Gaming PCs

So we're going to try something a little different, over the next couple of months we're going to have a series of articles written by guest contributors reaching across many aspects of computing etc from PCs to websites, you can guarantee we're going to cover it!!!

Our first guest article is written by Callum, an avid gamer who has prepared this review of a number of gaming PCs depending on the price range you're looking at so without further ado...

Pre-built Gaming PC Reviews

As an avid gamer, I know that getting into the world of PC gaming is awash with Custom Configurators and crazy names for products which are almost the same. However, what if you want to avoid the madness and confusion that comes with trying to build your own PC by yourself, or getting other accredited people to build it for you. That’s where ‘pre-built’ PC’s come in. These are sold by retailers, on behalf of manufacturers, in order to provide you, the customer, the ability to start gaming immediately. But even then, there is a large range to choose from, and with prices ranging from £300 to £3000 and beyond, where do you start from? Taking into account different manufacturers and different price ranges, I have selected a number of different pre-built gaming PC’s within three price ranges that I will pick apart to help you determine which one is best for you.

£300-£400:

At this price range, in my opinion, there is really only two manufacturers to consider. Cyberpower and PC Specialist. Both offer PC’s within this price range.

Firstly, PC Specialists Infinity Trion. At £349.99 this is a barebones PC (contains only the parts to get it started) that will form an excellent base for your gaming needs, If you have a copy of an Operating System, an Ethernet cable and a spare graphics card lying around. However, it does come with a quad-core AMD A10 – 7700K APU Processor with a clock speed of 3.4 GHz (which can be overclocked to 3.8 GHz), 8 GB of RAM (with room to be upgraded to 16 GB), 6 USB 2.0 Slots and a 1 TB Hard Drive, which is more than enough space to store your games, music and videos. 

However, if you don’t have the money to buy a graphics card or the know-how on how to install it, then I will recommend buying Cyberpower’s offer. The Empire GT II. At just under £400, The Empire GT offers two different things that the Infinity Trion doesn’t: Windows 10 (64 bit) and a more powerful processor. The AMD A10 7850K APU. This has an average clock speed of 3.7 GHz (which can be overclocked to 4 GHz) and comes with an integrated AMD R7 graphics chip which is perfect for MMOs such as World of Tanks and War Thunder. As a starting point, I would rather pay the extra £50 in order to get a fully functioning gaming PC rather than one missing the crucial bits. However, if you have the spare parts to hand, PC Specialists offer is one you can’t refuse! 

£401-£600

The same two manufactures dominate this price range as well with Cyberpower’s Gaming Empire Elite II and PC Specialist’s Vortex Impact both coming in at £499.99 RRP. Both come with an AMD FX4300 Quad-Core Processor with a clock speed of 3.8 GHz (which can be overclocked to 4 GHz). Both come with Windows 10 (64 bit) pre-installed and both come with a 1 TB Hard Drive. The difference between the two is the graphics card provided. 

The Empire Elite comes with an Nvidia Geforce GTX 960 with 2 GB of processing power whilst the Vortex Impact comes with an AMD R7 360 2GB graphics card. The Geforce GTX 960 is considered by many (including myself) as the best budget graphics card on the market today. So I would recommend the Empire Elite, as long as you don’t mind not having any USB 3.0 slots. Both are perfect for many genres of games ranging from easily accessible MMOs to GTA V at moderately High Settings.

£601-£800

Here, two different (and more well-known) manufacturers show up. Acer and Asus. Both at different price points and both with slightly uninteresting names. Acer’s Predator G3-710 may sound like a photocopier, however it is anything but! At £799.99, This comes at the top end of the price range. But when compared with ASUS’ Republic of Gamers G11CB (£729.99). Both come with Intel I5 – 6400 quad-core processors with a clock speed of 2.7 GHz (can be overclocked to 3.3 GHz) which at first may not seem powerful compared to AMD’s equivalent, but Intel processors utilises hyperthreading which makes up for less cores and lower clock speeds. This makes Intel processors the preferred choice for gamers. The Graphics cards offered is where the two systems separate. 

Asus offer an Nvidia Geforce GTX 950 2GB graphics card which, although cheaper than other cards offered, is nothing special. Acer offer a nice, beefy Nvidia Geforce GTX 970 4 GB card. This is considered one of the best Graphics Cards available within its price range. The Predator only has 8 GB of available RAM compared to ASUS’ 12 GB but the ability to upgrade to 32 GB of RAM. The Predator also comes with a 1 TB Hard Drive and a 128 GB SSD which is perfect for gaming, although more space can be handy as is offered with the ASUS. But with the Acer offering a fast wireless connection, Bluetooth, and an SD card reader, all of which the ASUS doesn’t offer. However, both are great for anything you can throw at them. GTA V, Sure! Counter Strike, No problem! Project Cars, of course! However, out of the two, I would prefer the Acer because I think extra £70 is worth it, for a lot more power and upgradeability. 

But, at the end of the day, it’s up to you to find the Gaming PC that fits your budget and needs.

Credits: Currys PC World - Prices