Question is it possible to build a decent gaming pc for £300?

[godlyglutes]

Hi, new to pc gaming, always been a console gamer.

Interested in building my own, is it possible to put together a good system (using second hand where possible) with such a small budget or am I better just buying a ps5?

Thanks

 

[psikey]

Depends what resolution you want to game at. At 1080p I'd say yes using some second hand bits.

You won't get close to performance of the new PS5 or XBOX at £449 which should be at RTX 2080 performance levels.

Console vs PC also depends on what games you want to play.

 

[aslird]

tbh you would have a horrible experience (low settings, low framerates) for £300 unless you are very savy/lucky with 2nd hand purchases. Considering a Series S is £50 less, and that fact you can pay for it monthly if desired makes the console option a no brainer, imo.

 

[Grangey.]

In short, for today’s definition of “decent” the answer is no.

New consoles are sold at a loss, to build an equivalent spec pc right now will cost you a lot more.

Sure in 3 years you could ask the same question and it’s way more likely to “yes”, but if you’re looking for PS5/XbX graphics for £300 on a pc today, no chance.

 

[godlyglutes]

Ok thanks guys

 

[Delvey]

You can buy a new PC for that price. It will play games, but won't hit 60 fps

Ryzen 3 3200G - Vega 8 Graphics - 8GB DDR4 - 240GB SSD - for £250 delivered @ Palicomp | hotukdeals

www.hotukdeals.com

 

[MooCow]

Yeah £300 is not a lot sorry, you could buy something like mentioned - though even a 3200G build is going to push that budget. It's a good little CPU but a single 8GB stick will hamper it even more - some memory is assigned to the built in graphics and single stick performance on Ryzen isn't exactly stellar to start with.
ULTRA FAST CCL 4.0GHz AMD 3200G AMD Ryzen 3 Gaming PC - 16GB RAM, 1TB HDD | eBay - would be slightly better - twin RAM sticks, 1TB disk (though not an SSD) but reasonably you would eat up 240GB in literally no time at all.

Now, just to throw something else in the mix - if your internet is decent enough (and you have an old laptop or something, they do a mini box thing too if they are still doing them) you could opt for something like Shadow cloud PC - Shadow - Tech specs - Check components CPU, memory, storage, GPU - £12 a month gets you a PC far better than you could buy for £150 or thereabouts a year. Albeit it is not technically yours to own, but you would lose that in a year on parts you buy today realistically if you sold them off next November
I used the service myself for about a year, it's a decent option and you can bring along your own games to it - not tied in like the retched Stadia service.
The other option is Geforce Now which is similar, £5 a month (at the mo) but has a more limited selection of games, though it is a long list and is JUST games unlike Shadow which is basically a PC so you can browse the web on it or do some office work or 3d design etc.
Literally a cheap laptop or desktop plus one of the above can get you gaming

 

[Mensy]

i would stick to a ps5, you cannot build a good gaming pc for £300 even doubling your budget your talking bare minimum

 

[pemtium]

At that price point an XBox Series S makes perfect sense.

 

[kenshingintoki]

I'd say no.

PC gaming has changed over the last 10 years. Its not longer the smart choice. Its the expensive high end choice and most people who are still around at the midrange are ALREADY invested in the ecosystem with their steam libraries and existing hardware.

Its so expensive IMO and I personally think it only makes sense if you have a secondary use for your PC too (video editting. photo editting, HTPC) where it can save you money somewhere else.

For example, I use mine as a HTPC with MADVR. The Lumagen alone would cost me 2000+ quid and altho the lumagen is a bit superior, MADVR runs it close enough whilst being my music library + streamer and one of my gaming devices.