After giving it some more thought, and shuffling some stuff around in my room, I’m now leaning towards a desktop PC over a laptop, with a view to perhaps buying a pre-build in the sales later in the year or assembling one with parts bought adhoc if I can figure out what goes best with what.
However, I did see this one at the weekend which is a Lenova Legion T5 on sale at CCL and BOX for £700 (reduced from about £1100 but I don’t know how much longer for) which I am really tempted to buy. It’s obviously using older parts, but from what I’ve been able to find on the internet looks a decent build, especially for a first PC, and for a very reasonable price. The reviews I came across for Legion T5s irrespective of spec often comment that they are a good machine to buy with a view to upgrading down the road too.
| Chipset | AMD B550 |
|---|---|
| Operating System | Windows 11 Home |
| Processor + Core Count | AMD Ryzen 5 5600G Six Core (3.9GHz, turbo to 4.4GHz) |
| Memory | 16GB DDR4 RAM |
| Graphics | GeForce RTX 3060 |
| Solid State Drive | 1TB M.2 SSD |
| Form Factor | Tower |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Wireless LAN | Wi-Fi 6 |
| Additional Ports/Inputs | Front: 2x USB 3.2 Gen1 |
| Power Supply | 550W |
| Dimensions | (WxDxH) 205x396x411mm |
Anyone see any red flags here either with the build or retailers involved?
Does anyone know if there is an online guide which breaks down how the different generation of parts go together (and when you should be using AMD or Intel)?
I wouldn’t expect to do any upgrading for another 4-5 years, if not more, but i’m curious on what the upper limit for some of the key components here may be( or whether any upgrading would likely require a complete overhaul) such as
Motherboard - is that still ok for the latest chips - does the choice of motherboard limit whether you can use AMD or Nvidia products or only which of each you can use?
CPU is the 3060 likely to be the highest graphics card a 5600g would work with effectively,
GPU - would there be much benefit to buying a more powerful CPU in the future while keeping this card or should I consider any change to either the CPU or GPU to be an excuse to change both at the same time?
Power supply - am I right in thinking that any graphics card above 3060 would require a bigger Wattage?
case - what would be the highest powered card that would fit a case this size and do they always make smaller card sizes over time of each generational card?
if it’s a packaged Lenovo then the parts will be picked to work together.
that said, the power requirements state the minimum PSU is 550W.
I’d be looking at a 650-750W PSU for any modern gaming platform if you’re planning on doing any overclocking or adding fans for cooling…could always give it a try and if it starts hiccuping then swap out the PSU for a bigger one. it’s an easy job, just make sure you ground yourself on the frame and be aware of static electricity.
For me, power supply of 750W and a motherboard that supports the latest AMD chipsets (AM5 socket) are a must if you can spare some additional cash. In the long run, everything else can be easily replaced. That said, I wish there were price reductions like that in my area - from 1100 to 700 pounds is unheard of!
Aside from one or two times when fortune smiled on me, I’ve never upgraded a processor on one of my rigs. You’re better off buying better, slightly older and so cheaper motherboard / CPU combos IMHO. A cheap MOBO will do, ASRock and Foxconn are fine. No nedd for all the bells and whistles. Agree on AMD architecture though. As good as INTEL and cheaper. Just be sure to get a good M2 drive, the most critical component.
if he’s buying a package deal like that, not really much for options to swap out. But I’m guessing that’s an AM5 chipset.
I had an ASRock dual939 board when I was REALLY heavy into CS gaming, traveling to states for tournaments and such. that board was a tank, I had it OC’d as far as the RAM at the time would take me. still have that rig today in storage (not sure why). I think I have a Athlon FX still in it, or a Opteron 185.
Some of those older AMDs could be unlocked to reveal mega processors. Took a gamble on one once which cost £40 and umlocked to a flagship £500 unit 
fortunately I skipped over the Athlon line. I had a friend in WA state who ordered a backup Opteron 185 for a server array and sold it to me for cheap when their boss decided to switch providers after only a few months. I was getting 3.4ghz out of a stock 2.6ghz dual-core chip, that mobo allowed dividing in the clock settings so I could run my FSB at 237mhz (slight memory overclock) and yet almost a 40% overclock on the CPU. coupled with a good first-gen SATA drive (Seagate, before they were shit) and it was very quick for the day. an excellent copper-base cooler and she was golden.
I just googled to have a look this up after reading @Nikola 's comments. It looks like it is an AM4 chipset.
Does the AM4 / AM5 socket apply to just the CPU or is it relevant for all the other parts that connect to the motherboard too?
AM4/AM5 socket is the part of the motherboard that the processor slips into.
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that the £700 price tag reflects that it’s not the latest generation. That said, it’s reflected in the price tag. an AM5 socket setup will likely double your cost, price it out and see if that hike in price is reflected in the performance (and to your budget.
Thanks @Semmy that makes sense.
The PSUs are the one things that haven’t changed too much. Even older PSUs which provide those 650-750W will work. Worth considering if there are upgrades to be done.
Watch out that they are not too old as they won’t have the correct connectors for the mother board.
For that matter how long have ATX been used and for how much longer?
It’s a very long time since I built my desk top as you can probably tell (2008 I think).
the PSU’s have had to change connectors since about 2003-5 I think? With the advent of SATA drive, the old 4pin connectors made way for a completely different style. You can buy retrofit adaptors but another big change was the power requirement of the graphics cards. My dual-GPU 590GTX was an absolute pig on power, required two 6-pin connectors off the PSU to run it which is why that rig has a 750W in it.
I’m a big fan of modular PSU which allows for easy cable management.
Whereas I have a machine that runs with 2 different PSUs. Chuck it in and make it work, no worries.
Have a customer coming tomorrow who just wants a new hard drive pre-loaded with Windows 10 as his current one keeps crashing. Doesn’t want me to set it up, just the pre-loaded install. Erm, no mate, no charge to find out what’s wrong with it.
Am thinking of buying a large desk mat to give my desk some protection and help keep it clean.
Does anyone know if its safe to sit a pc case on these?
The ones i’ve been looking at are rubber. I don’t know if that could cause static or lead to overheating?
You’ll be fine
Thanks
Noticed internet was down yesterday. Turned the router on and off a few times but kept getting solid orange light. Rang BT this morning and he talked me through all the same stuff with same result so engineer coming out on Wednesday but just looked and it is blue again.
Not cancelling as since fttp was installed it has been patchy and continually get much higher upload speeds. By the router I get 150mbps download. In my upstairs study on my PC I barely get 10mbs download but 30mbps upload. Frustrating…
What wifi router do you have ?