, but after a long time with constant tech problems I want something I can rely on for the coming years.

Any reason you want a desktop instead of a laptop? Obviously portability will not be an option, but of course upgrades and better performance for the money usually is better for desktop PCs.


If you're not carrying over any parts so you can save money e.g. a monitor/screen/TV, then €500 is going to be low end (office PC) and if you want to be playing anything half-decent gaming wise or doing workloads that work better with high core counts you are going to definitely need to spend more towards the €800 mark... however, that doesn't mean there aren't some reasonable performance parts for that money.... it's just unfortunately most of that money as a single purchase cost will go towards the graphics card if you are looking to game.
Monitors are actually not that expensive right now - for sure you're not going to buying a Samsung Odyssey or anything at that level of capability or much bigger than 22-24inch but you can get reasonable 1080p 100Hz+ monitors without spending crazy money (<€100).

Having a browse on some random sites in Germany (random € location) would suggest most pre-builts will be AM4 based, maybe some Intel LGA1700 Alder Lake options (better) or LGA1200 options (avoid).
Graphics options vary from GTX 1650 to RTX 3060 in that sort of price range, but what you get in graphics you sacrifice elsewhere - seeing some very questionable PSU choices.

E.g. between these 2 options, the second one is easily better:

Gaming Office Work V3 | Intel Core i9-12900F | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB | 32GB DDR5 RAM | 1TB NVMe SSD | Windows 11 | WiFi & Bluetooth | Libre Office | 4260561746472

CPU (Processor): Intel Core i9-12900F 16x 2.40 - 5.10GHz (BX8071512900F) Mainboard: ASUS PRIME H610M-A WIFI (90MB1G00-M0EAY0)Video Card (VGA Card): Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 Ti 8GB HDMI / DisplayPortSystem Memory (RAM): 32GB High Performance DDR5 RAMSSD: 1…

www.ankermann.com

Game Office Work V3 | AMD Ryzen 5 5600X | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB | 32GB RAM | 1TB NVMe SSD | Windows 11 | WiFi | Libre Office | 4260561746557

CPU (Processor): AMD Ryzen 5 5600X 6x 3.70GHz (65W)Mainboard: ASUS PRIME A520M-A II/CSM (90MB17H0-M0EAYC)Video Card (VGA Card): Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 8GB HDMI / DisplayPortSystem Memory (RAM): 32 GB Performance RAM DDR4SSD: 1000GB M.2 NVME High Perform…

www.ankermann.com

NOTE: I'm not recommending you buy these - this is just for comparison

I will say I have no idea how good value for money that company is - there may be better, different prices locally, etc. - definitely shop around as sometimes there are deals to be had on end of line items.

 

[Lost_Troll]

Go on YouTube and look at the system builder videos you can learn allot and see what works well for the budget you have. Alot of them build budget PC's and benchmark them.

Also, if you can, build your own PC, you will get more for the dollar.

 

[Marcus L]

You can build an Ryzen 5600, 16GB DDR4 3200, RX 6600xt, 600w PSU

Hi, since my laptop broke last week I am now in the market for a new setup. My main problem is that the last time I informed myself was when I bought my first PC with a GTX 660. I've been scrolling Amazon a bit just to check out what I can expect in the price range, but it is hard for me to compare the systems without the necessary background knowledge. Thus, I am hoping for some adivce/common pitfalls buying prebuild (which I would prefer, since I want something with a long guarantee after my refurbished gaming laptop broke within a year).

It would be great if you could give me some direct advice or point me to some sources where I can read up comprehensively on newer gen graphics cards and stuff.

In my profile you can see my previous Laptop, I don't need much more power to be fair, but after a long time with constant tech problems I want something I can rely on for the coming years.

Any advice/sources/guides are welcome, since I would say I don't know anything.

What is your max budget and what country are you from? these are the most important questions, if your last build was a GTX 660, you are in for a good time, performance has far surpassed this GPU and CPU from this time, you could build a Ryzen 5600 6c/12t, 16GB RAM and at aleast 6600 xt system for about £5-600 and that will get you very good 1080p current games performance

 

[freeagent]

My kids rig is a Strix B550-F, 5600X @ PBO +200, 2x8GB, 2x SN750, and a 3070 Ti. Its a good little system that has been running since 2020.

All of that stuff should be cheap by now..

 

[Macro Device]

Apart from doing your research on GPUs and CPUs alone you also need to make sure we're aware of:

1. Your location so we could know what's in stock.
2. What you're trying to achieve on your PC. We can't recommend anything until we know your major interests: some games require more CPU speed, some require more GPU speed, some require RAM, or you might be a non-gamer and your workloads need a lot of CPU and storage... Also bear in mind that if you want to taste the RT it tastes better on NVIDIA GPUs (provided you have enough VRAM).
3. What else is important to you. Size, mobility, Wi-Fi, noise, RGB, liquid cooling, etc.
4. If you plan on upgrading this system in the near future.
5. How much storage space you need.
6. If you mind buying used parts.
7. If you have leftover peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, monitor, or you need to buy these, too. And if you need, what your preferences are.

This will make our recommendations much more straightforward. There's no such thing as a ~700 dollar rig that can do anything.

 

[Waldorf]

@Marcus L
short of some b-die (or equivalent level), recommending 3200 ram for a 5xxx cpu is a waste, as sweet spot for IF is 1800, so you need 3600 ram to be able to run 1:1 ratio.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

Not a big pc part picker fan, but it is useful for demonstration.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TjKcZJ

checks in at 693.63 euro.

ryzen 5500, 32gb ddr4 3600, 1tb WD 850x ssd, rx 7600, 650w evga 80 plus plat psu......not fanciest rig in the world, but would be a nice running little system for the budget. You may pick and choose how you please, but just an example that it can be done.

Prebuilt at this price point (500 to 800 euro) is possibly going to get you in some very sketchy hardware..........Mb or PSU or both gonna be trash most likely. If you are going to get prebuilt, i'd probably stick to one of the major OEM brands and avoid ibuypower, skytech, cyberpowerpc, etc.

for example, this MSI prebuilt system. it clocks in at 763 euro.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16883151515?Item=N82E16883151515

At least with them, you kinda know what you are getting.

As for laptops, again I'd stick with major brands (not gonna get much boutique laptop for that) but they can be had. This HP is 641 euro

https://www.newegg.com/p/1TS-000D-1M8X9?Item=9SIB0GJKCA9389

Good luck.

 

[eidairaman1]

Hi, since my laptop broke last week I am now in the market for a new setup. My main problem is that the last time I informed myself was when I bought my first PC with a GTX 660. I've been scrolling Amazon a bit just to check out what I can expect in the price range, but it is hard for me to compare the systems without the necessary background knowledge. Thus, I am hoping for some adivce/common pitfalls buying prebuild (which I would prefer, since I want something with a long guarantee after my refurbished gaming laptop broke within a year).

It would be great if you could give me some direct advice or point me to some sources where I can read up comprehensively on newer gen graphics cards and stuff.

In my profile you can see my previous Laptop, I don't need much more power to be fair, but after a long time with constant tech problems I want something I can rely on for the coming years.

Any advice/sources/guides are welcome, since I would say I don't know anything.

The advantage with a prebuild is you can upgrade indivitual parts over time, which 1s are you thinking about?

Not a big pc part picker fan, but it is useful for demonstration.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/TjKcZJ

checks in at 693.63 euro.

ryzen 5500, 32gb ddr4 3600, 1tb WD 850x ssd, rx 7600, 650w evga 80 plus plat psu......not fanciest rig in the world, but would be a nice running little system for the budget. You may pick and choose how you please, but just an example that it can be done.

Thats a good baseline, can be upgraded later on.

My kids rig is a Strix B550-F, 5600X @ PBO +200, 2x8GB, 2x SN750, and a 3070 Ti. Its a good little system that has been running since 2020.

All of that stuff should be cheap by now..

Doubt the gpu would be

 

[ripptide]

First of all thanks to everyone for the extensive answers and links, I will reply to some important questions and am looking forward to your input.

you are on your own to deal with building / issues

I think then I would really prefer prebuild, my last years were ridden with technical issues, and it would be the first system I build myself. I like the idea of a possibility to upgrade too because right now money is tight and the need for a pc is urgent, but I should make some money soon.

Any reason you want a desktop instead of a laptop?

Usually I play very long sessions, and in that case I feel like a laptop will always have overheating issues, especially when its not specifically made for gaming.

What is your max budget and what country are you from?

800€ is a firm limit optimally It would be between 600 and 700 but from the systems you linked so far it seems far fetched.
I am currently living in Belgium, close to the Netherlands, with family in Germany, from what you say one of these might have an advantage which is why i listed all of them.

1. Your location so we could know what's in stock.
2. What you're trying to achieve on your PC. We can't recommend anything until we know your major interests: some games require more CPU speed, some require more GPU speed, some require RAM, or you might be a non-gamer and your workloads need a lot of CPU and storage... Also bear in mind that if you want to taste the RT it tastes better on NVIDIA GPUs (provided you have enough VRAM).
3. What else is important to you. Size, mobility, Wi-Fi, noise, RGB, liquid cooling, etc.
4. If you plan on upgrading this system in the near future.
5. How much storage space you need.
6. If you mind buying used parts.
7. If you have leftover peripherals such as keyboard, mouse, monitor, or you need to buy these, too. And if you need, what your preferences are.

1. Belgium, Germany
2. I mainly play League of Legends pretty much 99% of the time, but I tend to stream/record to review. The only other games I have played recently is FIFA 13, and Guild Wars 2. And, I rarely use some Adobe products like Premier or Photoshop. I haven't bought a new game in years, and so far there is nothing that peaks my interest that would need more performance.
3. Pretty much the only important thing to me is that it can handle the few things that I use it for and is reliable for as long as possible.
4. In the future yes, I am not sure how near.
5. I never had any issues with 256GB SSD and 1 TB
6. Yes, my last laptop was used and I bought many other used electornics over the last years and found them to be less reliable.
7. Yes, I have pretty much everything leftover (Monitor, mouse, keyboard), I only need a PC and that is all the budget is for.

 

[Macro Device]

I mainly play League of Legends pretty much 99% of the time, but I tend to stream/record to review. The only other games I have played recently is FIFA 13, and Guild Wars 2. And, I rarely use some Adobe products like Premier or Photoshop. I haven't bought a new game in years, and so far there is nothing that peaks my interest that would need more performance.

So you might invest in a decent CPU like Ryzen 7600 / i5-14400 or something similar (already an overkill for what you're doing, will serve you just fine for a decade, unless you come up with something resource heavy), get yourself a decent 6 GT/s CL30 DDR5 kit (2 sticks of 16 GB each) and a basic GPU (can't really go completely wrong with RTX 3050 8 GB) + a serious PSU (Corsair RM650x as a likely candidate: it's an overkill PSU so it'll last a couple decades easy peasy, unless factory defect/you abuse it) so you won't suffer from "bad" electricity. Team Group and Micron make good SSDs (at least they used to a couple years ago) and I'd pick AsRock for a motherboard, preferrably B-chipset (A-chipsets in AMD and H610 in Intel are suboptimal), ASRock B760M PG Lightning/D4 (Intel) or ASRock B650M PG Lightning (AMD) are pretty much good things to have. NB: LGA1700 boards come with either DDR4 or DDR5. Check RAM compatibility before purchase!

Monitor

You might need to buy new cables because new video cards only have Displayport and HDMI support. No DVI, no VGA, these are long gone. Check this before pulling the trigger.

I never had any issues with 256GB SSD and 1 TB

If they still work you only need to disconnect them from your old PC, connect to the new one and reinstall the OS. Provided you build the PC yourself. Make sure you have enough SATA cables and your motherboard supports your specific m.2 SSD (if you own something non-NVMe).

All in all, the most complicated and hard part in building a PC is choosing the parts. What I recommended fits the budget but it's a complete overkill if we're talking your current goals. A used chonker with i3-12100F + 16 GB DDR4 + GTX 1060 will do the job just fine and it will only cost you 400 USD worst case scenario. But will it suffice for longer than a couple years, I don't know. Will it break after a couple years? Unlikely. Yet impossible is nothing.

 

[DirtyDingusMcgee]

MSI Cyborg 15 from German Amazon portal

This laptop is 671 euro and is a lot more powerful than your old one. Sourced from the German amazon portal, which seem to have a bit better prices than the Belgian one.

https://de.pcpartpicker.com/list/rLCDbL

and again, a pc partpicker list for Germany that is basically the same thing as previous desktop build (and 771 euro). Again, better prices than Belgian portal.

These are just examples, but from what I can see, the German prices are better than the Belgian or Dutch prices.

 

[Waldorf]

@ripptide
if you can order to german adress, i would check Mindfactory/Geizhals/Caseking/Alternate.

 

[Vayra86]

First of all thanks to everyone for the extensive answers and links, I will reply to some important questions and am looking forward to your input.


I think then I would really prefer prebuild, my last years were ridden with technical issues, and it would be the first system I build myself. I like the idea of a possibility to upgrade too because right now money is tight and the need for a pc is urgent, but I should make some money soon.


Usually I play very long sessions, and in that case I feel like a laptop will always have overheating issues, especially when its not specifically made for gaming.


800€ is a firm limit optimally It would be between 600 and 700 but from the systems you linked so far it seems far fetched.
I am currently living in Belgium, close to the Netherlands, with family in Germany, from what you say one of these might have an advantage which is why i listed all of them.


1. Belgium, Germany
2. I mainly play League of Legends pretty much 99% of the time, but I tend to stream/record to review. The only other games I have played recently is FIFA 13, and Guild Wars 2. And, I rarely use some Adobe products like Premier or Photoshop. I haven't bought a new game in years, and so far there is nothing that peaks my interest that would need more performance.
3. Pretty much the only important thing to me is that it can handle the few things that I use it for and is reliable for as long as possible.
4. In the future yes, I am not sure how near.
5. I never had any issues with 256GB SSD and 1 TB
6. Yes, my last laptop was used and I bought many other used electornics over the last years and found them to be less reliable.
7. Yes, I have pretty much everything leftover (Monitor, mouse, keyboard), I only need a PC and that is all the budget is for.

I would delve into second hand systems.

Belgium? If you're near the Dutch border, check this site for complete systems or parts being sold 2nd hand. Highly reliable seller's community. Perhaps you know of more local ones, too. Its a great way to source a system on the cheap. You can get what you want with an older midrange system already I think.

Vraag & Aanbod computers, tablets & telefoons, beeld & geluid, games en IT Pro - Tweakers

Koop en verkoop tweedehands computers, tablets & telefoons, beeld & geluid, games en alle andere consumentenelektronica via de grootste elektronica en technologie community van Nederland.

tweakers.net

Midrange Ampere ~ RDNA2 + a high-ish end CPU on DDR4 should be fine. Its pretty much in line with the recommendations up here. But buying it new now isn't the best idea.

Example

Game PC | Ryzen 7 | RTX3070 FE | 32GB

tweakers.net

Gaming PC // RTX 3070 ti Strix // AMD 7 5800X

tweakers.net

 

[rattlehead99]

CPU: Ryzen 5 5500 - 80-100 euro OR Ryzen 7 5700x for 150 euro
Motherboard: B550 ATX board for - 80-100 euro (Options: Asrock B550 Pro4/Phantom Gaming 4, MSI B550-A Pro, ASUS PRIME B550-PLUS)
RAM: 2x16GB DDR4 2400-3200Mhz - 100 euro
SSD: Silicon Power A60 512GB - 30-35 euro OR Silicon Power A80 512GB - 35-40 euro
HDD: Toshiba P300 7200rpm 2TB - 60 euro OR Western Digital 2TB Blue 7200rpm - 60 euro OR Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200rpm - 60 euro
GPU: RX 6600 - 200 euro

Case: Zalman R2 - 50 euro OR Zalman T7 - 40 euro OR 1stPlayer MIKU Mi5 Black - 35 euro

PSU: Seasonic G12 GM-750 Gold 750W - 70 euro OR be quiet! SYSTEM POWER 10 Bronze 650W - 65 euro

OTHER PSU Options: DeepCool PK750D - 60 euro OR Cooler Master MWE V2 - 60 euro OR Zalman Gigamax 750W - 60 euro OR FSP Group Hydro K PRO Bronze 600W

The total Price is around 700 euro.


If you want to reach the 800 euro mark, maybe replace the Ryzen 5 5500 with a Ryzen 7 5700x and upgrade the SSD from 512GB to 1TB. There isn't much you can do about the GPU.

The PSUs are decent PSUs, they will do good and the PC is very efficient anyway, the GPU consumes about 110W the CPU 50W(80W if you get the 5700x), but in the future you might want to upgrade, so 650W is the minimum I recommend.

 

[Vincero]

I think then I would really prefer prebuild, my last years were ridden with technical issues, and it would be the first system I build myself. I like the idea of a possibility to upgrade too because right now money is tight and the need for a pc is urgent, but I should make some money soon.

Fair enough - if you plan to upgrade / tinker I would advise avoiding certain manufacturers such as Lenovo / Dell (Alienware) / HP (omen) / Acer / etc. - they sometimes do not make things as easy to work on or change as standard ATX cases / motherboards / power supplies will let you - they will usually offer longer warranties in some cases (but you are paying for it to a certain extent - nothing comes for free).

Usually I play very long sessions, and in that case I feel like a laptop will always have overheating issues, especially when its not specifically made for gaming.

There probably are some decent gaming laptops out there that can maintain a decent performance level, but higher performance output generally means needing higher performance cooling - if that's not there they will definitely throttle.

800€ is a firm limit optimally It would be between 600 and 700 but from the systems you linked so far it seems far fetched.
I am currently living in Belgium, close to the Netherlands, with family in Germany, from what you say one of these might have an advantage which is why i listed all of them.

Again, you should see if there are any forums or reddits or something that discuss best places to get stuff for where you are.
How close to the Netherlands? Some quick google searches would lead one to believe that prices / purchasing options there are a little better than in Belgium - i.e. potentially more retail options to choose from, if close enough to simply 'hop' across the border then worth keeping options open. In terms of mail order options there probably isn't much difference.

2. I mainly play League of Legends pretty much 99% of the time, but I tend to stream/record to review. The only other games I have played recently is FIFA 13, and Guild Wars 2. And, I rarely use some Adobe products like Premier or Photoshop. I haven't bought a new game in years, and so far there is nothing that peaks my interest that would need more performance.

7. Yes, I have pretty much everything leftover (Monitor, mouse, keyboard), I only need a PC and that is all the budget is for.

Based on that usage, and likely to not be a popular opinion among some of the others here, you could / maybe should aim to go with a modern platform (such as AM5 or LGA1700 - definitely no reason to go AM4 or older Intel LGA1200 which have reached end of line) and get most cost effective CPU power you are getting for the money - for those games listed you could absolutely just use current gen integrated graphics from either Intel or AMD to get by (although you'd probably have to avoid max graphics settings when it comes to Guild Wars 2).
This would give you much better headroom in terms of upgrading later on having a platform where newer CPUs could be added and graphics cards are less likely to be bottlenecked - something you'll probably want to do when you start playing games that are made since 2020.
Seeing as you all you need is the base unit and no other accessories (although hopefully your monitor has at least got HDMI or DisplayPort), you should be able to buy in to a more modern platform with your budget.

Pretty much every LGA1700 or AM5 CPU bests the AM4/LGA1200 offerings at every level, apart from the X3D chips which are both expensive (comparatively) and not great outside of gaming.
Taken from the TPU Ryzen 9600X review (and trimming the graphs):

For gaming the Ryzen 7600 / Core i7-12700K/i5-13600K are usually within 10% of the top scores without X3D cache - even the AM4 8-core 5800X3D averages out no better than AM5 6-core 7600 (non-X). The same is sort of true for Adobe Photoshop, although the LGA1700 Alder Lake CPUs (12xxx) seem to take a bigger hit compared to the Raptor Lake (13xxx) CPUs:

An AM5 platform with a Ryzen 7600 CPU would definitely offer a platform with good upgrade potential - LGA1700 is obviously competitive but no future upgrades and if you chose to upgrade from a i5 to a high end i7/i9 part later on then you gain effectively a lot less vs the amount of heat/power usage also.

EDIT:
UK pricing of the following components comes in just over £600 - they aren't even the cheapest / best value for money choices - my point there being this should be doable to get that level of performance / parts within the €800 budget (it will be tight though):

AMD Ryzen™ 5 7600, AM5, Zen 4, 6 Core, 12 Thread, 3.8GHz, 5.1GHz Turbo, 32MB Cache, PCIe 5.0, 65W, CPU
£179.99

32GB (2x16GB) Corsair DDR5 Vengeance Black, PC5-49600 (6200), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 36, XMP 3.0, 1.4V
£99.49

ASRock AMD B650M PRO RS WIFI, AMD B650, S AM5, DDR5, PCIe 4.0, 3x M.2, ax WiFi/2.5GbE, AMD EXPO™, mATX
£144.98

1TB WD Black SN770 M.2 (2280) PCIe 4.0 (x4) NVMe SSD, 5150MB/s Read, 4900MB/s Write, 740k/800k IOPS
£57.59

750W Corsair RM750e, PCIe 5.0 Fully Modular, 80PLUS Gold, Single Rail, 62.5A, 120mm Rifle Bearing Fan, ATX 3.0 PSU
£89.99

Montech AIR 100 LITE Case, Black, MicroATX Chassis w/ Tempered Glass Window, 2x 120mm Fans, MicroATX/Mini-ITX
£34.99


I'd leave it to you to decide if iGPU would be up to the task:

Can't find anything useful for GW2 on AM5 iGPU - that said the Ryzen 3200G could pull solid 40fps which the AM5 iGPU *should* be able to match / beat depending on scenario.

 

[Why_Me]

Hi, since my laptop broke last week I am now in the market for a new setup. My main problem is that the last time I informed myself was when I bought my first PC with a GTX 660. I've been scrolling Amazon a bit just to check out what I can expect in the price range, but it is hard for me to compare the systems without the necessary background knowledge. Thus, I am hoping for some adivce/common pitfalls buying prebuild (which I would prefer, since I want something with a long guarantee after my refurbished gaming laptop broke within a year).

It would be great if you could give me some direct advice or point me to some sources where I can read up comprehensively on newer gen graphics cards and stuff.

In my profile you can see my previous Laptop, I don't need much more power to be fair, but after a long time with constant tech problems I want something I can rely on for the coming years.

Any advice/sources/guides are welcome, since I would say I don't know anything.

Google Windows 11 Key.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (€109.00 @ Amazon Belgium)
CPU Cooler: *Thermalright Assassin Spirit V2 66.17 CFM CPU Cooler (€20.79 @ Amazon Belgium)
Motherboard: *MSI PRO B760-P WIFI DDR4 ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€110.00 @ Tones.be)
Memory: *G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€51.21 @ Azerty)
Storage: *Lexar NQ710 1 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€57.90 @ Megekko)
Video Card: *MSI GeForce RTX 3060 Ventus 2X 12G GeForce RTX 3060 12GB 12 GB Video Card (€269.00 @ Amazon Belgium)
Case: *Deepcool CC560 V2 ATX Mid Tower Case (€65.89 @ Alternate Belgium)
Power Supply: *MSI MAG A650GL 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€79.95 @ Amazon Belgium)
Total: €763.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-16 10:13 CEST+0200

 

[dgianstefani]

2 TB TLC SSD, good PSU with current standards, current gen GPU, nice and small.

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: *Intel Core i5-12400F 2.5 GHz 6-Core Processor (€109.00 @ Amazon Belgium)
Motherboard: Asus PRIME B760M-K D4 Micro ATX LGA1700 Motherboard (€96.59 @ Amazon Belgium)
Memory: G.Skill Aegis 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory (€51.21 @ Azerty)
Storage: Kingston NV2 2 TB M.2-2280 PCIe 4.0 X4 NVME Solid State Drive (€104.90 @ Megekko)
Video Card: Inno3D Twin X2 GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card (€282.90 @ Megekko)
Case: Aerocool CS-106 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (€36.90 @ Megekko)
Power Supply: SeaSonic FOCUS GX-750 ATX 3.0 750 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply (€123.31 @ Azerty)
Total: €804.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
*Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria
Generated by PCPartPicker 2024-10-16 07:43 CEST+0200[/i

As for Windows put LTSC 24H2.

If you bumped it to 1000euros you could get a CPU architecture that's current, e.g. Arrow Lake.

 

[Macro Device]

Video Card: Inno3D Twin X2 GeForce RTX 4060 8 GB Video Card (€282.90 @ Megekko)

With LoL and FIFA 13 being the most graphically demanding things they run on their PC it's safe to say anything with RTX in its name is overqualified. Massively so.

A PC with a Ryzen 8600G makes a tad more sense. The OP still can buy a dGPU in the future if they need it.

 

[dgianstefani]

With LoL and FIFA 13 being the most graphically demanding things they run on their PC it's safe to say anything with RTX in its name is overqualified. Massively so.

A PC with a Ryzen 8600G makes a tad more sense. The OP still can buy a dGPU in the future if they need it.

In my profile you can see my previous Laptop, I don't need much more power to be fair, but after a long time with constant tech problems I want something I can rely on for the coming years.

The AMD APUs are weak, with gimped cache and bad PCIe, even if you do add a DGPU later, it defeats the purpose since their only advantage is a "fast" integrated GPU, besides that they're slower than normal Zen in every way, CPU wise.

Zero advantage of that approach. If the budget is X, you build the fastest PC for that budget. No point going with something slower just because it's newer.

The 760M in the 8600G is also slower than even a 1050Ti, an eight year old entry level card. So regardless of whether it's good enough, I'd completely avoid that.

Despite being twice the price, more if you include platform costs, the 8600G also doesn't even substantially beat the 12400F CPU wise. It's about 5% faster.

Also, people do more than just game, so having RTX features like AI noise cancellation, better than shield upscaling for streaming videos, CUDA etc is nice.

 

[Vemby]

First of all thanks to everyone for the extensive answers and links, I will reply to some important questions and am looking forward to your input.


I think then I would really prefer prebuild, my last years were ridden with technical issues, and it would be the first system I build myself. I like the idea of a possibility to upgrade too because right now money is tight and the need for a pc is urgent, but I should make some money soon.


Usually I play very long sessions, and in that case I feel like a laptop will always have overheating issues, especially when its not specifically made for gaming.


800€ is a firm limit optimally It would be between 600 and 700 but from the systems you linked so far it seems far fetched.
I am currently living in Belgium, close to the Netherlands, with family in Germany, from what you say one of these might have an advantage which is why i listed all of them.


1. Belgium, Germany
2. I mainly play League of Legends pretty much 99% of the time, but I tend to stream/record to review. The only other games I have played recently is FIFA 13, and Guild Wars 2. And, I rarely use some Adobe products like Premier or Photoshop. I haven't bought a new game in years, and so far there is nothing that peaks my interest that would need more performance.
3. Pretty much the only important thing to me is that it can handle the few things that I use it for and is reliable for as long as possible.
4. In the future yes, I am not sure how near.
5. I never had any issues with 256GB SSD and 1 TB
6. Yes, my last laptop was used and I bought many other used electornics over the last years and found them to be less reliable.
7. Yes, I have pretty much everything leftover (Monitor, mouse, keyboard), I only need a PC and that is all the budget is for.

Hi, if you are fine with ordering from Germany and prefer prebuild with warranty. I would recommend ordering from Alza.de . If you click on
this link -> Alza.de in the left bottom corner you have "PC Konfigurator" option. After you are finished with choosing the components, you just click "Komponentenmontage (Realisierung ab 6 Arbeitstagen)" for 39€ and they will build the PC for you, with warranty and shipment.

 

[AleXXX666]

Hi, since my laptop broke last week I am now in the market for a new setup. My main problem is that the last time I informed myself was when I bought my first PC with a GTX 660. I've been scrolling Amazon a bit just to check out what I can expect in the price range, but it is hard for me to compare the systems without the necessary background knowledge. Thus, I am hoping for some adivce/common pitfalls buying prebuild (which I would prefer, since I want something with a long guarantee after my refurbished gaming laptop broke within a year).

It would be great if you could give me some direct advice or point me to some sources where I can read up comprehensively on newer gen graphics cards and stuff.

In my profile you can see my previous Laptop, I don't need much more power to be fair, but after a long time with constant tech problems I want something I can rely on for the coming years.

Any advice/sources/guides are welcome, since I would say I don't know anything.

please tell me your local stores, so we could understand what currency and prices you have... without that, we could recommend you "high end" level for your budget, but it will end up that in you country you could get only "cheapest low performance" parts for your money...

 

[dgianstefani]

please tell me your local stores, so we could understand what currency and prices you have... without that, we could recommend you "high end" level for your budget, but it will end up that in you country you could get only "cheapest low performance" parts for your money...

When you use pcpartpicker you can pick a country and it will use local pricing.

 

[Macro Device]

just because it's newer.

I never implied that. I'd still have invested more into a CPU so let's say... 13400 or 12700 + second-hand RTX 3060 (if the OP can find a seller to trust).