Cheap Gaming Computer

[Holley]

My PA wants a laptop that she can play sims on (not at work!!). Whats the cheapest she can get away with?

not technically minded, so no self builds!

And before you ask...no

[Richard]

A self build laptop would be very brave

Anything with it’s own dedicated graphics card would be alright, I’m sure

Probs looking at £600ish

Not sure it’s worth it

[Holley]

She was thinking around £500, so another hundred isn't a million miles away. Any idea on make/models?

[integrale_evo]

The sims isn't going to be massively demanding, something with an i5, 8gb of ram and a separate graphics chip should be fine.

[Mito Man]

Ugh £500 to play The Sims, it’s essentially a fucking chore of a game looking after brain dead people.

I would add that it’s probably one of those games which will be quite processor heavy if she gets really into it and ends up with a few expansion packs and a week later she’s loading up a house with 6000 individual assets.
I had to give up on Kerbal Space Program once my rockets contained over 1000s of parts as it was like churning butter

[Jobbo]

Isn't The Sims about 20 years old? Some sort of Pentium 2 laptop from a car boot sale should do the job

[Zonda_]

Nephew wants a gaming PC but his mum doesn't have a lot to spend. I haven't played games on a PC since the first Playstation was released so I don't know what I'm looking at, is this reasonable or rubbish?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Windows-10-C ... 3780523965

[Mito Man]

Pretty rubbish, it has a lot of ram and an old i7 processor to make it look good but no SSD and only 2Gb dedicated graphics - still good enough to play shit like Minecraft.

[Zonda_]

Pretty rubbish, it has a lot of ram and an old i7 processor to make it look good but no SSD and only 2Gb dedicated graphics - still good enough to play shit like Minecraft.

Cheers, do you reckon it'll be possible to get a half decent one for £400?

[Mito Man]

I’m not in the loop much either, maybe someone else will pop up with a well priced one!

[RobYob]

Pretty rubbish, it has a lot of ram and an old i7 processor to make it look good but no SSD and only 2Gb dedicated graphics - still good enough to play shit like Minecraft.

Cheers, do you reckon it'll be possible to get a half decent one for £400?

I had a play with Overclockers PC builder and came up with
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-tec ... S2.*xRhe1w),Rhi1w)4Rhj1w)2Rhl1w;8SEH1z?6TBC1WYwTBD1X1/TDL1Z*yTDM1Z*zTDN1Z*UTGN1ZVxTHf1#0/TPF1#z+baGi22*WbaGG2-z*baGH22.@bidi2$_6bidj2$_!bjoE2_Y)bjoF2_Y(bjoG2_Y'btlN2#/*
Sorry couldn't get OCs link generator to play nice with linking - which is ok-ish.
But no peripherals or monitor.
Deleted W10 pre installed as you can buy a key off Amazon for £10 off a good feedback seller (I did 14months ago + Office)
Smallish 240GB SSD only which means either being thrifty with installed games or buying an external USB3 (what I have done)

[Zonda_]

Pretty rubbish, it has a lot of ram and an old i7 processor to make it look good but no SSD and only 2Gb dedicated graphics - still good enough to play shit like Minecraft.

Cheers, do you reckon it'll be possible to get a half decent one for £400?

I had a play with Overclockers PC builder and came up with
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-tec ... S2.*xRhe1w),Rhi1w)4Rhj1w)2Rhl1w;8SEH1z?6TBC1WYwTBD1X1/TDL1Z*yTDM1Z*zTDN1Z*UTGN1ZVxTHf1#0/TPF1#z+baGi22*WbaGG2-z*baGH22.@bidi2$_6bidj2$_!bjoE2_Y)bjoF2_Y(bjoG2_Y'btlN2#/*
Sorry couldn't get OCs link generator to play nice with linking - which is ok-ish.
But no peripherals or monitor.
Deleted W10 pre installed as you can buy a key off Amazon for £10 off a good feedback seller (I did 14months ago + Office)
Smallish 240GB SSD only which means either being thrifty with installed games or buying an external USB3 (what I have done)

Thanks, he doesn't need a monitor as he runs the current PC through his HD TV and he has they keyboard etc.

[Zonda_]

Pretty rubbish, it has a lot of ram and an old i7 processor to make it look good but no SSD and only 2Gb dedicated graphics - still good enough to play shit like Minecraft.

Cheers, do you reckon it'll be possible to get a half decent one for £400?

I had a play with Overclockers PC builder and came up with
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/ocuk-tec ... S2.*xRhe1w),Rhi1w)4Rhj1w)2Rhl1w;8SEH1z?6TBC1WYwTBD1X1/TDL1Z*yTDM1Z*zTDN1Z*UTGN1ZVxTHf1#0/TPF1#z+baGi22*WbaGG2-z*baGH22.@bidi2$_6bidj2$_!bjoE2_Y)bjoF2_Y(bjoG2_Y'btlN2#/*
Sorry couldn't get OCs link generator to play nice with linking - which is ok-ish.
But no peripherals or monitor.
Deleted W10 pre installed as you can buy a key off Amazon for £10 off a good feedback seller (I did 14months ago + Office)
Smallish 240GB SSD only which means either being thrifty with installed games or buying an external USB3 (what I have done)

I can't see the one you have built, any chance you can screen shot the spec you put in so can replicate it at my end?

[integrale_evo]

Pretty rubbish, it has a lot of ram and an old i7 processor to make it look good but no SSD and only 2Gb dedicated graphics - still good enough to play shit like Minecraft.

I7 2600 might be old, but still pretty capable, processor performance really hasn't leapt forward that much in the past 10 years.

The gaming pc I built for my step son with some spares and some secondhand parts based on an i7 2600k, and with a very mild overclock the processor benchmarks almost identically to my own i5 6600k.

16gb ram is plenty, but a gtx 1030 is pretty poor for proper gaming, a 4gb 1050ti would be a lot more capable for not a lot more cash. In the system I built I used a 6gb 1060 and it'll run most recent games in high or ultra at 60fps at 1080p, but it's very easy to get carried away when you start chasing resolution and fps!

Ssd is nice, but makes sod all difference to game performance, but in a desktop you could stick a £25 ssd in for windows and £60 for a 2tb hd

[Zonda_]

Pretty rubbish, it has a lot of ram and an old i7 processor to make it look good but no SSD and only 2Gb dedicated graphics - still good enough to play shit like Minecraft.

I7 2600 might be old, but still pretty capable, processor performance really hasn't leapt forward that much in the past 10 years.

The gaming pc I built for my step son with some spares and some secondhand parts based on an i7 2600k, and with a very mild overclock the processor benchmarks almost identically to my own i5 6600k.

16gb ram is plenty, but a gtx 1030 is pretty poor for proper gaming, a 4gb 1050ti would be a lot more capable for not a lot more cash. In the system I built I used a 6gb 1060 and it'll run most recent games in high or ultra at 60fps at 1080p, but it's very easy to get carried away when you start chasing resolution and fps!

Ssd is nice, but makes sod all difference to game performance, but in a desktop you could stick a £25 ssd in for windows and £60 for a 2tb hd

So this one should do him then?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Windows-10-C ... rk:21:pf:0

[RobYob]

I can't see the one you have built, any chance you can screen shot the spec you put in so can replicate it at my end?

It's the Overclockers cheapest Ryzen system thrifted a bit more. Starting at £630.
Base
Case, reduced bling £20 cheaper
RAM downgraded from 16 to 8 which is fine for gaming.
SSD upgraded from 120 to 240SSD. These WILL make a difference to QOL & gaming, OS & levels will load in a blink.
Mobo, cheaper.
Bulk HD, deleted add it again later as USB3.
W10 pre install deleted saving £100
Final built price £430.
Add £10 for a W10 licence.

Overclockers have an excellent reputation and I've only had good service from them.

[Beany]

Yeah, I've never had any problems with OCUK. I know people occasionally do, but they're not a massive company and slip ups can happen.

I ordered a case (along with all the components for a build) and it was out of stock by the time my order was processed. Got notified the next day, called 'em up, they apologised and let me select another case that was 'about 20%' above the value. I wasn't buying a massively expensive case (only £50) but I got a slightly nicer £60 quid case that was in stock, and delivery upgraded to next day, too.

Generally pretty good IME. A touch pricier than ebay/amazon for components, but being able to just ring 'em up and ask them questions, speak to the people doing the part picking, etc makes up for that.

[DaveE]

My PA wants a laptop that she can play sims on (not at work!!). Whats the cheapest she can get away with?

not technically minded, so no self builds!

And before you ask...no

"I want a laptop" is a solution.

"How can I play Sims?" is a question.

Always dig for the question.

If she owns an iPad or some other device she could play it on that?

Maybe she'd be better off buying an iPad (if she doesn't already have one) for £330 rather than a laptop for £5-600?

[unzippy]

The underlying real question:

/ /

[Zonda_]

The underlying real question:

/ /

Answered in the first post.